Inequality in Education

Chapter 18 gave some good insights as to how schools don't provide the same type of environment for a good education that each student deserves. But from what I have witnessed in Milwaukee, particularly with doing field work for CURRINS 100 at an urban school, I wasn't too surprised when I read about Groundview Technical High School, though the school I went to wasn't as extreme as Groundview. But what I found most interesting about both Groundview and Mountainview Township High School was that both schools environment, educational opportunities, and so on catered to the type of future the students at either school were to expect after graduating (which was more likely to happen at Mountainview). It is upsetting to me that these schools, particularly Groundview, are setting these kids up for what could be either a success or a failure at life. What does that say to those students at Groundview? I have a feeling that if I was a student there, I would learn early on that I would be restricted to this type of lifestyle, one that limits me to only a lower class way of life, because that is what I would be surrounded by within the community.

But what intrigues me about Mountainview, a Utopian paradise that I never had the opportunity to experience (nor do I think I would want to), is the affect is has on the students. How are they viewing themselves in this "culture of privilege"? Do they truly appreciate what so few students throughout the country can afford to have? I feel as if this would do more harm than good. Yes, they get an ideal education and experience, but what have they done to earn it? Just because they are wealthy does that mean they deserve it more? And what happens when they get out into the real world--which will probably never happen for most of them as it seems they will just move on to the next stage of this Utopian education and go to a college that provides the same experience--because it seems to me that if they don't experience what it is like to know that success is a rarity, then schools like Groundview may never get the chance to improve for the benefit of the students. I only say this on the possibility that privileged students understand what it is like to live with failure as their future, and then will want to do something so that every student gets the best education they deserve, which I feel should be the same for every student. Also, it seems the only hope schools like Groundview have for changing for the better is if they get the money to help them do so, which likely won't happen unless policies change.

For me, though, the most interesting contrast between the two types of schools was what was occurring within the classroom. Groundview provided "...more stringent, standardized forms of rote education...", whereas Mountainview was "...equipped with state-of-the-art facilities in comfortable, resource-rich environs that encourage the freedom of mobility and thought to discover, problem-solve, and create." and "...promote independent thought, analysis, and creativity." Since I will probably end up teaching at an urban school, and therefore will be having to work with the stringent, standardized forms of rote education, but I would like to think that I won't always have to give into that way of teaching and will encourage a critical thinking that will promote independent thought, analysis, and creativity in my students. Maybe then the students will develop some optimism, push themselves harder than they thought they were capable of, and realize that they have a successful future outside of a school like Groundview.

A question to consider: if we end up working at a school like Groudview, what are our responsibilities as teachers to provide the best education for our students, and how can we achieve this if school and the resources provided are limiting?