I have some thoughts on education. I actually sat down a couple years ago and wrote out a plan to help change the way our inner city schools are run. I sent it to the president.......guess he hasn't had time to read it yet. It's pretty radical but it is based on sound educational foundation.
The problems within inner cities are humongous. I have no magic formula to solve them, but I do think a return to the roots of education and the common good would help more than what is being done today.
I have a new student teacher this week. Nice quiet kid. He worked at an inner city school for his Junior Practicum. He was appalled at the whole scene and felt his job was not wanted or appreciated there, he felt denigrated both by the students and by the parents. He was disgusted because he wanted to do a good job and couldn't. He learned something that I learned a long time ago.
I started out teaching in the inner city, and the problems were still the same.At 20 years old I was confronted with poverty, low learning levels, lack of family structure, lack of nutrition, lack of intellectual stimulation. lack of common courtesy and behavior. Those same problems exist today, over 20 years later <grinning to the people who know my real age, i said OVER 20 years ago ha ha>.
Its hard for teachers in these situations to do it all, but that is what we ask of them. At the time I was there, much embezzlement of school funds was also occuring at higher administrative levels, and it was hard to even get copy paper when it was needed. There were cockroaches in my coat closet. I doubt too much of that has changed even today. Money that was meant for the students never quite reached them. No oversight, no help in the trenches, other than ridiculous mandates handed down from above. Sound familiar?
Hard to fight these problems without a good plan.
So, here, I think, is a better way:
1. Convert one abandoned building in each neighborhood into an actual school house. Retain the living room, stock it with soft seating, redecorate the formal dining room and a provide a fully functional kitchen. Improve and expand the bathrooms. Make each of the bedrooms a specific study nook: a computer room furnished with up to date equipment, a beginning library which will be added to each year, an art room fully supplied and a physical education/exercise room. An intercom system should also be installed. One large tv connected to the computers would be good to have.
2. Make the school day from 7am to 5 pm. One of the problems for inner city kids is too much time on the streets.
3. The neighborhood school would accept all age students from 3 to 13 in that particular neighborhood. The ratio of students to teacher and an aide would be 16 to 1. However, no more than 48 students should go to one school. The teachers are also administrators of that school. One of the aides should be a nurse.
4. The school is funded by a central city pot that is overseen and distributed by a community representative, a teacher and a parent representative from each neighborhood..
5. The school day would begin by today's group of "early" students and their aide and teacher preparing, serving and cleaning up for breakfast. They will also be responsible through-out the day for lunch, morning and afternoon snacks. This job would rotate among the three groups. Everyone in the group participates by either setting up, cooking, cleaning up or planning the next days menu. The older students will create a house budget and also order and pay for the supplies needed in the kitchen as part of their math and computer skill work. Another group of students will be on "late" duty and clean up the school house before leaving for the day. All of this leads to a feeling of accomplishment, shared responsibility, leadership skills, and caring for one another.Working towards a common good!
6. The school day schedule is developed by teachers and must include the regular school subjects of math, science, reading and writing, an independent study topic, physical education, art or music, computer and study and rest times each day. They will develop, coordinate, and teach an ILP < individualized learning plans> for each of their 16 students. They will be responsible for only their 16 students, and will keep progress reports on each. One older student and one younger student within the group will be "buddies", with the older student responsible for helping the younger one in all areas of the school day. Again, the 16 students working together are functioning as a team, where all are working together for the common good.
7. Each school will be visited at least once a month from a guidance representative, a parent consultant, and a city inspector. The guidance person will develop team building and team sharing activities for the groups to practice. The parent will discuss any questions or problems presented by the parents and the neighborhood and will be responsible for including parent volunteers in community building activities.These activities could be held on Saturdays and should include all the schools in a certain area. Some ideas like tournaments both physical and mental, barbeques, etc. The city inspector will note the cleanliness and supply inventory at each school house, and be responsible for helping the teachers and students of the house bring their house up to par. If something does need to be fixed, another city worker should visit the house and not only fix the problem, but teach the students simple home repairs as well.
8. The teachers and aides have to be well paid for this to work. Though the number of students they will have is low, the amount of work in developing the curriculum and tracking it for their 16 students and the actual length of the school day is high.
8. In a way, this is almost like a PEACE Core action but within our inner cities rather than sending teachers overseas.
It would take a totally committed group or city leaders, caring teachers and aides and helpful parents to make it work.
OK OK i told you it was radical.....but it could work!
BTW: I'd be happy to be the director of such a program if a city wants to hire me! :)
