We should make school a place where kids create because of school not in spite of school!
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But I think the major things – the metrics for instance, – are evil. Evil, evil, evil – because it can be misconstrued. It’s so easy to go, “90%, yay!” But what does that 90% actually mean? And does that actually make you a better human being? Possibly. But it also may not make you a human being at all, it just makes you good at being valued in a larger system, a good result.
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I think formal schooling plays a vital role but it’s one of many factors of a good overall education. Students in school is like a chef at a grocery store. Teachers provide the educational tools and some recipes. Some students follow the recipe, and that’s okay. Some students are more creative to take the raw ingredients to deviate from the recipes to create something wonderful and new.
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"Sometimes schools can be so prescriptive and it’s hard to have that ability to adjust. You have to remember as a teacher that you need to be a great listener--responding to what they feel and what they want, rather than constantly making sure they’re hitting certain benchmarks, but getting more personal feedback from your students."
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"We came to live in the US as immigrants is because we want to give a better future for our kids. Although China has opulent opportunities for our generation to create fortune, it’s definitely not a place to raise future generations. Now we’re living in a blessed area with top schools in the nations, but I still see a lot of things that aren’t set up for creating a future world citizen. ...I also worry about the mentality of racing to nowhere here. In this environment, everyone is very competitive on reaching goals. Well, I don’t want her to conform to this competitive culture without knowing what she should be running for."
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"I think the hopeful explanation is that schooling actually exists as a human right, as something that empowers you to participate meaningfully as a citizen in our society and contributes to the civic health of our communities, both locally and globally. And through that process, people find personal meaning and fulfillment, and ways to contribute that are validating of who they are and that make them feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves."
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"Who knows! When you talk about the 80’s in Miami, a lot of dangerous stuff was happening - who knows what kind of trouble I could’ve gotten into - jail, getting shot, who knows. That teacher turned me around, and showed me that there was a positive way to expend my energies. So when I got elected in 1999 I had him come administer the oath of office to me, because no doubt, he’s responsible for that. That’s a pretty powerful example of school making a difference - one individual making a difference."
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I worry that because he’s been sheltered a bit by living an upper middle class life that his reality is different from a lot of other people who look like him. Finding your balance in that is difficult - I grew up similar – to figure out where you fit in as a black person in this world when society tells you one thing and you experience something completely different is hard. It’s probably easier for kids now because minorities are becoming the majority. But I worry that he won’t carry his identity with him in the way I do. It’s the first thing I say when people ask me to say a little about myself - I’m a black woman. Kids these days don’t carry that with them in a way they’re proud of.
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Do you want to say more about what you see your mission as?
Oh sure, yeah: Subverting the public education system in the US that exists today. And trying to create something meaningful and real that empowers young people to become critical thinkers and to change society. ... I see public schooling's intention as creating complacent citizens that will carry out what needs to be done to promote the survival of the capitalist system. I don’t think it’s a healthy organism.
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Somewhere along the line, his joy of learning was squelched. I wish that had been nurtured - that he had an enthusiasm for going out and learning things. He made a comment somewhere along the line that, “school is so dumb, basically they teach me things that I already know or teach me things I don't need to know”.
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D: I feel like to a certain extent, some schools are in place to hold an institutionalized racism. Depending on the area code, you may be receiving a totally different education than people in in richer stereotypically whiter neighborhoods. Everyone there is in AP, IB, or honors. The education system keeps people of color oppressed and helps white people excel.
E: I think America has schools because it wants its society to be better. To teach about how the government works, I think so that their citizens will have something to contribute to society, although that sometimes doesn't happen with everyone.
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To adults in general: Don’t treat teenagers like they're stupid. We are becoming adults and they treat it like it's an overnight thing when you turn 18, but it's not. It's a transition. We are in that transition where we went from being children, where we rely on our parents 24/7, into adults where we rely on ourselves. But, by treating teenagers like they're stupid or they don’t know what they're talking about - sure in some instances we don't, but in an environment where we push college and growing up and encourage getting a job or good grades so much, we grow up a lot faster than adults think. This is our reality. We’re not as young and dumb as you think.
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"It’s interesting because it depends on the way that you think what makes a good citizen. Do they need to be educated, or do they need have their shit together, respect for other people, empathy, etc...and then will that in turn make them better citizens and voters?"
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The whole system is designed towards certain kids. I think about my own experience in going to school—there were hardly any kids that had an ethnicity that was from a Spanish-speaking, or African-American background. I remember some kids, but very few. I didn’t think about it at the time, but not as an adult I think, “How did they survive? How did they come out of that? Did they come out on top?”
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Based on the other teachers I know in other schools, they aren’t given the freedom to try things and fail. Some of my better lessons come from a crappy one before. Principals and admin elsewhere think they know best, and try to tell teachers in what order content should be taught, and what experiences are acceptable or not acceptable - they don’t let teachers experiment and see works and what doesn’t.
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Our slogan at SLCSE is “change reality” and it came from Anthony. His senior year, Mr. Madden, the principal at the time, was in talking to that class – I think they were seniors – talking about post-graduation options. And Anthony made the comment, “you know we aren’t all going to graduate. We aren’t all going to make it – that’s just the reality of it.” And Mr. Madden said “well, then let’s change reality.” It kind of stuck.
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"I supposedly went to one of the best schools in the world and I felt like I got very little out of it. I felt a sense of shame because I didn't take 5 advanced placement courses or go to one of the top schools in the country. When everyone gets accepted to schools, they would list all of the colleges everyone went to--Brown, Stanford, etc. And then they listed my school, which was misspelled. They never expressed that it’s okay to not go to one of the top of schools in the country."
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Education specifically is something that’s similar to parenting, where everyone thinks that, because they went to school, or because they had a parent, they are somehow experts. So it’s like “Oh, it went fine for me, that’s proof enough that it works.”... People spout a lot of opinions as fact, without a lot to back it up with.
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Some people would blame the teachers, some people would blame poverty, some would blame our values as a country, some people would blame unions, some would blame the “corporate reformers,” or charter schools, etc. My main feeling is that everyone’s right in some respects, but all of our views are also incomplete. In our field, we’ve had so much focus on ‘why not’ that I think we’re better off working on how we all can think differently about what’s possible for the future.
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What I see is a lot of little things being addressed but the whole child outcome isn’t really changing. That’s a common view with people I talk to. It’s highlighted in this area: there’s a huge percentage of kids who just don’t make it through, or they make it through and then what? What is the path? If there’s no path that helps them to that life of choice and independence and healthy relationships, then what has been the point of the 18 years?
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