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When it comes to school inequality, I think a lot of people recognize that there are some big picture (macro) causes and some individual level (micro) causes. Where I think the discussion around fixing inequalities goes awry is the order in which those two sets are addressed.
Individual level inequalities come mainly from families opting out of public schools they see as inferior to other, typically more expensive options. You have to have financial reseources to make that move, so obviously segregation (of several types) results.
School personnel such as teachers and principals make very similar decisions based on economic and job-ease factors, too, so it’s not just happening at the student level.
In a way, everyone is making decisions that they think are best for their immediate family at that single moment in time. Not much thought is given to long-term, systemic or community effects.
Most of the news coverage I see about school inequalities focuses on these micro level decisions. Should these parents, teachers, principals choose to leave schools as they do? Ideally no - it would benefit those schools long-term and the students who can’t leave if they didn’t.
Could you maybe convince families and teacher and principals to stay? Possibly, and I know some who do go that route and choose a less self-advantageous path. But I think that approach doesn’t encourage lasting change.
It’s the macro, big picture factors that need addressing if you want to address educational inequalities in our nation. Districts need to be proactive in distributing resources to their campuses, attendance zones need to be adjusted to reduce segregation.
Funding models need to be examined and our state governments need to to decide that funding schools needs to be a top priority instead of an afterthought. Teacher pay needs to increase to attract and keep your best people in the classroom.
Addressing the macro issues helps to incentivize the individual decisions to stay. Not the other way around. You’re not going to improve schools by shaming those who might opt out, you’re going to fix schools by taking away the reasons they would choose to do so.
Both the micro and macro causes of school inequality are important and we should all be cognizant of them, but the order in which they are addressed is also important. Run for your local school board, volunteer, vote in elections, hold leaders accountable.
This is a really fair look (I think) at a complex situation we have playing out across our state as schools reopen this fall. https://twitter.com/rebekahallen/status/1286307516813647872?s=21 https://twitter.com/rebekahallen/status/1286307516813647872
