Parental Prowess

When do parents assert too much control over “public” education?

I have recently – and quite startlingly I might add – become aware of the immense control that parents can assert in the realm of public education. Through the current onslaught of parental advocation, I have witnessed an immense bureaucratic backlash that, usually unbeknownst to the parent, negatively affects the public servants involved. Exacerbating the challenges of the recent-implemented No Child Left Behind act, teachers must now implement several interesting and usually ridiculous adaptations to ensure a ‘fair’ education in addition to laboring through ridiculous work to ensure compliance with NCLB. Thus, the intended essence of the law actually detracts from teachers teaching. I will be the first to admit that I am fully committed to accommodating students’ needs when such accommodations are needed. If my education goals for a student are only successful with adaptations then I will adjust my teaching style to promote this particular student’s scholarship. However, who decides what adjustments are needed and when is the accommodation line drawn?
My recent experiences have led me to the conclusion that the parent and district advocate (under the thumb of the parent) tend to be the wielders of such power. Of course, there are meetings that include educators and administrators to decide the ‘right’ path for the child, but in the end teachers often feel frustrated because the parents’ desires trump all other considerations. I cannot claim definitive knowledge on this subject since I do not have children, but I feel deep down that parents and educators should work together determining the best path for each child. For example, some parents, in an attempt to help their children, may create an accommodation ‘crutch’ that their children ultimately come to depend on. In one class a child does not receive the required adjustments every time and is successful, but in another class the child receives constant accommodations and when challenged, the child will eventually resort to their ‘dependence’ to be successful. How come the teachers cannot express this information with parents (especially when one general educator is all that is required in said meetings, when all should be present)? How are we supposed to educate the whole child when the eventuality of life is that the world does not display as much compassion as these precious middle school years? With overprotection comes the increased probability of failure during a ‘real’ challenge.
Small group testing, reading tests, enlarging font, extended time, repeating directions etc. are all fantastic strategies that work well and are necessary with particular students, but what happens when students can accomplish the same as the other students in the class, yet are still receiving these stifling accommodations. When does it become unfair for the teacher and the other students? And where do we draw the line to ensure the success of a child beyond our classroom?

Unruly separation

What do we do when a subconscious environment of discrimination begins to effect the social structure of middle school?

I can't help but notice the racial discrepancies in my current position. The school I am in is demographically split 40% African American, 29% Hispanic, 29% Caucasion, and 2% that is split between Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and African. Yet my "honors" classes are roughly 80-90% white, and of these, the majority of students can be sub-categorized as upper-middle class. Don't get me wrong, the students in these two "honors" classes are great, but so are the students in my "regular" classes. I have heard the overplayed comments from "certain" staff that indicate a preference for "certain" classes and "certain" students. Unfortunately, my short yet diverse experience has revealed this "certain" disease affects most middle schools, not making it okay but as a new teacher these certain symptoms are tough to cure. I digress. In my oblivious first weeks in a new school and new area code I began to detect a social divide within the students, but with so many worthless demands to appease the child that was left behind I could not afford to critically analyze the social structure of our school.
After I gave this child a metro pass, I started to observe how the students interacted with each other, both within our team (roughly 90 students) and our team’s dynamics with other teams. What really caught my attention was that our minority students immediately began interacting with minority students from other teams, almost a fellowship of diversity - this was followed by the incessant chant of "why can’t we be on team 6-4 or team 6-1. . ." but I digress again- where as the Caucasian students stuck to inter-team socializing. What was even more surprising was the palpable connection between Latino and African American students. Upon recent observations, I associate this more with a bond between the “have nots” than minority brotherhood, but either way it is an obvious social structure.
“Where does this interesting dynamic transcend from?” you ask bluntly.
This chasm in the social structure of our school is glaringly recapitulated in the social structure of our middle school's community. The "honors" parents are the adults who are actively engaged in dialogue with myself as their child's educator. And they have formed their own little community of close knit high achievers that circulate in the upper-echelon-team of society. Both teams, inside and out of school are tough to access without significant financial or political backing. So what do we do as educators? I of course am still learning myself and that is part of the reason I have started this blog, but to kick things off I will offer two of my humble methods to link the seemingly perpetual social divide.
Extracurricular activities: The most successful place I found to build a bridge of inclusion is after school. My friend and I have started a soccer club that has attracted the likes of ALL students at our middle school. I have self-contained male students epically battling for the ball against high society females. Every Tuesday and Thursday we go outside with two dilapidated soccer balls and for an hour everyone becomes equal. I challenge the kids learn each others names and some other characteristic of my choosing, and the soccer stars are then repeatedly quizzed on said objectives. I have begun to see the lasting affect of this program in our school. No longer is that the black kid in a regular class, now his name is Devonte, he loves wolves, and he is my teammate.
School activities: Fight for the students who don’t have someone fighting for them. I have had several examples of students who should be in my "honors" class, purely based on test scores, but because their parent did not call, the student was not included in the roster. I demand these students be placed in my class and then make sure they succeed.
In the end, these are little actions that may result in little consequence on the cosmic scale. My hope and dream is to do away with these ridiculous titles of academic level, which would abolish strategies to build bridges. With every student spread randomly throughout every class, and the teachers providing supplemental challenges to those who can handle it, we will not have this divide in schools. And maybe, just maybe, the idea will spread beyond our school property to the impoverished community beyond.
This is why I have started this blog, to talk, to question, and to ultimately act.