Teacher:I see educational privilege and am disgusted

[summer]

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/29/teacher-i-see-the-difference-in-educational-privilege-every-day-i-live-it-i-am-disgusted-by-it/

Here is a post by a Colorado teacher who vividly explains the difference in the lives of fortunate students and the less fortunate students whom she teaches. Her last post on this blog was a nuanced look into the psyche of some students of color who live in poverty, which you can read here. This public school teacher often blogs anonymously under the name Shakespeare’s Sister at Daily Kos. She teaches 11th grade AP Language and Composition in the Denver area.







Here is Shakespeare’s Sister newest post for this blog:







Recently, events in Ferguson and New York have reminded us there are still two very different Americas. What I wish more people were talking about is that there are two American educations: One for the affluent, and one for students living in poverty.



Many of the reports focus on numbers for free and reduced lunches, which is, some say, a “rough proxy for poverty,” but those labeling it in such a way have probably never set foot in a classroom.



Almost every day, I slip food to one of my students. Both of his parents are in prison. Or, one of his parents is in prison and the other is dead. We can’t quite get the full story from him. He lives with his older sister, whom he refers to as his mother because he doesn’t want to explain anything. Or he doesn’t live with her. He won’t say where he’s staying. We’ve attempted home visits but can never get anyone to answer the door.



A senior from a nearby high school spoke at the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented’s annual conference in Denver this past October. Poised and polished and wearing a suit, he told the assembled teachers and administrators about how he had recently received a $25,000 grant from a company to allow him to continue to develop a thumbprint-activated gun prototype. He takes a special class in a public school—a scientific discovery class—in which he is allowed time to process through his scientifically based ideas. He works with a special adviser from a corporation that helped him set up his own corporation, and continues to help guide the research and development of his prototype. He admitted openly to taking many days off of school in order to work on his projects. He laughed it off, though, because his teachers make a special exception for him because they know he’s gifted, and they know what he’s working on.



My students take several days off of school also. They do it when they have to care for their brothers or sisters because their parents are working. They do it when they have to work so their family can eat. They do it when their parents are in the hospital receiving emergency medical care. Instead of a special exception, my students will eventually get a date in truancy court.





Another student who spoke at the conference, a fourteen-year-old “Indigenous Environmental Activist,” is “committed to standing up and protecting the Earth, Water, Air, and Atmosphere.” He attends a private school on a full-ride scholarship, and travels around the world—by airplane, I should mention—to perform with other activists, fight for the environment, and encourage other people to do the same. He and his siblings have released an album of rap songs about fighting for the health of the planet. My kids fight for the chance to break the oppressive cycle of poverty.



My student comes to school hungry every day. He wears size XXL shirts to hide what we all know is an emaciated frame. A couple of weeks ago, he used a plastic bag—stretched out to its full length—as a belt. He says he doesn’t get to choose the size of clothes he gets so he has to make do with what he has. He tells me I don’t have to buy him food, but I do anyway, because he needs it. He always takes it.



Why do I do it? Is it because it hurts me to see when my students are hungry, to know that they are wanting? That’s one reason, yes. But another reason I do it is because, deep down, I am ashamed of an educational system that provides such privilege to some students, while willfully and purposefully denying it to others.



I am angry that when I attend a conference for gifted children—which, make no mistake, I do have in my classroom, though they do not have the same opportunities as their more affluent counterparts—I see such a stark difference between the opportunities afforded to students in affluent areas, and the opportunities afforded to students in my classroom.



There has been plenty of talk about privilege lately: the difference in racial privilege, the difference in gender privilege.



There’s a difference in educational privilege, too. I see it every day. I live it. I am disgusted by it.



Where there is money, there is education. Where there isn’t money, there is excessive testing, lack of curricular options, and struggle. There is the struggle to give students the tools they need to fight their way through a system that is designed to hold them back from the moment they take their first breath, from the moment they try to write their first paragraph. As The Washington Post report states: “A growing number of children start kindergarten already trailing their more privileged peers and rarely, if ever, catch up. They are less likely to have support at home, are less frequently exposed to enriching activities outside of school, and are more likely to drop out and never attend college.” They are, overall, less likely to succeed.





