Frightening School System
Angelika At my classes, I met an American therapist who, in turn, knew a school principal in Oakland (a city on the other side of the Bay) and wanted to connect me as a volunteer. So, I had the opportunity to visit a middle school. Middle school corresponds to grades 6 through 9. The school was again in a rather run-down and poor area. I observed in a class with students aged 10 to 12 years. More than half of the students did not speak English as their first language, and a third had additional learning difficulties. Most of the students were black or immigrants from South America. By the way, this is a very realistic picture of a public school in a poor neighborhood. Since these schools usually do not have the best reputation, more affluent American parents (mostly white) send their children to private schools. This creates a real vicious cycle: if you are poor, you can only afford a public school, and if you live in a bad area, the school is usually correspondingly bad because the necessary resources are lacking. Critical voices claim that some schools in the USA are subject to segregation similar to what was once found in South Africa.
But now back to the school I attended. The class I was in was taught in a makeshift container due to a lack of space. Externally and in terms of the building, the school made a pretty good impression (except for the containers). The principal told me that these children actually needed a special education teacher and additionally someone who speaks fluent Spanish for the South American students. However, neither was available. In the USA, students with learning disabilities are usually integrated into regular schools, but this is a pseudo-integration, as students with difficulties are often placed in one class. Depending on the state and funding, these students then receive special support.
However, reality often looks like what I described above. When I observed the class, the children were practicing reading, and it was really shocking how much difficulty everyone had. None of them, although they were between 10 and 12 years old, could read fluently. Many were completely disinterested and, for example, had pulled their hoods deep into their faces so that you couldn't see their faces. About five boys sat there the whole time with a glove on one hand, even though it was quite warm. However, I didn't find out if the glove signified gang affiliation, which is quite possible. Anyone who has seen the movie "Dangerous Minds" with Michelle Pfeiffer knows roughly what I'm talking about, although the discipline was surprisingly good, meaning it wasn't total chaos. Well, in any case, I decided against helping out there because I find it irresponsible for someone like me, who doesn't speak English as a native language, to support English lessons (which would have been my task), even though I was, of course, very tempted.
