My students knew intuitively that the reason they were lagging academically had nothing to do with race, which is the too-handy explanation for the achievement gap in Alexandria. And it wasn't because the school system had failed them. They knew that excuses about a lack of resources and access just didn't wash at the new, state-of-the-art, $100 million T.C. Williams, where every student is given a laptop and where there is open enrollment in Advanced Placement and honors courses. Rather, it was because their parents just weren't there for them -- at least not in the same way that parents of kids who were doing well tended to be.
Washington Post
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Sorry, but I don't buy it. The reality is that every parent of every kid wants their kid to succeed. Sure there are more dysfunctional environments in poor communities, but that's still probably less than 15%. That population needs special help.
ReplyDeleteBut the reality is that single moms and two or three job dads are completely out of touch with what's happening in school. Not because they don't care, but because they are too busy.
If a school adopted modern communication techniques this is a solvable problem. Consider if a mom working at ther two jobs and raising a family got an SMS message the same day the kid acted like a jerk. You better believe that for most kids, most of the time, there would be a "discussion" when mom got home.
Once the discussion happened and the kid knew that mom knew what he/she was up to at school, 80% of "behavior" problems would quickly disappear. The knowledge that the system is in place would probably make it unnecessary to make a lot of SMS going forward.
The fact is that mom finds out that Jr is in trouble happens much too late after the fact. The delay in communications makes it impossible for her to have an effect.
With all due respect, this is just another "blame someone" for things broken. Usually it's blame the teacher. Sometimes it's blame the principal. Often it's blame the kid. This is just blame the parents.
The notion that poor people don't have the "right" culture creates a blind spot that makes it much less likely to enlist the powerful forces of mom in the education enterprise.