When I was at the conference, I heard confidence in the voices of the two students that spoke; their words were steeped in the self-assuredness of privilege.



Instead of self-assuredness, my teenage students’ voices are already wracked with weariness.



So what do my students need, then? Access to the same funding, opportunities, and “exceptions” afforded to privileged, affluent students.



They need a society and educational system designed to actually meet their needs, instead of a society that passes laws to keep them constantly underfoot and an educational system designed to test them to death and tell them how they are inadequate instead of educating them.

[elleblue]

This is so damn heartbreaking. 

[penguingrrl]

That's so sad and incredibly unfair. I was ready to throw things in the discussion of affluent kids being encouraged to take time off school for "once in a lifetime" (that really are nothing of the sort) experiences while poor kids are punished because their families need them to stay home to help the family survive the day. Such bullshit.

[irishbride2]

THe truency issue came up on ML recently. Some argued that it's an excused absence if you take your kids to Disney. So what counts as unexcused then? Things that only affect poor people.

I wish I had this article to post during that debate.

[iammalcolmx]

I wish I had some answers besides my immediate urge to find this kid , buy him some clothes and some food.

[W.T.Faulkner]

This is the truth.

[lahoagie]

I heard Condoleezza Rice speak once and the one point that she made that will always stick with me is that we as a country are losing out on brilliant, smart kids because they are poor. They are not given the chance.

[frankenlady]

Feb 2, 2015 17:40:33 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

THe truency issue came up on ML recently. Some argued that it's an excused absence if you take your kids to Disney. So what counts as unexcused then? Things that only affect poor people.

I wish I had this article to post during that debate.

[b

I was one of the few teachers at my old school that allowed kids with unexcused absences to make up missed work. The only thing that gets an excused absence is someone calling in to the office.
For many kids, there isn't someone available to call. They fail because of a phone call.

[Deleted]

The wealthy will always have this advantage/privilege and it is not the experience of most school kids. Instead of comparing these vastly different experiences, let's focus on a reasonable and attainable baseline.

[cookiemdough]

Feb 2, 2015 18:12:55 GMT -5 @spenjamins said:

The wealthy will always have this advantage/privilege and it is not the experience of most school kids. Instead of comparing these vastly different experiences, let's focus on a reasonable and attainable baseline.

"They need a society and educational system designed to actually meet their needs, instead of a society that passes laws to keep them constantly underfoot and an educational system designed to test them to death and tell them how they are inadequate instead of educating them."

It sounds like that is what she is asking for.

[erbear]

Feb 2, 2015 17:44:19 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I wish I had some answers besides my immediate urge to find this kid , buy him some clothes and some food.

Seriously. I taught in philly a few years and the heartbreaking thing is that you can do that for a kid (I bought food, school supplies, shoes, clothes, you name it), but there are at least 100 more you can't reach. And that is devastating, especially when you can see the stark difference of schools a mile away, whose biggest difference is that the kids are primarily white

[redwino]

This is so true and something I didn't fully realize until I moved from an affluent district to a poor one. You don't even want to know the differences in special education services. You think it's hard finding teachers and resources for poor students, add some disabilities into the mix and watch the shit fall.

[Deleted]

This is in Colorado where each county gets to vote on school funding, and it is often the wealthiest counties that continually vote down raising taxes for education. I worked at a charter in the wealthiest school district. While most of my students were white, they were all lower on the socioeconomic scale. Most qualified for free and reduced lunches, dozens of kids were considered 'homeless.' Most were from single parent households. My charter was a last chance school, a place to make up credits, most of the kids could not go back to their neighborhood school because they were too far behind to graduate. Our administrators, who never actually visited our campus, would ride us on attendance. Many of our students worked full time to support their families, some had kids of their own, many had no reliable transportation and often couldn't afford bus fair, or food, or warm clothes. It's heartbreaking. I bought a lot of lunches, and gave kids rides to work/home, bought basic school supplies, etc..

