A new superintendent, a new mayor, a new governor declares with the blaring of trumpets, the “new thing,” a phonics curriculum, a new way of teaching math, new graduation requirements, press releases, and the measures fail to impact the “truly disadvantaged.”
The underlying problem, generational poverty, is rarely addressed, if you’re nerdy, I raise my hand, and understand that AI is not a fad, and if you have ChatCPT on your phone, type in: How can we resolve generational poverty? You get pages upon pages of suggestions…few of whom have had positive impacts.
The chains of generational poverty are rooted in slavery and Jim Crow.
The 13th Amendment,
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
ended slavery, the 14th Amendment,
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
made all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens, although now before the Supreme Court and the 15th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
gave the formerly enslaved the right to vote.
At the end of the Civil War federal troops remained in the former confederate states to enforce the constitutional amendments. The election of 1976, the most corrupt in our history, ended Reconstruction and removed federal troops. Slavery was replaced with peonage; the yoke of slavery was reattached with the passage of Jim Crow laws at the local and state level as well as the Supreme Court overturning laws intended to implement the constitutional amendments. For example Poll Taxes, in effect eliminated the 15th Amendment for formerly enslaved persons
Thirty years later the Supreme Court, in Plessy v Ferguson (1896) memorialized the supremacy of the white race,
We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff’s argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction on it.
In a now-famous dissent, Justice Harlan forcefully argued that even though many white Americans of the late 19th century considered themselves superior to those of other races, the U.S. Constitution was “color-blind” regarding the law and civil rights.
If the White race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And it is so in prestige, in achievementsm in education, in wealth and in power … But in the view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens, In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.
It wasn’t until LBJ’s Great Society legislation that the promises of the 13/14/15th Amendments were enshrined in statute.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 enacted July 2, 1964) is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools and public accommodations, and employment discrimination.
If took a hundred years before the shackles of slavery were removed leaving deep scars and memories.
Researchers, sociologists, policy makers have explored the root causes of generational poverty, William Julius Wilson, in The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass and Public Policy (2002) identities many of the qualities of those chained to generational poverty.
A more recent study examines risks that tie people to poverty.
None of these studies have successfully demonstrated how to disrupt the generational chains.
How about simply providing poor families with a monthly stipend?
The NY Times reports,
If the government wants poor children to thrive, it should give their parents money. That simple idea has propelled an avid movement to send low-income families regular payments with no strings attached.
Significant but indirect evidence has suggested that unconditional cash aid would help children flourish. But now a rigorous experiment, in a more direct test, found that years of monthly payments did nothing to boost children’s well-being, a result that defied researchers’ predictions and could weaken the case for income guarantees.
Was the stipend too low, did COVID impact the study, will the benefits emerge in future years?
Erasing 350 years of slavery and peonage is an unmet challenge.
At the state level education is funded primarily through property taxes and high tax districts drive far more dollars to schools than low tax districts, and state funds make up some of the difference “the rich get richer.” NYS litigation has been in progress for thirty years.
Governors and mayors and superintendents seek the “magic bullet,” over thirty states have mandated the Science of Reading, a little secret, the teaching of reading is not a science, it’s an art. Teachers improve through guided practice, as do tennis players and golfers and musicians and dancers.
The “magic bullet” is collaboration, how many teachers ever watch and interact with colleagues? Have an opportunity to video themselves?
Charlotte Danielson, yes, the “frameworks” person also has written about professional practice,
… learning can only occur in an atmosphere of trust. Fear shuts people down. Learning, after all, entails vulnerability. The culture of the school and of the district must be one that encourages risk-taking.
A culture of professional inquiry requires challenge as well as support. The culture must include an expectation that every teacher will engage in a career-long process of learning, one that is never “finished.” Teaching is simply too complex for anyone to believe that there is no more to learn.
And, policymakers must acknowledge that professional learning is rarely the consequence of teachers attending workshops or being directed by a supervisor to read a certain book or take a particular course. Overwhelmingly, most teachers report that they learn more from their colleagues than from an “expert” in a workshop. When teachers work together to solve problems of practice, they have the benefit of their colleagues’ knowledge and experience to address a particular issue they’re facing in their classroom.
Norm Fruchter describes a direction, clusters of schools supported by high functioning not-for-profits, the teacher union contract supports, in fact encourages schools to modify the union contract and/or department regulations (school-based options and PROSE), See Norm’s discussion of the Affinity Schools at the link above.
A new mayor, a new chancellor, perhaps a new bottom-up direction.
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 