Education: The Great Separator
Should you be rewarded with a better education just because you were lucky enough to be born into the right family? Is being punished with a mediocre education for something you had no control over fair? Shouldn’t all Americans receive the same education from public schools? Most Americans would agree that all public schools should offer the same opportunities to all students no matter what neighborhood or race the students are. In many schools today a major problem is that the students are not the ones, failing, but actually the teachers failing the students. Even though the movie Lean on Me highlights the negatives in our school system, the lack of funding making teachers jobs harder, lack of motivation to
Lean on Me might highlight many negatives in our flawed school system but there is positive message behind the story of Mr. Clark and the students of Eastside High. Mr. Clark succeeded in the face of many difficulties including unequal funding, unmotivated students and teachers, and the absence of teacher student relationships. In a neighborhood where drugs are king and gangs control the streets, it takes something as small as one man caring about the student’s futures to make a difference. The movie gives a positive view of why lower income neighborhoods deserve the same chance at an education as their higher income counterparts. The only way to fix this problem is to fund every public school according to its expenses. Even though Mr. Clark did raise the test scores and bring a positive influence to the students his solutions were far from making Eastside High School equal to the others. The movie has a positive message that no matter where the school is located students can be successful if teachers care about the students and if the students receive the necessary tools to
Lean on Me is a movie that focuses on an abrasive and tough principal that has been called to whip the underprivileged inner city school of Eastside High into shape to avoid being run by the state as opposed to the local school board. This movie brought about the controversial character of Mr. Joe Clark was played by Morgan Freeman.
America is often thought of as the land of equality and opportunity. We have fought for many things like all people being treated as equals and women’s rights and seen change, but one thing that has not seen a lot of change is the equality for the students in the American education system. Many people think that the American education system gives all students an equal chance to succeed, but minority students such as Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, etc. have a harder time persevering in school than other students. Since our education system is based on strict disciplinary methods, curriculums for students that speak English, and funding for resources, the question that arrives in many people’s minds are, if all students are given an equal
“Brown vs. Board of Education” made it a federal crime to segregate children based on race in 1954. On the other hand, “Plessy vs. Ferguson” concluded that “separate but equal” was justified in America’s education system in 1896. Fifty years later after “Brown vs. Board of Education” according to author Jonathan Kozol, the school systems are run more like a separate but unequal system. Kozol states that today’s schools are just as segregated as they were before 1954 and funding is seriously inadequate for those in the urban areas where most attendee’s are African American and Hispanic. This inadequate funding has led to overcrowding, dilapidation of the schools, a decreasing number of on-site health officials, and lack of an enriching educational program. The effects of the funding situation has led to poor state standardized test scores, and an increasing number of students dropping out or taking more than four years to graduate. Today, strict military style programs hope to correct these poor outcomes. Are today’s schools being segregated to pay less for subordinate groups’ education, or is this just one person’s one-sided outtake on a matter that society has little control over? I aim to examine these accusations incorporating some firsthand experience from my dilapidating public school system.
The issue of equality in education is not a new problem. In 1787, our federal government required all territories petitioning for statehood to provide free education for all citizens. As part of this requirement, every state constitution included, “an education clause, which typically called for a “thorough and efficient” or “uniform” system of public schools” (School Funding 6). Despite this requirement, a “uniform” system of schools has yet to be achieved in this country for a variety of reasons, many of which I will discuss later on. During the early part of th...
In his speech, Obama says,” Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven 't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today 's black and white students.” Obama is saying that because of the effects of separation in the past, it still affects children. By having parents who have little interest in an education since they did not receive one. Lindsey Cook, a writer for U.S News, says “Black parents, most of whom are less educated than their white counterparts, don’t expect their children to attain as much education as white parents expect. Lower expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies, contributing to lower expectations from the student, less-positive attitudes toward school, fewer out-of-school learning opportunities and less parent-child communication about school.” This shows that because of 50 years ago, by having parents who did not receive a good education, are more likely to not provide their children a good education. The article Cook wrote continues to show how black students do poorer in all aspects than their white counterparts. With these issues since childhood, it is harder for blacks to get into a top college and a high paying job. Therefore there is a need to
East Side High School was labeled a “cauldron of violence.” After they were designated this harsh term, Joe Clark becomes the head principal and changes it all around – or does he? Lean on Me is a story of hope, development, love, hate, and dependence. As a father figure and friend, Clark’s strict disciplining and harsh attitude helps heal, strengthen, and bring to life a struggling high school in New Jersey. But is this plot just a story for the movie screen? Did the true story really happen like this and end like this? Lean on Me might be moving and powerful, but we must look deeper into the real personality of Joe Clark and how he treated others.
