In Tackling the Debate, Our Kids contributors, parents, students, camp administrators and educators argue their side of the hottest educational, camp, and parenting issues.
To raise grades andacademic test scores, a high school in Philadelphia recently raised eyebrows with a new strategy - to separate students by race, gender, and language for a few minutes every day. Some argue that being among peers will help students engage in school more easily, others of course are frightened by the similarity to the segregated high schools of the 50′s and 60′s. Our Kids contributor Jamie Brown argues against segregation in schools.
Coming from parents who grew up during the era of actual, creepy, Southern United State-we-have-separate-pools-for-blacks-and-whites segregation, I feel bad when I separate my LAUNDRY. So when I heard that a Pennsylvania high school is experimenting separating kids by race, gender, and language, I was shocked to say the least. Their hearts seem to be in the right place, but I think their actions are a bit extreme.
A report by CNN says the pilot program is derived from research “‘that shows grouping black students by gender with a strong role model can help boost their academic achievement and self esteem,’ according to a statement from McCaskey East High School in Lancaster.”
It sounds like the idea is coming from a place of great intentions – raising student achievement for African-American students and providing them with positive mentors. But why is separating students the way to achieve this? We play with, go to school with, work with, fight with, and live with people of different races throughout our lives. If a part of school is learning about how to interact with people of all different backgrounds successfully, I think we’re doing our students a disservice by cloistering them together by race.
The school principal is quoted as saying “In visiting the classrooms, I saw students planning their path for success after graduation.” I have no doubt that’s true! But is that any less likely in a class with people of all races and backgrounds? I should hope not! Educators are educators because they believe in helping students achieve all they can. I would not be surprised to find there are a tiny number of sad, unqualified educators hidden somewhere who believe things like race are a limiting factor to achievement. But the VAST majority of educators give their time and effort to ALL of their students. Planning for success after graduation is something that should occur in every classroom. If not, then there is a problem not in the race of the students or their mentor, but in the attitude of the teacher.
Let us not forget, we’ve tried “separate but equal” before and it didn’t work out the way we wanted. We spent years and tears forcing some districts to bring students of different races together. We even brought in the Army to make sure segregation wasn’t going to continue. Improving student achievement is a goal of every good educator – let’s just make sure as we’re taking steps forward, and not taking more steps back.
[Jamie Brown is the Technical Director for a nonprofit organization that is working to end preventable blindness called One World Sight Project. He is also a 7th summer instructor at iD Tech Camps, the number one technology camp for kids in the world, where he goes by the code name of Yoda. In his spare time he likes to write, "sing" (if you've heard him, you understand the quotes) and take over the world as the leading force in positive children's entertainment. You can follow him at inneri.tumblr.com.]
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What do you think about this controversy? Does segregation have its benefits? Tell us in the comment section below.
