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05 January 2005: The Anti-Robin Hood (3 of 4)
This may sound a bit liberal. I know this is more than a touch leftist. But, unless you have worked in an impoverished public school, you haven't seen what I have seen.
In this case, I'm not arguing that it's harder to teach in poor schools. I know that the art of teaching is a labor of love and an exhausting task, no matter your context.
I am only making the point that if you don't believe me, you should go on a field trip yourself. A few, maybe. Visit the lowest performing school in your district, and no matter where you work, you will find visible, measureable, concrete differences between that and the highest performing school.
Among those differences will be cleanliness and beauty of school environments, availability of resources, experience and expertise of teachers, and economic situation of the surrounding neighborhood. Check it out for your yourself.
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