|
|
|
And our top priority is their test scores? Jackson wrote in 2005: " Many Black children and students are socially and emotionally out of control and are choosing violence and aggression as a way to solve problems in the world in which they live. They swear, fight, vandalize, challenge authority and exhibit other overly-aggressive behaviors. Too many of these children have little respect for authority and no fear of consequences for their actions. "They do not fear or respect clergy, teachers, their parents or even the police nor will they listen to well-meaning adults or respond to positive guidance. In some schools in the United States, the daily classroom environment is a war zone with the possibility of crippling, and sometimes deadly, violence amongst the children themselves and the world in which they live." Jackson's sisyphusian mission is to change that world. His statistics depict his challenge: Schools are the main venue for violence spilling over from the communities they try to teach. Police have arrested 44 students at a high school in Springfield just since August 24. Of the brutality that killed Derrion Albert another Fenger student said: "I've seen kids do things even nastier than that. They [the victims] just didn't die." From the 1960s to the present - for a half century - policymakers have regularly turned to the schools as the magic solution to cultural depravity. "We are going to break the cycle of poverty and violence through education," they have over and over again decided. How's that working for us? If it isn't working well, why not? Perhaps it is because, as we believe, the "Out of School Factors" overwhelm what schools can do in these areas. "Turnaround" schools will not change the culture of their neighborhoods. Replacing "failed" administrative staffs and teachers just breaks what little continuity the students can see in their lives. When no one feels a stake in the future - when, as Jackson wrote, "these children have no respect for authority and no fear of consequences" - what's their motivation? Where do the schools get the leverage they need to work the miracle demanded of them? The late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon believed in large-scale changes. A "full employment" program with government as the employer of last resort - with required training provided and deadlines for finding jobs in the private sector - was for years the centerpiece of his vision for social reform. Jobs engender self-respect, create the "stake in the future" that motivates self-improvement and civic respect, he believed. We agreed with Simon years ago and still do. We also think such a program would cause test scores to rise. — Jim Broadway |
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically
authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to
advance understanding of education issues vital to a democracy. We believe this constitutes a
'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US
Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes. For more information click here. If you wish to use copyrighted material from
this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from
the copyright owner.
