Privilege and Politics

When comparing the three states discussed in Chapter 5, (Connecticut, North Carolina, and California), it is made clear that time, resources and energy that will be put into a State’s education system is based largely on privilege and politics. The location of birth, race, ethnicity, and class determine if someone will receive their education in a higher quality district. It is also determined on the commitment level of the elected government officials within each district and State.

It seems like this has not changed since American Colonialization. Even in the 1600-1700s, rote memorization was of the highest value, which today is shown with the use of standardized tests. Only the wealthy went to college. Although not everyone needs to attend college to be successful, everyone should at least be given the choice to attend. Many have this choice taken away because of the lack of money and/or the lack of knowledge to know where to go or what to do to get the money (i.e. scholarships). There was also segregation in schools. Like in yesterday’s post, schools still very much do have segregation, although some may be unwilling to call it that because this was something that was supposed to have ended in America. This is where privilege comes in.

Does a student born in a low socio-economic status, minority majority area deserve less than a student born into high socio-economic status, predominately white area? Absolutely not! Every student, no matter the circumstances, are deserving of a quality education, and to know they are valued enough to receive it. Unfortunately this is not happening. All three States profiled in this chapter had to have court cases about the problem before anything was done to solve the inequalities in the States. Two of the States, Connecticut and North Carolina, both followed the rulings of their courts and tried to make improvements to their school systems. In both cases the governors and the State legislatures worked together by implementing and approving the money to improve the schools. Soon after California’s major court case about inequality, the legislature, with governor approval, lowered property taxes, thus not making the necessary changes. California’s schools continued to decline after that.

I see this in Idaho as well. In Boise, there are schools that are in nationally recognized education articles about how great they are. These schools’ greatness is mostly based on the number of Advanced Placement classes offered, which not every student can take. Then I drive thirty minutes to Caldwell and see lower performing schools, buildings too small to accommodate the number of students, and class sizes so high, they look like college lecture halls. Unlike Boise, Caldwell is also a lower socio-economic, minority majority area.

The alternative high school I work at was built too small to fit the number of students we have on purpose. The superintendent and the builders only accounted for the size of the room with some desks. They did not account for how small the rooms are with students. Alternative schools are supposed to offer a chance for students who, for a variety of reasons, could not make it at a traditional school. Teachers are supposed to be implementing more group work, with less work from the textbooks, but I do not have much choice with some classes. I do not have the space for students to spread out to work in groups and have discussions unless I have class in the common area.

Classes are also supposed to be -kept small for more personalized instruction, but students are crammed in and asked to deal with it. This year will be even worse because of the budget cuts. Since alternative students are deemed more difficult to work with, each student counts as one and one half of a traditional student. In order to bring in more money, the school will be required to take even more students to make up for some of the loss. Most of these students in this school are Hispanic, from low income families. They are as deserving of a good education as the students in traditional schools. This will not happen until government officials are elected that are willing to see past who has historically considered more deserving and who has been considered more privileged.

Here is an article called "White Privilege: Unpacking Your Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh. This has also been used by secondary teachers in their classrooms to start discussions about race and privilege.