"Not there yet" written by Wwebby on estrip.org

09/15/07 10:57 - 51ºF - ID#41126

Not there yet

So I'm out in East Aurora right now living with my folks, but I move downtown Nov. 1st. Can't wait.

Paul tracked me down and told me I should start my blog. So here it is.

I'm an English teacher in the city, my first time with urban kids after 11 years teaching in one of the wealthiest districts in the country. I have an observation: The notion that urban kids are wild and out of control is a myth. My rich kids were awful, rude, entitled, and arrogant. My city kids, for the most part, are mellow and respectful. We get all these images from the media that city kids are animals, but it's just not true. Their academic skills are weaker, but they are not animals.

How much of this fallible perception is fueled by racism? As a white teacher, it's something I've been thinking about.

metalpeter writes at 06:49:01 09/17/07 - Comment #24638: Paying kids for good grades is just wrong and a flawed idea. I do understand why it sounds good. The theory that kids will want the money so they will try harder. But what about the kids that no matter how hard they try they have trouble memorising things, and what about the kids who read something once and remember it. So it would only reword the grades and not the work. The other problem is that it teaches kids to only do it for the money and it put grades infront of learning. Also sometimes when you do something you enjoy and you start to do it for money that takes the fun away.

fellyconnelly writes at 07:09:14 09/16/07 - Comment #24576: welcome to the neighborhood!

leetee writes at 12:08:23 09/16/07 - Comment #24565: Welcome to (e:strip). Hope your move goes well.

Nice userpic. :)

lauren writes at 11:39:20 09/16/07 - Comment #24559: Did anyone hear about the guy from the NYC public schools who is planning on paying kids for good grades? I think he was talking about young kids, 3,4,5 grades and something like 400-500 bucks a year depending on how well the did. He said that most of the money was a result of private fund raising and donations...
Shouldn't this money go to the school systems and not individual kids? I don't know...maybe it isn't enought to make that kind of difference... but I do really think that localized public school funding screws kids out of good schools.

Sorry to rant in your comments. I like what you had to say and it made me think. Where do we get the idea that these kids are animals? Is it from all these romantical type movies like Dangerous Minds where the bad urban (and by urban they of course mean non-white) kids are saved by some hopeful, well intended white teacher?..."Here I come to save the daaaaaay!"

jim writes at 11:13:26 09/16/07 - Comment #24554: Welcome!

metalpeter writes at 10:58:36 09/16/07 - Comment #24550: First of all welcome to the site and I hope you like it.
Second not sure if I would really live down there but I wish I had enough money to live Downtown. They places I've seen advertised are out of my league.

Third onto the school kids. I think city kids (and out in the burbs to) vary from class to class and school to school. My personal belief is that if a kid wants to learn they will in school and if they don't they won't. Of course there are factors that can get kids who don't care about school more into it and there will be things that will distract kids who want to learn. But generally home life and what kids are taught at home will effect there schooling. Of course this is age dependent the sooner you get a kid into learning at school the better. The point I'm trying to make is that most of the time the other students in the school or the school itself isn't what will determine the education the kid gets.

libertad writes at 10:15:28 09/16/07 - Comment #24544: It's nice to hear your thoughts on urban vs suburban kids. James, if schools are failing than we MUST take away funding and give it to the better ones...duh.

I love working and living in the city.

drew writes at 11:52:59 09/15/07 - Comment #24540: true dat. I also made the switch from upper-class to urban, and the kids here ARE so much more, as you said, mellow and respectful. Welcome to the city.

james writes at 11:09:41 09/15/07 - Comment #24537: Considering the atrocity that is school funding it is no surprise that people think city school students are animals: as they drop out more, score lower, commit more crimes and have worse economic outcomes. Now if only Buffalo schools had the same funding Williamsville did maybe something could be done about that.... oh man, a GIANT rant is about to come on so I will stop.

Welcome to the city Wwebby.

paul writes at 11:03:54 09/15/07 - Comment #24536: That is good to hear. I always hear people around town talking about how Bufalo is a great place to live if you don't have a family but then you have to move out to the burbs to start one, or be rich enough for private school to stay in the city. It is refreshing to hear that the schools are not the way I imagined them in my head from the way people talk about them.