Barriers to Education in America

I am currently reading I Am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai. I'm sure you have heard about this brave teenager who stood up for the right of girls to an education and was shot by the Taliban. She miraculously survived and is continuing to campaign for the right of all children to have a quality education.

Malala's love for learning is evident throughout this book. At the age of 11, she was reading Dickens, Shakespeare and Coelho; studying biology, chemistry and physics; and speaking three languages (Pashto, Urdu and English). When I think about what I was reading and learning at her age, it puts me to shame. At 11, I was still reading upper-level children's books; it would be another year before I considered reading adult-level material.

The Malala Fund Facebook page gave a link today: 10 Barriers to Education Around the World (www.globalcitizen.org). It is amazing that today these barriers still exist.

They are:
1. A lack of funding for education.
2. Having no teacher, or having an untrained teacher.
3. No classroom.
4. A lack of learning materials.
5. The exclusion of children with disabilities.
6. Being the "wrong" gender.
7. Living in a country in conflict or at risk of conflict.
8. Distance from home to school.
9. Hunger and poor nutrition.
10. The expense of education (formal or informal fees).

In America, we have very few of these barriers, as I address below:
1. While we don't have the funding for education that we would like to see, we do have plenty of money for education.
2. Every classroom has a college-educated teacher. Many teachers today have master's or doctorate degrees, as teachers get paid at a higher rate for obtaining a postgraduate degree.
3. Students have clean, well-stocked classrooms. Students have their own desks and supplies and don't have to share textbooks. Schools have multipurpose rooms, libraries, computer labs, lunch programs. playground equipment, restroom facilities, office staff and paraprofessional staff. Many schools provide art, sports and music (choral and instrumental) programs.
4. Students have textbooks that are current, usually no older than 10 years. Before state budget cuts, textbooks were replaced about every 5-7 years; some are older than that now. Schools supply pencils, crayons, scissors, paper, glue, and facial tissue.
5. Schools today are working to include children with disabilities. Programs like Resource and Special Day Class help children with special needs. Children have access to Individualized Education Programs (IEP's), which outline their individual needs and their targeted interventions. Many disabled children can be "mainstreamed" into regular classrooms as well. All schools have handicapped access to classrooms and restrooms.
6. Girls and boys have equal access. In fact, statistically, more women today are in college than men.
7. Other than in inner-city or gang-infested areas, children live in safety. Even in more dangerous areas, the crime problems usually do not prohibit children from attending school.
8. School districts usually provide busing for students who live a certain distance from school. Almost every family has a car and can provide transportation for their children if needed. Other than in extremely rural areas, most children live within five miles of their school.
9. Hunger is still an issue that we have in schools today. Many children tell me in the morning that they did not eat breakfast that morning. Schools provide free breakfast and lunch for children whose family income qualifies them for this program.
10. Public school in America is free. Children have very few expenses for school - backpacks, folders, notebooks, binders, pencil boxes. In poor areas, some charities will provide these items for needy children.

We are very fortunate in America. Yet I still see other, more subtle barriers to education today.

My Title 1 team and I went through the cumulative files (the "permanent record") of every child in our school this spring, organizing and cleaning them out. Our school has Transitional Kindergarten (TK), Kindergarten, and grades 1-6, housing about 500 children. The school is in a middle-class area, although we qualify for Title 1 funding, which is given to schools in lower socioeconomic areas. While we do have some impoverished children, many of our students own cell phones, iPods, computers, and game systems; wear clean, stylish clothing; and participate in multiple after-school activities such as sports, martial arts, or cheerleading (all of which require fees).

These were the things that we found most interesting as we went through the files.

1. By the time children hit 6th grade, the majority of them had been in two or more schools. Probably fewer than 25% had been in our school since Kindergarten. Some of the children had been in over four schools, with a few who had been in close to 10 schools.

2. Many children had attendance issues. Many are consistently tardy. Absences were also an issue for some. With over 14 weeks off from school a year, families still took weeks off during the school year for vacations. Some children that I have worked with are absent nearly 10% of the time.

3. Many families provided past due bills or utility shut-off notices as their proof of address. This shows the severe financial problems families are having today and explains some of the high rate of mobility.

4. Many children had IEP's in their file or were part of English as a Second Language (ESL or ELD) programs.

These are all barriers to education. Student who have been in many schools get a fragmented education. Some topics are never learned when students move due to the different programs in different schools. If children are not in school, or are tardy, they are not learning. Students with family financial problems move more frequently and have less access to educational opportunities. We have students who have never been to the zoo or the ocean (less than an hour away). Students with learning or language issues take longer to learn, which is a problem in today's fast-paced, standards-driven learning environment.

The breakdown of the family is behind many of these barriers. Many of our children are from divorced homes and have shared custody issues. Often, the parents' issues severely impact the children - whether from violence (we had a child who witnessed the murder of one of his parents by the other parent), nasty disagreements that put children in the middle, the financial strains of single-parent families, and the uprooting caused by moving away from negative home situations.

Economic issues are also part of the problem. Some of our families are unemployed or underemployed and struggle to make ends meet. Education is difficult when the child does not know if he or she will get dinner that night or will have to sleep in their car. We've had children who have to go to late-night jobs with their parent because there is no one else to watch them. Other children are unsupervised while their parents are at work and have to feed themselves and their younger siblings. You can be sure that hungry, exhausted, or unsupervised children are not doing their homework!

