thanks to amy for sharing this. well written. And, Nate Bowling, you’re absolutely right: “Middle class America would never allow the conditions that have become normalized in poor and brown America to stand for their kids.”
http://www.natebowling.com/…/the-conversation-im-tired-of-n…
I want to tell you a secret: America really doesn’t care what happens to poor people and most black people. There I said it. In my position as a Teacher of the Year and a teacher leader (an ambiguous term at best), I am supposed to be a voice and…
NATEBOWLING.COM
Why do you think “poor and Brown America” allows these conditions to exist for their children/schools, and why don’t they have any responsibility for doing anything about it?
Hi Lion,
This is a big huge giant complex issue… I won’t be able to do it justice here, but I think that there are a number of answers to your question.
Sure, while there ARE parents (from all walks of life) who are not involved in improving their kids’ school, there are many more who are stuck with few to no options…
Here is a tiny, tiny list:
-school funding (take a look at how schools and districts get funded; it is neither equal nor equitable. wealthy communities have wealthy schools…)
-race-based housing policies,
-poverty – with financial poverty also comes poverty of time (if a mom is working 3 jobs to make ends meet, could she really make it to PTA meetings?),
-language barriers
-access to social capital
-etc etc etc
I will say that the “poor” families in our community care a great deal about their kids’ schools; and my neighborhood is not unique. I wish I could lay my hands on the research right now but a recent study came out that nationally expressed the same thing. Poor families, on the whole, care a lot. They often just have less time/social capital/resources to advocate in the same way that I might. When alternative, “better” schools are offered up as options, the wait lists of parents trying to sign their kids up are looooooooooooooong.