My wife has a noble job. She's not a Doctor, Firefighter, Minister or Missionary. She does not put bad people in prison or professionally counsel people with serious problems. Also, she's not a teacher. She's the next best thing. She works for a company that owns and manages charter schools, many of which are in economically depressed areas that serve poor, minority and otherwise disadvantaged students. Her job is to recruit the best and brightest Teachers possible that are willing to put aside fears, assumptions and stereotypes and use their training to help provide some hope for these children. My wife is very good at what she does.
Many are very familiar with something called the "Educational Divide" (also referred to as the Achievement Gap) which essentially describes the gaps in the quality of schools, teachers and education that seem to follow race and socio-economic lines. Indeed, it is known that the college preparation, application and entrance rates for poor and minority students are much lower than other groups. Regardless of what side of the "charter school vs. public school" argument you find yourself on, we have to wonder if anyone is ultimately benefiting from the disparities in quality education that unfortunately exist.
Companies like the one my wife works for are in business to make a profit. They compete for the same state and federal funding that public schools seek to operate and pay administrative salaries. Colleges then rely on charter and public schools to ensure that these students can get admitted to their schools so that they can then in turn get Federal grant money, loan money and any tuition dollars the families can afford to pay in exchange for preparing a new group of workers and taxpayers. Companies then rely on the colleges to churn out a workforce that can help their organizations turn a profit and pay shareholder dividends while the Federal Government gets a new batch of taxpayers to fund the needs of the country. Some food chain, huh?
Yesterday I tweeted about the The Obama Administration's renewed commitment to improving education for Hispanic students, including the passage of the Dream Act, which is aimed at helping undocumented students become legal citizens of the United States. Other efforts under the focus on education for Hispanics are the reduction of the dropout rate and improved connections between pre-K-12 and post secondary education. Because of this, it makes perfect sense that President Obama would see this as a fundamental problem in growing a future professional and technical workforce or business base of new Entrepreneurs and actually do something about it. I loudly applaud this. It's definitely a step in the right direction.
However, as long as the Educational Divide exists, the chain will remain broken and benefits for all will be few and far between. Charter and Public Schools alike need the same great teachers, solid educational tools, state-of-the art facilities and parental partnerships that the more "high performing" schools have access to.
According to a recent report from the Manhattan Institute, only nine percent of all college-ready High School graduates are black and nine percent are Hispanic. The report ultimately concludes that the financial barriers or affirmative action policies that are keeping minority and low-income students out of college are less of the problem than the fact that these students are not gaining the college-ready skills they need to continue with their education.
Consequently, it is my view that nobody is truly benefiting from the Educational Divide. Not the kids, schools, colleges, employers or government. Nobody. If we want to close the gaps that exist, we must create equity at the beginning of the chain and to ensure that the links at the end of the chain will hold.
Thanks. As always I look forward to your comments and reactions. Tune in tomorrow for another Daily Diversity Download.
I think that this is very true about charter schools and the well being of the students education. We need more people with the same attitude about trying to get minority students into college.
ReplyDeleteI wish you could connect with Eric Foster, recently selected as Director for the Imagine Fund which offers scholarship to successful students of color to attend Michigan colleges. Could be some synergy between you two. I can introduce if needed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in terms of parent involvement and how they're relationships should not straddle the fence for there children in terms of pursuing college. I believe that public school and private schools both deserve the same type of opportunity for the recruitment of teachers, and administration, but on the contrary they must be aligned with the fundamental purposes and goals of the district they are in and ultimately the state. My children attend public schools but in a suburban district. The districts testing scores and for the whole district are number one in the state from pre-K all the way to 12. And the likely hood of them going to college 99.9% likely that they attend. I say that to say that since my kids have been in this district I have realized that the reason that these kids excel in because the almost mandatory parent involvement that demanded, and the preparation that the district requires the instructors to give to the students that preps them from grade school for college.
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