SOLUTION?
By Victor Marrero
What should be done about failing education, and at risk youth?
Remove bilingual classes? Raise standards with tests like the Golden
State? Implement state mandated curriculum of teaching classics from
the Greeks, and Shakespeare? Talk about George Washington, and his
Cherry Tree? Stop teaching multiculturalism? Get back to basics of
reading, writing, and arithmetic? Teach more Science and Math to
compete with Japan, and Germany? Increase disclipline at school and
the home? Have school and neighborhood projects for graffittii
removal? Require community service for graduation? Put more police
on the streets?
Have you considered the possibility that most of that is already in
effect? The only part that I agree with is increasing discipline, and
community service. I wouldn’t have said this before having worked at
a high school, and having long talks with friends who are both
politically conscious and strict disiplinarian as teachers. The only
question becomes increase disipline to what ends. Once you have your
class under control what content are you going to try to put into
their heads? Are they going to silently rebel by either not learning
it at all, flunk, eventually drop out, or maybe they’ll just go
through the motions of doing what you want without internalizing that
there is a world outside of their 16 year old realities.
To those that think that removing bilingual ed is an answer, whether
they know it or not, most classes for ESL students are not bilingually
taught. Most ESL students are taught in ESL or Sheltered English, and
that’s speaking before 227. ESL and Sheltered English means teaching
them in English at a level they can supposedly absorb, or with extra
assistance such as from a T.A like myself. You can’t blame
bilingualism for education’s problems because only 1/4 of students get
adequet bilingual ed. Out of that minority that actually gets primary
language instruction for six or more years, or dual language
instruction for all their years, it is found that they are the better
performing students.
State tests? Why give students tests that they are foreknown to
fail? Maybe there’s a political motive like cutting inner city
schools off from state money if they don’t meet the grade.
A teacher that really cares should make it his or her goal to get the
kids up to the grade levels they’re suppossed to be by whatever means
neccessary even if it means using comic books just to get them to
read something. They need to crawl before they can run. Have them
read song lyrics. Discuss and contrast the different messages from
rap, reggea, or rock singers, the sexist, the shallow, the
controversial, and the deep. Look at and think about the reasons that
kids don’t read these days and then do something besides just forcing
them to read books that has nothing to do with their lives or their
interests.
Get them writing by letting them write on whatever passions they have
inside them. That’s what got me writing, and here I am either boring,
or exasperating you with my points of view. Let them write about
living in the ghetto, riding the waves, or getting jumped in. Throw
things at them that make them mad. Let them read certain Daily Aztec
Articles like the one by Patrick Batten on solving the border problem
by absorbing the part of Mexico that wasn’t absorbed (because the U.S.
Congress didn’t want that many Mexicans in its union in 1848). By the
way Batten, by the U.S officially not having absorbed all of Mexico in
1848, today it can control it through economics like NAFTA, and the
Peso Bail Out while not having to give its citizens votes in U.S. side
politics like 187 and 227. Global manipulation by multi-nationals
like Chevron without global reprensentation.
Make the inner city kids understand that they can express their anger
by putting it into words on paper, and submitting letters to the Opion
Page instead of going to go look for that *#@$ gringo with a strap.
They’re angry about so many things. Use that anger to develop their
communication skills. When they write something make them write it
ten or as many times as it takes to get that one piece right. In the
process they might develop basic grammar that they can stand on their
own with(Under the current state mandated curriculum such a strategy
is next to impossible).
If the goal were accomplished of giving these kids a literacy base
with some vocabulary then they could work towards passing tests asking
them to analyze the causes of W.W. I. with an essay
Multi-culturalism? The history books have progressed light years in
the past few years because certain critical and broad minded
historians like Gary Nash have had their input into them. But there
are still teachers that uncritically tell their students that the U.S.
entered the Vietnam War to save the South from the North, not
discussing points like the Pentagon Papers, Geneva Accords, Ho Chi
Mihn’s letter to Woodrow Wilson, and the years after W.W. II. That
and the fact that curriculum is still centered on Ancient Greek
Civilization which culturally has very little to do with areas like
Logan or City Heights(except for baklavas if you know what those are).
They should understand that the Greeks and Romans are the role
models for the system they live under today. They should understand
that and the parallels like the Roman Empire fell because the rich
indulged themselves too much at the expense of the poor especially
farmers. That connects with today’s United States, corporations, and
the exploitation of Southeastern rural Mexico.
Math and Science? Make it intresting and gear it for those that have
apptitude for it as well as those that don’t. I envy Math and Science
people, but unfortunetly I don’t know my elements anymore than the
worst Chemistry students. Make it simpler, and those that have more
appetite for it, make them the astrophysicts.
Community Service? Good one, but make it serve the community and not
the city because they’re not always one in the same.
Graffittii Removal? Since the city and the community is not always
the same all underepresented people should have their own congress on
the question of graffitii. My idea is that everything be covered with
murals, writings, and different colors, of the people’s choice
including the taggers.
Police? That’s already answered in other columns.
Finally politicize parents, pester them at their doorsteps until they
get involved, but let them know there is an agenda to benefit them.
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