Educational Injustice

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Today is a day we choose to remember Martin Luther King Jr. and his teachings, so I chose this quote not only because of its significance to today, but also because of its relevance to our class. I hope that throughout this volunteering experience I can continue Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings and be a positive influence for the kids at the I Have A Dream Foundation, helping them to reach beyond the confines of society’s structural setbacks. In several of the books we’ve read thus far, along with previous experience, it’s become apparent that “social class differences in children’s life experiences can be seen in the details of life” (Lareau 35).  In Lareau’s “Unequal Childhoods” the parents treat their children different based on their economic constraints. The variance in perception of the government and educational institutions is significant among the social classes.

Part of the reason this class had such a great appeal to me connects back to previous work I have done. Our education system is broken and in the past I have worked with troubled children in a local school program called Builders Club. It drew my attention to the fact that these children didn’t have the same resources I had in terms of schooling at that age. Builders Club started each day as summer school, then by mid-day we did arts, crafts, and numerous physical activities / games with the children. Some of the children came from wealthier parents, while others came from poorer backgrounds. Some children were abused, starved, and were facing other hardships in their lives. The children truly taught me a lot and really took to me as a positive role model. For me, it wasn’t simply about teaching them, but also learning more about myself.  In the mornings, I helped teach. During this time, I found that many of the children acted out and when they were told to do something they would intentionally ignore the teacher or do the opposite, as a statement. I was assigned to a group of approximately eighteen first graders. They were all from poorer backgrounds and objected to the organization and structure within the school setting. These children were accustomed to little supervision and as Lareau points out in “Unequal Childhoods”, “for working-class and poor families, the cultural logic of child rearing at home is out of synch with the standards of institutions” (3). Many of these children “appear to gain an emerging sense of distance, distrust, and constraint in their institutional experiences” (Lareau 3). Since I did not simply act as a teacher, the children grew to trust me and talk about their issues at home. I became accustomed to hearing their comments that they didn’t have to go to school since their parents did not go, or even that they didn’t have to listen to the teacher. They didn’t believe the teachers were there to help them. Rather, they saw school as a place that they got in trouble. If they asked questions about assignments they felt as though they would be punished and told they hadn’t been listening. School was a struggle for many of the children. They opened my eyes to the differences in backgrounds and availability of resources based on socioeconomic status. However, hearing their daily comments inspired me to be a role model and prove to them how important education is, as well as listen to them (something many people don’t seem to do in our educational system today). During the afternoon camp was when I truly bonded with the children. It was the time I spent getting to know them as individuals, playing games with them, and helping them with their homework. By the end of the camp, I learned a lot not only about myself, but about them and their daily struggles.

I truly love organizations and programs such as Builders Club and the I Have A Dream Foundation that are trying to help give children the educational opportunities they have been lacking. However, Builders Club has since been discontinued in my county at home because so many people in the community saw it as a waste of local funding and didn’t recognize the importance of the program. This mindset is too common and it was difficult to witness firsthand. It makes me appreciate programs such as the I Have A Dream Foundation and I am excited to be involved.

As Kozol states in his “Shame of a Nation”, “a segregated education in America is unacceptable” (316); I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. This volunteering experience will help me to show these kids that they can succeed in school and achieve great things despite not having all the same resources I had throughout my education. When Jazz and Danielle came in on our first day of class, I was simply excited to work with children, but once they discussed our jobs and what their goals are with the program in depth, I realized how much this struck home with me simply because of the amazing, life changing experience I’d had working with kids previously.

Kozol’s goal is to bring to light the fact that there is such a disparity in the expenditures for education. Despite the close distance between many of the schools, there is too much of a difference with counties spending close to double what others have and this can affect preschool opportunities and even affect statewide testing grades that begin in grade school. In New York City, in 2002, “only between a quarter and a third of children in the district had received even a single year of preschool” (Kozol 51). There is a direct correlation between property taxes and the spending on resources in the education system. The property taxes are what determines funding for the local schools, when it is a neighborhood system. So, when the property taxes are higher, the school is better funded and therefore able to pay for better extracurricular programs, teachers, and other resources that would further improve the education of children. Furthermore, when property taxes are lower, this typically means the population is of a lower socioeconomic status, and thus those in poorer schools are not performing as well. Basically, Kozol’s point is that we need to find a way to even out property taxes because the way the system is set up now sets schools up for failure. It’s been a continuous cycle of failure because of the lack of adequate local funding.

From reading the books we’ve read thus far, along with both my previous experience, I can’t help but be excited to be involved in the I Have A Dream Foundation of Asheville.