Education

Some Things I Just Can’t Get Past

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

I have tried not to spend to much time lamenting about the urban educational system and suburbia’s perceptions of those who they decided to label as urban.  It is something that really upsets, angers and bothers me to the core.  I know I posted a while ago about stereotypes in education and how the accepted stereotypes of minority students determines the substandard education they are give in within an affluent school district.  Something really must be wrong with an educational system if black and Latino and native American kids don’t score any better on standardized tests in these affluent districts than they do in the miserably failing urban schools.  In some cases the minority kids in urban schools score better than those in suburban districts.

When I broach this subject with those in and even outside of education–what I so often get spit back in defense of our educational system is this:

“Well are they residents (of these richer districts)?”

“There is a lot of low income housing around those schools.”

“Most of our behavior problems are from deseg students (kids bussed in from the city)”

“Kids can’t learn if they don’t have all of there basic needs met”

“If mom and dad aren’t educated their kid are going to have a harder time”

These comments make me want to scream and they totally make my argument for me.  Do we really think/believe/accept that all blacks are poor?  In reality 24.7% of blacks live below the poverty line (for those reporting only a single race category to the census)  That is a high percentage but considering blacks make up only 13% of the overall population–approximately 38.4 million and then based on the percentage living below the poverty line there are roughly 9.6 million blacks living in poverty (as defined by the government–I fully accept and understand there are many more who do not fit the poverty numbers but are in essence pretty poor).  Compared with whites–non-hispanic who still make up 66% of the population–approximately 201 million whites non-hispanic and with 8.9% in poverty that makes 17.9 millions whites in poverty.

This means as teacher we are nearly as likely to have a poor white student as we are a poor black student (or close to just as likely–there is a slightly higher chance in urban areas that your black students are going to be poorer but not as much in the suburban areas.)  I taught in a suburban black community and at least half of my students were from middle class families and some of them from upper middle class families. Many of their parents were educated and held degree or in other cases multiple degrees.  But the assumption was often the same–before poor kids can learn they need their needs met, etc.  This is so damaging to students.  Skin color is not the same as socio-economic status.  I am tired of us making excuses for the failures we have let happen when it comes to our educational system.  I think the same can be said for health care. Those who are no affected–rich/white–are quick to point out that it isn’t the system that is failing but the people.

That is so often the argument in education.  I am sick just thinking about the amount of time we spend blaming students for the inability to learn or their lack of desire or interest.  I am tired of the excuse we make for not doing our job to the best of our ability.  I will admit here that I have been guilty of that–I think it is easier at the high school level to write kids off–especially those who have been beaten so badly by the system that they have completely lost hope.  But it is our job as teachers to give them that hope back.  We have to stop with the excuses.  We have to challenge the stereotypes that we have allowed to determine the type of education we were given access to.  We must stand up for change.  The status quo just cannot be allowed to remain the same.  Rhetoric cannot replace action.

Beyond Jaded And Disillusioned

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

The essence of passion is an engagement and willingness to change.  There is little honor in holding back, limiting participation, accepting mediocrity, and finding comfort in the status quo.  With passion, we engage our soul and our being in this work, along with our mind and our body.  With passion, we reclaim our hope and belief in the possibility of a future devoid of racial injustice–a future governed by equity and anti-racism.  With passion, we survive the conflict, the lack of support, and the passive resistance that comes with challenging institutionalized racism in our schools.  And with passion, we will have the strength not only to stand up for what is right for our children, but to what is right for them as well.–Singleton and Linton, Courageous Conversations about Race.

I have been at work at my job for 7 full weeks now and I can say, that while I was excited about the job and the prospects for it and for making a change in education–I am not depressed by the way my hands are tied by those who I work under.  My job as Charter School Liaison to to hold our schools accountable both to the law and to education.  But really, we only care about the law–as we as an institution are not interested in finding our passion–I am not even sure those above me have the passion for education.  This depresses me beyond belief. I have a passion for education–the whole of my doctoral work and MA work was about ways to give a better education to the disadvantaged and under-served students.  I have a really hard time sitting by and accepting less than mediocrity.

The whole purpose behind the charter school movement was to offer options for parents who had few.  But not just options–better options, more innovative options.  What we have ended up with in education is a bunch of charter schools that function just like our traditional schools.  Our charter school (we have three more schools opening this fall) has less than 30% of its students proficient in English and math.  Yet because they are the highest performing charter school in the city and they are better than the majority of the public school options for students, we hold them up on this pedestal as though they are doing a fantastic job.  They aren’t.  But because parents keep signing their kids up and are not questioning the education their kids are getting and we as their sponsor are not willing to say–hey these scores suck–I am left feeling dissatisfied and guilty for allowing this to continue.  I want/need to be making a difference.  I am not and it sucks.

What also sucks is that the black kids in our more affluent districts are scoring just as bad at the high school level–anywhere between 13.6%-36.7% proficient in English and 14.9%-56.8% in math.  Compared to 58.7%-74.3% proficient in English and 75.8%-87.7% proficient in math for white students.  The discrepancy is horrid and I am so tired of the status quo being allowed to continue because we look at scores in aggregate and don’t bother to read the fine print.

