June 30, 2011
Because of this Essay, the female 11th grade honor/talented/smart/gifted student (BLACK) in this high school, the principal reprimanded her to the extent of underscoring her, bullying and harassing her; seizing her final result and transcripts. The principal is suspected to be member of the skin head or white supremacist organization.
The principal is afraid to publish his academic and professional qualifications and identify the school he attended. He has no respect for NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT and related education legislation in the UNITED STATES. He deal with majority of non-whites and select few of them as his agents to facilitate his divide and rule program. He ignores 1st and other amendments of the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the United States.
Poor nonwhites students whose parents/guardians are far below US states and federal poverty level, the principal and certain teachers force them to pay over $25.00 per book which is free, test and examinations costs/fees, etc. The US federal and Mass Hon. Secretaries of Education are aware of this complicity and racially motivated punitive actions of this principal and his female vice-principal.
POSTED BY : IHRRG/IHRRC/LIMPT/ASSOCIATES/NIGER DELTA INT. LIBERATION FORCE
_________________________________________________________________________
Isabelle Ofume
Mr. McQueen
AP Language and Composition
8 June 2011
Urban, Suburban, and Mixed Urban Education: Lynn, Holyoke and Fredericksburg
“Let us reform our schools, and we shall find little reform needed in our prisons.” –John Rushkin
“It is not who you attend school with, but who controls the school you attend.” –Nikki Giovanni
“More money is put into prisons than into schools. That, in itself, is the description of a nation bent on suicide. I mean, what is more precious to us than our own children? We are going to build a lot more prisons if we do not deal with the schools and their inequalities.” –Jonathan Kozol
“Given America’s history, why should anyone be surprised to find white privilege so
woven into the unexamined institutional practices, habits of mind, and received truths
that Americans can barely see it?” –Michael K. Brown, White Washing Race
~
Equality in education has been a long going struggle for many decades in America and trumped by the struggle of the whites to get all the jobs across the United States which whites can do. Secretly in the mind of the extreme majority of whites, education is gateway to every good thing in life, thus from good job, mortgage, leased housing, community, family, and children to all other good means of livelihood. And this struggle continues in place of providing better or standard education for urban school and students, poor education is provided to force drop out, preparation for welfare and jail clienteles. This is the reason, majority of the white teachers are not prepared to teach non-White sincerely because of this struggle for means of livelihood. America not only has a problem with keeping education equal and fair to the extent of further struggle which led to No Child Left behind Act, it appears that more legislation creates wider segregation and emergence of urban, suburban, and “mixed urban” schools because the major problem which is the supremacy of color and race has not been resolved. The power of the Act has been diminished under this imbalance.
The funding is not the problem because the funding cannot create retention and standard in urban school; there is deliberate poor teaching environments which are tools to cause dropout. Majority of the teachers are strange and sometimes hostile to the students because they are not community based teachers. Community based teachers are teachers that are indigenously trained to teach their own people.
Contrary to this situation found in urban schools, suburban schools which are predominantly whites implemented LIMPT, INC.’s 2008 “teaching, learning and retention strategy”. Suburban schools have come up with added standard and totally different teaching and learning environment particularly with more and more good teachers; exemplary teaching and learning; good school meal; good homemade meals before and after school because healthy students make smart and talented students; happiness and freedom in teaching and learning; disclosure of scored school and home works to parents/guardians as well as the online access to students grades (passed in work, test grades, homework); teaching, learning, research and reviews before test, quiz and examination; weekly progress reports; good school buildings and infrastructure; access to right to modern teaching and learning technologies including but unlimited to modern communications, standard libraries with Wi-Fi et al and supported by expanded homeroom; enforced teaching (+65%) and comprehensive homework, quiz, tests, examination and other assignments (-35%); etc.
The third prong is mixed urban school and it is silent or unknown in every facet in US education legislation. In certain urban community there are mixed urban school which in a single school system there are somehow diverse and equitable distribution of learners such as White, Black, Hispanic, etc. but white is given preferential treatment. Because of this mixed condition the teaching and learning standard try to come closer to the suburban situations.
