Equality, choices, and education
What: Hanna-Jones dilemma is about where to send her child to school. “The idea of placing our daughter in one of the small number integrated schools troubled me” (Paragraph 6). She talks about the schools which she would send her child to and how heavily impacted they are with children from low-income families. She and her husband have always talked about where they will send their children to school, they always agreed upon a public-school system. She and her husband had very different educational backgrounds. Her husband was lucky to attend a school that had more equality. Hanna, on the other hand was not fortunate and was in a low-income school. Later, Hanna’s parents had the opportunity to send Hanna and her sister to a better school where things were vastly different in terms of ethnicity and academics. Her life changed when she moved schools. She received a quality education and hung out with friends who had parents that were lawyers and doctors. This was something she was never really exposed to, but she said, “The exposure helped me imagine possibilities, a course for myself that I never considered before.” (Paragraph 5).
So, What? When we fight we win, chapter 2, begins with statements regarding the closure of around 50 public schools in Chicago. The mayor of Chicago is for the closure of the schools, but he does not know who he is fighting against. “You should be investing in these schools, not closing them. You Should be supporting these schools, not closing them.” (WWFWW, 29). In this quote people are rioting against building structures and keeping schools. The teachers and families that send their children to public schools believe that, that is what should be focused on. The public-school system helps a lot of people and it is not fair to take that away from them. For my community partners there is no closure of the after-school program or the school the children attend. If there were to be closure of the school, the children attend, I could see that being a big problem for families. The school is in a neighborhood surrounded by low-income families and high poverty rates. Many of the families live in the area and walk their children to school because it is very convenient and close in distance. If that school closed it would be very hard for families to get their kids to a school and they would have to take a drive or pay for a bus.
Now What? I found in the article where Hannah and her husband talk about where to send their daughter to school interesting. It reminded me of my mom and her decision of where she wanted to send me to high school. My mom was a single mother who had not worked for 13 years and was struggling economically. My sister and I were privileged enough to attend a private high school. When my parents separated they could no longer afford that expense. My mom had no time or money to find a school to send us to. She knew we were going to go to a public school and she needed it to be convenient to she sent us to the neighborhood elementary school. Public school was a great transition for my sister but was difficult for me. There was a lot of gang related violence in the district we attended so my mother decided to send us to a school in another district which had 60% white. This school had a familiar feel for me because of my private school experience. But I did not like it as much and I cannot explain why or how I felt about it. Once my High school started letting more ethnic backgrounds in, the school felt more balanced and everyone knew each other. This was a good balance and I really enjoyed my years in high school. The Brown v. board of education case had the most relevance and interest to me. Allowing people of color to study among white people gives an opportunity for all people to be equal. There is more chance of people being able to learn things on an equal playing field. Reading this case reminded me of the podcast we listened to in class where the white parents did not want a child of color among their children.
