Reflections of the March on Washington and Public Education

            This week our country celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of the March on Washington and the I Have A Dream Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  While there have been significant gains for African-Americans having greater access to mainstream society, there are a number of areas such as poverty, unemployment and institutional racism that still hinder progress to achieving Dr. King’s Dream of equality and social justice. 

            As I reflect on the purpose of the March on Washington and the I have a Dream Speech through the lens of an educational advocate, I wonder how Dr. King and those who participated in the March on to bring equality and social justice to our country would say about the state of public education today? 

            With a majority of the barriers from the segregation era having been removed or greatly diminished, a majority of our public schools, especially in major urban cities and suburbs remain hyper segregated.  Additionally, with the large disparities in academic achievement, funding and access to technology among African-American youth and their white counterparts growing, would Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington believe equality and social justice has come to public education?

            Finally, with public education struggling with student and teacher engagement and the lack of career development and workforce preparation for a global economy, would Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington believe equality and social justice has come to public education?

            Unfortunately, I believe Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington would not believe equality and social justice has come to public education.  I believe they would wonder how could public education continue to be segregated when there were laws created to end segregation are in place.  How could public education appear to still be “separate but equal” when the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v Board of Education made it unconstitutional to educate African-American children separate from their white counterparts?

            As we celebrate the 50^th Anniversary the March on Washington and the I Have A Dream Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., these are just a few reflections about public education to remind us there are still areas in our society that have not met the expectations of Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington.

What Not To Wear: Marketing the Fear of Social Isolation

            The end of summer break marks the beginning of the back to school marketing campaign.  The endless commercials from all the major retailers reminding parents and children their business has all the things a child needs for the start of school at the best prices. 

            Past commercials have been fun and creative.  Probably the most memorable back to school commercial was the Staples commercial where the parent was riding down the aisle on a cart gathering school supplies while the children frowned as the song “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” played in the background.  However, this year back to school commercials have targeted back to school fashion and the consequences of coming to school out of style.

            The number of back to school commercials that have informed youth of what they should wear and the consequences of not wearing what they are being told to wear by retailers has crossed the line. 

            The messages being sent to parents and children by the retailers is of social isolation if they do not wear certain clothes.  One such commercial was pulled because the commercial actually showed a child being socially isolated from their peers because the child wore the wrong clothes. 

            Another message being sent is that school is about fashion, not learning.  There are number of commercials that portray students in school doing everything but learning.  One such commercial portrayed a classroom as a runway where a student walked from the front of class to the back of class while peers were sitting in their desk watching the student pass by in various outfits.

            As schools struggle to keep students engaged in learning and help them understand the importance of obtaining an education, messages such as these from retailers give mixed messages to impressionable youth about the purpose of school.  Having a mixed message about the purpose of school, learning and obtaining an education severely hinders the ability of teachers to effectively deliver the curriculum.

Finally, with physical and cyber-bullying being problematic for students who are perceived by their peers as different, the message of social isolation for wearing the wrong clothes places youth in danger and affects their physical health, self-esteem and mental well being.

            I would like to believe that retailers would not intentionally “prey” on impressionable school aged youth by sending mixed messages that would make youth targets for not wearing the certain clothes or encouraging youth to be “cute” instead of smart.  I would also like to believe that next years back to school commercials will be vastly different (in a positive way) than this years commercials.  Let’s hope reason, common sense and an appreciation for education will prevail in next years commercial

The Right to Become A Productive Citizen

            There was a time when the mission of public high schools was to prepare young adults to become productive citizens.  Somewhere along the line, public high schools lost their way and became more concerned about class size, test scores, and other things that distracted the mission of preparing students to become productive citizens.

            A generation ago, when a young adult graduated from high school, it meant something to employers, to his/her family, to society.  For parents and society, graduation from high school was the final rites of passage from young adulthood to adulthood.  To an employer, a high school graduate was an individual who had acquired basic skills, a strong work ethic and an understanding of their new role in society.

            Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about this generation of public high school graduates.  Public high schools are no longer concerned about preparing productive citizens.  Employers do not believe, a high school graduate has acquired the basic skills, a strong work ethic or understand their role in society.  Lastly, parents and society no longer view graduation from high school as a rite of passage from young adulthood to adulthood. 

Young adults are being robbed of their chance to move into adulthood and their opportunity to become productive citizens.  Since they are not given the proper preparation and skill development necessary to move into adulthood and into a productive citizen, the results of this lack of concern is one of the reasons for the economic downturn and recovery our country is currently experiencing.

If we want to make graduation from a public high school become meaningful again, we have to realize the education of young adults is a Civil Right.  In viewing education as a Civil Right, the rebuilding the foundation to developing productive citizens is crucial to reclaiming public school’s lost mission.

Every young adult upon graduation from a public high school should expect their education should lead them to the path to meaningful employment or continuing education.  Every young adult upon graduation from public school should expect their diploma would be viewed positively by employers and accepted for providing the preparation and skill development needed to be a productive citizen.  Finally every young adult upon graduation should expect their diploma would welcome them into the rites of adulthood and afford them the opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of their role in society.

Our nation was built and thrived on our public high schools developing productive citizens.  For generations, it has been the birth right and expectation of our young adults to take their place and continue to grow our society, why should we expect any less of this generation and from the public high schools they attend?`

Changing the Nature of Parent Engagement

                I was talking to a colleague of mine whose child attends a private school.  We were talking about how her child’s teacher has already been in contact with parents about the new school year.  My colleague also talked about how her child had received assignments in preparation for the new school year. 

                When I asked my colleague how she received this information, she stated, the teacher contacted her via Skype and e-mailed a link to a web page specifically for her child on the schools website.  This made me think about why we are not doing this for parents/caregivers of students in public schools?

As we approached the start of the new school year, I thought about how many public schools will likely struggle again with parent engagement.  I also thought about how many public schools will likely take the same approach to parent engagement and then wonder why they continue to have poor results.

It is time to for public schools to bring parent engagement into the technological age.  There are a number of free tools (many of which are on most phones and computers) that could be used to reach out to parents and increase parent engagement.  Schools no longer need to only think of parent engagement as parents coming into the school building, schools need to consider parents engagment in a virtual context.

Schools can purchase Go to Meeting and send links to parent/caregivers to have virtual conferences, or utilize free software such as Face Time, Skype and other virtual meeting programs.  Teachers can create webinars that inform parents on how their child is doing in their classes.  Teachers can also create a class list serve with parent e-mails to update them on the progress or areas of improvement, discuss a behavioral concern or give praise for an act of kindness to a fellow peer or overcoming an obstacle.  Teachers can also send work assignments to students who are sick and miss school by sending the work via an attachment or webinar.  Finally, teachers can also have “chat” conferences.

These are a few suggestions of how public schools can increase parent engagement.  With a solid plan and utilization to some of the tools previously mentioned, public schools may find themselves with greater access to parents through virtual means then by antiquated methods of trying to get parents into the building.