“Is this it?”
The average income in any given neighborhood is directly related to the quality of education within those communities. Low-quality education in low-income neighborhoods is a reality within the United States. By low-quality I mean specifically ineffective teaching staff. The widening gap in test scores correlates with the average neighborhood income. Research shows that the best quality teachers are found in the most affluent neighborhoods. To illustrate this I will share the experience of a good friend, who will be referred to as Ethel for purposes of privacy. Their story will demonstrate how a teacher has the power to negatively influence a student’s academic experience.
It was a couple years back when Ethel graduated from high school and started working full-time at McDonald’s. She was not alone when she chose not to attend secondary education after leaving high school. The dominant narrative in America is a straight path from high school to college, but that is not the reality for 31% of Americans. Of the 20.4 million students who do go on to college, only 13.4 million enroll in a four year degree program. Many students complete high school and immediately begin working full-time. Ethel says, “I knew college was necessary for me to secure a higher-paying job, but I knew that was nowhere in my family’s budget, not to mention that my grades weren’t anywhere near application worthy.”
She was raised in a single-parent household and attended public school in Wisconsin on the east side of Green Bay. “At one point, I enjoyed going to school to learn about new things and gain more knowledge,” she says, “but when I struggled to comprehend any of the information my teachers were helpless.” Every teacher assumed she was never paying attention while they were teaching, if not causing a distraction. They refused to provide her with further instruction. She believed them when they told her it was her fault that she didn’t understand what they were teaching her. Her friends also complained about how going to school made them feel stupid and inadequate academically. For Ethel, school ended up becoming a lost cause. She quickly lost interest in furthering her education. School was joke, and she quit playing along.
Ethel completely lost interest and stopped paying attention the last year of junior high. By the time she reached high school she was skipping class all together. There was never a concern over her absence in class or her inability to comprehend the material, so this trend didn’t stop until she graduated. She still howls in excitement that she actually received her diploma. “It was miracle that I graduated, but I cannot be more thankful. My teachers didn’t like me by any means, but I won’t complain.” There is a possibility that they passed her to reinforce their “ability” to teach, or maybe because they didn’t want her to be their student anymore. The author and education columnist, Jay Matthews, reinforces this claim. He discusses a study that found several public school teachers who awarded struggling students with the “passing D,” because they either felt sorry for them or never wanted them back in their class. Nonetheless, it was extremely frustrating for Ethel to know that if she had a teacher or positive role model who had actually cared about her educational success she wouldn’t have dismissed college as a potential opportunity.
After graduation, her mother demanded that she start working more to make rent contributions. That was the only way she could continue to live with her mother. After her parent’s divorce, neither parent could afford to stay in the house they had together. At this point, Ethel was still residing in her mother’s womb, but the divorce was how she and her mother ended up in their broken-down two bedroom apartment. Every once in awhile her father would come into her life, but that never lasted long. I remember her making plans to go out to lunch with her father and having to pay for their entire tab. He would come into her life for brief moment, and for the next few months she wouldn’t hear from him at all. Most of the time it was just Ethel and her mother.
After being laid off from her cashier position it was hard for her mother to find another job. This was while Ethel was in high school, but her mother has never been able to completely recover financially. This was the reasoning behind her forceful demand when it came to Ethel picking up more hours at work. Her mother was either going to downsize her living conditions or Ethel had to start paying rent for the extra space. Her mother is getting older and struggles to complete sixty-five hour work weeks. Ethel’s own hourly wage of eight dollars meant living with her mother was the only option that she could afford. The minimum wage is not a living wage. The National Low-income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has found that in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment the wage rate would need to be more than $21 per hour. The living wage within the United States for 2016 would be more than $15 per hour, compared to the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
She still doesn’t mind living with her mother, if anything it makes her feel safer and more stable than if she was on my own. Nonetheless, Ethel finds herself becoming overly anxious, because she continues to question the quality of her existence. She tells me, “My mom has struggled financially for years and never stops stressing about making ends meet. Without a college education, I fear that I will find myself in the same position — stressed, over-worked, and under compensated.”
There are strategies to challenge disconnected and dismissive educators. The school itself may lack funding to motivate teachers to motivate their students, but, no matter what, every young person should be reinforced of their own value. Ethel has realized that people’s level of performance is directly related to the educational guidance and attention they have received or are receiving. The teacher is to blame when the student is falling behind.
Within the last year, my friend has started to come to terms with her own value. After rent is paid each month, she puts whatever money is left into an educational fund for her future plans. When she has more money saved up, she plans to apply to be a student at Northwestern Technological College. Even though it isn’t anything prestigious, it’s a start that has given her hope for a more stable future.
Hearing Ethel’s story has helped me to understand the consequences of generational poverty. I would have never considered that the wage I make at work, currently $9.50, is not a living wage. As someone who is experiencing poverty, I am familiar with its consequences. My inferiority still comes with privilege. White privilege, that is. I have come to realize that my purpose is to be a part of the movement that works to reform public school education. It’s true that other systematic inequalities factor into producing low-quality education, but education reform is necessary to carry out future national knowledge. Young people need equitable guidance within their academic environments. Nothing more, nothing less.
This piece is part of a series written by college undergraduates enrolled in off-campus study programs through the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA). HECUA programs offer students a chance to think deeply about the issues that matter most, and we’d like to share a piece of that experience with you. Every student post on the HECUA Medium page considers a theory or reading that intersects with that student’s lived experience. For more information about HECUA programs, click here.