A larger problem that I have seen in my 17 years in education, though, is a lack of value for learning. Many parents do not see education as a priority, and that view gets transferred to the child. We have had parents in our school who tell their children that they do not have to do their homework. Parents do not help with school projects or make sure homework is done. Some parents never even look inside their child's backpack at all during the school year.

Many children do not value education, either. Most children rush through their assignments, just wanting to be done with it, not really caring if the work is done correctly or at a high level. When I try to guide a child to the correct answer, he or she will get frustrated, wanting me just to give the answer. When the assigned work is done, most students will choose to talk to other kids rather than read a book or do some other educational activity.

Even the books they select from the library are discouraging. Most children choose to read books that are about kids just like they are - middle-class kids dealing with everyday issues. While I am happy to see them reading, it is pretty shallow. Children rarely select books about children from other countries or historical eras. They are not using fiction to learn about other cultures or ways of life.

American pop culture also does not value education or literary pursuits. Children know all about their favorite sports stars or celebrities, can sing along to their favorite songs from "American Idol" and watch endless hours of reality shows. Children pick up that the important thing in life is to be rich and famous, even with all of the attendant problems to that lifestyle. If you were to ask most of my students what they want to be when they are grown up, they would reply "Rich," "A basketball star," or "A singer." Any job that requires a college degree or higher is seen as too much work or effort.

America has some very real problems. Compared with third-world countries, our problems may seem slight. But the end result is the same: Children are not learning like they should be. A child like Malala, who lived in an impoverished area, shows that there are some bright spots in the world. Malala clearly demonstrates that a child who is internally motivated and given opportunity can learn, even in difficult situations.

America's children all have the opportunity. What will it take to make them grasp it and see where it will take them?

On Parenting College Students (originally published October 8, 2013)

Apparently, parenting doesn’t end when your prodigy receives his hard-earned high school diploma. It just changes into different, less hands-on, and in many ways, tougher forms.

Our oldest son went away to college a year ago. He’s in Flagstaff, a six-hour drive, one state and one time zone (for part of the year) away. It was hard to send him off, with a Jeep full of boxes and clothing. We helped move in his stuff, gave him a hug and a kiss (surprisingly, he let us) and told him to make good choices. Then we drove away.

The university, knowing parents, wouldn’t let us into his class-choosing session with the counselor. Parents were banned from the entire building, with students posted at the doors reminding us to let our kids grow up. Well played, NAU.

On the first day of his classes, he called us. He was late to a class due to having to travel clear across campus in too little time. For some reason, the door was locked and he couldn’t get in. What should he do?

Being 420 miles away, I gave him some options: Email the teacher! Try again! Do something! And then he made the best choice: Change the class session so he wouldn’t have to worry about being late every time.

We gave advice, he listened, and then he made the choice that was best for him. Success!

There were times when we were glad the distance kept us from knowing everything: “I overslept the other day and missed class because my bedroom only has a tiny window and it’s pitch dark in there.” “Oh, what did you figure out?” “I moved my alarm clock across the room.” Yay!

Or, “I went around a corner in my Jeep when it was really icy and skidded some.” Didn’t need to know that. And I don’t really need one more thing to worry about. Please don’t tell us everything!

Now, our youngest has started college. He’s living at home and commuting 25 miles each way. Fortunately, it’s on only one freeway, easy on-and-off. I say this because my son has missed exits for entire freeways. Multiple times. “Really, Mom, there are no signs that tell you the 10 freeway is coming up!” There are four. Yes, I counted them.

I also worry because he was in a terrible accident in January where his car, his pride and joy for seven months, was totalled. It was almost worse because it was completely not his fault; the lady made an illegal turn into him. I say worse, because all of us now know that accidents can happen, even if you’re doing everything right. For the longest time after the accident, I nearly had a heart attack every time he drove his car. And yet I had to let him go. Sadly, he has a different attitude now. We got him new rims and tires for his replacement car with the insurance money. He wasn’t sure he wanted to spend the money, because, after all, what if someone hits him again? I hate to see my son so jaded, already.

But I digress. Parenting a stay-at-home college student is a whole other thing. He’s at home, and I know when he’s studying and when he’s not. I know when his projects and papers are due. I know what time he should be out the door.

And I’m trying to say nothing. After all, if he was away, I wouldn’t know any of those things.

So, I leave the house when he’s still asleep and hope he remembered to set his alarm and leave on time. (So far, so good). I’ve only been a little naggy about getting his papers done. I’ve only looked at his papers when he asked me to check them over for spelling and grammar. I tried not to help him on his soldering project, except he needed me to hold the wire while he manipulated soldering iron and solder.

It’s harder for me to treat him this way. It would be so easy to fall into old middle-school and high-school habits. But he’s in college now for himself, not to please us. And we have to trust that if it’s important to him, he’ll take care of business.

Both of our boys have risen to the challenge. Our oldest didn’t get the grades he wanted his first semester. When he was upset about it, I just told him that he knew what he needed to do. He did, and raised his grades a whole grade point second semester.

So far, our youngest has been getting B’s in college (at least, that’s what he’s shown me!). Again, he knows what he needs to do.

That’s the whole point of raising kids…so they are doing what they should because they want to, not because we told them to. So they can make good choices about classes, studying, and managing their time. It’s been a hard road, but it’s worth it at the end.

Midterms are coming up soon…and I will try to stay out of it, no nagging.

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