I must confess that up until about a year ago, unbeknownst to myself, I also thought of “urban” as a synonym for Black, Latina/o, or minority in the simplest terms. Then I attended Promising Practices on the campus of Rhode Island College. One of the classrooms I sat in discussed the concept, and effects, of micro aggressions. The concept that each person inherently has their own subconscious biases had never been brought up in any of my other schooling. That isn’t to say that I hadn’t thought about it before, but I hadn’t spent nearly enough time thinking about the concept in my own life. I entered into classes to become a teacher knowing that “urban” schools are viewed differently than suburban schools. Since attending the event, I have noticed my own biases much more often. However, I never felt that “urban” was a synonym for minority, but rather the less privileged. To be honest, I still feel that way. Nobody can overlook the statistics. Race will always be synonymous with urban to many, but race can not be changed. Poverty, while it is incredibly difficult to escape, can be mitigated. The thing about “urban” as a label, is that it will mean many different things to people. I have the belief that it refers to a demographic, a demographic that should have nothing to do with race. “Urban” students come from a very different setting than I experienced as a student. I grew up in a white suburban school system and saw many students who treated school as a nuisance. They didn’t really want to be there, nor did they give their best effort everyday, or ever in some cases. What I’ve seen in my own “urban” experiences in schools is that the students, or a much larger percentage of them, give their best efforts. Most don’t have a job waiting for them at Dad’s business, or an internship waiting for them beyond high school. In my own humble opinion, they are there largely because they WANT to be there. To me that would seem like an ideal student. Sure their home life is less structurally sound than most in my school, but if they see that there is a way out, a way to better their lives and their family’s lives, they jump at the opportunity. Our jobs as teachers should be to show them the path to a better life, and give them hope, and make them see just how possible it is.
I was guilty of making the assumptions that urban was a synonym for poor racially diverse schools as well. Growing up in a white suburban neighborhood and school system, I do not believe I was told anything differently or corrected. In fact, I don’t think any adult in my life knew any differently than I did about the word urban or why it was always associated with race and schools. It wasn’t until in my recent years of college that I have learned otherwise.
Now that I have been exposed to urban schools as my college career goes on, I realized how wrong my conceptual idea of what an urban school was. I always assumed urban schools were mostly African American, Latino, Asian, or other racial minorities, and that these schools were in poor neighborhoods with bad reputations. That these kids did not want to learn, or wouldn’t even try. So with this framework in mind, I was sent to an urban school in Providence for my FNED 346 class. I was placed in a third grade ESL/ELL class and was honestly more nervous than I had ever been. When I left that day, urban had a new meaning to me. These children, most of them immigrants who were new to this country, some never having been in a school before, wanted to learn. Almost all of them were new English language learners, but it didn’t matter, they had a passion for school and it was contagious to all the other kids around them. So yes, urban schools are in the cities and do not receive the best funding, and most of the time they are very racially diverse, but my initial thought about the students not wanting to be there or that they just didn’t care about school was completely wrong. And the sad fact is that most people still associate urban schools with racial minorities and still make assumptions about the behaviors of the students inside. In fact, it wasn’t until semesters later that I was able to visit a suburban school and see those kids acting out and not caring about their work (exactly what I was expecting from the urban school). I know this won’t reign true for every school and experience I have, but I do think through this I have learned a better meaning for urban schools, and that as a teacher, we can not make judgments or assumptions too quickly.
In the article, Molly said that her placement in an urban school during college prepared her for teaching in an urban setting. I have to agree with her that had it not been for her experience, she would not have been prepared. I believe the same idea holds true to this day. Had I not been placed in an urban school setting, I do not think I would have learned what urban really meant, or feel as comfortable stepping into an urban classroom. I feel I am prepared now, not to teach racially diverse, poor, unappreciative kids, but rather kids from all different backgrounds who come from a city setting and are looking for an education to lead them out of the only thing they have known. I think it is our job as educators to look past the stigmas given to urban schools, prepare ourselves, give these children the education and resources they need despite what many say and think about them, and then teach others to do the same.
