Edu-mo-cation

2003-10-24 at 11:12 a.m.

I have a really really RILLY stupid class I have to take as a pre-requisite for GTEP (graduate teacher education program, but I'm just going to say GTEP from now on). "Society and Education". Good sweet ever lovin' lord. I mean, it's good to make sure that teachers have a basic idea of the sociological context that has formed our educational system, values, and curriculum--I endorse that. But I really wish this class went a little deeper, because frankly, when you get to college, and especially post graduate, there should be some things you already know. Maybe it's just my own genius that puts me ahead (sarcasm people, sarcasm!) but I can't help feel that this ground should be well trod before one gets to post-graduate education (theoretically what this class is preparing us for).

For instance, I have learned, in our country's history:

--the US educational system, in mirroring sociological factors, has really screwed African-Americans.

--the US educational system, in mirroring sociological factors, has really screwed Native Americans.

--the US educational system, in mirroring sociological factors, has really screwed women.

Do you see the source of my underwhelm-ment?

To be fair, there are honestly informative nuggets underneath these stunning anvils of knowledge. For instance, during Reconstruction after the civil war, black kids went to school at far higher rates (in real numbers, in percentage terms, and in terms of days attended) than white kids. Of course, this only lasted until 1877, when the Hayes administration officially ended Reconstruction (as promised during his campaign, which is why he got elected). The withdrawal of the Republican support combined with new, harsher Jim Crow laws, withdrawal or cutback of funding "colored schools" and other factors caused such a turn-around that in one generation black kids were all but abandoned by the school systems.

Of course, it's difficult to examine this situation when you have to first explain that there was no such person as "Jim Crow", and the term "colored" was in common use then but we don't use it now because it is generally considered to be perjorative as it was a label forced on the minority by the majority. And yes, we did have one student ask why we don't say "colored" anymore. My hand to God. And please note: the professor--who's black--didn't laugh out loud.

I suppose her (the student's) stunning naivete allows her to ask questions that shouldn't be silenced--I do appreciate that. If we force some questions of race to be taboo, then eventually they all will be, and we'll never have honest dialogue about discrimination of any kind: gender based, sexuality based, religion based included. I'm just stunned that we're still at a point where the very basics still need to be covered.

So this is a class I'm patiently bearing, sort of like Job.

The good part of the class is that it requires a practicum. That means I have to go out and find a volunteer tutoring gig somewhere. So I'm volunteering again with Youth Employment Institute. It's a school of sorts, although it doesn't sound like it. Kid's who've dropped out, been forced out, are homeless, whatever, end up here trying to amass enough skills, knowledge, training, luck, and/or confidence to pass the GED. So there's a couple girls who talk about getting off meth, there's another couple who're living with their families in homeless shelters, there's the gang-affected, there's the foster kids, and then the just plain angry.

I spent last Wednesday trying to help three girls/women understand multiplication. One, "Lottie", couldn't multiply anything by ten without counting up to it: "5 times 10--10, 20, 30, 40, 50?" while counting on her fingers. Another, "Gina", was so anxious to always be first that she'd just guess and guess and guess until your face made her think that she'd gotten it. "6 times 8--38? 39? 40? 46? 46!"

One was just so angry that she'd been forced to sit at this table with the other two that she wouldn't say a thing.

I wish I were there more than once a week. I wish I could take them through an elementary understanding of math--using marbles in paper cups to show what multiplication means, using something to help the synapses fire so that they'd really get that 5x8 is the same as 8x5. I can see them counting up to the solution as we work with flashcards, each time painfully working their way through the 8's to get that 6x8 is 48--I just wish I could take the time to find the magic sentence that will cross the divide for them.

It also makes me think of the day I first met Lottie.

"My teacher tol' me, she yelled at me, I should go back to elementary school 'cause I never learned math."

Gina: "I woulda slapped her...!"

Lottie: "I wanted to!"

The medium may have sucked but the teacher was right. Lottie got screwed by whatever teacher passed her in math in elementary school. Lottie got screwed by whatever teachers tried--or didn't try--to help her understand what multiplication means. She got screwed by whatever teachers didn't notice until high school that she couldn't multiply 5x10.

Who can blame Lottie for giving up on school that gave up on her?

I'm inadequately prepared, so far, for helping her like she should be, but I can try. I'm excited to try.

YEI is giving me a much more nuanced view of how our society affects our education.

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