Inner city public schools have been struggling to give children a good education for years in Trenton, NJ, but unfortunately there apparently has not been the finances, the sense of hope, and the will to make the changes needed. That said, it will not be an easy task to make inner city schools better because the communities those schools are located in are mired in poverty, crime, and unemployment. Communities are reflected in their schools and schools are a reflection of that community.
Circles Model for an Inner City School
"I am shocked by the lack of urgency we are showing for the deplorable situation in our inner-city schools and their neighborhoods…students trapped, going to school in a community devoid of hope or opportunity, should challenge our moral sensibilities" (Brown, 2011, Jersey Journal).
Inner city schools (including those in Trenton, NJ) tend to be plagued by similar and familiar problems. According to a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Urban Affairs (Glickman, et al., 2008), inner city communities continue to suffer from "disinvestment" (lack of funding sources), "outmigration" (whites moving to suburbs), and "abandoned property" and a sense of gloom that is reflected in schools. Also, the inner city is known for low income citizens, "predominantly minority," and their plight is often reflected in schools (Glickman, 557). And the poor conditions in inner cities -- including those neighborhoods in Trenton, New Jersey -- have "…whittled away at inner-city school attendance, funding, and, ultimately, student achievement" (Glickman, 557). In fact the achievement gaps between rich and poor, black and white, and between inner cities and suburbs, is not expected to be resolved any time soon. And the crumbling schools in violent neighborhoods are of great concern and not just to parents, students and educators, Glickman explains. They are a concern to the community as a whole because "…poor schools work against community improvement" (Glickman, 557).
The ironic thing about poor schools in poverty communities is that school staff tends to view "…parents and communities as deficient in providing proper home learning environments for students"; in other words, schools blame communities for their problems. On the other hand, community members tend to blame schools for the poor academic outcomes for their children, Glickman continues on page 558. Families feel too "intimidated to make demands" of the schools because educators have the credentials and parents and community members tend to feel like outsiders. This paper provides a model which can send a strong signal to the inner city communities and schools in Trenton. That model is Four Circles, and although all informed and intelligent people know there is no magic formula for improving communities and schools, by putting forward what we want, what we believe, what we know and what we do, we take an important first step toward a resolution -- or at least a sense of goals toward improvement.
What We Want
J. Gregg Robinson writes in the scholarly journal Urban Review that "…what people believe influences their behavior," and if that is true then what people (including teachers) believe about poverty directly affects how they think and act. Our school should work hard to make students, parents, and administrators -- and the community -- to say what we want in our schools. Believing in the possibility of change in our school is probably the first and most positive step we can take. We can't stop drugs from being sold on the street, and we can't stop gangs from their nefarious strategies; but we can say loudly and with passion that what we want is a new vision, and that only comes when people believe in change.
Meantime, if people believe in change and success (as a way out of poverty), and if they know what they want, that should have a strong bearing on how they function. Hence, the goals attached to the concept, what we want, include: a) teachers having their own classrooms and not having to share with noisy study halls or with other classes which creates a constant disruptions and distractions; b) principals and other administrators who listen to teachers' concerns and viewpoints; c) students who come to class ready to learn and willing to settle in and behave responsibly; d) teachers that aren't distracted by endless bureaucratic meetings; and e) teachers who continue to learn (from colleagues and through continuing education) (What We Want 1).
What we also want is for democracy to survive, and on that subject it was Thomas Jefferson who said that an educated citizenry was imperative for a democratic nation. However, all too often that lofty idea gets trampled on during the political process as candidates use attack ads and appeal to "fear and ignorance" rather than approach rational, positive solutions for these ongoing problems. Hence, what we want is ethically and morally important, because success in school is "…a ticket to opportunity in the wider world" (What We Want). In fact when students are able to dig into learning, they will then see the wider world and be able to rise above the misery of the slums and crime and poor school facilities. Hence, they will improve the attitudes of others around them because just as failure begets failure, positivity is contagious.
What we Believe
We believe in our school that curriculum goes hand-in-glove with positive change, and we believe that because adults have a powerful influence over students -- and that adults can instill confidence and self-esteem in young people -- we then have hope that change is possible. Before schools can emerge from the gloom of failure and broken facilities, the community that finances the school (by paying property taxes) must also believe that it is necessary and possible to create a better future for children. Yes, the value of hard work is an important building block for the future, but what must be instilled in young people first is this: they must be taught that putting forth effort doesn't require high levels of intelligence and effort can "…compensate for natural ability" (What We Believe). We also believe that if adults would roll up their sleeves and get involved in the inner city schools, and bring positivity and promise to students who believe they are stuck in the poverty cycle, things could change. And teachers have an enormous responsibility to "…bolster student confidence and help students overcome the ignorance or apathy that they might have to cope with at home" (What We Believe). That is a very salient point because it is known that the home life for many students in poverty-saddled communities can be brutally unkind; hence, what we believe is that schools are particularly important for those kids whose family life is raw and unhappy.
What We Know
We know that positive, interestingly presented curricula -- which exposes inner city students to opportunities that they hitherto had no notion about (college scholarships; job training; youth camps for spiritual growth) -- can make a difference in a child's hopes and dreams. We also know that: a) schools must teach students to have respect (for all people); b) schools must be responsive to their clients (parents and students); c) schools should engage in a democratic form of decision-making vis-a-vis policies, involving parents, students, and teachers; d) students should not be put under pressure to compete with another school in another part of town'; they should "compete against themselves" (What We Know).
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