10/16/98

Sheff v. O'Neill: Suggested Responses

...In response to "Sheff Revisited"(10/06/98)

(Continued; last of three parts.)

The volume of mail was so great on this topic that I decided to select a few of the responses which suggested imaginative solutions to the question: How can we effectively reduce racial isolation and improve educational equity for Hartford public school children?

Try Interest-based Learning

"We need innovative approaches to these problems -- and flexibility that our bureaucracies cannot address. For example, what would happen if one day a week, the system were completely redesigned? Instead of organizing the system based on residency, let's base it on student interest. After all, it is the student who is the ultimate consumer.

"We could have schools (just for this one day) solely for music, art, dance, science, math, industrial arts, history, English as a second language, or you name it. We could even including a general program for gifted students or practical, hands-on lessons for those who need that. The teachers who were the experts in these things would go to those buildings instead of their regular ones.

"Students would do likewise. Bus schedules would have to be changed and teachers would have to move materials, but it would give the whole district a generous shot of flexibility that it is sometimes lacking in the way we do things.

"What do others think? This approach could solve many of the problems for both overachievers and underachievers because students would go where their interests were. Inner city kids could meet others who were interested in music, say. Kids who were somewhat proficient in playing an instrument could help teach those who weren't -a great growing experience for both. Grading would be by proficiency rather than age. Testing would be by doing it, not by writing about it.

"This plan could be supplemented by distance learning facilities from time to time. Let's give some money to the engineers, because giving it to the lawyers hasn't helped much. But some idea of regularity would be required. Teachers will complain that they don't have enough time already. They don't want to lose more time. Would it be worth the sacrifice? Who knows? But we need some innovative approaches -with positive ideas, not negative ones. We need to get our students more involved and less passive in the planning of their educations."
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Involve Parents from Pregnancy On

"The secret to determining the potential of blacks as an ethnic group is to afford them the same opportunities that whites and other ethnic groups have. Black children born into poverty to parents who never had the advantage of an early education will naturally be far behind other children when they start kindergarten, and they will never catch up. So the answer is to start a program of education with the pregnant woman and her husband. Educate them about how best to stay healthy during pregnancy and how to teach the new baby. Perhaps special schools are necessary with teachers trained to educate the newborn and its parents until the child reaches kindergarten age.

"These black children would succeed in school, so we would gradually see the prison population decline, thus paying huge dividends to society. The bumper sticker "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance," states it well. Look at the results of inadequate education for so many in our time. We must face the obvious fact that greater costs in the short run would lead to greater rewards in the long run."
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Develop a Student Buddy System

"When a student doesn't get attention from parents at home or from teachers at school, the child will team up with somebody. There's nothing wrong with this scenario and the majority of kids turn out all right. But a few team up with the wrong influences and feed on each other. Your life is influenced by the people you hang out with. So a solution would be to develop a program that pairs up each student with someone who will have a positive influence on him or her. With a buddy system in place, kids will be happier and easier to handle."
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A Police Detective's Point of View

"We must involve parents in ways we would not consider in the past. For example, parents of children who are truant or disruptive should, by law, be required to attend school with their children until the problems are worked out. I know the logistical hardships it would create, but the hardships created down the road for all of us are far greater if we do not take a firm stand on behalf of our "socially bleeding" children. Such a law would, once and for all, place the responsibility directly at home with the family where it belongs. If needed, true family problems could be dealt with by a community or school social worker."

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.