It is just a simple contradiction that majority (98%) of the teachers in an suburban school are white and in the same vein over 98% whites are mobilized without reason to teach urban and mixed urban schools. Cultural Competence: “There is such a difference in the make-up of our student and our teacher population. Our staff is almost completely White. Our students are mostly Black and Hispanic. This must have a tremendous impact on our students’ learning. We’ve got major work to do to become more responsive to our students.” And, “according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 40% of the schools in the U.S. have no teacher color in their staff.” Emphasis on “no teacher of color”, that speaks for maybe 1 or 2 teachers of color in 60% of the schools.
The United States from the beginning to present time has used legislative reform to better education but receipt of this better education trump the legislation itself. When the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (US Supreme Court 1896, which allowed separate but equal school systems) failed and Brown v. Board of Education (US Supreme Court 1954, deemed segregated schools as unconstitutional) prevailed some amount of hope was assured. Another bold step is No Child Left Behind Act (2001, to close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind) which strongly affirmed education for all; it appears a messiah or savior is born.
In teaching, learning, and retention there is a very strong gap between urban, suburban, and mixed urban schools. In urban schools there is a severe form of poor teaching, stereotype, excessive streaming, lack of learning freedom of association, and interaction with learning elements. Urban schools are predominately non-White students whereas the teaching workforce is White. In some urban school, students are placed in non-contest competition in that students are allowed to struggle for themselves by finding means to pass exams (by cheating) and in place of teaching they overload students with untaught or raw courses, homework, assignment, and suddenly examination sometimes without notice. Several teachers teach few hours per day and filled majority of the hours with raw assignments, tests, and incident reports against students.
Suburban schools, like Riverbend High school in Fredericksburg, Virginia, students are given a wide range of freedom as to access to the right to computer (lap-top in classroom), well-trained and certified teachers, lesser homework and assignment, preparedness for college and university, better lunches, air-conditioned classrooms, greater course choice, reduced schedule to give student the chance to have more time to finish schoolwork and more time for prep courses for advanced studies.
In comparison, when I moved to Lynn from Braintree, Massachusetts where I was ahead of the students in Lynn. The school where I attended was a suburban white public school and we were being taught curriculums for 7th grade in my 5th grade class plus we were being opened to career choices and after-high school goals (such as college/university). When I was in 7th grade I learned the same thing from 5th grade all over again.
At closed doors in Urban Schools, several unprofessional conducts occur. Several teachers apart from lacking standard teaching habit spend most of their time in writing incident reports against non-white students. “Zero-tolerance”, is used in urban schools as a measure to discourage students and make them a jail-bail or convict. These actions such as suspension, expulsion, and related intolerance are administered as incident report, is put into internal and external records. It becomes a life-line report for the child, which continues to remain throughout his/her life disrupting every effort he/she make such as jobs, apartment, loan, scholarships, etc.
In Urban school, standard of education is lowered in part because parents/guardians are isolated from the day to day teaching and learning activities of their children. These parents are usually non-whites, less educated and poor and have limited clout as to what to do in several situations in the care and protection of their children in school. Their children are left to struggle for themselves to try to resolve multiple problems in school and get nothing which eventually lingers from stage to stage and finally leads to disengagement in school. In monitoring progress of any child in school there is need for parents/guardians to be aware of the day to day progress of the child (LIMPT, INC.).
In the mixed urban situation, there is a combination of urban and suburban students which based on the condition of influence of suburban education, a possibility of good teachers and infrastructure. This condition makes the mixed urban school have a better chance of having a standard teaching and learning. For example, Boston Latin fits the criteria of the “mixed-urban” situation. The students are made up 49.9 Whites, 27.9 Asians, 11.7 Blacks, 8.3 Hispanics, and 0.1 Native Americans and being ranked #38 in US News: Best High Schools.
