At my after school job, the students have a snack time, then it's on to homework help for an hour, then we have activities (gym, poetry, creative writing, yoga, board games) for an hour.
Last Friday, during homework time, I had one boy, who is normally pretty well behaved, refuse to do his homework. Here is how the conversation went;
Me: Jose, look at the kids around you, what do you see that is different between you and them?
Jose: They are doing their homework.
Me: Bingo! So what are you going to do about that?
Jose: I can't do my homework! I can't read (giggles are heard from the other children)
Me: Jose, you are in the 5th grade, I know you can read
Another student: No, Ms. Kristy, he really can't read
Me: Jose, come with me. Can you read?
Jose: I can't! I read at a 3.2 level.
Me: Well, then you can read, let's see what we can work on.
Jose: No, I don't like reading, and I don't need it.
Me: What kind of future do you think you'll have not being able to read? What are you going to do for a job?
Jose: I'll stay home
Me: And how will you pay bills?
Jose: I'm gonna hustle
Me: Jose, that's not funny
Jose: I'm not kidding
Me: Jose, how many drug dealers do you see living past 35? How many grandfathers do you see that sell drugs? Jose, you can't mean that.
Jose: I don't want to read (puts head down)
Now, to put this conversation into further perspective, I work in North Philadelphia (Killadelphia to some).
After that conversation with Jose, I still can't shake the reality that some of these kids just are not going to make it. It depresses me despite the inevitability.
Some of the best professors I've had in my Master's program have asked us to question the role that education plays, that it should play, and whether education is for everyone. Unfair racial advantage and biases aside, not everyone succeeds by "educational standards"
If it is the case that Jose just hasn't lived up to his potential (which I believe is true), or hasn't been given enough attention, then the issue is something that we CAN and SHOULD fix.
If it is the case that Jose, or any child struggling in school, just does not have the skills or can not live up to educational standards, and if that child has a skill set that is needed in other areas, then what are we doing pushing them so hard and making them feel inadequate?
I mean, there was a time in this country where learning a trade was a valid choice, but in this society of yearly, monthly, weekly testing and benchmarks, everyone is measured to the same standards.
There are obvious reasons why this is unfair and many people are coming to realize that testing is not the most appropriate way to measure skills. The question, however, still remains;
Is school for everyone? As an educator I want all kids to succeed and I have to believe that there is a way to teach everyone. Despite this optimistic mindset, or possibly because of it, it is hard to look at statistics of dropout and failure rates.
I suppose, as a teacher, you have to decide whether you can allow for varying levels of "success" on an individual basis or whether you are going to accept the common notion that being "successful" is earning a High School diploma and going off to college.
You raise some very interesting questions in the context of your conversation with the student. There are no easy answers to these questions. Students are eventually faced with making the decision to stay in school or not. I believe that it's our job as educators to make school as interesting and meaningful to students as possible, so they will remain in school and achieve academically. While many students are labeled by the system as failures, educators also have to take responsibility for the institution failing to do its job.
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point that success can and should be measured in many different ways.