February 11, 2015 - 15:42
"Most of these students would probably not succeed in day school for the simple reason that day school was not set up for them. It would not meet their needs and did not have what it took to work with them; unfortunately neither did the afternoon school." - p.72, Casella "Being Down"
This entire chapter by Casella had me at a loss for words and feeling angry as to how these four cases were treated. While in Renail's case, the afternoon GED program worked for her and her schedule, the other cases ignored the wants and needs of the students. The screening committee was mainly concerned with themselves and did not want to have these students in the day school, where they would have to interact and "deal" with these students. I couldn't believe that for Avery's case, they withheld a program and viable information from the student, that he needed to go back to school. These "business-oriented school administrators" did not care for the well-being for these students that they deemed, before their meetings, as being uncapable of succeeding because of their individual circumstances (71, Casella).
Because there is so much focus on controlling students, rather than having them learn and grow in education, for many students, especially poor, colored students, these "inner-city public schools" become "institutions of confinement." (128, Noguera). Removing students from the classroom further removes them from learning. All this does is further abandon these children and gives them a mentality that they are not good enough. While some of the afternoon programs are appropriate due to having a baby, working a job, etc., these are also programs that are significantly inferior to the regular day school. This does not provide these students with the right tools they need in order to succeed with the life they currently have and work towards a better future. The school administrators do not think highly of these students and essentially determine their future by placing them in these programs, with no hope or belief that the students are capable of more. This further reinforces the class, social and racial statuses we have here in America, and further segregates these students within the school system.