What American Dream?

Question:  Do American public schools have a responsibility to "compensate" for students whose out-of-school experiences aren't as rich or enabling as the experiences of other students? Why or why not? If so, what are some of the ways they should compensate? If not, how does this affect your understanding of the American Dream?

Answer:  Who conducts or identifies the American Dream these days?  Who believes that there is one dream for all people?  I often find myself wondering who fed me the classic lines of "The American Dream" growing up because it was not modeled nor did it come close to the life I was living.  I can vividly remember thinking that the American Dream looked like one of the last scenes in the movie Major Pain.  The part where Major Benson Winifred Payne has a dream that he marries Dr. Emily Walburn, a teacher at the school, and they adopt of have children of their own.  The clip in the movie shows them grilling behind their cute house, with a big yard, surrounded by a white picket fence.  A "bad guy" comes to try to kill the Major and he saves the day and everyone is SOOOOO HAPPY!  Movie Review  Isn't that the ideal dream?  A happy family, with a stable living environment, whose lives are happy and safe?  Well....  it sounds nice to me but the truth is not always so.

The more I learn about the world and our different cultures, I begin to realize that we all have different vantage points.  We all see situations and circumstances differently based on the the lens (the way we grew up, where we grew up, family situation, schooling, race, age, gender, etc) we have inherited.  I use the word inherited because we did not ask to be born to the parent or parents we have nor in the situation or circumstance that we find ourselves in.  With that said, we all have different ideals and values.  We all see the good and the bad of our world differently and therefore, how can there only be ONE "American Dream"?  How is it that ONE dream can satisfy and mold to fit millions of people with different lenses? 

All this to say, One Man's Study suggests that there is no significant link between a school's resources and student achievement after controlling for demographic factors.  In conclusion, this suggests that the school environment is more important than that which is outside. I do not exactly agree with Eric Hanusheck's interpretation of the data but I do agree with the outcome that the school environment is more important from a teacher's perspective.  As a teacher, we cannot control that which happens outside of school.  We cannot control the home life of our students nor the choices that are being made, but we can and will control the environment within the classroom.  With that being said, it is our job as a school to provide all that is necessary for our students to succeed!  I believe that we should be allowing opportunities for students to encounter and experience new things that they may not be able to outside of the classroom.  In a perfect, "American Dream" kind of world, all our students whether rich or poor, would be experiencing the same things and receiving the same quality education!  But then we are quickly diverted back to real life and the understanding that sometime, most times, life is not fair.  Things are not equal and the "American Dream" does not exist for more people!  In this case, I do believe it is our job to compensate for those experiences and opportunities.Some ways in which I see our schools compensating for these experiences are through field trips.  I believe field trips are great ways for students to encounter new things outside of their personal bubble.  Another way of compensating is through the use of technology.  In our world today, technology can do crazy things.  I think we need to invest in our teachers to use technology to its fullest.  We can skype with people from different countries; we can use google Earth to show close up visuals of other parts of the country/world or google docs to communicate via pen pals; we can research topics to become more aware and informed; we can create a virtual experience for students as if they were there, in that specific place!  I personally do not know a lot about technology but know that it can be a life changer in the classroom!

I do not believe it is fair to use the term "responsibility" in the question above.  I would hope that teachers would long to introduce their students to new things and allow them experiences like everyone else.  I think there is a lot of pressure on teachers to do this, do that, work on this, don't forget that... when in all reality, teachers follow a curriculum and structure their lessons accordingly.  If there was free reign and no standardize testing, I would say we all have the responsibility and owe our students the service to do so but....  until that day comes, we need to do what we can and be the best teachers we can be!  ;o)