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2015 18:28:06 GMT -5 redwino said:

This is so true and something I didn't fully realize until I moved from an affluent district to a poor one. You don't even want to know the differences in special education services. You think it's hard finding teachers and resources for poor students, add some disabilities into the mix and watch the shit fall.

This.  I worked at a charter so it was a choice school, we often had to turn down students because we didn't have the facilities or staff to meet their IEP requirements.  

[redwino]

Feb 2, 2015 18:30:58 GMT -5 @slayerkate said:

Feb 2, 2015 18:28:06 GMT -5 redwino said:

This is so true and something I didn't fully realize until I moved from an affluent district to a poor one. You don't even want to know the differences in special education services. You think it's hard finding teachers and resources for poor students, add some disabilities into the mix and watch the shit fall.

This.  I worked at a charter so it was a choice school, we often had to turn down students because we didn't have the facilities or staff to meet their IEP requirements.  

Yep. We're public and truly don't have the facilities and staff to meet a lot of students needs, so IEPs are rewritten (usually lowering time and eliminating aides) and schools make it work. What funny is that there is the public perception that these things are done because schools/district want save money for something else. IME, there is either no money to provide better services or no people available to provide better services, usually because of the poor pay which leads us back to one.

[irishbride2]

Feb 2, 2015 17:52:36 GMT -5 frankenlady said:

Feb 2, 2015 17:40:33 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

THe truency issue came up on ML recently. Some argued that it's an excused absence if you take your kids to Disney. So what counts as unexcused then? Things that only affect poor people.

I wish I had this article to post during that debate.

[b

I was one of the few teachers at my old school that allowed kids with unexcused absences to make up missed work. The only thing that gets an excused absence is someone calling in to the office.
For many kids, there isn't someone available to call. They fail because of a phone call.

I was/am the same way. It always broke my heart when students had to bring other teachers proof they attended a funeral so they could make up missed work. Fuck that. 

[redwino]

Feb 2, 2015 19:14:59 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Feb 2, 2015 17:52:36 GMT -5 frankenlady said:

[b

I was one of the few teachers at my old school that allowed kids with unexcused absences to make up missed work. The only thing that gets an excused absence is someone calling in to the office.
For many kids, there isn't someone available to call. They fail because of a phone call.

I was/am the same way. It always broke my heart when students had to bring other teachers proof they attended a funeral so they could make up missed work. Fuck that. 

I recently had a conversation with the attendance clerk about a 12 yo who regularly comes to school hungry and an hour late. The attendance clerk was going on and on about how she lives close and she could eat if she got here in time. I would bet money that that this child is responsible for getting herself and younger siblings to school and that's why she's always late. After the attendance clerk finished her rant I asked if the school social worker had been contacted. She stuttered and said no but she'll talk to her that day. I'll check on it the next time I'm there. It's just frustrating because instead of trying to help this child people want to write her off as not caring about school.

[emisi]

OKay, I have to play devil's advocate here. The stories of her kids are heartbreaking, totally, that is not in dispute. My problem is with her characterizing the other kids as affluent. The first kid talked about getting a grant for the project he's working on; the second is on a full-ride scholarship to a private school. They don't usually give those away to affluent kids, they give them away to kids who are bright and whose parents don't have the money to send them to private school.

So yes, I agree that the underprivileged kids she teaches need more opportunities and more money in their schools, but holding up those two students as examples of wealthy, overpriviledged kids isn't fair either. We have no idea what their parents do, and how hard they had to work to get into their programs.

[irishbride2]

Feb 2, 2015 21:13:06 GMT -5 emisi said:

OKay, I have to play devil's advocate here. The stories of her kids are heartbreaking, totally, that is not in dispute. My problem is with her characterizing the other kids as affluent. The first kid talked about getting a grant for the project he's working on; the second is on a full-ride scholarship to a private school. They don't usually give those away to affluent kids, they give them away to kids who are bright and whose parents don't have the money to send them to private school.