These numbers are enough to support my reason for not wanting my minority children in a public school.  I need to be out there making a change and not in my cube checking off statute compliance.  This year needs to move fast so I can maybe get to the work of educating kids and then to educating teachers about the biases we hold and how that hurts the minority.

Employed

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 3 Comments

I have a job.  I am excited about it.  So very excited about it.  I think I took the best job for me.  I took a graduate assistanship at the university where I am working on my PhD.  I had another interview at a community college and it was for a full-time instructor/coordinator position for their developmental writing and reading program.  Sadly, I cannot commit to this job that is even to say that they would have offered it to me.  It is sad because it would have been the absolute perfect job for me if I wasn’t a student and have 2 small children who need me too.  One of the problems with the job was that it is a new position and would have to be created as I went.  That on top of a teaching load would have required what I imagine would have been at least 45 hours per week plus the one hour commute–EACH WAY. 

The job I took–the graduate assistantship–is much better.  I have to work 20 hours a week but it’s pretty flexible.  I can work at home if there isn’t anything that I have to handle on campus or meetings.  I am working with another GA and our job is to work as the sponsor for the charter schools that UMSL oversees.  Each charter school, in MO, has to have a University sponsor that is responsible for oversight of the charter school.  We basically hold the charter schools accountable and make sure they are doing what they are suppose to be doing.  What I bring to the table that they don’t currently have is someone with a strong teaching background, so part of what I will be responsbile for is visiting the schools to make sure that the instruction and practice is what it should be.  I am really excited about it.  It doesn’t pay much–enough to cover the cost of Noah’s school and it pays for my school tuition and I get a laptop.  Not too bad. 

I am starting June 1–so am searching for a part-time nanny/sitter to watch my kids M-Th from 8:30-2.  So, for those of you in the area if you know anyone looking for some extra money or a college kid looking for a summer job, please let me know. 

I am hoping to still be able to teach one or two classes at the community college I currently teach at to help subsidize the cost of putting Zoë in daycare while I am working.  And I know that I am going to be supervising student teachers as well–I will have four for sure.  I am happy to have the job business out of the way.  One less thing to worry about.  Woo Hoo.

So It Begins Again

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

School is back in swing.  This semester I am not just a student.  I am also an instructor.  I took last semester off to spend more time with the kids–well mostly with Zoë.  I missed teaching but was happy to just have family and my own studies to focus on.  Now I am back multi-tasking when it comes to school.  Hubby and I have been together over 12 years and I have been a student the entire time–aside from one year that I took off after I got my first full-time teaching job.  He has been patient and I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband because it is hard.  School takes up a lot of time and requires me to be gone quite a few hours each week.  I love you hubby. 

I am teaching a course that I haven’t taught before.  I am excited about teaching it because it’s an advanced composition course, but I have the added issue that the class only meets one time a week for 2 1/2 hours.  This is nice becasue I only have to be gone one day a week and I have an awesome aunt who was laid off and has offered to babysit on Fridays until she gets another job.  I have been working hard on creating a syllabus and brushing up on teaching argument and critical analysis.  I am use to teaching the developmental course and this class is an entirely different beast.  It will require much longer hours in terms of preparation and grading. 

I had my first class last night as a student.  I am excited about the class as it an advanced educational research design.  This course is where I first start to think about my dissertation research and create a proposal.  I have a great deal of literature to review and synthesize.  It makes me realize how close I actually am to finishing my course work and sitting for comps is just around the corner.  Holy Shit.

Taking Stock

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 2 Comments

Making a decision about schooling for my children has forced hubby and I to think about our priorities and what is really important to us.  Private school is a huge expense and will require us to live a simpler life.  We live pretty simply now, but it takes off the table the possibility of moving out of our litte house anytime soon.  It takes off the table our hopes of buying new cars.  It takes off the table any aspirations and dreams we have of fabulous international travel or extravagant vacations to Hawaii, Belize, Costa Rica, Europe, etc. 

We had to ask ourselves if these were things we would be willing to live without.  We are.  Once these things are off the table it is easy to not think about them as possibilities.  Our kids are the most important things in our lives and we want them to have a great education and a fun education.  An education that teaches them not fact and figures (at some degree these are really erroneous things that simulate teaching and learning but don’t embody the essence of teaching and learning) but teaches them how to learn; how to explore; how to create and construct their own learning.  And most importantly an education that focuses on each child as an individual and allows and encourages each individual to learn who they are and to find their passion.  I know it’s a tall order and as you can clearly see explain why public school really isn’t an option for me to consider–regardless of how awesome a district we might live in some day. 

We have also begun to admit that diversity is really important to us and not just in the student body but also in the staff.  This is harder than one would think.  There are sadly, not a great deal of African American teachers in private schools–this is another issue that is larger than this post.  So many things to consider, but it is nice to have our priorities coming to the front of the line ad losing everything else. I feel a little lighter and a lot more hopeful that this will help us make the right decision.