Hedonist

This weekend, I am in Chicago.  I’ve been here multiple times before for various reasons, but this time I’m with my students.  These kids came into college with a desire to be teachers in urban contexts, and the purpose of this trip is in part to make the discussions that they’ve had in class surrounding race, class, and urban school challenges more concrete for them via observation and critical conversation around what they saw.

My job this semester is to tackle learning and development for my students and how that could look different in urban settings.  Admittedly, I’m not as well-versed in this area as someone whose academic focus is urban ed.  However, I think I do what I can in trying to nuance the psychological theories that I’ve studied.  This trip was just as important to me in terms of observing with this new urban lens I’m acquiring. 

We started at King College Prep High School, went to Shoesmith Elementary School, Canton Middle School and ended at the school I was probably most excited to see: Urban Prep Academy.  Students debriefed, but as I am supposed to facilitate and not chime in, I’m offloading in this space:

~It appears as if Black men just can’t win for losing. Urban Prep, a charter school which is geared towards getting more black men into college, was the most controversial topic of the students’ discussion.  They mentioned everything from the uniforms and demeanor being a marketing strategy to how “impressive” the students were for wearing suits and addressing each other with respectful terms to how the school marginalizing other groups who have similar needs.  It continues to blow my mind when a group of students who love to find evidence for every little thing are shown statistics for the ‘why’ of the school’s existence, they resist and try to punch holes into every thing.  This is especially hard to swallow for a group of kids who just spent a semester talking about oppression and privilege in the world and who want to teach students in an urban environment.  ::sigh:: The struggle continues…     ~I feel for the students in this school who continually have the traffic of visitors who want to marvel at their success.  A high school student walking by our tour group said, “I don’t like being looked at.  I’m not an animal in a cage.”  It’s got to be annoying for a child who’s supposed to be safe in the school to have strangers coming in and putting them on display.      ~I have to learn how to address the notions of “good” vs “bad” teaching and to help students see beyond their personal experiences to look at the bigger picture (see also: parental involvement and successful student).       ~My students were asked about how they felt about charter schools and the role they play in students’ lives and society as a whole.  I’ve been asking myself the same question all day, and the question I keep asking myself is “why can’t this system work for all public school students?”  Why is it that we have to leave students’ futures to chance (a lottery) or a test score (in the case of selective schools and magnet schools)?  There are systems in place that maintain the status quo, but damn if we won’t be talking in circles until it’s really understood what it means to say that all students get a quality education.