Struggling to completely understand the impact of poverty
Before I returned to the classroom, and when I was a college professor, I was completely convinced by the infallible innocence of those in poverty. They are the victims of an insatiable capitalism and every accommodation should be made to help them succeed, and every allowance should be made to help their children succeed as well.
In that aforementioned position, I was somewhat detached from it all. I was surrounded by largely white colleagues whose sympathy and guilt about persons in poverty overflowed. It felt as if no metric or measurement of academic success was valid until all differentiation based on income was eradicated.
I still possess a great many of these beliefs about poverty and education. I don’t fall anywhere near the reformist camps who still refuse to recognize that poverty has more influence on educational outcomes than the best teacher or curriculum could possibly provide. But my views are more complicated now by actually doing the hard work of teaching in a low-income community of color.
Contrary to some of the more vague conversations on education and poverty that I’ve encountered in policy and activist circles, as a teacher, I have specific problems that I/we need to solve. Across the board, participation in parent conferences is very low. I think I had six of 18 this year, despite phone calls and several notices and reminders.
We had one parent show for our PTA elections, despite a slate of potential candidates. The candidates Struggling to completely understand the impact of poverty | @ THE CHALKFACE: