Urban Education Critics Corner

 Urban Education Critics Corner

Many challenges face urban education. These range from poor quality of education offered to difficulties in integrating the diverse races present in these schools. These issues have attracted the attention of many scholars and critics who have published works on the subject. This paper will, therefore, critically respond to some of those works from a Philosopher King/Queen’s point of view by foregrounding some of the critical ideas that can reform urban education for the better.

To begin with, Kinchloe et al. argue that teaching in urban schools requires extensive knowledge on various areas, and teachers need to be well-grounded in a variety of sociocultural, psychological and didactic disciplines to teach and guide their learners effectively. Teachers sare, therefore, called to understand their teaching environment and come up with new and better ways of ensuring the teaching and learning process occurs and benefits the urban students (Kincheloe et al.,2006). Contrary to popular belief that the city neighbourhood has detrimental effects on the urban students’ education, Kinchloe et al. opine that these learners can acquire proper knowledge in this environment.They also described the city environment as the center of creativity much needed in education for the present generation. As such, although many modifications, such as better ways of integrating the diverse backgrounds in urban schools, need to be done to urban education, with good policies, it can be significantly improved.

Secondly, Watson Dyan explains the biases behind peoples’ language use to talk about race issues. In the education context, Dyan analyzes the term ‘urban education’ and its underlying meanings. She questions the tendency to describe schools that have a majority of black and Latinx students as urban. This results in a belief among some teachers that these students do not value education as much as their white counterparts. This may result in less effort by teachers to guide and teach these students (Watson, n.d). Therefore, this damaging labeling of urban schools should end with teachers changing their attitudes and providing quality education to students, race, and color notwithstanding.

Another vital issue affecting urban school education is mass incarceration.  As Michelle Alexander argues, this affects African American children more since mass incarceration has seen many blacks behind bars. As such, factors such as the psychological shame of having a family member in prison, and poverty because parents cannot get jobs because of their sentence history affect these students negatively (Alexander, n.d). They develop an inferior attitude towards themselves and see prison as almost inevitable. This is coupled with the random frisks by police for no reason, a phenomenon that only targets the African American youths. Therefore, Alexander’s view that teachers should come up with ways of discussing these issues to do with race that will shed knowledge on how we got here to African American students should be adopted. The students will be informed of their role in changing the narrative and ways they can fight this injustice.

Finally, Robert Moses proves that equality in education for blacks and other races who are the majority in urban schools can be attained. This is inferred from the success of the Algebra Project. This bid aims at providing all learners equal opportunities in the contemporary world characterized by technology. The project dispelled the notion that mathematical literacy is only for some people by targeting poor students and students of color who are mostly found in urban schools, (Moses, 2002). This and other kinds of innovative ideas are needed to improve the quality of education in urban schools.

To conclude, the above-discussed ideas by scholars on urban education go a long way in forging a pathway towards better quality education for students in urban schools.

References

Kincheloe, J. L., Hayes, K., & Rose, K. (2006). Urban Education: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators, Parents, and Teachers.

Moses, R., & Cobb, C. E. (2002). Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project. Beacon P.

Schools and the New Jim Crow by Jody Sokolower. (n.d.). Home – Rethinking Schools. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://www.rethinkingschools.org/articles/schools-and-the-new-jim-crow-an-interview-with-michelle-alexander

What Do You Mean When You Say Urban? by Dyan Watson. (n.d.). Home – Rethinking Schools. Retrieved March 22, 2020, from https://www.rethinkingschools.org/articles/what-do-you-mean-when-you-say-urban-speaking-honestly-about-race-and-students