This week marks the 50th year without the presence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
but it does not mean his influence has not been carried forward. Most everyone is aware of his lasting positive impact on civil rights and many are aware of his work towards providing a voice for the poor. Both of these causes have positively impacted our young people’s educational experience. However, there is still inequity in schools today. This imbalance of opportunities does include the more obvious concerns with race and poverty, but there is another underlying equity issue taking place in school classrooms all across the country which many are not aware.
The inequity issue stems from the opportunities to provide support to give “every young person and all groups of young people a full chance to develop their vast human talents” (Pollock, 2017, p.7). This requires creating a culture in school which has the goal to meet students where they are and to help them to build upon their own understanding. In order to nurture such a culture we must be aware that a pedagogical “curriculum transfer model” is not enough and a shift to a “preparing for life” pedagogical approach must take place. We also should recognize that we have the power and ability to eliminate these inequities within our school, but we can’t be accepting bystanders to the inequities by throwing up our hands acting as if that is just the way things are. “Our ‘continuous comfort with profound inequality’ is the ‘Achilles heel of American education’ because too many of us normalize inadequate opportunity for so many- while too few of our young people get fully equipped to handle a global economy necessitating high-level skill” (Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 8). A long time ago, John Dewey pointed out that “The democratic road is a hard one to take. It is the road which places the greatest burden of responsibility upon the greatest number of human beings” (Dewey, 1939/1989, p. 100). I am certain that an effective public education system is paramount for the success of a democracy. As we improve public education, and as it continues to evolve, we will create a culture that will systematically close the education gap, but we must do this together starting with equity. So what are our first steps?
I do believe the first step requires an emphasis on the importance of making connections i.e. relationships with our young people and in order to develop those relationships we have to listen. Ironically, I just recently finished reading Mica Pollock’s “School Talk.” In this book, Pollock breaks down key areas we can address right now in schools when it comes to listening and talking:
Group Talk- considers when a label supports our young people and when it gets in the way
Inequity Talk- encourages us to avoid over generalizing and instead speak more precisely
Smarts Talk- references the danger behind labels such as “gifted” or “smart”
Culture Talk- avoiding claims about culture is important because “such claims are
dangerous not only because they distort our sense of people, but because they make getting to know actual people seem unnecessary (Pollock, 2017, p.167).
Data Talk- asks us to consider what information is needed about specific students progress and development, so we can use the data to support young people
Life Talk- this is all about relationships and understanding that each of our young people has a story
Opportunity Talk- Goes back to Dewey’s ideas that every community benefits from the development of all children, not just some.
I realize this is just scratching the surface of what could be done in our schools to promote equity, but I thought this week was timely to at least plant the seed. “School Talk” would be a great year long discussion focus for a PLC, School, or District to promote equity no matter the make-up of the community. Equity, in all of its forms, is an issue in our schools and is one we need to continue to address in order to help our young people develop those aforementioned human talents.
References
Darling-Hammond, Linda (2010). The Flat World and Education. New York, NY:
Teachers College Press.
Dewey, J. (1989). Freedom and culture. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus.
(Original work published 1939)
Pollock, Mica (2017). School Talk: Rethinking What We Say About-And To-
Students Every Day. New York, NY: The New Press.
