Okay today December 10th is International Human
Rights Day. In today’s social media I saw posts regarding Freedom of the Press
for Journalists, dialogue about issues of public life and political decision
making, freeing jailed activist, and few with a focus on education. I
personally saw nothing regarding the rights of black children to live in a violent
free society, and very few expressions concerning the rights of OUR urban inner
city children to obtain a quality education, preparing them to compete in a
global society. Has the 1954 case of Brown vs. the Board of Education that
argued for school desegregation and the rights of black children to obtain a
quality education, equal to those in more affluent areas been realized? I say a definite NO. We are not seeing equal
rights, opportunity, justice and dignity without discrimination manifested in
Philadelphia’s Public School system when compared to Montgomery, Delaware,
Bucks or Chester Counties. Whatever one may think about this statement, please
do not blame the newest School Superintendent. (He just got here a few months
ago). Also don’t blame his predecessors.
OUR education system problems didn’t dissolve overnight, it took years to get
that way. Philadelphia children like other urban area children are regrettably victims
of conditions beyond their control. The blame game cannot fix anything. Only we
can. WE should include elected representatives, parents, advocates, college and
private school educators and anyone else who cares about the future of all
children. So what if you don’t have a child in the system, the children of OUR
generation have few alternatives. They
depend on us as adults to create a desirable learning environment.
Inner city urban schools
continue with often substandard facilities, dated textbooks (if any), little if
any state of the art educational technology (white boards-lcd overhead
projectors, etc),too many teachers who regrettably view their chosen vocation
as merely a job that pays the bills, whereas the passion for educating children
seems to be reminiscent of days long gone. All American children should have a
right to access to a free, quality public education. Frankly, the educational
environment leaves little to be desired. If I were a child attending these
schools, I would be truant- I wouldn’t go. The myriad of social problems,
bullying, and violence would not make today’s school environment desirable to
me. I recall in elementary school, being many a teacher’s pet as I wore
crindolens (poofy slips) under my dress, and ruffled anklets, smiled a lot, did
ballet and was outgoing. Not sure how I would have progressed if I didn’t fit that
profile. I say all this to say, I know teachers do have biases. When it comes
to our children, their individual subjective opinions shouldn’t matter.
With the prison industry forecasting the number of jail
cells to build, based on 2nd grade reading levels, these stats are
being used to develop an option that’s not an option for OUR children.
Almost thirty years ago as I was raising my own child (I
truly valued education); I refused to educate Asia in the public education
system particularly in the lower grades. Elementary school is a time critically
important to children learning the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic. Moreover,
it is a critical time to learn how to learn and develop a love (at least like)
for learning. With few alternatives to obtain a class education, unless it was privately
paid or I moved to the suburbs, getting a free quality public education in urban
Philadelphia was and remains virtually impossible. As she reached middle school
years, I also had few alternatives. I considered using where I worked as an
address, but that school wasn’t good either. One time in desperation I presented
to the School District, how my child was gifted. Then I learned a secret, it
wasn’t how smart your child may be, it was who I knew. Bull’s eye this formula worked. Her being
gifted, my boldness to address the school board, while nice none of it worked,
who I knew did. The private elementary school education, as I prioritized and sacrificed my own needs to insure my child had the best education possible. This action proved a benefit
as she excelled in middle school, and was thus awarded a scholarship to attend high school
at one of the best private schools in the nation.
Today with the evolution of
Charter Schools and Home Schooling at least this provides some alternative. I do
distinctly recall political proponents of these educational alternatives, initially
had a real fight on their hands with the unions. Gheez,-I personally witnessed
the teachers union, throw all kinds of union money around trying to unseat
incumbents voting for Charter Schools, unsuccessfully thank GOD and look now, at least there are alternatives, although the jury is still out on how well these alternatives are
educating OUR children.One visible outcome is less overcrowding, and an ability to
cherry pick the best potentially scholarly candidates. If the child has any
major psycho social problem, Charters can leave them to be educated in the
public school, and they do. This of course allows the child with resourceful
parents and no psychological issues to have fair educational alternatives.
But
it leaves the child with multiple psycho social issues in public schools,
unwanted because they are “problem children.” Having worked previously as a
child behavior specialist and mobile therapist, I observed classrooms where
teachers labeled children with psychiatric diagnosis of Attention Hyperactive Deficit
Disorder (ADHD) or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Yes, the psychologist
does the actual diagnosis, but the seed of this diagnosis is implanted by a
teacher. Only if that teacher is a special education teacher, should this
process carry weight, as these special education teachers have had some
training in behavioral development. But a teacher not trained in psychology or
assessment, making that assessment is not good clinical practice and shouldn’t
be allowed. Also remember the Psychological Evaluator only has limited time to
observe child behaviors, and in most cases relies on information from a
teacher. This is why its good to have behaviorists and counselors working in schools to assess children over time, not a regular teacher. How objective the teacher is
about feedback given to the evaluator must be considered. Worse yet
often these children don’t get added psychological supports after graduation. I know too many
children medicated up through 12th grade, with no follow-up
supports. These children often upon graduation (approximate 50% graduation rate in Philadelphia) are not followed
up with psychological supports. Without understanding how to handle the child, now young
adult fails in society as they’re educationally inferior, there’s no continuum
of psychological aftercare and they end up undesirably in prison, on drugs, self
medicating, homeless and a burden on society.
Regrettably, in schools today, due to diversity in social and
familial environments, we have many more children involved in child welfare
systems due to parental absence, drug use, imprisonment etc. This leaves a lot of
children with many issues. Regrettably, these circumstances impact too many children.
It’s a Human Right for OUR children to get quality education. It’s up to us to attend
school board meetings, attend town meetings, call elected officials with new
ideas to fund public education, join existing movements, and ask your employer
to adopt a nearby public school. Even adopt a young parent to help them
understand how important it is to attend child progress report meetings. Let’s do
whatever we can to support and Save OUR children in the public school system.
#VoiceCounts
