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In offense of public schools
May 25, 2005 | Category:
One of my closest friends in the world, Dee, and I are in an argument.
She strongly believes in public schools. That Bear should attend them and that CD and I need to join the PTA and be agents of force to help address their problems and make them places of learning, respect, and safety.
She tells me that change won't be possible unless we're all in it together. Unless all parents wade into the public school system and take up arms against the sea of mediocrity. She tells me that until then there is little hope. The teachers can not do it without the parents.
She's right.
An inner-city child living at the poverty level is just as worthy as my son to an outstanding and effective education. My son is not smarter, better, or more worthy.
And it is not fair that because I can afford better, my son gets the advantage of a great school. Both families pay taxes and both families love their children.
But the Public School system isn't built on a level playing field.
I love being an American, but that doesn't mean I wear blinders. So let's call a duck a duck, ok?
Our public school system is the worst of any industrialized nation. And it's not going to get fixed anytime fast - the problem is too big.
It is in disrepair, inconsistent, and run by legislators who keep throwing new standardized tests at the problem as if we can fix things by training the children to test better instead of finding ways to educate them better.
Yes, I do see the shades of gray. The public school teachers that are amazing. The ones that are bailing the ocean with a teaspoon. The ones that invest in their kids, spend their own money on supplies, stay late and head in early, think outside the box, rage against legislators making policy when they have devoted their lives to studying and experiencing and responding to how children learn. The ones who are noble, and will not stand by and allow a school to damage the very children the are designed to serve.
John Taylor Gatto was New York State's Teacher of the Year when he quit. In his open letter of resignation, he railed against the American school system, closing with "If you hear of a job where I don’t have to hurt kids to make a living, let me know. Come fall I’ll be looking for work."
Men and women like this are heroes, role models, and survivors. They are in an alley fight to save our children and my soul leads me to them, into the trenches to fight by their sides. To have their backs.
But I know in my heart - it is a bad war. The system needs to be overhauled in a way that is radical, and child-led.
Does my disallusionment come from personal experience? Yes. Absolutely.
Bad things didn't just happen to me on the bus. Despite being in "outstanding school districts", I was warehoused and cataloged and suffered from public school experiences and graduated out of the system without the skills or knowledge that a basic education supposedly provides, despite my innate love and ethusiasm for learning.
But my bitterness doesn't make me wrong.
There are good schools, thousands of them. But not enough.
There are good teachers, thousands of them. But not enough.
The system is designed to the lowest denominator, and each day it is a crapshoot for each student - Will the school be safe today? Will they learn or will they be labeled? Bullied? Abused? Shot? Will the adminstration gear the lesson plans to the kids or wedge the greatest number of kids into a standardized plan?
Every parent knows that every child born has the capacity for greatness in them.
For them, I agree with Dee that is my responsibility to fight for changes.
But for Bear, it is my responsibility to do what is uniquely right for him.
He's staying put in Montessori.
I'm often asked why I picked Montessori. Well, here in Chicago Montessori and Parochial are the prevalent forms of private school, so that limited my choices when I was researching.
At Bear's Montessori school, each morning each child is greeted by name and with a handshake by his teachers. There are no "desks" - just tables and chairs. The children choose what they want to work on, and are facilitated by their teachers as they learn at their own pace. There is no homework. Yes, all the way through high school. No Homework.
Every child must help clean the classroom and do chores in assistance to the school. Parents have a volunteer responsibility to the school as well. Seminars are given throughout the year to educate parents on the children's education. And everywhere, kindness and respect are encouraged and rewarded.
There is no "special ed". Children are grouped across 3 grades in a single classroom, and may work at any level in any subject as the learn and grow. They can be officially "promoted" to the next grade at any time in the year.
The teachers are salaried through a full-year so they can work on lesson plans, take courses, or expand themselves as people however they feel is necessary throughout the summer.
There are no grades, just regular written reports (4 pages) and meetings with parents to discuss strengths and areas of challenge. Parents, Teachers, and Children work together to help the school grow and improve.
Over a third of the student body is helped with financial aid.
All schools should be as innovative as this one. I'm not saying it should be the model, because kids need DIFFERENT solutions.
The kids deserve them.
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