I have had many teachers in my lifetime. Some cared, some really didn't. I still have never forgotten how my 8th grade history teacher still had to refer to me as, "you" at nearly the end of my 8th grade year. Yes, I was quiet, but I got an A in his class. If he called on me, I always had the right answer. My seventh grade history teacher once made me stop giving answers in a game, because I was right more than I should have been. You see over the years I had learned if you stop talking, and really listen you will find the truth. Also, then when you actually speak what you say is more meaningful. The following is my "I Have a Dream" speech. While I am not Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I do think that after my Saturday all that I am about to say is valid.
What if on the first day of class the teacher didn't judge you by your appearance? What if she looked past your dirty clothes and tangled hair? What if she didn't see your backpack that you had to wait 6 hours in line to get because your parents couldn't afford it? What if the opposite were true? What if she didn't look at your $60 jeans and name brand shirt? What if she didn't look at your manicured nails and perfect hair? What she didn't notice your well balanced lunch in a shiny new lunch box? What if she didn't judge you before you arrived based on other teachers opinions? What if she decided to care whether your parents do or not? What if she decided to treat everyone as equals? What if she assumed you were smart? What if she took a personal interest in you?
What if she let everyone start on the same playing field? What if she told you that the way you are treated at home will not be the way you are treated here? What if she talked to you? What if she knew more about you than your name? What if there was no judgement placed on you because of your older siblings? What if she looked past your neighborhood, your address, and your house? What if while she cared that your daddy is in jail, she didn't hold it against you? What if because you come from these things she held you to a higher standard? What if she took extra time to love you instead of judge you? What if she decided to push you further?
What if grades were based on your personal effort? What if she didn't just pass you to get rid of you? What if you had to meet standards laid before you? What if can't was taken out of your vocabulary? What if because one teacher cared one student didn't do drugs? What if because one teacher cared one student stayed out of jail? What if because one teacher cared a little girl didn't have to go home to her drug addicted mother passed out on the couch? What if because one teacher cared a child wasn't found dead in their abusive environment? What if they cared?
What if that one teacher, turned into all teachers? What if all the teachers cared about every student? What if they all stopped judging? What if they all stopped talking about the children as a job and a paycheck? What if they saw the children as the future? What if those children had children? What if their children changed the neighborhood? What if the drugs stopped? What if they all went to college? What if they all came back to improve the neighborhood?
You see people, I spent a day in the volunteer room with the 4 teachers that bothered to care. Even those teachers talked about how when the parents don't care it's pointless to try to teach the children in the room. The behavior of the kids is so bad in the poor neighborhoods, it's almost impossible to teach anything. It left me wondering why they don't change it. If they got up in front of the students and told them they all could have an A. They were not going to be graded on their clothes, money, cleanliness, parents, siblings, neighborhood, or anything else that may be a concern for them so they could focus more on studying and less on worrying about being judged.
The differences within elementary schools within my neighborhood and the one I send my kids to haunt me. When I went to open house night at my kids' school they were great with hugs, by the teachers and by the principal. When I told my twins kindergarten teacher what I do just to get them to the better school, I knew she was going to use that information to push my girls harder instead of holding them back.
95 percent of students in my neighborhood school are on free lunch. They all have the same backpack, mostly because we give them away for free and their parents are willing to wait in line for as much as 10 hours just to get them one. The teachers are more concerned with disciplining the students then giving an education. I know not just from what I heard, but also because the "good/quiet" students have teachers that don't even know their name. If you show up and don't hit somebody, no one bothers to get to know you.
To conclude this I want you all to know I met a grandma that was a retired guidance counselor. She sent her grandchild to the school my children attend. She made the principals honor roll there for 2 years. Then she moved into my neighborhood. The child was quiet, did her work, but got all Fs except for one lone D. You may say the work was harder. I have seen and compared my son's work to the work being done here, his is by far the more challenging. So one has to ask how does a good student fall through the cracks? However, that wasn't my question. My question was rather, "how does one let a child fall through the cracks, and then move them to the next grade?" You all think about that.
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