Educational reform in an unequal K-12 educational system: Right, entitlement or privilege?

Just as the medical profession manages symptoms through medication, politicians manage the education system by turning a blind eye (ignorant?) to the way education deals with its ills. These “solutions” are more easily seen in urban areas.

Politicians, through the power of legislation, expect all students in schools to perform at or above grade level, which is what the “average” child is expected to know or do. There are children who can and do, as well as children who cannot and do not. All schools are NOT the same, and never can be, as long as we have the freedom to choose where we live and what we do with our personal resources. All children are NOT the same, never will be, in experiential readiness, developmental readiness, native ability, talents and abilities or interests. When we look at school performance, we have to consider many things that don’t fit into the formulas for success.

“Law” schools

In the United States, by law, children have the right to a free and appropriate public education. Complex social, political, and legal changes have created standardized instruction, ostensibly to ensure adequate and equitable educational opportunities. The goal is for all children to learn skills to be productive members of the workforce. General education schools are the result. These schools often have alarmingly low graduation rates, for many reasons. One reason is that the highest achieving and best performing students attend “entitlement” or “privilege” schools.

“Law” schools

In larger or more urban areas, the public school district may have specialized schools for any level of education (elementary, middle, high school). High achieving (gifted) students typically attend a middle and/or high school. Magnet schools focus on strenuous or intensive instruction in fields of special vocational interest (math, science, arts, career options, etc.) in the middle and/or high schools. “Traditional” schools emphasize the basics of instruction; typically, these are elementary and/or secondary schools. Charter schools require direct parental involvement and can be elementary, middle, or high school. Typically, all of these specialized schools expect parental support and student involvement with regard to their homework, achievements, and school-appropriate attitudes, behavior, and dress.

These are law schools; students must meet certain criteria or standards to be eligible to attend. Those standards do not ensure attendance; not all who apply attend. Quotas determine how many students are in classes, and when they are full, the doors close. Students who do not meet the required standards of behavior and/or scholarships will not be eligible to continue attending. “Law” schools have high graduation rates, because there is a mental and emotional investment on the part of adults and students.

Another type of school, which questionably falls into the “entitlement” category, is the alternative school: the school for students who are behaviorally and/or emotionally inappropriate for the “right” school and definitely excluded from “privilege” schools. Students, removed from their “correct” placement school for severe behavioral and/or disciplinary reasons, may or may not return to the general mainstream in the future; they usually have little interest in academic performance.

“Privilege” schools

Parents who can afford and value challenging educational opportunities for their children ensure that their children benefit. Those with sufficient income, usually upper and upper-middle class, send their children to private schools, either day schools or boarding schools. The standards for those teachers and students are high, primarily because parents are committed to their children’s education; they pay tuition and fees to cover expensive structures, uniforms, books, educational trips, and other experiences to enhance their children’s optimal growth and connections to their future. Those who choose local schools live where public schools are highly rated and have a reputation for excellent teachers, often drawn by high salaries and exceptionally high-achieving students alike. Housing costs prevent low-income families from attending. When parents, due to employment or other limitations where they live, cannot afford those exceptional public schools, they can still seek out specialized schools. Many of these schools, affiliated with a religious organization, reinforce the common values ​​of the families attending. Graduation rates from “privileged” schools are high.

What do we really know?

All educators have extensive training; most teachers work hard, long hours, but they can’t stop the plethora of influences outside the classroom that prevent students from achieving. Research and statistics, as we currently use them, are NOT appropriate for evaluating education; we cannot statistically evaluate education as long as aspects of poverty affect children’s learning. Assumptions about people, attitudes, values, and beliefs drive policies that don’t work.

Everyone can contribute to solutions; This is a revolutionary approach that could help identify our personal and collective weaknesses and blind spots. Exposing personal and national attitudes and beliefs that keep us enmeshed in mainstream approaches could allow us to begin effective education reform.