The Social Foundations Of Urban Education Essay

Pedro Noguera, a phenomenal urban sociologist and a professor at New York University confronts the problems which exist in our nation’s education system in his book, City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education. Noguera describes what he views to be the main problems facing urban education and suggests strategies for improvement. From years of experience as a teacher and school board member, he reflects on what he believes to be the real problems. Noguera blames the school’s failures on students, parents, and teachers which leads to blame local government officials or policymakers. Noguera states in City Schools and the American Dream, “The central argument of this book is that until there is a genuine commitment to address the social context of schooling — to confront the urban condition — it will be impossible to bring about significant and sustainable improvements in urban public schools” (pg.6). Noguera believes that we must address the central problem to make any type of solutions for improvement.

For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused

New York City consists of five boroughs, Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. The borough that I reside in is Brooklyn. Brooklyn has approximately 2.592 million people inhabiting this district and approximately 23.4 percent of individuals who reside in Brooklyn, NY come from a low-income household or in other words come from poverty. With catholic and private schools being expensive, people have to rely on the education system to provide their children with a good education. In this paper I will be discussing the public school education system ranging solely up to high school in Brooklyn New York and giving a general idea of the New York education system as well.

The type of school children attend affects the priming of college for low-income students. Many of low-income students attend public school due to the fact that most of the parents cannot afford to pay for private school like students in high-income families are. Privates school can be the best in the top of schools because of all the resources they are able to receive while in the public school where most of the low-income students attend can be ranked down because they do not get enough resources needed to help the kids better succeed. In the book, Embracing Risk in Urban Education: Curiosity, Creativity, and Courage in the Era of "No Excuses" and Relay Race Reform, by Alice Ginsberg, it provides the negative effect public schools have accommodated

I personally think many minds are going to waste in our urban environments, minds that could be reinventing the world, but are, for some reason, only keeping themselves out of a culture that needs them. Why are there so few college-bound kids graduating from our urban schools, and why are the ones who do go to college so ill-prepared when they arrive? We live in a nation where education is a prominent force of succeeding in life. Children learn critical and analytical skills for twelve years in school to prepare to graduate high school, and go on to receive a two- or four-year college education. Being educated is an integral part of society. School helps children learn social norms and teach them how to be successful adults in society. The communities that some youth live in molds their future education and how much they succeed. Are they truly getting the best education for them to be successful college students and have a career? Or it is their education determinant of failure and going into the system? Manyof my minority students are not getting the proper education that they need to succeed. Urban students experience the lack of structure throughout their daily routine and do not understand the deficits in their education system. Urban students face many challenges: many come from neighborhoods or communities where alcohol, drug, sex, continuous violence, and poverty are rampant. [include introductory sentence here: The issues in communities of color are exacerbated when those with the most resources leave the community.”] “The highest costs of the white flight areborn by the children left in segregated, almost entirely poor neighborhood schools. [The lack of resources in the community have a negative effect on the school.]

Labaree states, that the purpose of all three has played a major role for a certain time in the history of education in the United States. Sometimes, one of these purposes supports and other times oppose each other. However, courtesy of these three, social mobility has a good chance to serve schooling’s goals, and satisfy all stakeholders as well. It has all the features and elements, which

Over the last 25 years many policies have been introduced in education. Some critic’s say that an education market has been created but others disagree and say that the policies have helped create equality of opportunity.

The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While

The American public educational system is filled with an assortment of problems. Most students are graduating with less knowledge and capability than similar students in other industrialized countries. Classroom disruptions are surprisingly common, and in some classrooms, nearly continuous. The public education system is having difficulty adjusting to the no child left behind act. The No Child Left Behind(NCLB) is a landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of American’s schools.

This summer I worked in New York City at Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), which is a non-profit organization for poverty-stricken children and families in Harlem, providing free support in the forms of parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three public charter schools, child-oriented health programs that serve approximately 13,705 children and 13,784 adults. The Harlem Children’s Zone Project has expanded the HCZ’s comprehensive system of programs to nearly 100 blocks of Central Harlem and aims to keep children on track throughout college and into the job market. The organization is made-up of about twenty two programs in total that ensure there are no gaps in-between one phase to the next. For instance if a student needs to take a year off before attending college, HCZ has created programs that will stick with the student during this time frame, in other words providing these students with a strong support group so they are held accountable to attend college in the future. The HCZ is “aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and

Urban Public Education is a concept and movement within public schools all over the nation. With these urban public schools there are many trials and hardships which those institutions have to work through. Ranging from poverty, funding and the never ending cycle of bullying. Bullying is a form of making another feel lesser for their race, background or sometimes just personality. Throughout time bullying has been seen as a rite of passage for children in these schools. The myth I would like to bust for you today is the one where we end these motion because it is in no way a rite or beneficial to any student in any academic situation. My second goal is to try and make you as the educator or mentor aware of detrimental things one might say when it comes to issues such as bullies.

Since 1983 public education has been an issue in America. The system has been constantly changing every year with reforms. This constant change has been driven by the American people’s perception that education has declined and something should be done about it. First there was an increased emphasis on basic skills, making school years longer and more graduation requirements. Second, many began focusing on increasing teachers professionalism. Third, they began restructuring many things such as how the schools were organized and how the school day was structured etc. Now today the most of the American people believe that not enough money is given to public schooling. They associate academic improvement with the money the school is funded.

Your Socio-Economic Development initiative includes Forte High School and Itirele-Zenzele Comprehensive School. Are schools your focus? What active role do you play?

The Inner-City Problems and Solving Them There are many problems that can be clearly seen in the inner city. Problems such as crime, poor housing (perhaps slums), and unemployment are all apparent. However unemployment levels are gradually dropping. Lack of money gives rise to the problems so are often seen in the lower class areas of cities.

Domestic efforts within the United States were the original initiative of the foundation before it became a multi-national contributor. The main focus of this initiative is to improve school systems within the nation. They feel that “as a nation, we are failing to ensure that all our young people reach