A great
number of children in urban neighborhoods attend schools that are lowly funded
so students are not supplied with the proper school resources and they feel
like their school district are treating them unfairly. Students are aware of
how bad their schools are because they aren’t provided with the simple materials
and resources that will bring excitement when they go and moreover, children
state the obvious differences between their poor schools to other schools that
are in the surban neighborhoods. Poorly
funded schools that are filled with young children might not recognize it at
first, but shortly, “adolescents in the poorest neighborhoods learn very soon
that they are getting less than children in the wealthier school districts”(Kazul,
Jonathon 57). The students that attend schools inside their districts in the
state of Illinois perceive the differences of quality and quantity of the
materials that they don’t have and compare it to other children who do attend
better schools in the urban neighborhoods.
Children that live in poorly finance neighborhoods cannot be fooled
about injustice because they see it everywhere around them and especially when
they go to school each and every morning surrounded in such an indigent
environment. Students see children on
T.V and see how they are able to travel for athletic competition with new sport
equipment that is provided to each individual on the team. Due to what they
perceived, the suburban students detect the unfairness from what the school
offers them, and those students feel mistreated and angry because he or she
isn’t provide with that sort of brand name sport equipment at the school they
attend because they receive a limited amount of athletic equipment that isn’t
even enough for half the students, and moreover; most of the materials are
either worn out or broken which isn’t even useful for students to enjoy and
have fun with other kids. Also, they see a happy environment when they visit
schools in the suburban neighborhood and hear positive things from their
friends who goes to a better school than them. The unhappy students describe
the other children as “rich” kids who have access to a library, encyclopedias,
and computers so they start to grow unjust feelings because he or she
recognizes how much less they’re getting than the wealthier kids. The urban
children regard themselves as victims in their own school and therefore, local
school systems should find a way to get sufficient funding in order to present
an equitable school environment for children who live in poverty- stricken
neighborhoods.
Urban
districts portray bitter and despairing images for students who begin their
morning ritual in bad conditioned schools without resources and along with a
lack of premises. Children raised in the urban view their community as a sad place
from their perspective, due to living in a low funded, segregated town with
families and children who are struggling, similar to theirs. Student’s early
life experiences affect them mentally and place them in an emotional state of
mind. Schools have the responsibility to supply its students with accommodating
materials and nourishment and “Camden High School.. can’t afford facilities for
lunch, so 2,000 children leave school daily to obtain lunch elsewhere” (Kazul
141). It’s a frustrating feeling for the adolescents whom are attending Camden
High, located in the state of New Jersey. Camden High is so poor on income that
they aren’t able to provide a decent meal to students since the school can’t
afford a cafeteria for the children during lunch hour, and moreover; students
are insisted to return to school after their lunch break is over. The poor conditions in low funded schools
leave students and parents unhappy. Students spend early mornings sitting in a
class and they can’t even get food at their own school when the lunch bell ring
and sometimes, parents might not be home to feed their kids if children choose
to return home for a warm meal, there’s a possibility that they go home to an
empty refrigerator as well and if the school and their shelter doesn’t provide
nourishment for them, who else would? Students might not even have money in the
first place to purchase food in a liquor store or a fast food restaurant
because parents are expecting their kids to get free lunch directly at their
school due to the income that they make. It’s a disappointing feeling and it
leaves students unhappy because they are being treated so badly in their
community, a place that is supposed to provide students with a good education,
supplying them with resources and facilities for them to enjoy and getting food
to fill up their empty stomache. The struggles of low funded schools leave a
child unhealthy because schools aren’t able to provide them lunch and if no
action takes place, students will return to their same sentiment about their
school environment.
Furthermore,
children will not value their education when they come into a poorly funded
school, especially when their classroom doesn’t provide them enough materials
for everyone to use. Students will dislike waking up early in the morning,
entering a class and being forced to wait patiently until what they need is
available to them and this problem causes a child to feel unimportant and
separated from the other classmates that are part of the learning circle. A 16
year old teenager inform Kazul, ““there are 42 students in my science class, 40
in my English class- 45 in my home room. When all the kids show up, five of us
have to stand in the back”” (Kazul 111). The teenage student from New York City
who attends school in the Bronx was not happy about the situation because while
students are being seated, he has to stand in the back of the class with the
rest of the students who are left out and frustrated, moreover; causing him to
phone Jonathan Kazul and notifying him about the problem. The student try to
make an effort in getting help to change
the situation that is happening in his classrooms, he’s unhappy about coming to
school, unable to sit in front of a desk and learn. It isn’t right for children
who don’t have any other choice but to stand up in their class due to a large
capacity of students with not enough chairs for those who choose to show up to
class for a purpose. The purpose can be: children value their education, he or
she enjoys learning, and they want to graduate high school and make it to
college! So the fact that the 16 year old teen had to stand in the back, it
effects his precious time because it’s slowly being wasted due to lack of
chairs. He won’t be able to participate in class assignments or activities
because there is no spot for him at a desk, and he won’t be able to collaborate
nor do group work with the other students! If the problem isn’t resolved,
majority of students will give up from coming to school because he or she
doesn’t tolerate the problem that has been happening more than once, it leaves
them with a bad attitude and gives them no good reason for why they should show
up every day. Change needs to happen in order to improve the learning system
for children or else every other kid will be kicked in the back, giving them an
unwanted feeling and students will no longer recognize the Importance of
education.
