Sunday, November 15, 2009
How do we fight Disparity?
As educators, how do we deal with the inequalities? Most educators deal with it by correcting the inequalities themselves. How many pencils, notebooks, books, paper, glue, colored pencils, crayons have you bought for your students? Educators can spend half of their paychecks on their students, at times. The reason why we deal with these type of inequalities is because we feel that they are unfair. Are there any inequalities that are fair? Imagine if a student decided to study for a test for one week and gets an"A" but the other students in his class didn't study and more than half fail. The teacher decides to scratch the test because of the amount of failures. The student that studied is mortified because he feels that he wasted a week's worth of time. He wanted to hang out with his friends and watch television but instead he hunkered down and studied. Many of us would feel that the student that studied was treated unfairly. Some would say just give him some type of extra credit. Each answer can be debated and defended. Another inequality we see in Texas is school funding. A woman works her way through college, getting loans and staying up late at nights to get the job of her dreams. Her friends partied and took the first available job. All of them eventually find love settle down with their families. The first young lady lives in a nice neighborhood where her kids can play outside and go to their neighborhood school. She is finally seeing the fruits of her labor for herself and child. Her other friends can't afford to live in a nice neighborhood and their districts receive less in property tax. The state takes money from the first lady's district which comes from her property taxes and gives it to the poorer district. Is that an example of equality or inequality?
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As most people have, I have worked in some very low income school districts. The situations you describe are quite hard to answer. My answer to the last one would have to be an equality. When we get down to the middle of the whole thing this situation comes down to kids being educated equally. As for the student that studied all week he also got something out of it, knowledge.
ReplyDeleteHow about this one - I busted my rear, worked nights, studied mornings, and racked up more than I will ever be able to pay back in student loans, to get my degrees. (Not to mention- raised two children.) I graduate (YAY!) and get my first teaching job making 32K. My best friend did not attend college walks onto a law firm as a paralegal and pulls the same money her first year! No debt. No struggles balancing school, work and kids. Would I wish any less for her - no!(Am I jealous - sometimes :) ) Do I sometimes question the path I chose - no again. Im in it for the kiddos. To make sure - to the best of my ability - that every child I touch knows that they can succeed. One must be reminded that no one ever said equal and fair were the same thing. As a matter of fact - they are far from the same. At times this is frusterating - no doubt - but what is the alternative?
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