On Tuesday night, PBS’s Frontline aired a two-hour episode called “Dropout Nation” focusing on one
Houston high school’s efforts to curb the “dropout crisis”. I first heard about this program a few
weeks ago and it immediately piqued my interest for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it speaks directly
to my population, my school, and what has become a sort of research focus of mine - out of school youth. I was also interested because of the title. Since I began working with an alternative
population, I’ve had a concern with the term “dropout” and the “dropout crisis”
facing American schools. I don’t
feel like the term speaks to the magnitude of what many young people are
dealing with. In fact, I feel as though it belittles this already fragile population, making it even less likely that they'll ever return to school. Also, a “crisis” is
typically an isolated event (like a natural disaster or the stock market
crash), students have been leaving school for decades. It is not a “crisis” but a consistent
failure on a variety of fronts.
First, some quick
thoughts on the program. All and
all, I think it is certainly worth a watch. It offers a very real look into the lives of impoverished, troubled
and “at-risk” high school students. The staff featured in the show were very
candid and knowledgeable and did not seem hung up on any one reform agenda or
rhetoric (as they so often are in education “documentaries”). The Frontline
crew also went out of their way to include a variety of students, teachers,
support staff, administrators, and external advocates in the commentary. Finally, and perhaps most importantly,
the program was real. By which I mean, they didn’t try to manufacture a“Hollywood ending” and they didn’t pretend that the school had magically solved
the problem. The end is hopeful, but accepts reality.
What is a “dropout”?
Though it was only in a
short segment, I was pleased that the program raised this question. I find this
term to be problematic, as mentioned earlier, because it is a profound oversimplification. To label every out of school adolescent
or every person without a high school diploma a “dropout” is akin to labeling
every out of work person a “quitter”.
Yes they are not currently employed [or in school] but the circumstances
for their lack of employment [or education] are varied. When we label students “dropouts”,
there is a strong message of blame and failure. YOU dropped out. YOU quit. YOU
failed. After working with
so-called “dropouts” for the last four years, I have come to find that this is
not the reality in many cases. Much like the term "achievement gap", "dropout" represents a blame-placing deficit mindset.
There is a powerful scene
in “Dropout Nation” where a teacher sits down with the chronically absent
Sparkle to discuss her academic situation. We learn that Sparkle, along with her baby, moved to Houston
from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Shortly
after arriving in Houston, her Sparkle's mother died. Sparkle had no stable housing, so she was relying on friends
for a place to sleep. A few weeks earlier, DHS took her child and she is now
attempting to appeal to regain custody. In light of all of this, Sparkle has been coming to school once or twice a week.
The teacher begins the conference, “Sparkle, is school a priority?”
Sparkle responds, “No.”
Somewhat shocked by her
honesty, the teacher says, “Well, you need to make it your top priority if you
want to be successful.”
Sparkle says, “It’s
not. I care about school and I know
it’s important, but right now I need to think about my child, finding a job,
finding a place to sleep each night, making sure I have something to eat AND
not giving up on all of my future dreams”.
Left with little else to say, the teacher finally says, "Well Sparkle, school needs to be your top priority."
I feel like this
conversation encapsulates so many of the issues that make urban public
education so difficult, but also so essential. There is no doubt that Sparkle should not be in this
situation and there is plenty of blame to go around for why she finds herself
in it, however, placing blame (especially on her) does little to address the central issue: this is an adolescent who needs support.
In many ways, this is my
concern with the “No Excuses” model of education that is taking hold in a
variety of district and charter schools.
It seems naïve, unrealistic, and even cruel to tell a student like Sparkle
that school should be priority #1. (To be clear, I am by no means calling this individual teacher naive, unrealistic, and cruel, there's no doubt that she was trying to act in her student's best interest... she just didn't necessarily have a grip on the whole situation).
Of course she needs to come to school, but how can a student focus on
anything else when they don’t know where they’re going to sleep? Taking these
realities into account does not amount to “making excuses” (though it seems
like Sparkle has a pretty good case for not making academics her #1 priority
right now), but rather serving the “whole child”.
[Interestingly, the
school highlighted in the program refers to itself as a “no excuses” program,
but much of what I saw ran counter to my understanding of the model. I found them to be exceedingly
flexible, compassionate, understanding, and willing to meet students on their
own terms. They are profoundly aware of their students’ circumstances and seem
to take that into account]
Like it or not, schools
serve a much larger purpose in society than merely distributing diplomas. When we label students “dropouts”, we
push them out of this essential place of growth and stability. Some students are going to leave school before they graduating, it's happened for decades and it will continue to. Some will do
it because they’re bored or lazy. Others will be enticed by the streets or get
caught up in the justice system.
Still others will just bounce around due to unstable home lives or
personal situations. Regardless of
the circumstances of their departure, they should never feel as though the door
slammed behind them.
More thoughts on
Frontline’s “Dropout Nation” and on supporting out-of-school youth to
come.
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