Public Schools are About Providing Opportunity, Not Guaranteeing Success
Opportunity is only valuable to those motivated to exploit it and worthless to those who are not. You can argue that great teachers will motivate any student ... and call me politically incorrect in placing the burden on the student. But just as every student cannot be above average, every teacher, by definition, cannot be better than average.
My sons attended a public school in SE Wisconsin that had many poor and disadvantaged students. Much was wrong about the place. Some students failed while some lost hope and fell through the cracks despite the work of a mostly motivated staff. I taught science and coached at the school and got to see firsthand the failures and the happy endings which ensued.
A culture existed amongst many of the students which discounted the value of learning and bought into drugs and violence. In short it was similar to many of our nation's inner-city schools.
Much was right with the place. Hard working curious students guided by excellent teachers earned diplomas and went onto university and advanced degrees. Excellent orchestras, bands and choirs gave meaning and direction to students' lives. A full variety of athletics and arts were available to every student, regardless of wealth or status.
Why did my sons and many classmates end up as upper tier professionals in the country even though they attended a so-called "ghetto-school". Why did many of their class-mates fail to live up to their potential while given the same opportunity to learn? I don't know. Perhaps because their mother ceaselessly read to them and nurtured their curiosity. But I do know that every single student that attended their school had the opportunity – if they had the mindset and motivation.
Certainly the tides and currents are flowing against many of our students as they try to swim upstream. That they do not find education important or relevant cannot be described as mere personal failure but as rooted in culture, social policy and family life. We need to put young people into positions where they can see the necessity of education and the potential within themselves.
We are attempting to change the way we educate in a mechanical way. Perhaps tinkering under the hood will help somewhat. But it will not do much good until we address the real problem in American education. Convincing students (and parents) that learning is not a game but life and death serious stuff.