I feel that it makes a lot of sense that Piaget and his theory concerning self-motivation as the principle facilitator of learning continues to be so popular at the middle and secondary levels of education in the United States. It is ingrained in our wider culture that Americans are self-made; that if you want it, you can have it, but it is ultimately up to you to get it. I see this mentality prominent in many of the older classrooms that I have worked in, where students are constantly reminded of the responsibility that they have to themselves to learn, and that their failures are their failures alone. While I think it is extremely important to encourage students to be able to self-motivate, having students be entirely responsible for their own learning often places students in a "sink or swim" situation, and far too many students sink, drown and ultimately give up on learning because they internalize the notion that they will never be good enough. Students are made to believe that if they don't do well in school, they only have themselves to blame, and it cripples their ability and motivation to learn. This is especially true for students of color, who come from a background of centuries of social and political chaos and are all too familiar with the notion that nothing they do will change how the world thinks of them. As discussed in the reading, I too had noticed that the pessimism that follows students of color has been clumped under the label of urban, and that the students placed under this label are considered to be "defective" and are in need of saving. In many ways, this whole notion of "saving urban kids" reminds me of "the white man's burden" in the sense that predominantly white teachers go out into primarily-black schools with the intent of "saving" them- getting them adjusted to white, middle-class cultural norms (or "civilizing them," as European colonizers used to say) rather than helping them adjust to the reality they face everyday. These students don't need to be "saved," nor do they want to be saved or pitied- they need to be taught in a manner to which they can relate to and then draw from to operate in the real world. They are not a burden- they're kids, and there's nothing wrong with them. It is up to teachers to adjust their teaching strategies to stop as many students from "sinking" as they can.
I always thought that “urban schools” meant poorer, racially diverse schools, and by racially diverse, I mean schools with populations that are not dominated by white students, but still include white students. These were schools that could not afford new textbooks and lab equipment, and did not have the resources or the money that most suburban schools do. I guess I thought this way because that is what teachers and adults always portrayed to me while I was growing up.
Some boys/girls town students also went to my high school, and even though I now realize that these were a few students who needed a new place or a new start, I made generalizations about urban schools based off of what I saw in them. These students hated my high school and would sometimes be disruptive in class, and therefore I thought that most urban students were disruptive and would try to be anywhere but class. However, after tutoring at Mt. Pleasant High School, I quickly realized that this was not the case. Some students are new to the country and are trying to learn everything so that they can move forward. Some students work really hard to get into a good college, while others are looking to join the work force or the military. The students in urban schools are as dedicated as students in suburban schools, as there are always students who give it their all every day, some who do what they need to but do not really care, and some who want to get out of school as soon as they can.
The only thing I notice now, is that there seems to be a “them” and an “us” when there should not be. Urban students are not that much different from suburban students, except that they, for the most part, have less money and therefore less resources with which to work. It is our job, as teachers to erase these boundaries and make up for any lack of resources so that we can teach every student to the best of our ability.
I've always thought of urban as primarily meaning the city, but I also have always associated the term more with the poor people of the city more so than the rich. I actually remember when I first starting thinking of Urban as including race in it's definition as well. I remember coming across a radio station that played what it called urban music. I thought that was weird so I asked around and was told that meant music by African American and Latino people. I thought that was an odd use for word (which is why I still remember this) but I didn't question it's usage at the time. I also, at least before my FNED class, tended to view urban schools are more prone to bad behavior and violence. I remember when I was in high school one my teacher's told the class how lucky we were to be going to the school we were going to. He went on to say how in a high school in the city had a jail cell in it. At the time urban high schools sounded rather scary to me. I am now going to my 4th urban school, I have yet to witness an act of violence or any type of bad behavior I didn't also witness in my small town high school.
I also in the past had the assumption that majority of the students in Urban schools didn't want to learn, but I have seen many students in these school eager to learn. When I first started going into urban schools for college, some of my family members warned me to be careful not to get attacked, indicating they view urban schools as quite violent places.
I feel that many of these attitudes I mentioned are not particularly accurate. The teacher that challenged Mr. Watson said the parents in urban schools don't care, but when I see a room just for parents in one the urban schools, I can't help but think that's not particularly accurate. As Mr. Watson said, we need to think about what we mean when we say "urban".
