Exploring the gap
Charlottesville likes to think of itself as a unique and special place. In the economic sense, it is unusual. We have a large segment of the population that is high income, and another large segment that is low income, with little in the way of a middle class. And yes, the high income group is mostly white and the low income group is mostly black. Hence, our achievement gap in the city schools looks like a black-and-white issue [“Blame game,” The Week, December 7]. And some argue that the achievement gap is not an issue of poverty.
Well, Charlottesville, you’re not that special. The same achievement gap exists between school systems in wealthy, white Northern Virginia and poor, white Southwest Virginia. In fact, it also exists between Northern Virginia and poor, mixed-race school systems in Southside Virginia. The achievement gap between rich and poor students across our nation is the same as what we see in microcosm in our humble little town.
We also share the same reaction to this problem with the rest of the nation: We scapegoat the school system and expect it to solve society’s problems. We have psychologists and social workers in the schools, special education, nutrition and public health programs in the schools, and we keep dumping more programs on the schools, raising expectations, cutting budgets and blaming them for not curing society of its ills faster.
I’m surprised that educators don’t give up entirely. Come to think of it, many do. Teacher retention is incredibly low, causing a teacher shortage. We don’t blame the police for crime, or fire fighters for fires, or soldiers for wars. So why do we blame schools for inequality? Maybe because we don’t want to face the fact that we have a competitive society with winners and losers. That our priority of profits over people guarantees that we will perpetuate a two-tiered system of haves and have-nots.
The schools will never be able to achieve equality in America. So why don’t we look at the rest of the industrialized world for ideas about social reforms and economic justice? I remember—because we’re so special.
Gene Fifer
Charlottesville
CORRECTION
The caption that ran with last week’s art review of Second Street Gallery’s show “Drawn into Light,” was incorrect. The piece was Kay Hwang’s “Schematics No. 37-CB.”