On Education

As a teacher, specifically one from Southern California - the epicenter of the immigration debate, I'm often asked about my thoughts on both the subject of education and immigration. The following are some, but not nearly all of those thoughts, since I could and have written major essays on them in the past.

- Why can't schools in low-income neighborhoods, which tend to serve minority populations, provide a quality of education equal to that of schools in largely white, middle-class communities? Unfortunately, this is a rather complicated problem, and people tend to gravitate towards the simplest answer. The following are a few of the reasons why there is an achievement gap.

- The Environment
1) The violence prevalent in so many of our poorest communities drives away many of the most qualified teachers. Would you want to work in a school or community where you'd be afraid of being shot, stabbed, mugged, or jumped?

2) Too many of the teachers in these schools are what I refer to as mental midgets, meaning they have failed a teacher certification exam anywhere from three to eight times, despite the fact that those tests are at the eighth grade level.

3) Although low-income schools (taxes play a role here), are eligible for additional funds from the state and federal coffers, mismanagement of said money guarantees that teachers at these schools have few resources available to students and teachers. Ex: I still don't have a pencil sharpener for my classroom.

4) The violence in the surrounding areas prevents many students from collaborating on after-school projects, visiting libraries, or staying out at night to take place in extra-curricular activities. In Los Angeles, a student was shot through the wall of her bedroom while reading The Last of the Mohicans.

5) Starvation is a direct result of poverty; and, in communities where 96% of the children don't have enough to eat, it's not unreasonable to expect that kids have more important things on their mind than Algebra.

- Immigrant Issues
1) Those emigrating to the United States are overwhelmingly the poor and dispossessed of their respective countries, not the engineers, doctors, or Nobel Laureates. That said, many of these immigrants not only have no knowledge of English, they also have a limited knowledge of their own native language.

2) Without access to educational opportunities or stable work, many immigrants do not have the time or the support to gain proficiency in English. This should not be surprising when so many native-born Americans have an appalling degree of proficiency in English. It has been found that only 30% of all college grads can properly analyze a text.

3) Many of the dispossessed immigrants come from areas where the lack of access to an education has taught them that the only way to acquire economic prosperity is through backbreaking manual labor.

4) Thus, the children of these immigrants grow up without any foundations in English, and are brainwashed into thinking that manual labor, and not education, will be their means of escape from the ghetto. It's not a lack of work ethic; it's a lack of understanding how to go about reaching their goals.

- Social Pressures
1) There's a great degree of pressure from those within immigrant communities for children to retain their culture, language, and values for fear of having them become "too" American.

2) A lack of support at home makes it difficult for children to become immersed in the American school system, its language, and its values.

3) Lack of support oftentimes leads to isolation and alienation not only from family but also from any possible friends. (i.e. Doing too well in school is often seen as becoming white-washed). Would you have had the courage to become an outsider (at school and at home) as a small child?

4) The lack of positive role models and the negative stereotypes on TV work to define how these students view themselves - as low-achieving, impoverished, thugs. As numerous studies have shown, students rise or fall to meet the expectations we have of them.

Now that I've spent a good deal of time talking about the struggles many students face, I'd like to make it clear that I believe making excuses and allowances for students is a huge disservice, one that promotes and encourages future failure. Struggles should define where we've come from, not where we're going.