I am glad you put "bad schools" in quotation marks. It is rather
noticeable that when you hear about "bad schools" or "failing
schools" or "failing teachers," more often than not, what you are
talking about is the schools with the very challenging
socioeconomic conditions, e.g., multigenerational poverty, crime-
ridden neighborhoods, single moms who are not themselves well-
educated, lack of middle class values, etc. So, yes, Tom made some
excellent points; Welsh was just focusing on one aspect of the
problem.
I will try to rephrase the part of my previous reply that may have
caused my post to be snagged for "review." I mentioned the
situation in our nations's capito';s public schools, not far from
Welsh teaches. The current schools chancellor had been locking
horns with the teachers union for a while. Recently, a bunch of
teachers were relieved of their jobs, during the school day, by
suddenly being escorted out of the building by security types.
Supposedly they were being laid off due to funding issues, yet a
bunch of new teachers had been hired over the summer, which had
created a surplus. (There have been plenty of articles about his
situation in the aforementioned newspaper, if anyone wants to look
it up; a heartbreaking piece about a young sped teacher who was the
breredwinner for herself, husband and their baby because her
husband's work has fallen off really got to me.) The removed
teachers included veterans as well as Teach for America teachers
and young energetic teachers who had signed a contract, moved to
the city, set down roots,etc. I realize that these urban school
heads are under a lot of pressure to improve the students'
performance, and yes, schools with troubled students need good
teachers, and some of the teachers who were removed maybe should
have lost their jobs. And yet...don't you get tired of the teachers
always being labeled as the major cause of these students' academic
failure, as opposed to society addressing the problems that plague
these kids. So That's why I was excited about Welsh's column. He
was actually focusing on the kids' families, not race, not bad
teachers, not bad schools.

On 10/20/09, DL wrote:
> Tom,
>
> I agree with what you had to say. There is research to back up
> what you said in point #2.
>
> Issues such as the ones mentioned in this article are always
> going to be labeled as black issues, even though the
issues are
> more socioeconomic in nature than cultural. Unfortunately, when
> people mention "bad schools," they are usually talking about
> inner city, heavy minority schools, even though there are plenty
> of whiter or mixed schools that don't make Adequate Yearly
> Progress and/or meet their state's academic goals.
>
>
> On 10/19/09, Tom wrote:
>> One of the main points Patrick Welsh (teacher) makes in that
>> piece is this: The reason African American kids (as a group)
>> display an educational achievement gap is that they don't
>> have fathers at home.
>>
>> I propose that this is likely a case of correlation rather
>> than causation. Here's why...
>>
>> 1. If you did a study of ALL kids who are growing up in
>> fatherless homes, this hypotheses would suggest findings
>> commensurate with current African American achievement. So,
>> MOST kids without fathers - regardless of socio-economic
>> status or ethnic identity - would have similar test scores. I
>> seriously doubt that this is true. My guess that the
>> achievement of fatherless kids will break down according to
>> socio-economic strati, and not ethnic or racial. (Anyone want
>> to research this?)
>>
>> 2. After reading Paul Tough's book on Geoffrey
>> Canada, "Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change
>> Harlem and America," I propose a different hypotheses: The
>> reason African American kids (as a group) don't do as well as
>> Caucasian and Latino kids is that a greater percentage of
>> them are in a lower socio-economic class. AND the values of
>> that class DO NOT INCLUDE reading and reasoning with kids
>> from a very early age. As Geoffrey Canada found out,
>> the "middle class values" of lots of talking, lots of
>> reading, lots of questioning, lots of discussion designed to
>> impart curiousity and thinking skills ... well, these values
>> are simply not held by most people in the lowest socio-
>> economic groups.
>>
>> 3. To create more educational success in the African American
>> community in Harlem, Geoffrey Canada has created parenting
>> programs which actually teach those middle class values to
>> the parents in each home. And it seems to be having a
>> profound impact.
>>
>> So, my guess is that the African American students in Patrick
>> Welsh's classes were not read to when they were young, and
>> were not intellectually stimulated by a parent who held the
>> development of their child's thinking skills to be of
>> paramount value. Most kids with home backgrounds like this
>> will come to kindergarten WAY unprepared, and will have an
>> extremely difficult time catching up. Without the bedrock of
>> reading and thought development, they simply flounder in
>> deeper and deeper water with each new grade level. By the
>> time they get to high school (IF they get to high school),
>> their competence and confidence levels are incredibly ... and
>> oh-so-frustratingly low.
>>
>> Incidentally, one of the other points in Welsh's article
>> relates to the lack of "discipline" created by the lack of a
>> father in the home. Ironically, the other major difference
>> that Canada found in Harlem is the TYPE of "discipline" that
>> these parents were using. The Harlem parents were doing a lot
>> of hitting/spanking and shouting, and NOT the middle class-
>> valued behaviors such as emotional coaching, time outs,
>> reasoning, helping the kid develop an understanding and
>> different coping strategies so they can "do it differently
>> next time...."
>>
>> Again, it's associated with class and not skin color, with
>> the middle class discipline structure imparting skills with
>> support success at school, and the lower class structure
>> throwing mental/emotional roadblocks to that same success.
>> And simply having a father in the home to deliver MORE of
>> that ineffective discipline (louder shouting, harder hitting)
>> will likely just make things worse.
>>
>> All my best,
>>
>> Tom

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