Equity

Thinking today of Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream of justice, non violence, equity. Where are we, in the light of the Haiti disaster, the state of education in the U.S., global poverty, ongoing wars? I firmly subscribe to his statement, "let us not wallow in the valley of despair." I too, dream and have seen dreams come true. But the reality is that equity is not apparent to even the casual observer in the Oakland public schools. I teach in both Berkeley and Oakland, and the difference can be painful.

It's no secret that many, or perhaps most, Oakland schools in low income neighborhoods do not have the resources of those in wealthier areas. The reasons for this are very complex, including parents who are active versus parents who are too exhausted to help out or to insist that the school function well. I'm concerned about the growing trend to "reward success" with more money while penalizing students, teachers and schools with poorer scores. It's the opposite of what is needed. Way more attention needs to be paid to each individual student who is dealing with death of a close family member, overwhelmed parent, lack of nutrition, lack of money etc. This kind of intervention takes time, staff and money.

Of course there are resilient students who rise way above impossible circumstances, and many students do well. But it takes time (and money) to sit down with students who appear to not care a fig about school.