Judge me with test scores? Want to give my student the paper to take the test?
For the second time within a few days, a student told me that their family didn’t have enough money to buy paper. We can argue the idea of priorities and spending all you like, but in the end the kid still doesn’t have paper. If you’re a kid and like the 12 year old today who told me “I have to get my own money because we are having lots of bills coming due,” how can you feel like you’re ready to go into those tests and succeed?
If the achievement gap between the rich and the poor is increasing, why are we blaming the teachers? Are there some crappy teachers? Absolutely. Does a superb teacher trump all external forces? No. When the cards are stacked against you, the player has limited chances for success. The house in this situation, is everything that happened between conception and age 6, and everything that happens between 2:45 pm and 8:00 am Monday-Friday and the entire weekend.
Should the teacher provide all of the school supplies a student needs? Is that not the place of the parent? I’m not requiring a computer, an iPod, a cell phone or anything like that.
Paper and pencil. Kids can’t make it happen. What are we supposed to do with this? I’ll get some paper for the student tomorrow, but what’s the long term solution?
