PPS - a system built on classism and racism

The PPS school board still neglects to take action that would address many policies that have resulted in a classist and racist school system in Portland. Not surprisingly, the so-called "achievement gap" also persists. Here is an excerpt from an article by Paul C. Gorski of Teaching Tolerance, which should be read by everyone in positions of power and influence over PPS (school board members, superintendent, Portland Schools Foundation board members and staff, and certain other "community leaders" who have imposed or allowed top-down reforms on low-income schools):

"It's all too easy, for even the most well-meaning of us, to help perpetuate classism by buying into that mindset, implementing activities and strategies for "working with parents in poverty" or "teaching students in poverty" that, however subtly, suggest we must fix poor people instead of eliminating the inequities that oppress them.

The question, of course, for any educator of privilege committed to educational equity is this: Do we choose to study supposed cultures or mindsets of poverty because doing so doesn't require an examination of our own class-based prejudices? By avoiding that question, we also avoid the messy, painful work of analyzing how classism pervades our classrooms and schools, never moving forward toward an authentic understanding of poverty, class and education.

What does it mean, for example, that high-poverty schools have more teachers teaching outside their areas of certification, larger numbers of teacher vacancies, and fewer experienced teachers than low-poverty schools? That they're more likely to lack full access to computers and the Internet? That they have inadequate facilities and classroom materials? Or that students in high-poverty schools are more likely than their wealthier counterparts to be subjected to overcrowded classrooms, dirty or inoperative bathrooms, less rigorous curricula and encounters with vermin such as rats and cockroaches? Or that these students are more likely to attend schools with serious teacher turnover problems and lower teacher salaries than students at low-poverty schools? And why do Payne and other "experts" so often fail to mention these inequalities?"

Read the full article here:
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/features.jsp?p=0&is=40&ar=777