“The education system under the present contest is about job and money that is why there is a big fight to reduce the population of other people and finally to reduce competition for employment because you can’t get better education without money and without employment you cannot get money”. Middle-class whites put their children in private schools and others that don’t have enough money they put their children in mixed urban schools. To upgrade the standard of learning they pay for extra lectures online (educator.com) and also to further increase this standard they pay for private paid teachers. In other instances the white will commute several miles to take their children to a suburban school where they won’t have to worry about cost of an education.
Boston is made up of urban, suburban, mixed urban demographic institutional structure. Who is the cause of all this? Government is named for allowing upper, medium, and lower classes to exist because of its policies and practices. Under this arrangement, the situation of poor, medium, and upper class people in housing is visible and created by policy and practices. The issue of color and race come under the same argument. The question in issue is whether people choose to live in Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, Mattapan, Roxbury, etc., and why other people choose to live in Beacon Hill and others. Therefore the location of good school and bad school speaks for itself.
The poor standard of teaching which in greater part cause damages in learning and progress in the entire educational activities is covered in Urban and mixed Urban schools where majority of the teachers and administrators are whites and working for themselves. Reason of lack of external direct and indirect Inspectorate or Inspectional services to monitor poor teaching in lacking, therefore, disengagement or dropout from school becomes the probe indicator to expose inefficient teachers.
In Urban and mixed Urban schools where majority of the teachers and administrators are whites, to elude citation against inefficient teaching, teachers enter into a stage of writing multiple trump up incident reports and issues the same to School Principal and because of the weight of the allegations, the principal organizes meetings where he will presents the reports to guidance/counselor, reporting teacher and nurse in attendance. After this stage, the nurse is requested to write a piece of report and several of this report in urban school recommended some mental and non-mental treatment. This report is further submitted to neuro-physicians and other physicians for multiple treatments and the treatment may lead to the transfer to “special school (alternative school)” and there will be a dance that one non-white has been cut down and no longer part of the competition for employment.
Suburban schools, guidance counselors do required job to focus student into their intended career and educational goal. The counselor encourages student to take requisite and the prerequisite or prep courses such as Advanced Placement classes, University/College summer courses, etc. They take the stress off of the parents by handling scores of process relating the career and education of the child such as planning focus courses to the career of child, filling out admission, financial, and other forms in behalf of the child and parent. They encourage the child to look up to university and better lucrative courses.
Urban schools mainly mentioning university is an offense which could cause the child his/her education. Holyoke High School, in Holyoke, MA, some non-white students are forced to drop from their career focus study (such as French) and forced to take a course of study (like Gym) that does not match up with their career focus. These talented/A+/Honor students are harassed with suspension and detention if they choose not to take those courses that have orientation towards academic and career interest. This harassment may lead to the disengagement from school and further cause them to go to non-university program which the school wants them to take because the school which is an urban school with 95% White teachers and administration. According to the Holyoke High School’s purported student demographics, 62% Hispanic, 32% White, 4% Black, and 1% Asian, most Whites are given freedom of choice to choose courses and career.
Suburban schools are saved but in urban and mixed urban schools the problem of incident report, harassment, bullying, police action, and related intolerance in learning are very disrupted and students are highly disadvantaged and run into confusion which triggers disengagement from school. For example, the ACLU made a reference to issues of arrest, expulsion, suspension, and related intolerance in breach of No Child Left Behind. In mixed urban school, teaching and learning are done contrary to the pattern in suburban school. In urban school, students are frustrated with excessive homework; several courses are assigned test and examination in one day, sometimes without prior notice, with the purpose of getting a failing grade. In classroom, several teachers are employed without certification and to course they don’t even have the background to teach. Because urban and mixed urban schools inhabit predominantly less educated families, teachers and school administration mistreat students because they know their parents are not agitative and ready to litigate any improper action or mistreatment.
