Low morale, part 2

Would school community gardens cheer people up? Maybe.

Jonathan Kozol is one of the authors that my instructors rely on, and I've learned a lot reading his work. Then this interview of him with the Baltimore Sun startled me. Specifically this quote:

Kozol says that when he began his work in education decades ago, he thought he could effect change. Now, he says, he's just a witness.

Wow. Where to even begin? Is the tide so strong that even a big name in education like Kozol thinks there is no way of stopping it? Then what chances do the little fishes like me have? And if we needed change decades ago, what on earth do we need now? A blank slate?

The article talks about how schools today are even more segregated than the schools in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s day. Segregation is no longer about just black or white, it's about the poor and the rich. The haves and the have nots. Even gender - and not like the way most people still think it is. Girls are quickly out-performing boys in all subjects. A couple years or so ago, girls began receiving more bachelor's degrees than boys. The numbers have only increased since, and the projected trend will continue for years to come.

JL used to talk on and on about "protecting students right to learn" from each other and from themselves. I have nothing against that in and of itself. But he would also go on to say things like "those who are model students need to be sheltered from the ones who act out" among other things (he talked A LOT). Half a step sideways from that point of view and you've got the basis of segregation.

The article asks about what can be a possible solution: closing private schools? Busing students across the city to diversify each school's student body? This is where Kozol states how he's just a witness now. It seems so sad and wrong and SAD that observing is the only thing some educators can do. It really is too big for us all.

I know I'm guilty of this too, but it does seem like the field of education is seeped in bad news. You try so hard, and do your best and still the feeling of helplessness overwhelms so that even the good stuff seems pointless and jaded and idealistic to the point of mythology. Or perhaps it leads to schadenfreude. I don't know which is worse.

The blank slate isn't looking like a bad option after all.