When you offer underprivileged children the opportunity to learn, the hope is that–at the very least–they accept it. However, in my experience it was often a struggle for my peers to see the value in developing their reading and writing skills. I grew up in the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago, and I attended a private elementary school. Many of the students came from low-income households, gang-affiliated families, or had parents that immigrated from Mexico.
Not to discredit all, I had peers that overcame language barriers and excelled in school because they sought to fulfill their parents’ dreams of a better life in the United States. However, far more of them had poor academic performance, not because of learning disabilities or ineffective teachers (many were Notre Dame graduates), but simply because they valued street-life above their education.
As portrayed in TV and movies, kids are bullied for being book worms, and “learning is lame.” But for latinx students whose parents often depended on their ability to read and translate documents, the stakes are much higher. Despite their privilege of receiving a private education, these students were not afforded the same resources that high-income neighborhood schools could offer. As children, they could not see the value in taking advantage of what was available to them. True, simply developing literacy skills would not have provided a miracle cure for poor social standing, but it is one tool that I believe is necessary for building a better life, and one that I hope future generations will come to embrace.
What your parents do and expectations from your family really does impact how much a child values certain aspects of their education. I had a professor once talk about how important it was that she was bused to a white school. The area itself held very different expectations and standards. If I remember correctly, no one in her family had gone to college, were working factory jobs, and some might have not even finished high school. In the more privileged area (the “white” neighborhood, but really it was about money), of course children were expected to go to college. Their parents were doctors and lawyers and from their very first day of school they had been taught that education was their future. The more privileged families had the time and resources to spend time with their kids and enforce the idea that education was important. The professor eventually learned these ideas and standards and applied them to her own life.
I am curious about your fellow students’ home lives and the reason behind their value for street-life. Is it possible that they lived in life or death situations where knowing what was happening on the streets could mean avoiding a bullet or jail time? Were their parents too busy working or simply absent for whatever reason? Also, were they able to connect with the teachers? I mean, I would assume that a bunch of Notre Dame graduates would mostly be white and that this might cause a disconnect with the Latinx students.
I’m not trying to make excuses for lack of work ethic or anything like that, but improving the education system means looking at all the factors that might be impacting the situation. Schools’ main job is to make education easily available and that might mean overcoming multiple barriers.
I think that all of the points you make are totally true and valid. There were a number of reasons why many of my classmates didn’t do very well in school that had nothing to do with gang affiliation. I was simply speaking from my personal experience around students that didn’t have those reasons that you mention–absent parents, disconnect with white teachers for example–for doing poorly in school. My reflection was intended to express my disappointment with underprivileged students that chose to participate in gangs and value the lifestyle of thugs simply because they thought it was cool. They made a conscious decision for themselves to abandon their education in favor of pursuing a lifestyle that was glamorized in my community. I appreciate you reminding me, and others that might read this, that there are innumerable factors that impact any student’s ability to academically succeed, and that not all should be grouped together as bad apples.
I agree with what you’re saying with this post. I believe that many people developing crucial skills in their early years do not recognize the importance of said schooling. I for one did not take any schooling seriously until college. Not one memory of studying for a test pops into my mind prior to college, yet all I can associate with my current schooling is massive amount of studying done at the library. If something did not click in my mind upon entering DePaul, my literacy skills would have either plateaued or faltered, struggling to compete with college’s demanding levels of literacy. I often tend to think that it’s a majority the fault of parents not emphasizing enough to their kids the value of education being offered and the power of literacy. Personally, if more attention was put on education by parents, I believe literacy and education as a whole would prosper.