They All Matter

The D.C. public school system has been in the news more often of late due to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s recent “takeover” and ousting of Superintendent Clifford Janey. While I certainly am no fan of Mayor Fenty, I can’t predict whether or not his efforts will improve the quality of education received by children in the District. I might, however, ask those optimistic about the mayor’s plans to name a single urban school district in America that provides a quality education. Why is this? Why can’t America’s cities provide such a basic need to its youngest citizens?

According to a series of articles in the Washington Post last week, Philadelphia provides a quality education. Or at least, the quality has improved markedly over the last several years. (Click here for the full article.) One thing you will learn from reading the whole thing (and it is pretty long) is that this cost a lot of money. And that many of the gains accomplished by Philadelphia’s visionary superintendent are in danger of being wiped away because politicians won’t pony up more ducats. In a way, it is not surprising that education is such a low spending priority for governments: the people the money is spent on can’t vote. You can cut teacher’s salaries, cut arts & music programs, and it’s not like the children whose schools are damaged are going to vote you out of office. But try to cut medicare or social security, and you’ll have so many pissed-off voters that the AARP will be all up in your grill before you can say “Jiminy Christmas.”

But there is actually another point here that I’d like to make. I tutor at an elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia. More than half of the students there receive subsidized lunches, this despite the fact that in most cases both of their parents have at least one job. I was recently there for a “volunteer appreciation lunch.” It was nice, but it wasn’t really necessary; anyone who engages in that sort of thing to get recognition needs to reconsider his motives.

This spring I’ve been working with a fourth-grader and helping him with his reading skills. At the lunch, I got to talk to his teacher, who told me that the kid’s reading comprehension and speed has improved noticeably since he started working with me. It was immensely rewarding to hear this. The thing about tutoring is that it’s pretty much impossible to measure a quantifiable result. If you volunteer for Habitat For Humanity, at the end of the day you can say, “hey, there’s a house.” If you remove non-native plants from a nature preserve, you can say, “I bet those damn Japanese maples will think twice before they set up shop around here again.” You’ll have a tangible, material result. In reference to my tutee, the teacher also added “I know he can be a handful sometimes.” Yes, he can, and those kids are the ones who need help most. Because they are the easiest ones to give up on. It’s hard to give up on people who make it easy for you to help them. If you are one of those difficult kids, then the more people there are that give up on you, the easier it is to believe that you’re not valuable. If people keep treating you that way, eventually you’ll start to believe them.

The article in the Post details a senior named Reggie Mays. He grew up in an unstable family environment in an ugly, violent neighborhood. He got suspended several times as a freshman. But now he’s gone from a D student to a B student, and he’s planning on going to college and law school. What happened? He received “lots of academic and personal support” and “prominent Philadelphia lawyers mentored him.” In other words, people told him he was important. People told him he matters. That his feelings, and his goals, and his dreams, are just as valid as some kid who grew up in the suburbs and had his life handed to him on a silver platter. Reggie himself added that without the guidance, “I’d be locked up or doing something illegal…I wouldn’t have anything to strive for to keep me going.”