So yes, I agree that the underprivileged kids she teaches need more opportunities and more money in their schools, but holding up those two students as examples of wealthy, overpriviledged kids isn't fair either. We have no idea what their parents do, and how hard they had to work to get into their programs.

Maybe I misread  but she uses "privileged" not wealthy. The issue is the discrepancy in education. One doesn't have to be wealthy to have privilege in a certain area. 

[emisi]

Feb 2, 2015 21:15:23 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:13:06 GMT -5 emisi said:

OKay, I have to play devil's advocate here. The stories of her kids are heartbreaking, totally, that is not in dispute. My problem is with her characterizing the other kids as affluent. The first kid talked about getting a grant for the project he's working on; the second is on a full-ride scholarship to a private school. They don't usually give those away to affluent kids, they give them away to kids who are bright and whose parents don't have the money to send them to private school.

So yes, I agree that the underprivileged kids she teaches need more opportunities and more money in their schools, but holding up those two students as examples of wealthy, overpriviledged kids isn't fair either. We have no idea what their parents do, and how hard they had to work to get into their programs.

Maybe I misread  but she uses "privileged" not wealthy. The issue is the discrepancy in education. One doesn't have to be wealthy to have privilege in a certain area. 

True, and that's fair enough, but still, we don't know what kind of life those two have.  The way I read it, she assumes they're all middle or upper middle class kids whose parents drive them around to soccer and MENSA meetings.  How does she know what their lives are like?  Maybe the kid working with corporations has a single mom who works three jobs to make sure he can get those sorts of opportunities.  

[irishbride2]

Feb 2, 2015 21:21:01 GMT -5 emisi said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:15:23 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Maybe I misread  but she uses "privileged" not wealthy. The issue is the discrepancy in education. One doesn't have to be wealthy to have privilege in a certain area. 

True, and that's fair enough, but still, we don't know what kind of life those two have.  The way I read it, she assumes they're all middle or upper middle class kids whose parents drive them around to soccer and MENSA meetings.  How does she know what their lives are like?  Maybe the kid working with corporations has a single mom who works three jobs to make sure he can get those sorts of opportunities.  

I read it as some kids have great educational opportunities and others do not. The only mention of affluent vs not is that generally these opportunities are afforded in affluent areas, which is true. The rest you are adding in. 

Look, I've taught in the extremes: One of the worst inner city schools in the country, and now an elite private school. Yes there are poor kids at each (although the ratios are very different). But even the children from poor families at the current school are privileged in terms of education. It is a completely different world than what my students in Baltimore were faced with at school. 

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2015 21:21:01 GMT -5 emisi said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:15:23 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Maybe I misread  but she uses "privileged" not wealthy. The issue is the discrepancy in education. One doesn't have to be wealthy to have privilege in a certain area. 

True, and that's fair enough, but still, we don't know what kind of life those two have.  The way I read it, she assumes they're all middle or upper middle class kids whose parents drive them around to soccer and MENSA meetings.  How does she know what their lives are like?  Maybe the kid working with corporations has a single mom who works three jobs to make sure he can get those sorts of opportunities.  

But the point still remains. She's talking about affluent schools. Maybe the kid does have a mom who works three jobs and drives him to MENSA meetings, but he's still in a school with money, where he's afforded the opportunities to do the things he does.

There are no corporations beating down inner city schools to find the best and brightest kids in need of grants. The kids she teaches in her inner city school could be brilliant, but just being in the school they are in is a barrier.

[emisi]

Feb 2, 2015 21:33:46 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:13:06 GMT -5 emisi said:

OKay, I have to play devil's advocate here. The stories of her kids are heartbreaking, totally, that is not in dispute. My problem is with her characterizing the other kids as affluent. The first kid talked about getting a grant for the project he's working on; the second is on a full-ride scholarship to a private school. They don't usually give those away to affluent kids, they give them away to kids who are bright and whose parents don't have the money to send them to private school.

