Paul Thomas is one of our most eloquent critics of the idea that schools alone can overcome poverty.
In this essay, he explains why.
The money quote comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“In addition to the absence of coordination and sufficiency, the programs [addressing poverty] of the past all have another common failing — they are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.
“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income….
“We are likely to find that the problems of housing and education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished.”
As one commenter on this blog asked, “How can we get President Obama and Secretary Duncan to read this article?”
I would add, “How can we get Bill Gates, Wendy Kopp, Eli Broad, and their friends to read this article?”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m pretty sure we can’t fix poverty with education alone. But – I think we can fix a lot of the problems in education by addressing POVERTY.
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As a staff, my school is reading Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen, and meeting to discuss it in small groups. It should be required reading for all prospective teachers and those in the reform movement. Very enlightening, to say the least.
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Again, perhaps there is good reason to reconstitute the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It really is a nobrainer that “reforming” education without addressing poverty is not going to solve the ravages of poverty.
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I’ve wondered if we’d get a bigger bump in test scores from giving every worker 6 weeks paid vacation – as in Finland – than we’ve seen from all these reformy flailings about, so popular with Gates, Kopp, Broad, et al.
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I found this on Huff post. This is a joke for anyone who knows what the school is really like. It’s amazing how an athlete gets special press for his junky charter school.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jalen-rose/jalen-rose-leadership-academy_b_2600716.html
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Editorial in today’s NYT…..Stanford Report is out!!!!!
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Diane mentioned in USA Today article today re: opposition to standardized testing making gains!!!!
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Excellent article. And a serious uphill climb. Our nation’s power structure doesn’t like solutions such as these.
I’ve been teaching inner city kids for decades. Being able to maintain focus and discipline is a challenge.
One basic rule of thumb that’s worked for me:
You need to know and respect your students and the lives they live outside of school. Not always so easy to do. And the words, “I can’t believe you did that!” can never, ever be part of your spoken vocabulary. Even better: you have to abolish those words from your mind, entirely.
If you’ve lived any sort of life that relates to theirs (and it doesn’t have to be in the inner city), the job can sometimes be easier. You’ll gain a degree of acceptance, which is key.
In the immortal words of one of my students, during our daily morning meeting (which we don’t have time for, anymore, unfortunately):
“We don’t hate you, man. You’re cool. We just hate a#@holes”.
Teaching to the standards to these kids can be done…but only with a grain of salt. Or a shaker. You have to be consistent, on your toes, and be given some extra rope to adapt your teaching style and content to the class dynamic of the moment. It’s not easy to find that latitude with the current business model that’s bullied it’s way into the educational system.
Expecting large numbers of these children to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and become productive citizens who will begin the process of enriching their communities is a very long term prospect, at best, in my opinion. Easy to say. Not so easy to execute.
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“And the words, “I can’t believe you did that!” can never, ever be part of your spoken vocabulary. Even better: you have to abolish those words from your mind, entirely.”
Horse manure, that statement reeks of “political correctness”.
One can use those words if one has a respectful prior relationship with the students because sometimes that is about the only response. I’ve used that and similar phrases that are supposedly taboo precisely because I have taken the time to develop those relationships and I say it in a tone and fashion that is non-threatening and it conveys my total disgust at what the student has done. And you know what almost every time the student has come back and apologized for what they did.
Your statement reeks of authoritarianism which has no place in your thinking-ha ha!. (Please see the humor intended in the last seven words of that statement.)
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I see no humor in your statement, whatsoever.
There is no “politically correct” way for me to teach the children I’ve taught.
I never let them take over the class with their bs. But I’ll listen to their lines and try to teach them a more effective way of delivering them.
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Actually, I’m sure your method works best for you.
One thing I was taught early on was to be myself with my kids. They catch it when you’re doing otherwise. Trying to “read the script”.
Just to set the record straight: my classes were all known for their sense of discipline. And I got the toughest ones, year after year. My style of behavior management was to take away their power of disruption. To say, “I can’t believe you did that” was to feed into that power. And, believe it or not; apologies were delivered sincerely and often in my classes, too.
