Samuel Jimenez
Professor Monique Williams
English 1A
12 March 2014
It
Rains On My City
A
dark cloud covers a city filled with drugs, violence and a failing school
district. Despite the efforts of gentrification, the misery produced by the
dark cloud is still evident, especially in the schools. But less than one mile
and an overpass away, the sun shines brightly on one of the most affluent
neighborhoods in the nation. A neighborhood filled with wealth, where students
thrive and one of the nations great academic institutions calls home. The grass
is greener on the “west side” and all you have to do to see the difference
between East Palo Alto and Palo Alto is cross over that overpass. Ask yourself,
who creates these imaginary boundaries in our society and how could it be that
all that separates one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation from a
neighborhood with two of the lowest performing schools in California is just an
overpass? My research of this topic, aided by the reading of Jonathan Kozol’s
“Savage Inequalities”, part of Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”,
Erich Fromm’s “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” along with
watching Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for ‘Superman’” documentary about the
American public education system, led me to the belief that instead of failing
neighborhoods producing failing schools, in fact, failing neighborhoods, like
East Palo Alto, were produced by failing schools. In a society that’s growing
rapidly, I believe that it is all of our obligations, as a society, to help
reform the system that leads to these failing schools.
Within
these failing schools are children who, despite their, at times, troubled
upbringing and familiarity with negative influences from their primary
socialization, show promise and enthusiasm during their early years in
education. Young children, because of their innocence, have yet to realize the
inequalities in our education system at this point in their lives. Although the
problems of our education system exist in these early years, it isn’t until
later that the effects of these issues are immediately noticeable through the
child’s grades. Father Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in North
Camden, illustrates this innocence in Savage Inequalites, “’It rains on my
city,’ said an eight year old I know, ‘but I see rainbows in the puddles’”
(Kozol, Pg. 180). The loss of innocence begins later on. In Guggenheim’s
documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’”, educator Geoffrey Canada says “Between
the 5th and 7th grade, you see a huge number of minority
students go from being ‘B’ students to ‘D’ students” (Guggenheim, Waiting For
Superman). Kozol’s book “Savage Inequalities” backs up this thought by saying,
“By fifth or sixth grade, many children demonstrate their loss of faith by staying
out of school” (Kozol, Pg. 70). A state of unintelligence didn’t suddenly take
over these students. They just became aware and they became conscious. They
became conscious of the inequality that they face in the broken educational system
and, in turn, became disinterested in education. German sociologist Erik
Erikson illustrates this sudden consciousness in his epigenic principle. The
epigenic principle is a formulation, which states that humans develop through
eight different stages in life. Most 5th through 7th
graders fall into the epigenic principle stages of competence and fidelity.
They begin to ask themselves if they are competent and also begin to question
who they are and what surrounds them. They find the answers to these questions
by looking at their surroundings.
In
those stages, children become increasingly aware of what they lack and in the
case of a city like East Palo Alto, in comparison to Palo Alto, or as
illustrated in Savage Inequalities, a town like East St. Louis in comparison to
the near-by Fairview Heights, they also become aware of what others have. The
difference in environment can take a toll on these children as they begin to
establish their own identity. Los Angeles-based rapper, Nipsey Hussle, speaks
on this in his song “Crenshaw and Slauson” as he raps, “The demonstrations
speak loud, so I ain’t sayin’ much. Was a charismatic nigga, now I don’t play
as much, because life is real when you live it in a place like us. School
pictures crackin’ smiles, now my face is stuck, shell-shocked to see how much
they really hated us” (Nipsey Hussle, Crenshaw and Slauson). The loss of
charisma, or their own smile, is realistic for children from failing schools. As
they begin to see how the education system neglects them, they begin to question
what is left for them to smile or be excited about at school. It becomes a
decision of whether or not school is giving them the gratification that they
desire, and if it is not, they begin to seek alternative forms of gratification
that are, many times, available on the block.
In
order to combat the calls of the street life, the child must look differently
at the scenario they have been born in to. Instead of feeling like there is no
way out of this cycle the system has created for them, they must begin to find
something within the school to cling to. If the system won’t change, we must
help change the perception of the scenario for these children. Paulo Freire
says in the “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, “To do this authentically, they must
perceive their state, not as fated and unalterable, but merely as limiting and
therefore challenging” (Freire, Pg. 9). We must help them to look at these
failing neighborhoods and failing schools as a challenge waiting to be
overcome. A challenging state is not impossible to break out of. As a society,
we must build these children’s identities to be that of challenge seekers and
challenge defeaters.