So yes, I agree that the underprivileged kids she teaches need more opportunities and more money in their schools, but holding up those two students as examples of wealthy, overpriviledged kids isn't fair either. We have no idea what their parents do, and how hard they had to work to get into their programs.

I don't think the point is an accurate characterization but merely to draw the distinction about the level of disparity that she actually observes. I understand what you're saying because she does use the word affluent, but the title is about educational privilege, which I think is likely a bigger hurdle than whose parents earn what.

Educational privilege and academic privilege are so often linked, though.  You're not going to see a crap school in the middle of a neighborhood of mansions, but you will often see a less desirable school in a poor neighborhood, because that's how money is doled out.  You don't have it all collected in one central pot and given away equally, it's based on where it's given.  You want to stop unequal funding of education you need to make the way education funds are paid out more equal, collected in a central account and doled out according to the number of students in a school, NOT based on what the neighborhood pays in school taxes.

[irishbride2]

Feb 2, 2015 21:38:12 GMT -5 emisi said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:33:46 GMT -5 @songforyou said:

I don't think the point is an accurate characterization but merely to draw the distinction about the level of disparity that she actually observes. I understand what you're saying because she does use the word affluent, but the title is about educational privilege, which I think is likely a bigger hurdle than whose parents earn what.

Educational privilege and academic privilege are so often linked, though.  You're not going to see a crap school in the middle of a neighborhood of mansions, but you will often see a less desirable school in a poor neighborhood, because that's how money is doled out.  You don't have it all collected in one central pot and given away equally, it's based on where it's given.  You want to stop unequal funding of education you need to make the way education funds are paid out more equal, collected in a central account and doled out according to the number of students in a school, NOT based on what the neighborhood pays in school taxes.

Our area does this. (County wide school districts) and there are still major differences. 

[ttt]

Feb 2, 2015 21:33:19 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:21:01 GMT -5 emisi said:

True, and that's fair enough, but still, we don't know what kind of life those two have.  The way I read it, she assumes they're all middle or upper middle class kids whose parents drive them around to soccer and MENSA meetings.  How does she know what their lives are like?  Maybe the kid working with corporations has a single mom who works three jobs to make sure he can get those sorts of opportunities.  

But the point still remains. She's talking about affluent schools. Maybe the kid does have a mom who works three jobs and drives him to MENSA meetings, but he's still in a school with money, where he's afforded the opportunities to do the things he does.

There are no corporations beating down inner city schools to find the best and brightest kids in need of grants. The kids she teaches in her inner city school could be brilliant, but just being in the school they are in is a barrier.

[

It doesn't seem like the school is the problem though- it's the poverty. If a child isn't getting enough to eat, has to skip school to work to support the family, can't get to school on time because she's caring for siblings, how is having a corporate funded program available to work on a brilliant project going to help her anyway?

[hopecounts]

Feb 3, 2015 0:06:27 GMT -5 ttt said:

Feb 2, 2015 21:33:19 GMT -5 papiercherri said:

But the point still remains. She's talking about affluent schools. Maybe the kid does have a mom who works three jobs and drives him to MENSA meetings, but he's still in a school with money, where he's afforded the opportunities to do the things he does.

There are no corporations beating down inner city schools to find the best and brightest kids in need of grants. The kids she teaches in her inner city school could be brilliant, but just being in the school they are in is a barrier.

[

It doesn't seem like the school is the problem though- it's the poverty. If a child isn't getting enough to eat, has to skip school to work to support the family, can't get to school on time because she's caring for siblings, how is having a corporate funded program available to work on a brilliant project going to help her anyway?

The point in that anecdote is the kid is allowed to miss school without penalty while kids at lesser schools are penalized for having to miss to work/take care of siblings/etc
A kid at a lesser school would be getting 0s for missing and fucking up there GPA.
That's the issue, a kid who gets lucky and gets into a better school gets more options/opportunity and support and it's through factors they have little control over for the most part,