After I left school yesterday I went to pick up the boys that I often babysit for. I have been to school a hundred times but never really noticed how different it was compared to my school until having now. When I walked up about 10 minutes before they were going to be dismissed, all of the parents (either sitting in their fancy cars or standing by the play ground) were chatting and eagerly waiting for their children. As the kids came out they ran up to their parents, most giving them a hug, and often throwing their backpack on the floor and running off to the play ground. As I looked around most of the parents are mothers, with their spandex shorts on and jogging strollers.
There are five buses pulling out and as I looked in the window I noticed that 4 out of the 5 buses had no more than maybe 20 children on them, one only had about 7. Do we only have one bus because most of our kids live close enough to not need a bus or is it funding?
While I watch the boys on the play ground playing Star Wars I realized that I am not near as worried about them talking about guns because its more likely their imagination or something they have seen in a movie, than what they see at home in person.
At their school parent involvement is school. It is not uncommon for parents to volunteer on a weekly basis in the classroom. I'm not sure if most of our parents could tell you the names of their teachers let alone where the classroom is located in the school.
I felt a bit of resentment and bitterness towards these people as I watched the blonde hair, pointy tail mom swapping recipes on the play ground. They have no idea what the city looks like a mere twenty miles away. Not that I think that they should "feel sorry" for my neighborhood, and it probably wouldn't even change how most of them live their lives, but from the outside it looks like they live in their own little happy white, upper class, suburbia bubble.
I found an appreciation for the siblings at my school when I saw two boys fighting like crazy over something dumb. Not that my kids don’t do that for sure but the majority of siblings at my school are protective of the younger ones. The older sisters often ask if the sibling has homework or if they were misbehaving in class. There is a need to feel protected and to have some consistency in life, which I think is often found between siblings.
I don’t want to sound like I’m just bitching and complaining but its hard when you see kids everyday who don’t have a lot and then see those who have everything they want.
-Miss Hansen
At some point, you may find that working in an affluent school is a way that you can help to make a change. The children of poverty need caring, creative and consistent teachers in their lives, and you are a gift they will treasure forever. But the children you sit for, and those in that school, will grow up to be in a position of power and influence by virtue of their families, and the impact you can have by helping to open THEIR eyes can go a long way toward changing the circumstances that leave our society with this 20 mile dichotomy.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the comment above. You are a gift and a constant nurturing adult in the lives that you touch every day in your inner city school. The children you are working with are lucky to see you every day and will miss you when you start school this week!
ReplyDeleteDon't be so quick to assume the affluent moms are ignorant of the situation 20 miles away. Some of us are very familiar with the conditions of the public school system and have put forth a great deal of effort to make sure our children have what we perceive to be a better, safer learning environment. We might look care-free on the playground, but that is the result of lots of hard work and careful decisions. Both groups of kids are where they are because of their parents. I'm not saying the poorer parents don't work hard and don't care about their children. Instead, my point is that we more affluent folk have not randomly placed out children where they are. We know what the other schools are like, and we've done our best to do better for our children.
ReplyDeleteI work for a Cincinnati Public School and nanny for a family from an affluent neighborhood as well. Altough the differences between the schools and families are plentiful, it is important to not blame the "rich" families. They did not choose for the "poor" chidlren to be born into the life they have, it's the culture of the families in the inner city schools to blame. What do you expect the affluent families to do? They sympathize with the children because they did not choose their lives they were simply born into it (the family I nanny for believes this), but they do not have an obligation to those chidlren, the teachers do. You cannot expect people to put other chidlren's needs before those of their chidlren, they pay taxes don't they? How do you think CPS gets some of their money? Affluent families have to pay taxes even if they send their children to Catholic or private schools, so they are doing their "job" for inner city students. I know it is easy to get angry about the circumstances of students, but you cannot blame affluent families. It just means when you go back to your safe neighborhood, your warm home and choose from your filled refridgerator what you want to eat for dinner, you think of things that can make you a better teacher and ways for your students to succeed more.
ReplyDeleteThank you to both Anonymous comments. I am from a "well off" family and I know how hard my parents have worked for everything I have. I am not blaming the affluent families at all I just wonder how much most people really know is going on. It is easy to see things on the news and say "o my i can't believe this is happening out there" when in reality it really is not far from home.
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