 |
 |
I agree absolutely that poverty, in and of itself, is NOT the "cause" of unprepared students. It's more the catalyst that launches a whole bunch of causes. What we see with students who "choose" to be unprepared for education is an attitude which society as a whole must address. I live in New Mexico, one of the states which ranks lowest in education and per-capita income. I see many students who feel that education is the white man's way of cultural genocide. There are many groups which feel it is "uncool" to be educated. I am NOT saying that NO ONE from these groups values education, so don't bash me for this statement, please. This attitude continues to influence student motivation and retention, and it sorely needs to be addressed. Many of my students feel that, education or no education, they don't have a snowball's chance at the "American Dream" because of racial discrimination. My primary job seems to have become cheerleading rather than English tutoring, although I do my share of that, too. We are often told that "you are not counselors" so "you should keep the students on task." To a certain extent I agree. After a while, one can tell the whiners from those whose problems are seriously interfering with their education. I can teach the latter "The Writing Process" til I'm blue in the face, and it won't soak in because their self-esteem is in shambles. That's a huge part of the reason we put together a "Student Success" workshop which deals with "7 habits of highly successful students," "time management," and "positive thinking." Students need to hear that there is no "magic" formula for becoming a successful student; they need to hear that educators have faith in their students' abilities to succeed. They need to hear that there are TOOLS which will work to improve their academic success. They need to hear the stories of "people who succeeded in education in spite of poverty," racism, sexism, learning disabilities, whatever! Without. I might add, moralizing about how good today's students have it compared to, say, Frederick Douglass! There tends to be this attitude of "When I was a kid, we had to walk five miles through snowdrifts to school, and we were GLAD to do it." This seems to me to end up blaming the student who "only" deals with poverty, divorce, gang violence, drugs, and etc. in pursuit of his/her education! Each person has his or her own reality in life. What may seem insurmountable problems to one may be duck soup to another and vice versa. Students "choose" not to learn because they don't think they can make a difference in the way society works. Students "choose" not to learn, not because of THEIR failings, but because of OURS, as educators and as a society! Learning is a natural process, something we all begin doing from the day we're born. Learning does not depend on whether you have low, average, or high intelligence. We all do it all our lives. Academic learning (at whatever level) stops when some obstacle is put in the way. That obstacle is usually societal expectations of one's "place," "intellect," "aptitude," "perceived benefit to society," and so on. Who is to say that JFK had more to contribute than Frederick Douglass, or Jaime Escalante, or some struggling student WE may think is disruptive and incapable of learning but who may turn out to be the next Winston Churchill, George Washington Carver, or Thomas Edison? I am a proud Pollyanna when it comes to this concept. I firmly believe that ALL students can LEARN to succeed, given the tools, given the understanding, and given someone who gives a hot damn about them as individuals who have individual hopes, dreams and ambitions! Peggy Keller English Instructional Technician Assistance Centers for Education Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute 525 Buena Vista, SE Albuquerque, NM 87106 "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right." --Henry Ford On Wed, 21 Jan 1998, Dennis H. Congos wrote: > I am puzzled by the perception of some of my colleagues. History is full of stories of > people who succeeded in education in spite of poverty. I think we are going for a red > herring when we blame poverty for poor grades. Poverty does not cause learners to > choose not do homework, choose not do do reading asignments, choose to > misbehave in class, choose to be disrespectful to teachers, choose not to complete > exercises in class, choose not to attempt to write papers, etc. It has to be something > else affecting these learners. > > What social mechanism has the greatest influence on learners? There lies the > problem and the object of our remedies. > > Dennis Congos > > __________________________________________________________ > > Dennis H. Congos > Learning Skills Lab Facilitator & Certified Supplemental Instruction Trainer > Academic Learning Center > 103 Garinger Building > Central Piedmont Community College > Charlotte, NC 28235 > 704-330-6474 > email: [log in to unmask] > NADE Homepage: http://www.umkc.edu/cad/nade.htm > CAD and SI Homepage: http://www.umkc.edu/cad/ > Learning skills: The only indispensable knowledge in college. > Learning skills: The tools for doing the job of learning. > ___________________________________________________________ >