I must confess that up until about a year ago, unbeknownst to myself, I also thought of “urban” as a synonym for Black, Latina/o, or minority in the simplest terms. Then I attended Promising Practices on the campus of Rhode Island College. One of the classrooms I sat in discussed the concept, and effects, of micro aggressions. The concept that each person inherently has their own subconscious biases had never been brought up in any of my other schooling.
ReplyDeleteThat isn’t to say that I hadn’t thought about it before, but I hadn’t spent nearly enough time thinking about the concept in my own life. I entered into classes to become a teacher knowing that “urban” schools are viewed differently than suburban schools. Since attending the event, I have noticed my own biases much more often. However, I never felt that “urban” was a synonym for minority, but rather the less privileged. To be honest, I still feel that way. Nobody can overlook the statistics. Race will always be synonymous with urban to many, but race can not be changed. Poverty, while it is incredibly difficult to escape, can be mitigated. The thing about “urban” as a label, is that it will mean many different things to people. I have the belief that it refers to a demographic, a demographic that should have nothing to do with race.
“Urban” students come from a very different setting than I experienced as a student. I grew up in a white suburban school system and saw many students who treated school as a nuisance. They didn’t really want to be there, nor did they give their best effort everyday, or ever in some cases. What I’ve seen in my own “urban” experiences in schools is that the students, or a much larger percentage of them, give their best efforts. Most don’t have a job waiting for them at Dad’s business, or an internship waiting for them beyond high school. In my own humble opinion, they are there largely because they WANT to be there. To me that would seem like an ideal student. Sure their home life is less structurally sound than most in my school, but if they see that there is a way out, a way to better their lives and their family’s lives, they jump at the opportunity. Our jobs as teachers should be to show them the path to a better life, and give them hope, and make them see just how possible it is.
I was guilty of making the assumptions that urban was a synonym for poor racially diverse schools as well. Growing up in a white suburban neighborhood and school system, I do not believe I was told anything differently or corrected. In fact, I don’t think any adult in my life knew any differently than I did about the word urban or why it was always associated with race and schools. It wasn’t until in my recent years of college that I have learned otherwise.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have been exposed to urban schools as my college career goes on, I realized how wrong my conceptual idea of what an urban school was. I always assumed urban schools were mostly African American, Latino, Asian, or other racial minorities, and that these schools were in poor neighborhoods with bad reputations. That these kids did not want to learn, or wouldn’t even try. So with this framework in mind, I was sent to an urban school in Providence for my FNED 346 class. I was placed in a third grade ESL/ELL class and was honestly more nervous than I had ever been. When I left that day, urban had a new meaning to me. These children, most of them immigrants who were new to this country, some never having been in a school before, wanted to learn. Almost all of them were new English language learners, but it didn’t matter, they had a passion for school and it was contagious to all the other kids around them. So yes, urban schools are in the cities and do not receive the best funding, and most of the time they are very racially diverse, but my initial thought about the students not wanting to be there or that they just didn’t care about school was completely wrong. And the sad fact is that most people still associate urban schools with racial minorities and still make assumptions about the behaviors of the students inside. In fact, it wasn’t until semesters later that I was able to visit a suburban school and see those kids acting out and not caring about their work (exactly what I was expecting from the urban school). I know this won’t reign true for every school and experience I have, but I do think through this I have learned a better meaning for urban schools, and that as a teacher, we can not make judgments or assumptions too quickly.
In the article, Molly said that her placement in an urban school during college prepared her for teaching in an urban setting. I have to agree with her that had it not been for her experience, she would not have been prepared. I believe the same idea holds true to this day. Had I not been placed in an urban school setting, I do not think I would have learned what urban really meant, or feel as comfortable stepping into an urban classroom. I feel I am prepared now, not to teach racially diverse, poor, unappreciative kids, but rather kids from all different backgrounds who come from a city setting and are looking for an education to lead them out of the only thing they have known. I think it is our job as educators to look past the stigmas given to urban schools, prepare ourselves, give these children the education and resources they need despite what many say and think about them, and then teach others to do the same.
