Proper education is a right that too many students are being denied. In high-need school districts — such as Detroit, where teachers are currently filing lawsuits against the school district for “deplorable conditions,” or New York City, where similar complaints have been made over conditions, quality of resources and teaching staff— students are struggling every day to receive the education they deserve.
I’ve always believed that education is the most reliable way to bridge achievement gaps and tackle economic/social inequality, so it breaks my heart that students growing up in the United States are faced with school conditions one would expect in an impoverished nation. The students attending these institutions likely have no other choice. Their families do not have enough money to send them to a private school, and they were not one of the lucky ones placed in a charter school. Instead, these students must attend whatever local school is available. Unfortunately for many students, particularly in inner cities, there is no local reliable education source.
Many of the children that end up attending these public schools are burdened already with a slew of issues, from economic hardship, being a non-native speaker, special needs and personal issues that stem from low affluence. School should be the thing that helps them out of these situations, unlocking the potential that all these children certainly have. Instead, the schools are demoralizing to students, offering them nothing but a reminder of their designated lower status and the fact that America does not care about its children if they aren’t wealthy enough to attend a decent district.
Through my own experiences of being a Johnson City Mentor and applying to programs such as New York City Teaching Fellows, I saw firsthand the conditions that students in high-need districts face, bruising my idealistic image of the education system that is actually filled with empty promises. I mentored a student who was in the ESL program. Her fellow classmates, in middle school, were deeply involved in drugs, sex and interpersonal problems, and already uninterested in school. I am aware that these issues exist in all schools, to some degree, but the higher prevalence in low-affluence areas is a cause for concern. The higher likelihood of outside issues that I outlined above cannot be erased, but it is the schools’ job to make the school day as safe, nurturing and intellectually stimulating as possible.
In these high-need districts the very basics must be met. This means enough resources for students, safe buildings, heat in the winter, proper working bathrooms — all conditions that, to differing degrees, are not met in many of America’s public schools. I understand that this is largely to do with funds, but why is education not a priority? Whether this means allocating more money to districts, shrinking pay of administrators or involving the community to invest in students through donations, surely there is a way to improve these schools. Students who are already disadvantaged should be going to a safe building, with proper textbooks and teachers who care. School may be their only opportunity to be told that they are capable of college, of graduating high school or of getting off the streets. Every child has the right to a good education.