"Students in KIPP schools wear uniforms, walk silently in single file lines from class to class, and are disciplined for even the smallest infraction. It is a school-based version of the 'broken windows' policing philosophy, which claims that the best way to control crime is to aggressively criminalize every small act. Arrest the window breaker, the theory goes, and murders will go down. As this has played out in places like NYC, where the metaphorical 'broken window' is often possession of a small amount of recreational drugs, the crime rate did indeed go down. Probably because an unconscionable proportion of young black men are in jail, where they can't soil the statistics by breaking windows or anything else. "Nelson then followed that with a quote from Jim Horn, the Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Cambridge College in regards to KIPP's approach:
'"(It is) intended to create a culturally-sterilized corps of black order takers and low level corporate drones who never complain and always ask How High? when the boss man says, Jump.'"Nelson deems KIPP as a "no excuses school" and concludes his articles by saying:
"Punishment, shaming, shunning, compliance and conformity are not tools for character development. They are agents of oppression."I, personally, have never been opposed to Charter schools. As EduNation Revolution referred to in his TEDTalk post of Bill Gates on teachers and feedback, students do really well in countries and school systems where teachers are helped to self-assess. Charter schools tend to have higher student academic performance rates than public schools because they invest a lot of time into their teachers.
However, after learning more about the operations of KIPP as what Nelson deems a "no excuses" school, I don't think the high academic performance rates is what rising generations really need. I have a professor that teaches on business communication and he taught on a survey that was conducted with employers and students applying for jobs. Students thought they did really well in areas such as critical thinking and employers thought they did rather poorly. This reflected that schools now-a-days are teaching students to study books and take tests based on learned information instead of actually critically thinking and being able to come up with real world solutions.
Similar to the lack of creativity and critical thinking present in school curriculum, Nelson points out that that kind of "oppression" is also present in disciplinary structures. This great new and improved charter school system being implemented across counties may actually be raising up generations to conform to the power of a very select elite. That sounds a lot like George Orwell's 1984, the book schools make students read in high school, doesn't it?
Wow, I had no idea that some charter schools were still using what I believe to be outdated methods of punishment on their students. I don’t see how having an environment where getting punished for every little thing that goes wrong can be an environment that also fosters creativity and growth. There would be no room for students to explore the world around them and their interests if taking one step out of single file would get them a slap on the wrist.
ReplyDeleteI don't necesarily think the methods here are outdated. If the students get slapped on the hand with a ruler or have manual labor detentions (see: Chicago private schools) I would agree, but this sounds like uptight schools being uptight schools. They are strict and seem harsh, especially when a high school diploma is at stake, but shouldn't students learn to be accountable for their actions? That's a given in the workplace, and at home with your parents, so maybe it matters that a school holds the same principles.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to discuss a certain point that you brought up in your blog post: “Charter schools tend to have higher student academic performance rates than public schools because they invest a lot of time into their teachers.” Having attended a Charter school myself, I did not think twice about the investment and higher pay of teachers and its affect of student learning. However, volunteering in both public and Charter schools, I have noticed a disparity in student learning. This is very concerning when thinking about the United States education system. Is this educational “elite” creating a new shadow education system, in which those privileged to attend private or Charter schools benefit more greatly and earn higher pay than those with a public school education? I urge the US government to allocate more funding to develop teacher trainings and curriculum to attempt to close this gap. Its repercussions will be apparent for years to come.
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