Stevie Wonder knew: The Real Problem With How People View America’s Inner City Public Education
“Wow, new york, just like I pictured it
Skyscrapers and everything
[Verse 5] Hey hey brother, hey come here slick Hey you look, you look hip man
Hey you wanna make yourself five bucks man
You look hip
Run this across the street for me right quick Okay, run this across the street for me
[Verse 6] What? Huh? I didn’t know!
Put your hands up you punk!
I’m just going across the street
Lay down, shut your mouth
Hell no, what did i do?
Okay, turn around, turn around, put your hands behind your back, let’s go, let’s go….
A jury of your peers having found you guilty, ten years. What?”
– Living for The City, Stevie Wonder (1973)
I have read more than my share of books, blog posts, essays, social network comments, and tweets about public education. Some of them are by people who have done extensive research on how the history of public education differs from place to place. Unfortunately though, too many are from those who choose to ignore or are ignorant of the wide range of variables that affect both the students and the schools in socioeconomic and ethnically diverse areas regardless of geographic location.
Suburban districts tend to be less diverse than urban. Some are very homogeneous both socioeconomically and ethnically, but most are also more diverse than stereotypes note. If we also add special education needs as a factor, the results are even more uneven.
Most suburban commenters are aware of that, but many also look at other suburban districts through a lens colored based on where they live or grew up. But, since they live in suburban districts, they generally believe they have a better idea of the truths that exist in most suburban districts.
We can say exactly the same about rural districts. Here too there are some consistencies and variations. What happens, for example in “hyphenated” districts made up of two or more rural localities that may or may not be similar to each other?
Let’s face it. The real issues in education revolve around the urban poor. When you take poverty out of the equation when comparing American students to those of other countries taking the PISA exams, we are at the top. For example notes The National Association of Secondary School Principals, when you look at the number of US schools with < 10% of their students receiving free lunch (the poverty factor) the US overall average is 551, and betters #2 Finland by 15 points. When you look at the number of US schools with Stevie Wonder knew: The Real Problem With How People View America’s Inner City Public Education | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:
