We’ve Been Schooled.
Each of the two articles presented interesting points that highlight the reasons why educational equity is an ethical issue in our society today. In Shame of the Nation, the author tells of a time he met with the principal of an elementary school and points out that, “This….. would not happen to white children,” as he points out the decaying room that surrounds him. For some reason, this quote stood out to me. I think this is a perfect example of why educational equity is an ethical issue in our society firstly because if all public schools are funded by the government, I do not understand why the funds can’t be dispersed evenly among different school districts regardless of the schools’ location and ethnical populations. It simply does not make sense because it makes one question if the children in poorer communities are being doubted or if they’re not being considered. In Children Like Miguel, the author brings up a point that is very important to some of the members in my family. The author brings up the idea of an immigrant student’s obstacles towards going to a university as he describes the DREAM Act and says that, “There is no guarantee that… [it] will ever be approved.” This pending legislative proposal would give all students an opportunity of attedning any public university regardless of their legal status. If we are not giving everyone an equal opportunity to get a college education, which has now become a sort of necessity, then we are not the country that is often advertised.
In Shame of the Nation, the author describes a couple of different root cause of inequity. First, he lists differences among the average amount of dollars spent on a third grader between several schools and points out that a significantly less amount of money is spent on a student in a poorer community than that of a suburb community. He then states that although the numbers have increased over the years in general, “The discrepancies between them have remained.” The author also points out that another cause of this inequity may be a result of other factors such as housing conditions, health coverage, and social factors (pg. 152). In Children Like Miguel, the author bluntly identifies the root causes of educational inequity. He says, “Too many Latino students attend schools that are overcrowded, underfunded, and woefully inadequate in the quality of education they provide.” The author also says that, “Latinos are likely to attend school that are segregated on the basis of race and class.” In other words, Noguera is saying that the root causes of this inequity are both ecomonic and social status, which may be a little generalized.
Because this past Monday was a holiday, I have unfortunately not been able to officially start meeting with my community partner. However, there are several points in these articles that I know I will be able to relate to the CCCFS in terms of the larger context of the organization. A lot, if not all of the students I will be working with will most likely come from similar backgrounds as those described in Shame of the Nation and Children Like Miguel. For example, a lot of the students, just from what I overheard during training/orientation, do not have perfect English, just like Miguel. A lot of them will be children of parents that have immigrated to this country not entirely by means that are legal. Being that they come from a much poorer community compared to others in San Rafael, it may be possible that the students have less resources and in turn, lower test scores. In other words, the points presented by the two authors didn’t necessarily help me, but rather reiterated the larger context of CCCFS because I have experienced similar points during my time in public school and living in what is considered an underrespresented community.
