In a message dated 4/10/08 6:11:12 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> The gentrifying mission of a neighborhood-based lab school like PAS is
> pretty plain. But high schools are clumsier tools of gentrification
> because they must draw from a wide geographical base....
>
I think that our rather jaded descriptions of the specialty schools using the
blanket term of gentrification may not reflect the original purpose.
My experience with the Philadelphia public schools only goes back about 20
years, to when my son Scott started kindergarten at Powel - I think in 1988.
He was able to go to Powel instead of Wilson, which is our neighborhood school,
because of the city's court-ordered "deseg" program.
As I understand it, the deseg program had begun at a considerably earlier
date, when it still appeared possible to racially balance the Philadelphia
school
system. Certain schools were given "perks" so that folks would voluntarily
put their little kids on school buses and send them over, so that the school
population would be mixed, as was required by the courts.
Wilson, unfortunately, isn't targeted for deseg, so it doesn't get the perks.
I don't know who made that decision. But the Powelton neighbors insisted
that Powel be a deseg school from the time it was built - which I think was at
the end of the 1950s. It wasn't that they wanted a "white" school for their
kids - they wanted a school in which children of all races could learn
together. I don't know if each deseg school has the same requirement, but for
Powel, it was required that the school always be "majority minority" to reflect
the population of the area - in other words, always more than 50% non-white.
And it was a mixture of neighborhood school AND deseg school - kids within the
neighborhood boundaries were automatically in; other children could apply "for
the purpose of desegregation" if there were spaces available and they were of
the races required for the deseg program.
If these guidelines apply at every deseg school, there must be schools in the
predominately white areas of the Northeast where the schools would be seeking
non-white students for deseg.
Does anyone know if the specialty schools we are talking about here were
created for this same reason - to bring a blend of students to a middle or high
school, rather than only a population of whichever race happened to live
nearby?
Not Central or Girls High, of course, they'd been around much longer. But
maybe even Masterman came about as a result of the deseg program? Perhaps
Wilma can enlighten us - not that she has been teaching since the creation of
deseg schools, of course!
All of that said, I have always found that the Philadelphia school system
works best for smart white students - unfortunately. But, I'm not even sure
it provided a very good education for my smart white child, compared to the
opportunities at Friends schools, St. Joe's Prep, etc. Coming from nurturing
preschools and home lives, my son and the other University City kids I know
were
self-confident and outspoken. At home, they were used to being listened to
when they had an opinion; they carried on intellectual conversations with
adults as a matter of course. Then they went to public school, where the
teachers, struggling with so many kids in a classroom, wanted them to sit down
and
shut up. That contradicted what they'd been taught before, that their
opinions
counted and that the folks around them respected them. It wasn't always a
good fit.
It all seems to be a matter of numbers, of having too many kids in a
classroom, so that the teachers can't possibly spread themselves thin enough to
do all
that they'd be able to do for a smaller group. The students all need
encouragement and nurturing, no matter what their performance level, race,
enthusiasm level, etc. may be. They need a chance to interact and develop
their
skills and self confidence. Without more funding to reduce classroom size,
the
system is failing all of them, even if the test scores of some get them into
good colleges.
I don't think that anyone reading this discussion feels that it's the fault
of the teachers; it's the fault of a system that treats the whole thing like
bean-counting and thinks that a large box works just as well as a small one,
but
is willing to keep changing the name and pictures on the box every few years
to see if that makes a difference.
- Melani Lamond
Melani Lamond, Associate Broker
Urban & Bye, Realtor
3529 Lancaster Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
cell phone 215-356-7266
office phone 215-222-4800, ext. 113
**************
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