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Volume CXXXIII, Number 3 |
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American dream found in schools
MEGAN WYMAN
STAFF WRITER
On Thursday night, September 18th, Pedro Noguera delivered an interesting and motivating lecture stemming from his most recent book, City Schools and the American Dream. The event was part of the Brodie Family Lecture Series, which was established in 1952 to ensure that speakers would come to Bowdoin to talk about education. Noguera, as Dean Craig McEwen noted in his opening, is a public school activist and a Professor of Communities and Schools at Harvard's Graduate Schools of Education. In the lecture, he provided an outline of the past and present states of American education, while focusing on the criteria he believes the nation must meet in order to better our system.
Noguera opened the lecture by explaining the deeply-rooted connection between public education and the American Dream. Public schools, he explained, were created to educate children at the public's expense. In this way, Americans sought to ensure that status would not be determined by birthright, as is the case in England. Noguera then stated that public education is "By far, the most democratic institution in our nation," in that it has come to serve everyone. Furthermore, he noted that while the right to an education is not listed in the Constitution, it is one of the few social entitlements that everyone gets. Though everyone has access to public education, he states that clearly it is "under attack" in today's society, and for many reasons, kids receive unequal educations.
Noguera then shifted to a discussion of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), passed in 2001, which does not incorporate any plans to help failing schools, but, as he stated, "calls for dismantling the entire system will increase," as it is virtually impossible for all schools to reach the standards set by this Act. With NCLB, President Bush plans to reach one hundred per cent literacy in schools by 2013. To reach this goal, schools must pass a series of standards; if they fail to meet standards in all categories, including ESL and special education, they will be labeled as "failing" schools. Noguera believes that NCLB avoids the actual problem, and eventually all schools will be deemed "failures."
We still have hope, though, as Noguera begins to look at what the nation must do in order to improve the situation. Most importantly, he said, "It's not about knowing how to educate kids, it's about willingness to educate kids." He compared America to Barbados, a very impoverished country that has a ninety-six percent literacy rate and an average score of 1200 on the SAT's. Noguera believes schools such as those in Barbados, that are willing to acknowledge and address their needs, are successful because academic and welfare needs go together. As he stated, "It's hard to read when you can't see, hard to learn when you're hungry, hard to study when you have bad teeth."
Noguerahe feels that a key element leading to change is through altering
how schools relate to their students and the surrounding community; schools
must care about parental satisfaction and see themselves as part of a
community rather than as an "island." Furthermore, he outlines
three major points; first, he believes we need moral authority; students
should listen to teachers out of genuine respect. Secondly, he believes
that we must go beyond the narrow missions of schools and define a school's
responsibility as one that is more tied to the students. Lastly, we need
to know the needs of our children and build community support and pride
through partnerships.
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