Re: How are we contributing ,, was [UC] markets in schools ... (Was: Re: [ UC]
Publicizing Philly Schools)Wilma and Liz,
It's easy to understand anger at parents due to the bad experiences a teacher
might have. There is a "front-line" tension that should be acknowleged.
When the industrialist barons in the 19th and 20th centuries tried to break
strikes and unions, they would bring in ethnic minorities and immigrants. They
pitted the two groups against each other. Both groups had similar
disadvantages, but the barons distracted the workers struggle away from them
and towards each other. I'd like to see teachers and parents join together and
recognize systemic problems are the common enemy and not simply the other.
If Philadelphia residents considered that the systemic problems and poor
outcomes in our poorly funded school district existed before Wilma and the
other current teachers were present, they might give them much greater respect
and much less blame. I like some of the points Liz made too.
If you look at the larger group of parents, there are many reasons for family
or parenting barriers. And it is in society's interest to look at education as
a public good. So while I can understand Wilma's frustration, if I look at the
parents objectively, I understand the range of demands on parents and expect
breakdowns. Certain examples may provoke anger but so many parents are like
the young woman highlighted in the first part of the Inq. series on dropouts.
(She cried when her tough decision to bring the child to orientation might get
her kicked out creating another failure)
One common misperception in the on-line middle class community, in which
clarification will illustrate my point about parents, is literacy proficiency.
This is a serious silent problem. The high dropout rate has been around for a
long time. There are large areas of the city were large numbers of citizens
(many parents) only read at about a 5th to 7th grade reading level. (Public
education is probably one of the great advances that led to American
prosperity. But our society has been moving back towards medieval times with
this literacy indicator)
These parents work jobs with low pay and no time off. A real babysitting
problem is just one possible problem they may face daily. Their frustrations
can easily be manipulated against teachers. .
Another point I liked from Liz, is that the kids still exist during family
breakdowns and still need those other things like food., vaccines, etc. This
is not to say the homeroom teachers should provide the services. I think a big
problem caused by under-funding is that teachers should have back up in several
areas in which they don't. (I agree that schools are an incredibly
underutilized public space and forum for intervention. But of course that has
nothing to do with the homeroom teachers' job but should be delivered as
welcome support for the teachers and in the interest of the kids.)
If a third of Phila. schools are struggling to have a music and art teacher;
what is the reality of funding guidance counselors, coaches etc. I don't think
the teachers should be taking on so many roles without help. The availability
of quality relationships with a range of adults (plus their services) can be
very important when family problems emerge which can hurt the child.
Concluding, I think it is in the public interest to view all children as shared
responsibility. I think the problems and issues for both parents and teachers,
poor as well as middle class, are real and significant. When we invest in the
public good the payoff is well worth it, even though the public good is not
profitable to corporate fatcats and profitable to market capitalism.
Thanks for the good discussion,
Glenn
PS: Thank you Wilma. I respect teaching as an art and I think Phila. teachers
managing with the problems you face daily deserve a lot of credit! I'm not a
parent. I happily invest in the public good.
----- Original Message -----
From: Wilma de Soto
To: Elizabeth F Campion ; UnivCity listserv
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 10:48 PM
Subject: [UC] Re: How are we contributing ,, was [UC] markets in schools ...
(Was: Re: [ UC] Publicizing Philly Schools)
Thank you for your insightful comments, Liz.
I wasn't speaking of 'welfare queens' which I consider to be a pejorative
term, rather parents who have come to expect and demand that schools do their
job for them.
What I see on the front lines are kids who are kept home two or three days a
week to babysit for younger children. One really nice student comes to mind.
His parents go off to the casino and leave him to watch his 11 month old sister.
Many of the parents we have are receiving assistance which is why their
children are eligible for the breakfast and lunch programs.
The most supportive parents are those who come to "Back-to-School Night".
Those we really need to see do not. Turnout for these 12+ hour days is usually
very poor even though they are held right across the street or around the
corner from where they live.
Isolating children with head lice is not as easy now. One can send them home
with a note from the nurse, but if they SAY they have treated them we have to
admit them. That also goes with ringworm, amongst other communicable maladies
such as the recent highly contagious Hand-and-Mouth disease.