To
break through the wall, the challenge, put in front of us, we should be looking
to not only highlight the avenues currently available for our children to
succeed, but also create new avenues for them to succeed. We shouldn’t limit
the options our children have as students. We should be challenging them to
find new ways to succeed and to pursue what they find joy in or have a passion
for. The problem begins with the fact that, “Sports and music… are for many
children… ‘The only avenues of success’” (Kozol, Pg. 31), as the chairman of
the Illinois Board of Education observes in Savage Inequalities. As a firm
believer in both sports and music as tools to help build confidence in young people,
I believe that they’re both very much-needed in urban communities. They should
not be the only avenues available to students, though. Compton rapper, Kendrick
Lamar, notes “My mama didn’t raise me up to be jealous-hearted, like most of
the winners call it. ‘Regardless of where you stay, hold your head and continue
marching,’ that’s what she said but in my head, I wanted to be like Jordan [or]
award touring the country with money from mic recording. The only way out the
ghetto, you know the stereotype, shooting hoops or live on the stereo” (Lamar,
Black Boy Fly). As positive an effect music and athletics have on some
children, they must also be aware that there is more available to them. They can’t
be aware of that possibility if the possibility does not yet exist for many of
them. Whether it is through expanding arts programs, enhancing the use of
technology or undergoing a complete reform to project based learning, creating
and providing students with more avenues will only lead to greater success.
Savage
Inequalities speaks about the lack of resources available to students many
times. When comparing New Trier to the schools in South Side Chicago, Kozol
notes that New Trier students have up-to-date technology, three separate gyms
and multiple studios for dance instruction. Much like many of the students in
Hayward, Oakland and East Palo Alto, students on the South Side of Chicago
don’t have those same resources available to them. Kozol also comments on how
“…children in one set of schools are educated to be governors; children in the
other set of schools are trained for being governed” (Kozol, Pg. 212). But as
Father Michael Doyle, illustrates in Savage Inequalities, “When you’re on your
knees, you take whatever happens to come by…” (Kozol, Pg. 179) With the lack of
opportunities to pursue something different, a child has little choice but to
seek success through “shooting hoops” or making music. It’s either “the block”
or the gym, and as for the 8-year old child Father Doyle talks about seeing
rainbows in the puddles of rain falling on his city, we must ask ourselves “How
long will this child look for rainbows?” If we don’t offer our children more
outlets and avenues to pursue a successful life, they will likely be another
dropout statistic dropped into a failing neighborhood. Our children will become
blind to the rainbows they once saw and will only see the dark cloud left hovering
above them.
The
lack of resources is a major issue that failing schools face but we should seek
to use the resources available to us to stimulate the minds of children. Whether
it is the use of a child’s cell phone or using a simple two-by-four, we should
be attempting to use everyday materials in innovative ways to teach students.
As adults, we learn everyday through our interactions with the world and with
other people, and we should aim to structure the education of our children in
much the same way. CEO of High Tech High, Larry Rosenstock says “You can study
the world through almost anything” (Rosenstock, Project Based Learning at HTH).
He provides the example of learning a lesson in capitalism by studying a simple
two-by-four and how it grew to be much smaller than it originally was. We run
into similar examples in our everyday lives. Everything in our world should be
able to teach us something and despite the lack of certain tools immediately
available to students in failing schools, we should attempt to take materials
that are available to them and turn them into a teaching lesson.
The
use of the resources readily available to us is evident when looking at the
Landfill Harmonic. Through the use of garbage, literal garbage, they are able
to build functioning instruments, such as, violins, flutes, cellos and others.
Being able to turn another man’s trash into a ready to use treasure can provide
children with an avenue for them to cling to. A young member of the Landfill
Harmonic says of her violin “I love playing my violin because you can convey
anything.” (Case. Landfill Harmonic Amazing and Inspirational) Through the use
of another person’s garbage, she’s able to convey her thoughts, emotions and feelings
into art. Although this may be extreme to some, it shows that if we truly want
to, we can use anything to convey anything. It may take an innovative mind, but
the possibilities are endless when we tell a child to create something out of
almost nothing. We just have to give them that power.
Other
solutions are not always free, though. Especially when the issue of being able
to pay teachers comes up. To connect more personally with the book, and better
understand this issue, I sat down with Lorin Eden Elementary School (a school
at which I coach basketball) principal Kim Watts, to talk about the problems
facing Hayward schools and possible solutions. The first solution she offered
fell in line with Camden High principal, Ruthie Green-Brown’s first priority as
she told Kozol, “My first priority, if we had equal funding, would be the
salaries of the teachers” (Kozol, Pg. 175). Watts talked about compensation for
teachers being the biggest issue facing Hayward public schools. She explained
to me that the best teachers are able to think innovatively and differently,
but as illustrated in Savage Inequalities, the difficulty is not always in hiring
good teachers but in retaining them once they become a known commodity. Without
having the ability to compensate these good teachers, the task of retaining
them begins to seem nearly impossible.