Richard Gardner of The Independent, reference to a studied made by Professor Gianni De Fraja where he said that "middle-class parents are more vocal in demanding that the school works hard. It could be an indirect influence or it could be 'we don't want to disturb these parents'. Parents from a more advantaged background exert more effort and this influences positively the educational attainment of their children. By the same token, the parents' background also increases the school's effort, which increases the school achievement." In comparing, suburban with urban and mixed urban there is a large disparity in teaching and learning orderliness which includes but unlimited to police action, harassment, and bullying. According to ACLU, “African-American students are far more likely than their white peers to be suspended, expelled, or arrested for the same kind of conduct at school… There is no evidence that students of color misbehave to a greater degree than white students. They are, however, punished more severely, often for behaviors that are less serious.”
William R. Peck Elementary/Middle-school in Holyoke, MA there are non-white smart/talented/gifted students who are targeted and harassed by the school to make sure there put in custody of Department of Children and Family (or mostly known as DSS) where they are finally made to lose their education. LIMPT, INC. followed the activities of the Vice-Principal closely and it found the Vice-Principal and selected staff follow one honor student (Black) from place to place within the school area to offer many incident reports. LIMPT, INC. students were also assigned to watch the activities of the Vice-Principal and staff. What LIMPT, INC. found was that the Vice-Principal and this staff see the girl doing her normal stuff and start talking to her and accused her that she is rude and disrespectful. Thereafter they write lengthy report and submit to the DSS. In present of some student, they student said the girl was carrying a knife whereas she was with nothing but they went ahead to file a criminal complaint against the student. In the classroom, the teachers accuse these talented students who just ask question on topic taught and the teacher take offense and issue incident report. What happened in this school happens in majority of the urban schools.
“Poor or inefficient teaching is deliberate and premeditated action conceived under the politics of race and color”. Several whites fear that non-whites would be educated to take their jobs and those jobs for their future generation. At William Peck School, Holyoke High School and several other Urban Schools talented non-white students’ smart/talented/gifted/honor/A/B+ students are harassed and bullied to force them to dropout from school or be remove by the DCF or DSS. Some of these students were in one point removed to foster homes where there education career is uncertain. The final destination of DSS placement has clear evidence that the intention of this foster guardian is not in good faith but purposed for business which is exploitation of the child.
Mounted police in school is now questioned by LIMPT, INC. and ACLU to the extent linking together police, teachers, guidance counselor, principal, etc. in dealing with the issue of bullying and harassment. The State and Federal Departments of Education and the public may be confused between what LIMPT, INC. and ACLU said. The issue of general language between what ACLU said and the specific work of LIMPT, INC. must be separated. In contest, the ACLU spoke about general things such as usually activity of police in school (urban, suburban, and mixed urban), but that does not speak about why 18 schools in Boston district public school end poor certification, high dropout and drift to closure.
In school, the role of police according to LIMPT, INC. is beyond general language and specifically based on how mounted police protect and empower inefficient teachers. Several teachers in urban public schools in majority white mounted police and white teachers and administration look at the support of mounted police as a backup to mistreat, misbehave, poorly teach, arrogant, and continue as the “lord of bullying” because of present of police. Any academic and non-academic lawful discussion, question, and action which does not lead to breach of peace under the range of color; police is called. This opportunity make teachers not to prepare lecture, not to teach well, not to allow students to ask questions, not to let students to request for their scholarly and other rights.
No Child Left Behind Act issue in urban schools is more of a man-made drama than legislative reality which is a legislation abused by school authority. Suburban school shows that correctness of the Act. The Act in urban and most mixed urban schools fails to attain its purpose because of the role of teachers and school administration that are constructed and setup across the country with a workforce in the present time that consist of over 90% in 1993 according to Landsman, and also Landsman predicts the trend will remain constant in the coming decades. Under this condition, if care is not taken in America, in the future there is every likelihood that the number of bad schools and low standards will greatly increase. To savage the withering condition, there is need for communities to train their teachers and administrators to teach and manage their school and students.
Works Cited
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