Today, I had the honor of being a judge for the district’s middle school “We the People” competition. To be honest with you, I had never even heard of this competition before a colleague of mine asked me to help out. Seeing how I am still in the “seeking service” mode that’s associated with being on the tenure-track, I offered to help out. I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into. Sometimes, these things can really turn out to be a dud. Imagine my surprise when I had a good time!
Granted, I had to get up at the ass crack of dawn to read through my materials because I procrastinated to the last minute. What can I say? I’ve been buried under grading, class prep, panic students, advising, and journal editing. The book was okay, if a little too bare-bones for my taste. Honestly, I thought that maybe the presentations wouldn’t be all that great … but these kids just used the book as a starting point and did a lot of outside research. In fact, some of the teams were more poised, more articulate, and more mature than some of the freshmen I’ve been teaching this semester!
I guess there’s hope for our country, eh?
The one thing that really stood out, however, were the class differences in Sorta’ Cosmopolitan. The two schools that knocked my socks off were from the well-to-do and middle class areas of the city. These kids had obviously done their research. You could tell that their teachers had really put a lot of effort into training them to speak in front of a crowd. They were dressed up (one school even appeared to have a “uniform” for the event) — something that we weren’t supposed to take into consideration when scoring them. I followed the rules, but I have to say, there is something about dressing for success. Maybe dressing up made them feel more confident? Who knows?
Of course, there was one team that tanked. They were completely unprepared, their answers came straight from the book, and only one kid talked loud enough that you could hear her. In fact, that one kid was the only one that really responded to our follow-up questions. The kids in the audience were unruly and the teacher was completely apathetic. I hated to mark them down, but I really had no choice. It turns out that the team was from one of poorer areas of town, although I didn’t know that at the time. I don’t have kids, so I don’t really know much about which schools are “good” or “bad.” {Sigh} I know that socio-economic status makes a difference, but I guess I didn’t realize how much a difference it makes.
And honestly, I have to say that I am quite thankful that I’m zoned for a better school district even though we live in a “transitional neighborhood.” Maybe that makes me a bad person, but if I was a parent, I’d opt for the richer school every time … even if that meant less diversity in the classroom. Call me a bad liberal if you want, but it’s all about the competitive advantage these days. No matter how much Bush wants us to believe that no child will be left behind, the reality is that some kids are and that, my friends, is damned depressing.
