I teach 9th grade ESOL to recently arrived refugees/immigrants from all over the world. I can tell you underfunding/racism/Trumpsters are not the problem in public education.
Students arrive in my class with little or no knowledge of English. They're clueless about the educational system and are culture shocked by what they see in the hallways and the behavior of some american students.
If you ask them what their schools were like in Cuba, Kabul, Asmara or Totonicapan...they'll smile and say "not like this." All kids in our district are given a laptop, almost all classrooms have smart boards, there's free breakfast , AC/Heaters. free lunch, transportation, free tutoring after school etc...
I frequently travel to rural Guatemala to bring school supplies to rural schools for an NGO: Lets Be Ready!
Schools have tin roofs, benches and no free lunch. None of my newcomer students had a fraction of what our kids are given here.
How can students that grew up in war torn countries, suffered all sorts of abuse, saw family members killed, suffered political persecution, grew up in refugee camps, , and yes, suffered racism.....perform well in school? They have every reason not to. As an aside....many immigrants students outperform US born students on ALG 1 , ALG 2 STAAR exams in Texas.
From all the success I've seen my kiddos achieve, I question if lack of funding, racial gerrymandering, private schools etc....has anything at all to do with lack of student success.
If we doubled funding in the poorest schools , lowered the class sizes and shifted all the best teachers to those schools....would it make a difference? The schools here are fine....our society is not.
Ask any immigrant/refugee student why they did so well in school before they came to the US...they'll tell you, "My teachers were in charge and my parents backed them up."
You're right about the voucher/school choice push...I hope people of color can use it to their advantage. Create private schools where real history is taught, marketable skills are taught and everything else that makes my newcomer kiddos so successful. peace