You are right, though, in that I shouldn’t have said you CAN’T say those words. It implies that my style is the only way. That I know it all. That’s not what I intended to say and I’m sorry I put it that way. It’s what worked best for me. Might work well for others, too…might not.
The fact that my methods differ from yours, however, doesn’t give you carte blanche to ridicule them. If that’s your style, then so be it. Doesn’t float my boat, though.
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gitapik,
I meant no harm in my “humor” statement, that Is why I stated it as such. It’s vary hard to convey sarcasm, irony and other feelings in writing. I apologize to you if you were offended as it wasn’t meant that way. As you recognized that the word “can’t” in your statement is what caught my eye. And you are correct that each teacher has his/her own style and methods for controlling class.
I hardly ever send a student to the office, maybe once or twice a year. And when they get there the administrator says to the student something to the effect “Man, what did you do to get sent here by Swacker?” knowing that it must have been something totally over the edge.
Each teacher needs to do what they believe is best. Which to me shows the fallacy of canned/scripted teaching curriculum a la KIPP and other top down mandates onto teachers from those who think one can standardize the teaching and learning process.
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Well…your reply got me to see that I was being sanctimonious. I appreciate that in a round about way, lol.
I didn’t like sending my kids to the time out room, either. They appreciated that (both the Crisis Teachers and the kids). We would work things out in the classroom. It’s one of the things about the current structure that makes things so difficult: expecting us to maintain a work schedule that will allow us to meet the standards in a “timely manner” is a tough proposition. The idea actually provides comic relief for us, at times.
I’m curious about your population? I taught kids with severe emotional problems in a self contained class/school. Many of the kids I’ve taught were bound for or already in gangs. They ran drugs (starting at a ridiculously young age). Carried knives or box cutters if they could. Some were tougher than others and the “weaker” ones were often the biggest problem, in that they wanted to prove themselves.
In that situation, I usually found that they didn’t see me so much as a teacher as a guy in the room who was trying to control them. I had to start from square one to get them to even acknowledge my authority. From there I could become a teacher.
It’s been hard to watch the takeover of our profession by big business. I read your personal blog and can totally relate to it. I remember my first principal (6 years…she was great) showing me a memo, freshly delivered from the new administration, stating that, “…As front line managers, you are expected to…”.
She shook her head and said, “I didn’t know I was a front line manager. Did you? I thought I was a principal and an educator”.
She retired 2 years later.
And I’d bet my bottom dollar that the upper admins were glad she did.
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That is the money quote. What an idea! –A a guaranteed minimum income. We have tried this. It is called social security. It has been remarkably effective in reducing poverty among senior citizens. What sort of programs would they pass today? My guess is that we would offer some sort of senior jobs training program and provide experts to teach seniors to budget wisely (all provided by taxpayer funded “private” contractors).
I think it is high time to attack the idea of our educational system as an eradicator of poverty. Even if we were to have the educational system of our dreams it is not the vehicle to end poverty. There will always be jobs that pay less than others. But shouldn’t a say, home health aide who provides vital services be afforded the ability to support themselves and their family? Each recovery from a recession shows less jobs created. We must find a way to share the gains of increased productivity.
A good education that truly teaches you to think critically is absolutely necessary for this to happen.
Related: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57567250/katrina-spurs-transformation-of-new-orleans-schools/
Scott Pelley calls himself a journalist. Can you spot all that is wrong with this interview?
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Ann B,
Quit being a socialist! The powers that be have determined that we don’t need no stinkin good paying jobs. That’s oh so 70’s socialistic crap. Hell they’d have to give up too much of their own stolen wealth for that to happen.
Duane
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And don’t forget, they don’t really need no stinking education that they can’t use. They will take their minimum pay job or else, the oligarchs will tell them what to do. You want to upset the kingdom or something?
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Funding over and above basic state formulas has always co-mingled the poverty issue with education. E.g., compensatory ed., free breakfasts/lunches, etc. Nothing new here, maybe OK to do this although results are murky.
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They may read it, but certainly won’t act on it. That would be politically inconvenient, to say the least.
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