Most schools do have Nurse Practitioners, just not everyday and trust me
those NP's are really stretched thinly. The other two days a week the School
Community Coordinator handles it.
Vaccines are free to poor families at Health Centers. We direct them to the
closest ones, or ones that have personnel that speak the home language of the
parents. We have the Eagle's Vision Van come and kids get free eyeglasses. We
had Charming Shoppes come in and give every single, solitary kid a winter coat,
scarf hat, gloves a school bag and school supplies; really nice stuff! Some of
the kids lost those coats, some lose their glasses, maltreat them, break them
or refuse to wear them.
We do so much and it seems as if it's never enough and quite often not
appreciated. Neither parents or children say "Thank You". Some do of course,
but the sense of entitlement boggles the mind. Not to mention all the extra
work needed to organize these events.
I daresay most people on this listserv have not been inside of a public
school building lately. If my vote could do something to change the way these
children are being brought up, so be it. However, the public cannot do
everything and there has to be a limit at how far people can push the envelope
for services and not do anything for themselves.
Before I am accused of painting all parents with a broad brush, I am not.
However, people need to know what schools are really like now.
Try to catch "Hard Times at Douglas High playing on HBO now. It's a good
documentary.
Wilma
On 6/28/08 7:56 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The myth of the Welfare Queen is often just a myth. For every mother who
chooses "hair extensions" over feeding her children there are many more who are
cutting their own portions to make sure their children get 'enough'.
I see enormous sacrifices by some of the parents delivering children to the
school next to my home. Some walk their kids, rain or shine. Others accompany
them, to and fro, on SEPTA, than complete their own rides to work.
As a society we are still voting bombs as a higher priority than child
welfare. Maybe basic "Food, Clothing and Shelter" should be 'entitlements'.
Schools make a good delivery system for food, and could also be used to deliver
the mandatory vaccines and other health check-ups that confound so many parents
living on the edge. It would be sooooo much easier to bring a Doctor or Nurse
Practitioner to a school, than to direct 600 families to a health center.
Maybe Schools could run year round or maybe some practical and socially
beneficial use for the buildings could be found for the summer months.
Healthy working parents are often overwhelmed by the demands of scheduling
family requirements. If we acknowledge that a huge number of humans are not
healthy, and that many suffer from debilitating mental illnesses and that many
of the ill are parents, than stresses within the current system become more
evident.
As adults I believe our obligation is to comfort, feed and educate the
hungry children before we challenge the failing parents to do better.
Teachers are the salaried front line of defense for our kids. There are
good teachers, and there are some that are worse than the stereotype of the
'welfare queen'. Often teachers deliver tissues, require hands to be washed,
isolate the kids with head lice, report those who appear to have been abused
and quiet a riot before chalk touches black board. Like parents, teachers need
support systems.
Society is complicated. Most of us contribute. DINKS might pay more in
taxes, for services being directed outside their own needs. Parents might
invest a greater portion of their time and money to their own kids. Those kids
might be our future tax base. Stay home parents might be eyes on the street, a
quiet deterrent to afternoon crime and possibly a group that gardens or makes
our parks look more people friendly.
It would be nice if "them" were not just 'problems' but also
'opportunities'. It would be nice if "we" paused, often, to contemplate all
the good we receive, and to say thank you. I am grateful that Wilma, provokes
thought. I usually, but do not always agree with her. I do admire her clear,
frank, brave writing. More than most, she enables me to better understand
something that is rolling around in my brain, collecting the lint of foundered
ideas and stuttered words.
This is an election year. We have less than 5 months to declare our
choices. I hope all eligible Adults: register; make time to think about their
visions of a better society; examine candidate skills and plans; VOTE, for the
people that will bring us closer to the society we want.
All the best!
Liz Campion
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
... When you have parents lamenting the end of a school year because they
expect
schools to give their children free breakfast ad lunch, well...
Why buy food and cook when <a parent> could use that money for hair
extensions that
take eight hours or more to put in.
That is what <teachers are> up against.
____________________________________________________________
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