It
then becomes an issue not of who is more deserving, or in need, of that
teacher, but who is able to pay them more. It isn’t always the case, but the
thought that everyone has a price isn’t completely untrue, and as a good
teacher continues to grow, it is likely that they’ll be offered more comfort
financially in a different school. Without an increase in funding, it becomes
nearly impossible to retain these teachers. Kozol points out that “Investment
strategies in education, as we’ve seen, are often framed in the terms: ‘how
much is it worth investing in this
child as opposed to that one? Where
will we see the best return?’” (Kozol, Pg. 141) With the thought that a child
from a more successful neighborhood can provide the education system, and
society as a whole, with a better return on investment, we leave children from
failing neighborhoods with a failing approach to their education. In an
interview with Roses in Concrete, educated Jeff Duncan-Andrade says “The
radical disconnect between the intensity of those experiences in the lives of
urban youth, and the kinds of things we are focusing on attempting to teach
them and measure their learning around is so ridiculous. The ways in which we
approach schooling in this country, with poor kids, particularly poor kids in
urban environments would never be tolerated for middle class or wealthy
children.” (Andrade, Andrade on Education “I teach my neighbors kids.”) We have
a system built on inequality where the tolerance levels for what is acceptable
for wealthy children is extremely different from those of children from failing
schools. What’s acceptable for Longwood Elementary would never be acceptable in
Castro Valley, but it’s a system that, in a sense, is doing what it was built
to do. Putting a system in place where we can financially reward teachers for
positive results would provide failing schools with an equal playing field.
Our
system of education was built during an era of industrialization, in which it
was meant to prepare students to take on different roles in society. The
problem is that our schools have remained the same while the world around them
has changed. The job market has changed but we are still preparing students for
the same roles we were preparing them for many years ago, whether those roles
exist today or not. But as Paulo Freire says, “Knowledge emerges only through
invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient continuing, hopeful
inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world and with each other”
(Freire, Pg. 1) Our education is going through what sociologists call “cultural
lag”, or, the tendency for elements of material culture to change more rapidly
than elements of nonmaterial culture. While our world becomes increasingly
dependent on the fast-changing technology industry, our education system falls
behind. Principal Watts suggested looking at major tech companies and seeing
what their staff rooms look like and then restructuring some classes to reflect
those staff rooms. The idea is to restructure our system to properly educate
students on today’s technology while also readying them to fill the current
needs of our society.
Restructuring
a system that still benefits the wealthy is no easy task. Being a catalyst for
change is not always welcome; especially when many are comfortable with their
situation or feel that the system is working. A willingness to be a martyr, of
sorts, is necessary for the system to change. In “Waiting for ‘Superman’”,
former Washington D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee says “There’s this unbelievable
willingness to turn a blind eye to the injustices happening to kids every
single day in our schools, in the name of harmony amongst adults” (Guggenheim,
Waiting For Superman) We can either continue to turn a blind eye, or face the
problem head on. “To be in favor of redistribution of resources and/or racial
integration would require a great deal of courage—and a soaring sense of
vision—in a president or any other politician.” (Guggenheim, Waiting For
Superman) It will take an act of disobedience to positively impact the failing
schools, and as Erich Fromm says in “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral
Problem,” “In order to disobey, one must have the courage to be alone” (Fromm,
Pg. 686). We must have courage to make a change in the system. We must have
courage to give children the best that we, as a society, have available to us,
whether it means going against the popular opinion or standing alone against
other adults. It may take a step out of the comfort zone for many, but it’s a
necessary change if we want to see our education system turn around.
The
system is failing many children and whose obligation is it to help these children
in failing schools? Principal Watts believes that “it’s the obligation of everyone
to restructure the system” (Watts, Personal Interview). Not just the
principals, teachers or the parents alone. It’s everyone’s obligation, as a
society, to help other people’s children. If we continue to turn this blind
eye, our schools will continue to fail and, in turn, our neighborhoods will
continue to fail. We must change the mindset of our children. We must challenge
them to overcome the obstacles set in front of them so that they do not give up
as they reach adolescence. We must provide children with more options, more
avenues for success. We must make the most of the tools available to us. We
must give failing schools a better opportunity to retain successful teachers.
“It rains on my city,’ said an eight-year old I know, ‘but I see rainbows in
the puddles.” So whether it is East Palo Alto, Hayward, East St. Louis, the
Bronx or any other troubled neighborhood, we must keep those rainbows alive for
these children. We must provide them with the opportunity to step out of that
dark cloud, and to reach the pot of gold at the end of those rainbows.
Let ‘em reach up to the clouds.
Can’t eat if we don’t feed ‘em. Can’t
read if we don’t teach ‘em.
There’s no light if we just hide ‘em.
Don’t just let ‘em die.
Let ‘em shine.
Let
‘em shine on.
Works
Cited:
Curry, Tim and Robert Jibou. Sociology For the Twenty-First Century,
Pearson, 2010. Print.
Duncan-Andrade, Jeff. Personal Interview. 19 March 2012.
Web. 7 March 2014.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy
of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum
Books, 1993. Web. 7
2.html
Fromm, Erich. “Disobedience
as a Psychological and Moral Problem”. Obedience
to Authority.
Guggenheim, Davis. Waiting For ‘Superman’, Walden Media, 2010.
Hussle, Nipsey. “Crenshaw and Slauson”,
Crenshaw, 2013.
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities. New York: Broadway Books, 1991. Print.
Lamar, Kendrick. “Black Boy Fly”, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City, 2012.
Legend, John & The Roots. “Shine”, Wake Up!, 2010.
Watts, Kim. Personal Interview. 5 March
2014.
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