I feel that it makes a lot of sense that Piaget and his theory concerning self-motivation as the principle facilitator of learning continues to be so popular at the middle and secondary levels of education in the United States. It is ingrained in our wider culture that Americans are self-made; that if you want it, you can have it, but it is ultimately up to you to get it. I see this mentality prominent in many of the older classrooms that I have worked in, where students are constantly reminded of the responsibility that they have to themselves to learn, and that their failures are their failures alone. While I think it is extremely important to encourage students to be able to self-motivate, having students be entirely responsible for their own learning often places students in a "sink or swim" situation, and far too many students sink, drown and ultimately give up on learning because they internalize the notion that they will never be good enough. Students are made to believe that if they don't do well in school, they only have themselves to blame, and it cripples their ability and motivation to learn. This is especially true for students of color, who come from a background of centuries of social and political chaos and are all too familiar with the notion that nothing they do will change how the world thinks of them. As discussed in the reading, I too had noticed that the pessimism that follows students of color has been clumped under the label of urban, and that the students placed under this label are considered to be "defective" and are in need of saving. In many ways, this whole notion of "saving urban kids" reminds me of "the white man's burden" in the sense that predominantly white teachers go out into primarily-black schools with the intent of "saving" them- getting them adjusted to white, middle-class cultural norms (or "civilizing them," as European colonizers used to say) rather than helping them adjust to the reality they face everyday. These students don't need to be "saved," nor do they want to be saved or pitied- they need to be taught in a manner to which they can relate to and then draw from to operate in the real world. They are not a burden- they're kids, and there's nothing wrong with them. It is up to teachers to adjust their teaching strategies to stop as many students from "sinking" as they can.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that “urban schools” meant poorer, racially diverse schools, and by racially diverse, I mean schools with populations that are not dominated by white students, but still include white students. These were schools that could not afford new textbooks and lab equipment, and did not have the resources or the money that most suburban schools do. I guess I thought this way because that is what teachers and adults always portrayed to me while I was growing up.
ReplyDeleteSome boys/girls town students also went to my high school, and even though I now realize that these were a few students who needed a new place or a new start, I made generalizations about urban schools based off of what I saw in them. These students hated my high school and would sometimes be disruptive in class, and therefore I thought that most urban students were disruptive and would try to be anywhere but class. However, after tutoring at Mt. Pleasant High School, I quickly realized that this was not the case. Some students are new to the country and are trying to learn everything so that they can move forward. Some students work really hard to get into a good college, while others are looking to join the work force or the military. The students in urban schools are as dedicated as students in suburban schools, as there are always students who give it their all every day, some who do what they need to but do not really care, and some who want to get out of school as soon as they can.
The only thing I notice now, is that there seems to be a “them” and an “us” when there should not be. Urban students are not that much different from suburban students, except that they, for the most part, have less money and therefore less resources with which to work. It is our job, as teachers to erase these boundaries and make up for any lack of resources so that we can teach every student to the best of our ability.
I've always thought of urban as primarily meaning the city, but I also have always associated the term more with the poor people of the city more so than the rich. I actually remember when I first starting thinking of Urban as including race in it's definition as well. I remember coming across a radio station that played what it called urban music. I thought that was weird so I asked around and was told that meant music by African American and Latino people. I thought that was an odd use for word (which is why I still remember this) but I didn't question it's usage at the time. I also, at least before my FNED class, tended to view urban schools are more prone to bad behavior and violence. I remember when I was in high school one my teacher's told the class how lucky we were to be going to the school we were going to. He went on to say how in a high school in the city had a jail cell in it. At the time urban high schools sounded rather scary to me. I am now going to my 4th urban school, I have yet to witness an act of violence or any type of bad behavior I didn't also witness in my small town high school.
ReplyDeleteI also in the past had the assumption that majority of the students in Urban schools didn't want to learn, but I have seen many students in these school eager to learn. When I first started going into urban schools for college, some of my family members warned me to be careful not to get attacked, indicating they view urban schools as quite violent places.
I feel that many of these attitudes I mentioned are not particularly accurate. The teacher that challenged Mr. Watson said the parents in urban schools don't care, but when I see a room just for parents in one the urban schools, I can't help but think that's not particularly accurate. As Mr. Watson said, we need to think about what we mean when we say "urban".