Dreams Deferred
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Date
1993
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Abstract
Previous research confirms that some form of intervention is needed in urban schools to decrease the rising drop-out rate as well as teenage pregnancy rate and juvenile crime rate. This project can introduce intervention program advocates and supervisors to ideas that enhance the services they provide to students and parents. The goal is to better understand how best to improve students' self-esteem, motivation to succeed, and actual high school achievement.
Education was central to my paper because research suggests that poor educational attainment and destitution complement one another Poor neighborhoods lead to poor school districts which in turn lead to scarce resources. A lack of materials and instructors correlate with decreased education opportunities and learning. People without a good education cannot obtain adequate jobs; and, adequate housing cannot be obtained without a substantial income. Thus, residents must settle for poor housing establishments which contain poor school districts. The cycle just repeats itself. In pinning down the factors leading to the utter hopelessness experienced by so many poverty-stricken families, I highlighted the relationships between poverty and school motivation, school achievement, teacher involvement and self-esteem among students at risk for dropping out. This is a demonstration of the disparity in educational practices and facilities between Black and White students and the subsequent need for educational intervention programs through review of the literature.
I generated several broad postulates to work my research around: (a) there has been a historical disparity between Black and White educational facilities and practices; (b) Student achievement levels and educational placements are being determined by standard intelligence tests of questionable validity; (c) There exists a strong element of cultural discontinuity among, middle-class teachers who are placed in lower-class schools without (proper preparation) that affects, students' achievements and self-esteem; (d) teacher students relations are being undermined because of illiteracy, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, lowered teacher expectation, increased violence within the schools; (e) Family pathology is a symptom of poverty and a cause; and (f) There is a strong need for classroom practices to be tailored to the child's specific culture.
Description
Program year: 1992/1993
Digitized from print original stored in HDR
Digitized from print original stored in HDR
Keywords
urban schools, intervention program, Education, school districts, poverty, school motivation