Children in
the urban neighborhood who attend school in their community will feel like
they’re being fairly treated if their school was able to provide the students
with proper class tools and newly equipment. Urban students will no longer look
at their school differently or compare what they don’t have when they see or
hear about what the wealthier children in their school districts are provided
with because they will no longer feel like they are unimportant. For example,
if the urban children had a nice library, a gym with working sport equipment,
and proper science tools, they will feel equivalent to the rest of the students
at other schools that are located in wealthier districts. The children will feel better as students
because with all the school resource and activity rooms that are provided, it
gives them a chance to improve their learning, and a chance to show off their
athletic abilities by joining a sport team. Students in science class will have
a better advantage of understanding the intended lesson that the teacher is
trying to educate them because they are able to use sufficient tools in their
science lab, they will acquire the same knowledge that the wealthier children
are receiving. Also, with a nice
library, they will have access to an unlimited amount of books to get their
head into and enjoy what they have. Furthermore, a sport field will bring the
students fun and excitement, enable them to have sport teams so they can travel
to other schools and meet other children. Urban children will feel fairly educated and
equally treated if their schools provided them the sufficient school resources
and premises, it leaves them feeling important as the rest of the children
living in the suburban neighborhood.
Besides
feeling fairly treated, school resources will bring happiness within every
student because it makes them feel like they’re attending a good school,
allowing every child to operate with new conditioned materials. Students will
sense a positive vibe about their class environment and moreover, a child will
feel more confident with all the resources that are provide because it’s
helpful and useful to them when they’re in school.” “What I need are new
electrics.. they’d love it!”” (kazul, 138) says a typing teacher at Pyne Point
Junior High, during her interview with Kazul. The female typing teacher have
been at Pyne Point Junior high for many years and she recognize the attitude
that children possess when they are using the Olympian machines. The typewriters
that are provided to students is not a modern typing lab but a historical typewriter
that have been there since she had parents of the children that are in her
class. School materials like new computers, art supplies and books will make a
child feel good about coming to school because he or she knows that they’ll
have a productive day ahead of them when they wake up in the morning. New
computers will allow students to experience the new technology and they’ll get
to work with up to date machines that allow them to use new documents, it’ll
work faster and won’t break down, or freeze when students are using them. Also,
If students had new art supplies in their art class, they will enjoy coming to
class because he or she knows that every student will be provided with art
tools and that’ll allow students to enjoy their time painting and drawing
whatever they want without having to share, or wait for their turn. And the new
books that are supplied, children will appreciate them instead of complaining
about missing pages and how worn out or ripped they are. A school that supply
their classrooms with new and proper school resources will affect every child’s
attitude because students will feel more happy and positive with what he or she
have, and they will value their education more instead of protesting for what
they need.
Another,
students will feel more successful when they attend a school that deliver its
students with acceptable school resources because it allows a child to
acknowledge their school as a place that will prepare them for the future.
Students will respect their time that is being spent in a classroom and he or
she will be eager to learn instead of feeling weary in their class surrounding.
Urban schools will be given a “head start to our children and pre-
kindergarten, and materials.. and attractive buildings and enough books and
supplies.. sufficient to compete with the suburban schools” (kazul 143). Students
from Camden High School will be prepared for class activities, homework
assignments and exams if they are provided with proper resources where they can
obtain information from. For example, an English teacher assign his or her
students’ homework and everything that their students need to know will be from
their literature book, and so when every student is provided with the book, and
with no missing pages, it will enable students to finish their homework
assignment and review what have been taught in class. He or she won’t fall
behind in their schooling and students will be prepared to talk about their
homework or the lesson that their teacher intended to teach the next morning
when they come into class. Furthermore, students will be able to use their book
as a study guide for an upcoming test because with books provided to every
student, they can bring it home with them and use it as a useful tool to study
and obtain knowledge from it. Additionally, with new computers supplied in
their computer lab, students are able to do great research and do online
activities and moreover, students get to enjoy their technology because it
works and it isn’t an ancient machine that will break down easily. Students
will feel more confident because they are able to acquire knowledge from their
useful school materials and it gives them a positive reason to why school is
important.
