“It's sometimes said that while kids leave school in the 9th grade, they actually drop out in 4th. Because by 4th grade, this kid knows something no adult will admit: it's game over." ~ Ralph Smith, Annie E. Casey Foundation
from "Easier to Fail", https://andmagazine.com/talk/2021/02/15/easier-to-fail/
William D. Kelley (public grammar school in Philadelphia) is 94% black. It ranks 1,516th out of a total of 1544 elementary schools in the state of Pennsylvania. By the time they “graduate” from the school, only 13% of its students will have achieved even basic literacy. In 2019 43% of fifth graders in Pennsylvania were deemed proficient in math based on standardized testing. Only 6.1% of fifth graders at William D. Kelley achieved that level.
Philadelphia ranks 92nd out of the 100 largest U.S. cities in educational attainment.
Over fifty percent of adult Philadelphians are functionally illiterate. Over two-thirds cannot read above a middle-school level.
The impact of this educational catastrophe is clear. Philadelphia is the poorest large city in America.
The median family income for Blacks was substantially below that for other ethnic groups. A large portion of the city struggles to make ends meet.
We pride ourselves on the idea that all men are created equal. We cling to the belief that this is a land of opportunity. We want every American to have the chance to reach his or her full potential and to pursue their dreams.
The kids in the Philadelphia school district are being denied these opportunities. They are being turned out onto the street, even if they graduate, with a meaningless diploma and no skills. They cannot read. They cannot do basic arithmetic. They have no chance of pursuing higher education, and they will be lucky to be able to hold even the most menial of jobs in an increasingly high tech economy.
These students, most of them black, are not being betrayed by a racist system. They are not being forced into schools reserved for people of their ethnicity or barred from employment based on the color of their skin. They are being betrayed by the very same teachers and administrators who pretend to be their allies and their supporters. They are being stabbed in the back by those who pretend to have their best interests at heart.
If the principal of William D. Kelley elementary truly cared about the students under his charge he would turn off the polemics, remove the portraits of murderers and terrorists and get serious about the business of education. He would remind the black students in his school of the incredible achievements of Black Americans who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds and achieved great things …. He would teach his students to read and to write and to do math and to reason and to compete against graduates of the best schools in the land. But, that would take work. That would take discipline.
Easier to preach entitlement and anger and convince your students, as you send them off to lives of failure and despair, that they were powerless to do anything more. Easier in other words, to sell out those very children for whom you are responsible. Easier to fail.