Tendency to shift blame keeps schools from improving

  Adrian Haymond If you’d like to express
your disgust, feel free to contact Haymond at [email protected].
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It’s no secret that education in the United States is in a
crisis situation. Liberals and conservatives battle over what is
needed to improve test scores and overall scholastic achievement.
In the past, factors such as social advancement, funding
inequities, low teacher pay and morale, bureaucratic inertia and
politics have been blamed for the sorry state of our schools.

These factors have resulted in potential solutions including
voucher programs, charter schools, increased funding for personnel
and equipment, smaller class sizes and smaller administrative
units. While test scores have indicated that these solutions have
made some impact, the fact remains that our educational system as a
whole does not prepare children adequately either for college or
meaningful careers.

A major reason progress has been limited is due to the fact that
we blame others for our problems. A quick glance at the
contributing factors to low achievement shows one common
denominator: the problems are blamed on teachers, on government, on
administration, on philosophies, everything and everyone but
ourselves.

I feel that one of the main factors that determines school
success is the amount of involvement by parents, guardians,
siblings and others in the education of a child.

Although there will always be the self-motivated and the
academically gifted, the vast majority of students need help after
school sessions end. Unfortunately, many parents have abdicated
their roles as helpers and guides, leaving their children to fend
for themselves.

This problem cuts across racial and economic lines. As parents
work to make ends meet, children suffer from a lack of supervision.
Most kids will not study on their own, because studying is not fun
““ even with such programs as Hooked on Phonics. They would
rather play with their friends and Nintendo sets than look at a set
of numbers or read a book.

When the parents come home, many are too busy trying to
reacquaint themselves with each other to pay the proper amount of
attention to their children’s schoolwork. Increased funding
and better teachers do not compensate for such a lack of
concern.

Conservatives put much of the blame for the rampant lack of
achievement in poorer communities on the parent. To a large degree,
this is all too true and must be acknowledged by the leaders of
those communities.

  Illustration by Kirsten Gillette/DAILY BRUIN However,
they need to understand that single parents from these communities
are overwhelmed by the sheer struggle of trying to put food on the
table and shelter over their heads. After a hard day at low pay,
the mother or father struggles into the house, and plopping in
front of the television, eating a quick dinner, and/or going to
sleep takes precedence; helping a child to read or calculate seems
like an odious chore, especially if the child fails to grasp the
concept quickly.

The onus is then put on the teacher to come up with ways to keep
children interested, but with no incentive to do homework, most
pupils are doomed to underachieve. Although one can sympathize with
the struggles of the tired breadwinners, it also cannot be an
excuse. We tend to put more emphasis on making it in athletics than
cheering when a child brings home excellent work or understands a
word for the first time. This misapplication of priorities prevents
the full utilization of poor students.

The children of the middle and upper classes also suffer from
parental neglect. More resources are, however, available to those
children, including top-notch tutors and learning programs. In
addition, in many two-parent households, one is much more apt to
stay home than in poorer neighborhoods. A child raised in such a
household is much more liable to fulfill academic expectations, for
the parent at home has time to participate in that child’s
education, both at home and at school.

Still, many parents do not take advantage of the resources
available to them for their children, so while they deal with their
marital problems, stock options, vacations and other pursuits,
little Johnny or Mary is left to deal with their school subjects
alone.

Therefore, although the scores for schools in such neighborhoods
are much higher than in poor areas, the students are still
underachieving when compared to other countries. How else can we
account for the alarming lack of knowledge of schoolchildren in
geography, mathematics and even reading?

Other human resources should be used in the education of a
child. Older siblings who have been through the subjects their
younger counterparts now struggle in can provide invaluable
assistance ““ although it may mean not going out on a date for
a night or two.

Relatives (cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc.) should be
happy for a child’s achievements instead of feeling jealous
that their own child or sibling may be surpassed scholastically.
Those who attend churches, synagogues and mosques should be able to
offer themselves as tutors and helpers to those who cannot study
due to a difficult home environment.

Instead of displaying an “I got mine, go get yours”
attitude, we should, as the students and staff of UCLA, make it our
priority to ensure that the children who are a part of our lives
receive the encouragement and assistance necessary to “make
it” in school. Unless the child’s ability can only
reach a “C” level, we should not have them settle for
such grades, but for academic excellence.

Pumping funds indiscriminately into schools does not resolve
problems, as the recent case of the Kansas City school district
illustrates. The attempt to use Ebonics in Oakland would have been
an utter failure, for it would not have prepared black children for
achievement and success in this society.

Social advancement may boost self-esteem for a while, but it
ultimately dooms the child to a lifetime of despair and futility.
School vouchers would only benefit those with the means to reach
prized schools (which would have to set attendance limits,
frustrating those who could not make it in).

What matters most is our involvement in the lives of the
children around us. It would be sad to be a counselor at UniCamp
and totally disregard the little sister or brother who is
struggling in elementary, middle or high school.

Likewise, marchers who advocate affirmative action and equality
for all are being hypocritical if nothing is done to help their
siblings or children navigate their educations.

Either we must take responsibility for the generation coming up
after us or we cannot sit and blame others if our educational
morass continues ““ for the main culprits will not be the
teachers, the government, the bureaucrats, the gangsters and drug
dealers or the rap, movie and sports stars, but the person in the
mirror, staring us in the face.