Another Kind of Gap

         Recently, a friend of mine shared this article with me, which describes how an NYC school proposed by long-time principal Julie Zuckerman with a rare mission to not focus on standardized tests, was bumped by the Education Department out of its promised location by an incoming KIPP school.  KIPP has become an increasingly powerful charter school company, due largely to success (as measured by test scores) in poor urban or rural neighborhoods.  I worry about the explosion of charter school companies like KIPP, which are financed by hedge funds, focused on test-prep and behavioral training, and promote the myth that a truly caring teacher should not have weekends or a life outside of the classroom.  I recognize there is a need to serve children in areas of poverty whose local public schools are failing them.  I also understand the challenges faced by a teacher in an urban classroom, and can empathize with the feeling that a rigid and authoritarian style and a focus on the all-important standardized tests feels like an attractive solution to the frustrations these teachers face on a daily basis. 

The attractive solution, however, is not always the right solution.  I worry that in our effort to narrow the achievement gap between those who have and those who don’t, we are simply creating another kind of gap.  A gap in understanding of the democratic process, how to question, create, and think critically about the world.  I see how students in wealthy suburban public schools and private schools are nurtured and taught academic habits by social curricula like Responsive Classroom and programs developed by Educators for Social Responsibility.  Teaching in this way takes time, however, time that many charter schools feel is better spent preparing students to take a test.

       I recently interviewed to teach at a charter school in the Boston area whose students are 98% black or latino, almost 80% of whom are eligible for free-and-reduced lunch.  Having taught previously at a school with a similar demographic, I was deeply troubled by the attitudes of the principal towards these children and their families.  Her disdain for my beliefs in classroom management based on logical consequences and empowering children to make responsible choices was evident when her response to my explanation of this was, “Well that doesn’t work for ALL kids.”  She went on to explain that her students were used to an authoritarian style of parenting and that meant the teachers were obliged to mimic this same style in order to be effective.  As if to illustrate her point, a second grade student sat in a corner of her office throughout our entire interview, working on a practice bubble test in atonement for some wrong he had committed in class that morning.  This seemed to me a wholly inappropriate and absurd punishment.

I was further disturbed when we left the principals office to tour the school and every class we visited, K – 5, was completely silent.  Where was the collaboration, the joy, the discovery, or the debate necessary to cultivate the habits of lifelong learners?  In what ways were these students being prepared to communicate, ask questions, defend their ideas, or develop and sustain meaningful friendships?  In the hallway, we passed a line of children heading in the opposite direction and one turned around to give a cheerful good morning to the principal.  Instead of a smile and greeting in return, the principal responded with, “Which way are you walking?  Turn around, face the proper direction and stop talking.”  Is this sending the right message to children about respect and courtesy for those with whom we live and work?  To quote a friend of mine and respected colleague, Therese Arsenault, “What . . . is so frightening about an education that looks to develop our youth's sense of self as thinker, doer, and maker?"  Why is it that we do this for some children for not all?  Isn’t it telling that the same business professionals and politicians who praise and support KIPP as a brilliant and economically sound solution for our educational crisis, send their own children to private schools or suburban public schools with child-centered philosophies?  I think all children deserve the same type of education enjoyed by Obama’s children.  Keep fighting Ms. Zuckerman- - your community needs you!


*** THIS JUST IN: Immediately after I posted this, I found the following article - - > "Study finds high dropout rates for black males in KIPP schools:  Researchers say high attrition rates and private donations help explain the charter school network's success record."  Let's just say I am not exactly shocked.