Shanee Brown, a community organizing intern for the education advocacy group Excel Bridgeport www.excelbridgeport.org graduated this spring from Dartmouth College. A product of Bridgeport public schools she attended Bryant Elementary, Luis Muñoz Marin and Harding High School where she was valedictorian of the Class of 2008. This fall she will start graduate school at Columbia University in pursuit of a teaching career. She provides her perspective about city schools and her advocacy for the school reform goals of Excel Bridgeport. Her essay:
Growing up, Bridgeport schools were wonderful in many ways, but, also, often disappointing. Much of this disappointment came from the discrepancy between being told that everyone had high expectations for me and actually feeling like this was the case.
A few negative experiences during my senior year of high school clouded my view of what I deserved as a student. My once favorite English teacher experienced many unfortunate events in her personal life and didn’t have the proper support to deal with these situations in a healthy way. Thus, she took much of her pain and anger out on my class. I will never forget the day when she told us that we would never be lawyers or doctors or distinguished professionals when we grew up.
In hindsight, I realize that this teacher probably faced a tremendous amount of obstacles; however, this language and discouragement has no place in the classroom. It can be very disheartening when a teacher talks to students in a condescending, demeaning manner. Negative comments made towards a student by a teacher usually stay with the student for a long time.
But this experience, among others, is one of the many reasons why I want to become a teacher. I’d like to right a wrong by being the kind of teacher that my English teacher could have been; by loving, empowering and respecting my students at all times. I will be the kind of teacher who harnesses my students’ talents and points them toward promising directions.
Bridgeport schools need to foster confidence in students so all of them feel they are capable of fulfilling their dreams. Our schools need to provide students as well as our overworked teachers with academic and personal support because the lack of such support tends to spill over in the classroom. More social workers, guidance counselors, early interventions, and support groups should be made available to help both students and teachers deal with the hectic and traumatic events that often come along with living in a city like Bridgeport.
The education of children should be a community effort. Our schools must work hand-and-hand with the many resources and support agencies around the city. When things go wrong, it is unfair to blame only students, only parents, only teachers, or only the school district. There is enough blame to go around, but blame won’t get us anywhere. Solutions are the only thing that will help us confront the problems in our schools.
It takes everyone working together simultaneously to ensure that all students have what they need academically, socially and emotionally. With the community’s involvement and participation, we can improve the educational experiences of Bridgeport students so they don’t encounter the same things that my senior class at Harding did.
Excel Bridgeport is working to do just that. Excel Bridgeport is an organization that gives citizens a chance to change policy from a bottom-up approach. It is the experiences of the citizens in Bridgeport that will inform the changes we need in our schools and improve the lives of all children.
Good for you Shanee and good observations. But make no mistake–Excel Bridgeport is not the vehicle for bringing change to Bridgeport’s education system. They supported and indeed organized and funded the illegal takeover of the BOE, one of their mouthpieces went to Hartford and told the State BOE democracy doesn’t matter here (that would be Mayor Finch), they have their storyline and anyone who is not on board is not only ostracized but punished with threats of non-funding by the city and major donors. Only cheerleaders with pom-poms are allowed to play. Calling Paul Timpanelli and the BRBC Board of Directors–who hosted the first fund-raising event in the history of the organization to support their candidates. A bunch of well-meaning, rich, out-of-town white folks who think they know better than anybody else–and most especially Bridgeport residents–how to change education outcomes in the city. It’s nauseating and I hope your post-Columbia career brings you home to do honest work. We, not they, need you.
Shanee,
Thank you for sharing comments about your educational journey. I especially agree with your comment about the “discrepancy between being told that everyone had high expectations for me and actually feeling like this was the case.” Walking into schools in the past five years regularly to attend meetings or visit as a weekly mentor, I felt a disconnect between what I observed in the hallway, heard about in terms of graduation rates, and the signs or banners at the entrance to the school commenting on “college ready” exits. Very unreal except for a precious few. That feeling was reinforced this year by listening to local colleges comment on the amount of remedial effort to bring “basic learning” up to a level necessary to benefit from real college subject matter.
Congratulations on your education experience so far. Where you went and what you have learned so far should pale as time goes on to what you will learn and apply in the future whether you continue in education or find another pathway to serve the community and earn your living. Keep the overall mission in mind, understand what agendas or interests are behind words and actions, and stay open to hearing the truth spoken in places you had not previously experienced. You may encounter new friends, allies or teachers for the next stage of your journey. Time will tell.
*** Don’t be horse blinded into only seeing forward, Shanee, look around! ***