[Durham INC] New from the Rev-elution - Jeanne Lucas

[Christine Chamberlain]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.  Your thoughtful explanations of the problems, which you've seen from first hand experience, match what I've seen as an outside observer.  Perhaps it's because I was on the outside looking in that I'm able to view it from a different perspective.  Here are my thoughts on what you've shared with me...

You said "It is 
certain that their are multiple reasons behind the failure in public 
education.  My point is a simple one - that the merging of the school 
systems is a work in progress that is hindered due to the implications 
of race and class divide."

Respectfully, I don't agree progress is hindered due to race and class divide.  I"ll return to the premise that white males sit next to black males in the same classroom.  I sat with both in the classroom many times (as a teacher at Agape Corner School).  What was the difference?  Both races have bright, intelligent minds.  As they sit at their school desk, both have the same opportunities and choices to listen/learn.  Generally, there is no difference between a black child and a white child, a rich child and a poor child, with regard to having the ability to learn.

And this is where I draw a line.  A school's function is to educate.  Period.  Inside the classroom, there is no implication of race and class divide. A black child can learn math.  Period.  Does his race halt him from learning math?  Does being poor halt his ability to learn?  (One could insert an arguement here such as 'if a child can't afford to eat breakfast, then yeah, being poor would affect his ability to learn', but for the moment let me continue with what I'm trying to say...)   A school's function is to educate.  It is not an educator's job to solve social problems.  In the 50's (correct me if I'm wrong?  I wasn't alive after all) social problems were outside the schoolroom. Yes, they were segregated... but were they working?  Black families were solid back then, weren't they?  Yes, they were repressed, but beyond the racial/class divide, weren't black families solid?    


It was in the 60's social problems outside the classroom were brought inside in an effort to solve the racial/class divide.  And education took a back seat to the social problems.  We've been attacking the public school system for half a century, with demands that an educator solve social problems.  And that's not their job.  An educator's job is to educate.  Period.

Get back to education the way it works.  It works when it's segregated.  Like it or not, it works.  Get back to the job of educating minds that are identical!  Let the black community celebrate their rich heritage and culture!   Education dollars are wasted trying to solve social problems through busing, bean counting in an effort to spread the poor equally among the rich... on and on it goes. Close down the high schools with thousands of kids, and get them back to their community where "it takes a village" can help with the social problems.  "It takes a village" was shot to hell with desegregation. 


Desegregation did the job it was supposed to do in one sense, racial inequality did disappear nationwide (remember, I'm from the outside looking in) ... let desegregation retire so educators can get back to the job of educating.  Yeah, a neighborhood school is going be segregated.  Solve the segregation issue OUTSIDE the classroom.  


I'm trying not to write a book (smile).. and you wrote other comments I'd like to address, but since this is a list-serve it might be best if I narrow the focus of my email to just this point?  I hope you'll forgive me for not addressing the rest, it's not that I lack a desire to respond.

Christine Chamberlain


________________________________
 From: Carl Kenney <revcwkii at hotmail.com>
To: christinebbd at yahoo.com 
Cc: inc-list at durhaminc.org; inc-list at rtpnet.org 
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2012 9:32 AM
Subject: RE: New from the Rev-elution - Jeanne Lucas
 

 
It is certain that their are multiple reasons behind the failure in public education.  My point is a simple one - that the merging of the school systems is a work in progress that is hindered due to the implications of race and class divide.  Your argument is making the same contention.  At issue, at the end of the day, is how do we do better at solving the achievement gap?  To deny the feelings of those parents who, for whatever reason, feel not being heard, obstructs progress toward a real solution.  My point is not to divide, but rather to move us forward in a way that benefits all students, regardless of advantage or the assumption of having more.  Your argument seems to end on the same page as mine, that something isn't working.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20120519/2e68df09/attachment-0001.html>