BY: Cesar Mendez
In Philadelphia there is a notable difference between the Philadelphia school system and the suburban school system. Even though the two districts are only a few miles apart students that have attend one of these schools district can immediately tell that they are in no way equal. The education that a student will receive is vastly different. The evidence was made clear during class when it was brought to our attention that a student attending Lower Merion High School was receiving an education that was almost $7000 dollars more than one would receive at a High School in the Philadelphia school system. Another difference that I know of is that fact that the Suburban school system uses the block system which is a class scheduling system that is very similar to how college students schedule their classes. This class scheduling allows students to be better prepared to handle college and allows students to make the most of their years at high school.
This makes me question why the Philadelphia school system hasn’t gone through an educational reform to better use the resources that are currently available to the students and make the most out of the system to give them a better chance of getting a quality education. The block system has proven to be the superior system and because of this it should be used more often. So why hasn’t the Philadelphia school system gone through reform to improve and give its students a better quality education. It is my belief that the reason educational reform hasn’t occurred is because the general public doesn’t know that there is a better way to educate students and they don’t know of the success that the block schedule has over the schedule the public school system currently employs.
Even though I speak from my own experiences and speak specially about Philadelphia. I know that this is an issue that might be occurring everywhere in the United States as no educational system is perfect but some can be much better then they currently are. To get educational reform the parents of students everywhere must fight and protest for the advancement of their children. Education is now one of the most important things a child could obtain because those who receive a good education.
I definitely agree with your questioning of the reasoning why only school outside the inner-city region are getting twice the better education then the inner-city kids. What is the difference between the two just because of social location? And strongly agree more parents should get involved to be aware what type of education their child(s) are receiving.
ReplyDeleteFrom Shayna Butler
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! The schools are completely different. Even the community colleges.
I went to a community college in a Philly suburb and compared to CCP it's like night and day. At CCP there's way more diversity and the students actually want to be there. In the suburb at a lot of the students are there because of parents forcing them. And another huge thing I've noticed are the teachers. Damn, at CCP I've had a lot of passionate teachers willing to take a pay decrease just work in a school where they can make an impact. I would choose CCP over a suburb community college any day. However, there is still a poor demographic in Philly then the suburb.
I think even if parents get involved, students raise money, petitions, and what not will it ever really change? I've noticed since moving to Philly that a lot of areas are trying to be cleaned up and having working professionals move in to bring more money to the city. However, then what happens to the people that were there before? I don't think this cycle will ever be broken.
Isaiah Gay-Beal
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Philadelphia school don't get as much or nearly close as much money as some of these suburban schools like Lower Merion is not right. I agree with the point that was made about the block system. It doesn't seem as though a lot of people know about this. I really think that it would be a great idea to incorparate this system in Philadelphia schools.