4 ms·

> Having lived in Baltimore and seen the home life of > youth, I can tell you that you would not even > believe the appalling, multifaceted dysfunction >

by lhnz 9y ago

> Having lived in Baltimore and seen the home life of > youth, I can tell you that you would not even > believe the appalling, multifaceted dysfunction > that is rampant in poor urban neighborhoods. I might be incorrect about Baltimore, but I wouldn't say I have a profound misunderstanding about teaching in poor urban neighborhoods. For context, my position on this come from the UK education system. My fiancé has worked as a teacher in poor urban neighborhoods in London (Hackney, etc.) for several years so I hear a huge amount about the politics of working in a school and the relationship between teachers and children. I've also spoken to a lot of her teacher friends about this, and what I've said is more-or-less verbatim what they tell me. 'Spoon-fed' was the literal word someone used to describe teaching in an inner London school to me last night. Baltimore and the United States might be completely different, and I would love to hear your experience on this and whether you have teacher friends there? Additionally, you should read "The Achievement Gap Isn't About Teachers" [0]. As it points out "there’s just not good evidence that the gap in teacher quality between low-income and high-income schools even exists." [0] https://spottedtoad.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/no-the-achievement-gap-isnt-about-teachers/ https://spottedtoad.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/no-the-achievem...

crispyambulance 9y ago
I know about what is going on because of teaching math in an adult basic education context (= literally primary-school math for adults who never graduated who are very far from high-school level). I also have known a guidance counselor in Baltimore public schools. The OP's article is very much spot-on as far as painting a picture of the worst-case-scenario of urban schools in the USA. Using the word "spoon-feeding" implies that the students are coddled to the point that it hurts their development. What is actually happening is that the students have horrific home lives characterized by neglect, bad-influences, and utter chaos. Neglect is the opposite of "spoon-feeding". Students come to school with such deep unfillable needs that just keeping the classrooms from erupting into mayhem is an achievement in itself for the instructors. ... and to respond to the article you cite: I do not believe that the quality of the teachers, alone, can be blamed for the "achievement gap". The "Achievement Gap" is a deep systemic problem with multiple causes and horrific outcomes which beget yet more horrific outcomes like some kind of hellacious positive feedback loop.
- lhnz 9y ago
  > What is actually happening is that the students have > horrific home lives characterized by neglect, > bad-influences, and utter chaos. Neglect is the opposite > of "spoon-feeding". Students come to school with such > deep unfillable needs that just keeping the classrooms > from erupting into mayhem is an achievement in itself > for the instructors. Agreed. In London what I've heard to as referred to as 'spoon-feeding' is the need to break down each lesson into short games/exercises (keyword quizzes, etc), the need to keep children after school for unpaid 'intervention' lessons due to lack of engagement in class/homework, and teacher's providing so much help to kids doing coursework that in many cases when they actually get to marking it they realise that they effectively wrote it. This is incentivised through the previous teacher needing to set a high predicted grade in order to get a good evaluation, and the next teacher needing to ensure that they reach this unless they want to be scrutinised heavily (and given a needs-to-improve). Apparently "the dropout rate from UK higher education institutions has increased for the first time in four years [...] The dropout rate for young students from disadvantaged backgrounds was rising even more rapidly. It stood at 8.2 per cent for the 2013-14 cohort, up 0.5 percentage point year-on-year." [0]. That might not be connected to student autonomy, but it could be... [0] https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/rise-uk-university-dropout-rate-disappointing https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/rise-uk-university...

by lhnz 9y ago

crispyambulance 9y ago

I know about what is going on because of teaching math in an adult basic education context (= literally primary-school math for adults who never graduated who are very far from high-school level). I also have known a guidance counselor in Baltimore public schools. The OP's article is very much spot-on as far as painting a picture of the worst-case-scenario of urban schools in the USA. Using the word "spoon-feeding" implies that the students are coddled to the point that it hurts their development. What is actually happening is that the students have horrific home lives characterized by neglect, bad-influences, and utter chaos. Neglect is the opposite of "spoon-feeding". Students come to school with such deep unfillable needs that just keeping the classrooms from erupting into mayhem is an achievement in itself for the instructors. ... and to respond to the article you cite: I do not believe that the quality of the teachers, alone, can be blamed for the "achievement gap". The "Achievement Gap" is a deep systemic problem with multiple causes and horrific outcomes which beget yet more horrific outcomes like some kind of hellacious positive feedback loop.

lhnz 9y ago
> What is actually happening is that the students have > horrific home lives characterized by neglect, > bad-influences, and utter chaos. Neglect is the opposite > of "spoon-feeding". Students come to school with such > deep unfillable needs that just keeping the classrooms > from erupting into mayhem is an achievement in itself > for the instructors. Agreed. In London what I've heard to as referred to as 'spoon-feeding' is the need to break down each lesson into short games/exercises (keyword quizzes, etc), the need to keep children after school for unpaid 'intervention' lessons due to lack of engagement in class/homework, and teacher's providing so much help to kids doing coursework that in many cases when they actually get to marking it they realise that they effectively wrote it. This is incentivised through the previous teacher needing to set a high predicted grade in order to get a good evaluation, and the next teacher needing to ensure that they reach this unless they want to be scrutinised heavily (and given a needs-to-improve). Apparently "the dropout rate from UK higher education institutions has increased for the first time in four years [...] The dropout rate for young students from disadvantaged backgrounds was rising even more rapidly. It stood at 8.2 per cent for the 2013-14 cohort, up 0.5 percentage point year-on-year." [0]. That might not be connected to student autonomy, but it could be... [0] https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/rise-uk-university-dropout-rate-disappointing https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/rise-uk-university...