Frames of Reference

When I sit and reflect on what the idea of urban education means to me, I am struck first by the fact that it is something that is entirely foreign to me. I grew up in the small suburban town of Verona NJ, attending the Verona public schools system, a predominantly white school system. In regards to the notion of a frame of reference for urban education, I in truth have no true frame of reference. It is not something that I have had any experience with in my life. My background and upbringing are undoubtedly shared not only by some members of the Curr. 523 class but obviously by countless others as well and curiously enough, despite my apparent detachment from urban education, I, and others with my similar background do in fact possess many ideas about urban education and the factors, issues, and circumstances connected to it. I will attempt to explore some of the potential significance of my ideas regarding urban education by laying out some specific examples of beliefs that I hold regarding urban centers, schools, teachers, and students. After citing some specific examples, we can explore the beliefs regarding impact that may be had concerning education as a whole as well as the implications for formulating the type of teacher and professional I hope to be in the near future. Finally, we can examine the origins of the beliefs and discuss their importance.
People hold many beliefs and it is safe to say that that the word belief is not always synonymous with the word fact. This being said, I do have specific beliefs about urban centers, schools, teachers, and students and but it should be stated that anything I offer is in its purest form simply belief, stemming from a host of sources but in the end not being claimed to be fact in any way, supported by anything other than my preconceived notions. However, it is from this very fact that it is not fact that we gain the greatest potential benefit. By reflecting on these beliefs and exploring what thoughts I have concerning this area I can ultimately approach teaching armed with the knowledge of my preconceived ideas and use that knowledge to make myself a better educator. I offer myself in doing this self examination, the opportunity to weed out any misconceived ideas that may exist.
I can begin listing some of the beliefs I hold first by stating a belief regarding all students. The belief is that every student is unique and comes to the classroom with his or her own unique background, encompassing ideas such as different cultures, beliefs, skills, desires, and goals. As a result of their own unique circumstances it becomes clear that every student will possess their own unique set of needs to ensure the success of their learning. This is true regardless of where the student is from and what type of school they are attending, suburban, rural, or urban. The needs of a student in a suburban school are going to find some overlap with those of one in an urban or rural school but are going to have those that are specific to their particular situation.
When I think about urban centers there are a few ideas that spring to mind. I think of big cities and the many factors and conditions inherent to cities and city life. I immediately think of negative factors such as high density or over overcrowding, high crime rates, and high unemployment rates. However, my thoughts are not contained solely to the realm of the negative but in fact carry over to the positive conditions that are also inherent to cities such as cities being a source from which incredible art springs forth, attributable to the rich melting pot of cultures that reside in cities. I can attribute these feeling to my being a musician possessing a degree in jazz studies. It is clear also, that as a future music educator there exists great potential for drawing on the various cultures to enrich any type of musical instruction that I might provide.
The next idea to be reflected on is urban schools and the teacher and students that make up the institutions. My initial thoughts are that they are susceptible to many of the same problems that carry through from urban centers. Problems like drugs, violence, and gangs. I believe these schools also suffer from high dropout rates, poor test scores, and high turnover rates for teachers. I feel that there are unique pressures placed on the students residing in urban centers and is no surprise that the pressures of urban life carry through to an urban school. We find issues relating to identity in which students from various backgrounds may have certain ideas regarding education. For some of the students they may view education as something that does fit into their personal identity. They may feel pressures from their families and peers to think of education as unnecessary.
Upon gauging these thoughts I, at first, might be inclined to label the schools by saying they are “bad” schools. I am probably not alone in this initial assessment of the schools as “bad” it is an easy label to give. It is also easy to see that by labeling the school as bad it becomes easy to follow with “bad” labels for the students and teachers of the schools as well. What needs to be realized is that looking deeper into the situation we see that it is not a matter of having “bad” students, or teachers, or ultimately a “bad” school but that it is “bad” policies that dictate practices in the schools that are “bad” concerning the needs of a particular school. In fact we need to discard the “bad” label in seeing that a policy or practice might actually be successful when applied to one school and therefore see that when unsuccessful in another it is, by better description, an incompatible policy. I stated earlier every student is unique concerning the needs they have for their education and as of now, policies are in place that attempt to offer an all-encompassing assessment of students from every aspect of life. The students in rural, urban, and suburban schools do not have the same needs and therefore cannot have the same educational policies applied to them. The policy makers are, in most cases, similar to me in being completely removed from life within urban centers, or schools. However I feel it does not mean that only individuals from urban centers or schools can be successful in creating educational policy for students. It means that the policy needs to be changed to reflect the differences of the needs of students based on what their unique needs are.
Where can the source of my beliefs be found, where do they stem from? Interestingly enough I believe a huge factor is the media. The issues surrounding the schools, especially in the wake of policy such as “no child left behind,” are issues that receive a good deal of news coverage. In addition, there have been a variety of movies portraying the story of someone coming to a failing school and saving the children, being the one that finally reaches the students and is able to help them realize their potential. Undoubtedly, this has created a false Hollywood version of urban schooling, and a false sense of what the problems are in these schools. Movies like this serve to perpetuate the very prejudice idea that, as stated, the schools are “bad” and therefore the teachers must also be “bad” and in order to help the students a “good” teacher from outside of the urban setting must come in to save the day.
After considering these points, it is clear that every school and every individual student has unique needs for their educational success and the practices and policies of education need to reflect this. Because of this generalized policy and practice are most likely going to be unsuccessful in addressing all of these needs across racial, cultural, gender, and economic lines. Every school in every setting will confront teachers and students with its own set of challenges and by addressing them, the chance for better learning becomes possible. Taking all of this into account I can strive to structure my future classroom to be one in which I am aware of the individual needs of my students and able to understand the type of needs they have specific to what type of school environment I am in thereby increasing the learning potential of my students. It is clear that when a education in faring unsuccessfully despite the initial ease of placing blame on the setting, teachers, and students the blame belongs to the policies that either don’t account for, or outright prevent the means by which educators can address the needs specific to their school locale.