On Saturday, Kevin Huffman, a Washington Post opinion writer, discussed the “keys for success” in our education system, arguing that they go beyond “funding and families” (the former is a topic I have mentioned before). The article opens with the story of two Teach for America educators who started a series of charter schools in the Rio Grande Valley. They argue that the success of their students – the first class graduated this year and 100% of them are going to college – was based on:
“the thinking around the problem. I have no control over what goes in on in the kids’ Colonia. But we can create a culture. Kids here feel part of a family, part of a team, part of something special.”
This is in line with the argument that some sociologists (and non-sociologists such as Jonathan Kozol) have made.
Strangely, I expected Huffman to argue that they keys to success were related to creating this type of culture in poor areas, even in schools without high levels of funding. Instead, he argues that we need to focus on “people, policies, and parents.” (It is interesting that we can control “parents” but not “families.”) In fact, none of his keys focus on creating a nurturing school culture. I agree that we need to get to work on the issue of education, but it would help if we could recognize that giving incentives to good teachers in poor districts will not change the cultures of these schools.
Memoirs of a SLACer 