EXPECT MORE FROM PUBLIC EDUCATION THIS YEAR

By Talbert W. Swan, II

As we enter the eighth year of the 21st century our community’s focus should be its future, which lies with our youth. At the end of last year, a Johns Hopkins University study of graduation rates nationwide labeled Central High School, the High School of Science and Technology, Putnam Vocational Technical High School, the High School of Commerce and New Leadership Charter School as "dropout factories." The study examined three years of U.S. Department of Education data and determined that these schools saw 60 percent or less of their freshmen earn diplomas four years later.

A good education is a major determinant of what kind of life a person will have when he or she grows up. A bad education is often a sentence to social and economic death. Education determines future income and social status as well as a person’s range of future options and quality of life. Sadly, too many of our young people, who already live in economically depressed communities are stuck in failing schools, which greatly increases their chances of ending up in a prison cell.

We can no longer settle for sending our children to poorly funded, overcrowded, understaffed and low-achieving schools. Furthermore, with a majority student population of Latinos and African Americans, it is unacceptable for our schools to be staffed with few teachers of color and mostly by administrators who have low expectations for youth from marginalized families whom they may label as “dumb’’ or “bad.’’

Once youth drop out or are pushed out of school, the prison pipeline is only one wrong move away. With most of our churches and mosques closed during the week and too many of our community centers lacking proper funding for extended hours, youth with few positive alternatives to the streets often head for the “corner,’’ a different type of educational institution that teaches antisocial values, like violence and criminal behavior, and which is also glamorized on many of the TV programs they watch.

High school dropouts are almost three times as likely to be incarcerated as youths who have graduated from high school. But dropouts are not the only ones who encounter entryways into the prison pipeline. Some of our middle and high schools have full-time police officers who can independently arrest children on school grounds for any number of infractions, like disorderly conduct, malicious mischief and fighting that, just a few years ago, would have been handled by their families, the schools or community institutions. And now, children as young as five and six are being hauled down to police stations in handcuffs.

It is essential that the education provided today adapts to prepare students for the future. The accountability of the Springfield Public School System to effectively perform their mission has become a critical issue in the current debate on education in the city. While most discussions of accountability presume that teachers and school administrators should answer to the rest of society for the success or failure of the school system, Springfield must develop a different model.

Our city needs to take into account the role and responsibilities of others in society in transmitting knowledge and values to school age children. Such a partnership with stakeholders will help demonstrate that our schools are not accountable solely to students, parents, or businesses, but to the entire community as a whole. The education of our youth is an investment in the stability, prosperity and future of our society. This suggests that society, as a whole, is the ultimate "client" of public education. As such, we must demand and expect more from it, while also being willing to contribute more to it. n