Then again,
there are circumstances in which school resources aren’t important because it’s
based on the student’s attitude, if he or she is willing to use the resources
that are provided wisely in order to succeed in their schooling. Students have
the obligation to benefit from what they’re educated and supplied with and
sometimes children will not value what they have and therefore, will not take
their education seriously. Ms. Thornton, a superintendent at the Bayside/
Martin Luther King Elementary School states, “The system had been plague by low
academic achievement.. and an almost- annual turnover in leadership” (Johnston,
Robert 2). Bayside/ Martin Luther King elementary school is the fourth- highest
spending elementary school in California and students who attend the school are
provided with a two story library, computer lab and many new equipment. The
school spent $12, 100 per student and although the students seem to have it
all, their grades don’t add up to an academic paradise. For example, student
should be doing better with their abundant resources and benefiting from them,
but if majority of students are failing and that proves that it’s the student
who is failing, and not the school that is causing them to fail. Students
shouldn’t be falling behind and having low grades in class if they are provided
with such proper materials, he or she should benefit from it. Sometimes children
don’t value what they have and care less about their education. It’s up to a
child if he or she is willing to help oneself by using what they’re provided
with productively because students can be assign with homework, and they are
provided with a nice math book with no ripped pages, and it won’t be useful if
they lack the effort in using their book wisely by finishing the homework
assignment that have been instructed by his or her teacher. The math homework
can be a review to what a student’s teacher intended to teach and if a child
decide not to do it, he or she won’t be able to further understand what have
been taught in class and therefore, he or she will be behind on the next
homework assignment, or even fail a quiz that is given. School materials aren’t
the most important thing in urban school districts because students aren’t
meeting the academic expectation even though they are provided with many
resources that allow them to benefit from and become successful.
Secondly,
school materials doesn’t matter if students are provided with sufficient school
resources and are presenting low academic scores for many years. Students may
have a hard time in their schooling even if one does put in effort because a
child’s success and failure can be based on the lifestyle that he or she is
presented with. School officials in the Sausalito district defend the student’s
performance by “pointing out that most of their students come from poor, single-
parent families, and are at risk for academic failure. Forty- four percent of
the district’s students receive special education services” (Johnston 3).
Students who attend Bayside/ Martin Luther King Elementary School are endanger
of failing their grade level because some students are raised by single parents
who are struggling socioeconomically and it effects their ability to help their
child’s schooling and moreover; majority of students are in need of further assistance
with their school work to boost their grades up. Proper school materials isn’t
a necessity if students are failing due to their lack of understanding because
sometimes a child needs more help in understanding a class subject. For
instance, students in MLK Elementary School are weak in articulation and
coordination and it’s the parent’s responsibility in helping a child to improve
on one’s weaknesses, and not because students aren’t supplied with decent literature
books. A child’s parent(s) can struggle financially due to their low income and
sometimes they’re too stressful to deal with their kids, which gives his or
child a disadvantage to review what he or she have been learning in class.
Also, there are parents who didn’t finish high school nor attended college so
it’s more difficult to help their child succeed in school because they don’t
have the sufficient knowledge to really help their child enhance their learning
ability. In this situation, school resources aren’t a necessity because a
student’s success depends on the parent(s) and their social class.
As
important, school materials aren’t relevant if students choose to be inattentive
towards their education. Students negligent in learning leads to bad behavior and
their unmoral attitude effects their academics. Barry Kaufman, dean of the
school education explains the lack of discipline that students present and how “there’s
no effort to create a high achieving instructional environment” (Johnston 3).
Students at Bayside MLK elementary are provided with so many great equipment
and resources to help them succeed and unfortunately, students fail to improve
their schooling and do not meet their academic requirements, leaving the school
to give a bad impression. For instance, students can be going to school just to
go, they do not take the advantage of free education and the school materials
that are provided to guide themselves towards a positive pathway to success.
Students who don’t care about their education will take it as a joke and
therefore, he or she will not take it seriously and goof around in class and
can disrespect higher authority like their teachers. Students can be messing
around in class by speaking to friends loudly while teachers are instructing,
and disrupting the students who do try to learn. The students who neglect their
education aren’t interested in listening and learning about what his or her
teacher have to offer and therefore, he or she effects the school community.
