Hello all and welcome to the unofficial-official blog for the Duke SOL students. There are twelve of us in the amazing program (through Hart Leadership Program at Duke). We are all over the world and studying some fascinating social issues. I don't want to steal everyone else's thunder so I'll let them tell you where their research has taken them and what sort of work they're doing.
Guess I'll get the ball rolling on these posts. My name is Matt Zafirovski and I'm doing research for the Golden Apple Foundation in Chicago, IL. I'm studying their Scholars program -- the nation's largest pre-teaching support program that gives out 100 scholarships a year to students who wish to become excellent teachers in schools of needs. As the program is about to celebrate its 20th year anniversary, I'm specifically trying to what enables success for a Scholar -- i.e. what are the personal and organization factors that shape a successful Scholar.
Besides being incredibly rewarding and eye-opening work, I get to be in Chicago. I spent my last few years of high school in the Northern Suburbs, but besides ball games, the random field trip, and Second City shows, I never really got to experience this place. When I visit a new city, the first thing I'm likely to do is lace up my Asics and go for a walk or run, sans iPod, to begin to get my bearings.
That's been my mindset as I find myself taking a slightly different route on my walks to and from work. By altering my routes, I'm consciously building a mental 3-D map of the city and rejecting routine. It's not that I necessarily fear routine, rather I fear ending up like Michael Bolton from Office Space, except with not as good of a conversation-starter name. I do appreciate the constants in my walk though, such as the flock of pigeons under the El stop at State/Madison fighting for the bread crumbs that always seem to appear just before I get there; the Italian restaurant owner who waters his flowers at the same time every morning; and the mood of the man peddling newspaper that is dependent on the outcome of the Cubs game (read generally not very happy).
As I wonder through the grid of gorgeous skyscrapers and buildings that pioneered the modern architecture movement, it's tough to fathom how such a beautiful and wealthy city can condone such a low performing school district. Chicago Public Schools graduates 44% of its students in high school and out of those college-bound students, 6% graduate from college. This should be considered a crisis, yet to show the the state of things, leaders appluad the 44% rate because it's an improvement!
I attended a talk by Pedro Naguera, the director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education in NYC, who addressed this very issue. After extensive research in Barbados, and comparisons of the U.S. education system to relatively stronger ones in Slovenia, Cuba, and Canada, he argues that the difference is the lack of a public will in the U.S. to educate. Take Canada for example: they lack the economic prosperity and development of the U.S. but they've put education and health care as their top priorities and becuase of that, you see a more equitable society.
A few hours after this talk, I found myself on a train chatting with Shawn, a fragance consultant (who by day works for the state government) and Jose, a Puerto Rican immigrant. (Shawn is not relevant to the story, I thought I'd just share that I met a fragance consultant). Jose boarded the train with four kids, his wife, and a stroller. His gold chain, white beater, and bevy of tattoos (some more hardcore than others, but my favorite: "I LOVE MOM") did little to express the compassion that lay within. Jose is a college dropout whose kids for the past few years have been attending Chicago Public Schools. He's in the process this summer of moving his family out of the city in order to find a school system that can better educate and look after his kids. One of his sons is diabetic and the school was unsupportive and unwilling to properly address his health needs. Jose has taken on extra jobs and is seeking a third job in order to finance the move. His sacrifice though, in his eyes, is worth it so that he can give his kids opportunities that he never had.
Jose's resolve and determination to better his family is nothing short of heroic. Yet shouldn't we expect more out of our public schools, regardless of what district they're in? True Chicago Public Schools are a different tax base than suburban schools, which drastically affects funding. Yet by not prioritizing equal opportunity in the education system, we are systemically discriminating and further contributing to the growing inequalities.
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