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Encouraging students

Boston Globe Editorial
Sunday, June 6, 2004

News that doesn't make the papers is full of personal disappointments: lost loves and missed chances. But there are odd street corners where personal disappointments and public policy meet, where a good law or policy idea can mend a broken heart or spirit.

For Michelle Escarfullery, disappointment bloomed after a trip to the suburbs. He is 18, goes to the Economics and Business Academy in what used to be Dorchester High School, and works for Teen Empowerment, a local nonprofit organization that trains teenagers to be community organizers. While doing this work, Escarfullery went to see the Cambridge School of Weston. It's a private high school on a campus with separate buildings for different academic subjects, athletic fields, and dance, theater, and visual arts departments -- worlds beyond what his school offers.

The question for Escarfullery and his Teen Empowerment colleague, Joanne Pena, who goes to the Academy of Public Service, also in the former Dorchester High, is why there's such a huge disparity. Escarfullery plans to go to the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. It's a good college. But he wonders what might have happened if he had gone to a high school with more resources.

Pena expresses disappointment at the difference between city and suburban schools. She would like to go to Emerson College, but because there is no theater at her school, she has little theater experience to put on a college application. For now she'll be finishing up the credits she needs to graduate.

Teen Empowerment worker William Popp, 17, is also disappointed, and shocked at the differences between urban and suburban schools. He goes to Cambridge School, the same one Escarfullery visited, and is planning to go to Skidmore College. To his eye, city schools teach mostly from textbooks, overlooking a world of resources.

Escarfullery, Pena, and Popp don't want to assign blame or guilt. They just want change. City and suburban students need to learn about each other, Popp says, to break down stereotypes. Once that happens, change can start through students realizing: "Hey, I know that person; they're no better or worse than I am, and we should all have the same options."

Margaret Blood, president of the nonprofit organization Strategies for Children, sees kindergarteners who have already given up on their ability to learn. They have lost or never found the curiosity it takes to learn the alphabet and read words, then sentences, then books. Blood calls for statewide early education for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds. In addition to standards and assessments, the program would offer self-confidence and excitement.

Priorities get lost in state budget battles and policy debates. "Education reform" can seem only a synonym for the MCAS. But public action works best when it is mindful of individual dreams and achievements.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

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