When I think about Education what comes to mind is a track field or the movie hunger games. The reason why is because my education has felt like a race to the finish line or having to survive the unfairness of the curriculum my schools have for me according to the social class of my parents. In “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol an American writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the U.S., explain in his article how schools are still segregated and unequal. His article describe the different school he visited and observed, how they differ from inner cities school districts which student where mostly underrepresented to school in urban areas where students
All over America there are schools that have an unfair disadvantage over others. It seems like the government is either unable to provide every student with an equal opportunity to learn or they just don't care about lower class and middle class minorities enough to try and make a change. It seems as if the government is not willing to step in and help out minority students. The ultimate responsibility for seeing to it that children receive the best education possible falls on the parents’ economic status.
Education supports everyone getting opportunities in life and being able to choose better for themselves. As Horace Mann wrote, education is the “great equalizer for all.“ However, the United States Public School system will likely never be able to equally educate its masses of students. Public school educating all fairly is a myth.There is no one entity to blame for this failure. The failure lies with each student who has been conditioned to sit passively in an un-engaging classroom. Its failure lies in some students disrespectfully distracting their classmates and frustrating their once inspired teacher or administrator. The failure lies with administration being distracted with causes of the moment and burns out from knowing that all
Lean On Me was a dramatic, action movie made in 1989 that was based on a true story. This is a story about a school in Paterson, New Jersey. This school has less-than-average basic skills test scores and it faces the possibility of being taken over by the state. The mayor asks the school superintendent for help. He suggests that they hire Joe Clark as the school principal. Clark agrees to be the principal. When he arrives, he realize that the school is about to go under. He shakes things up by reassigning teachers and expelling misbehaved students. A lot of people want him out, but at the same time, he gains the respect of some of the teachers and most of the students.
The purpose of the public school system is to assure every child the natural right to an education. Currently, every state in the nation has laws requiring attendance in school (grades K-12). There are also requirements on what subjects the students must learn. Standardized testing measures every student’s ability in these required subjects and assesses all tests equally. These high-stakes tests are used to determine the student’s achievement and their progression to the next level of schooling. Statistics show that students from underprivileged families have lower test scores and are more likely to drop out then white, middle class students. When I think about it, I recall a line from a rap song about a southern black child’s education in the public school system, “I’m making 300 on my SAT’s and I am equal”. So then, why are these students, who are equal, performing so poorly in our public schools? To reach a conclusion we must examine the curriculum and standards, and their purpose.
In “Lean On Me”, Joe Clark constantly strives to optimize Eastside High in ways such as improving the school environment or his individual consultations with students. While his attempts to improve the conditions of Eastside High are effective, his methods are not favored, as he is constantly facing criticism from other officials and school board members. Though Clark’s actions seemed malicious in intent to most, they were immensely beneficial for the school in reality. This relates strongly to the concept of being misunderstood, as described in Emerson’s “Self Reliance”: “Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton… To be great is to be misunderstood” (366). In essence, this indicates that you shouldn’t worry about how people view your actions, for many of the great thinkers throughout history were misunderstood and thought to be wrong. In the same way, many of the administrators that were against Clark’s actions were not understanding of his methods—which had the students’ best interests in mind rather than the administration’s. In contrast to the administration, the students of Eastside High had developed a great amount of respect for Clark. In “Lean On Me”, Joe Clark talks personally to Kaneesha’s mother to get her help through a struggle with abandoning her
The education system has been a controversial issue among educators. Requirements of school do not let student choose what they want to study for their future. It’s a big issue to force student study specific curriculums, which don’t help them improve, and what they like to create something. Educators choose a general system for education to all students which based on general knowledge. Intelligent or genius students have to be in that system of education, which doesn’t let them improve their creativity. Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their changing was not that great to be an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education system to compete other systems or not? In some examples and reasons have been made me agree with some of points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree them.
Education plays important role in society. It determines the final development of an adult’s personality. In today’s society most jobs require a University degree. To receive a University degree students need to rely on a good education system. Does America provide this? The American education system has relied on the grade point average system for a long time. The problem with this is there is not a universal GPA grade point system varying from course to course. This creates an inaccurate way to determine ones overall achievements. Teachers have different standards than others, grade inflation can occur and students can be exposed to different learning environments. Does the education system need to change to create fairness?
place to stress out. As I walk through the halls all students seem to have that