Rant: School District Penalizes Poor Students #Dalanel
Hey.
I haven’t written in a while, and that’s partially because I’ve been trying to get this site under control since the mishap in August. I know. And then, I return to this space with a rant?
Oh boy, this is gonna be good.
It’s around 1 in the morning as I begin writing this. I’m not tired. I mean, I worked a 12 hour shift (and walked over 33,000 steps). I came home, and my broke…
I hate how much being poor affects you throughout your life, even once you are no longer poor.
I currently live with my mum because I don't earn enough to move out. I make enough money to be comfortable at home. I pay rent, I contribute towards the food bill, etc etc. I make enough money to be able to go away occasionally, but not enough to be able to save up for a deposit and pay regular rent. (Holidays cost £600-700 a couple of times a year. Rent within commuting distance is ~£700/month, not including 2000+ deposit).
But at uni it was a different story. I got £16,000/year maintenance. My rent was £400 four times a year. Leaving me £4,000 to actually live on. I maxed out my overdraft every semester. It worked out at under £55/week to live on. I ate 30p tins of pasta noodles. One a day. Half for lunch, half for dinner. If I was feeling flush, I'd buy a 55p loaf of bread. I played American football for my uni and for my country. Game fees came out of my food budget. Travel fees came out of my food budget. We were expected to attend the meals after the games. That came out of the food budget. Game kit, post-game uniforms, pre-game shirt and ties, all out of the food budget. I gained weight because I couldn't afford to eat healthily. Everything I ate was high fat and high salt. On game days I'd splash out and buy Sainsbury's frozen pizza. Two for £2.50.
This went on for four years. Four years of worrying if your overdraft would last to Loan Day. Worrying how you'd be able to afford to get the train home when your dorm closed for Easter break. Borrowing money off your parents to pay your rent.
I'm comfortable right now. I'm not where I'd like to be, but I know I can get there in a couple of years. I don't have to worry about money. I'm out of my overdraft. I don't have to worry about rent, about food.
But my brother ate an entire jar of Manuka honey in two days and I'm freaking out that we can't afford that kind of decadence.
Something has annoyed me. I was watching a Panorama documentary about poverty in the UK and students are NEVER included in programmes like this. Do we not count as people? There are 1.3 million students within the UK classed as living in poverty, but I forgot, we don't count as people
My experiences as an education administrator in North Carolina have been primarily with students who are poor, minority and struggle academically. I have wondered about the relationship between education outcomes and socio-economic status (SES). Education research has found home background (or SES) to be an important determinant of educational outcomes, and economic research has shown that education strongly affects earnings.
According to the US Census, NC has an estimated 2014 population of 9,943,964 with 17.5% of persons below poverty level. Of the students in poverty who live within Wake County I have had the opportunity of seeing two types.
The first type of student has the raw intelligence that is blurred by critical life events but despite debilitating home life circumstances they achieve satisfactory outcomes in school. The second type of student needs assistance to produce satisfactory education outcomes along with assistance in dealing with debilitating home life events.
Poverty
Poverty is not simply the absence of money but it is also the inability to function effectively in society. Inadequate education can contribute to a form of poverty. Poverty discourages enrolment and survival to higher grades, and also reduces learning in schools.
Poverty also impacts the home life. The home background of students is the most important factor influencing educational outcomes. Student poverty is strongly related with a range of concepts including parental educational attainment, household income levels, and access to basic needs. It is hard to separate limited income from other home life factors.
The history of America is filled with people of poverty who defeated the strong grip of poverty. Many poor students defeated the odds and performed well in formal learning environments.
The Odds
Most ethnic groups, in post-industrialized America, have had to exceed the educational levels of their previous generations. For African Americans in particular, there use to be structural limitations that prevented formal education. However, there is always a story of a grandmother, father or mother who campaigned for their children to take learning seriously.
Historically, informal learning continued throughout poor Black communities. Conversations and family priorities were placed around learning and attaining formal and informal educational achievements.
Education was seen as a critical vehicle for African Americans to exit generational poverty. Black parents applied pressure at home through homework, reading, etc. that would reinforce the value of learning.
What was fascinating was that the parents themselves were not educated enough to actually understand the materials that their children were learning at school. So, the parent support came from instilling the value of formal and informal education and encouraging their children even though the parent could not complete the school work themselves.
At some point in every family someone had to campaign for their child to achieve greater life goals and beat the odds. It is here that the assumption that ‘poverty almost guarantees academic failure’ falls apart. We, the community and parents, must speak against this view that poverty alone will prevent any progress of all students in school. Encourage students to beat the odds!
Fighting Fate
It is difficult to have a student enter my office on enrollment and we examine his home situation where the research would suggests that this student has a very little chance of succeeding in school. It can seem like my job forces me to fight fate, a fate that would argue against any positive outcome in a poor student’s learning journey. The odds are stacked against them.
A home life for my students may include: single/uneducated mother or father, criminal record (parents and child), ethnic minority, poor neighborhood, free lunch, or living below poverty level. Statistics and stereotypes suggest that a student born to these rough circumstances will perform poorly in school.
However, every year my team is surprised by an amazing student. There is always at least one amazing student who could check off a few life events on the poverty checklist and still possess a fierce determination to overcome. It is a myth that a student in poverty is incapable of learning.
“Christian, You Can Do Anything”
I ran into a friend of mines name Ventura. He is a middle age Hispanic who works as a janitor with his wife at the local school. He logs in 80 hours a week of hard labor working two janitorial jobs at local schools. We often talk about our sons and the experiences of fatherhood.
Recently he shared his story that lead into greater news about his oldest son named Christian. Ventura shared that he came into the country illegal and fought hard to become a legal citizen. In that fight Ventura was homeless, temporarily locked up, and spoke little to no English.
He then shared that he did not go to college and that actually no one in his family ever went to college. When Christian was born Ventura would tell him that “You can do anything and that anything is attainable.” He taught Christian not to view life through its limitations but through its opportunities.
In the 9th grade Christian told his dad that he wanted to go to Duke University but that he knew it was too expensive for his parents. Ventura told his son that nothing is out of reach. Ventura said “Christian you can do anything, including going to Duke University.”
Knowing that Duke was very costly, Ventura received permission from his wife to sale their car and home to pay for Christian’s college if it was necessary. The stress of paying for college was kept from Christian but the confidence his parents had in his ability to perform well in formal education was celebrated and known.
Christian scores from his SATs were high enough to receive a preliminary invite to Duke University’s 2015 summer orientation. Christian is just in the 11th grade and he was offered a full ride scholarship to one of Duke’s undergraduate programs. Christian is defeating the odds. The odds look at the educational pattern in his family, the income levels of his parents, and the language barriers. Despite the odds, Ventura and Christian are winning in education.
