Lost Connection

Missing Connection 

Kids spend an average of seven hours a day at school, equally 35 hours a week and that is calculated to an astounding 1,330 hours a year in the classroom. Despite a large part of waking hours dedicated to studies, it is difficult to see the relationship that school knowledge has to our daily life and how it really prepares us for the later years. Mission.org published an article explaining how schools fail in preparing young adults for the real world. It mentions that even beyond the high school age concern is the fact that  “30% of college graduates don’t feel college prepared them for the world of work.” When Coates was in school, he too felt unprepared for the world and had to teach himself critical skills that were not explained in class. “To survive the neighborhoods and shield my body, I learned another language consisting of a basic complement of head nods and handshakes. I recall learning these laws clearer than I recall learning my colors and shapes, because these laws were essential to the security of my body” (23/24). Schools did not teach Coates how to navigate the streets, which is why he couldn’t find the need to even attend school since the information learned wasn’t sufficient enough to keep him breathing. 

Coates says, “Fully 60 percent of all black men who dropout of high school will go to jail” (27). Unfortunately, this statistic exists because most of these young kids probably lack the financial resources needed to hire tutors that could intellectually challenge them in a manner consistent with those raised in many financially sound neighborhoods. If the information for the ACT and SAT are not taught in school then students are less likely to perform well on the tests, lack the ability to get into a college and then ultimately end up on the streets or even in jail. Coates said, “Unfit for the schools, and in good measure wanting to be fit for them, and lacking the savvy I needed to master the streets, I felt there could be no escape for me, or honestly, anyone else” (27). Maybe if his school did have better educational resources, they would have had an exponentially higher graduation rate .

Similar to the fact that higher economic New Trier families are able to afford tutors, they also are privileged with extra school funding from taxes, whereas communities in lower income neighborhoods like Coates, are deprived of the same caliber education. Schools are a large contributor of society that creates economic inequality. Schools in wealthy areas typically have more tax dollars to allocate to a better student to staff ratio, a surplus of physical resources and a variety of supplies.  These things lend to a stronger educational system. ABC News says, “Chicago Public Schools, one of the country's largest school systems, spent $11,300 per student last year. New Trier High School spent $17,500 per student...The more the property around a school is worth, the more funding it'd likely to get.” By simply looking at the vast differences in school funding between New Trier and other schools just a couple miles away, it is evident that educational institutions thrive based on economic stability around it, which is completely unfair. All public schools in a state should be given an equal amount of funding in order to provide similar playing fields for students. 

Coates believes, “I sensed the schools were hiding something, drugging us with false morality so that we would not see, so they we did not ask...Schools did not reveal truths, they concealed them” (26/27). He thinks that schools are hiding something and don’t want to be honest with the students. It is almost as if schools are disguised to look perfect, however inside, there is a disconnect between the students and staff. Also, schools put up a facade to surrounding communities so they can maintain their reputation. For instance, New Trier holds high rankings for both education and extracurricular activities, but the day-to-day life of students is not transparent. The administration does not publicly share how many students are under extreme stress, pressure, depression or other anxiety related issues to surrounding communities. In Coates’ experience, “Fail in the schools and you would be suspended and sent back to the same street, where they would take your body. And I began to see these two arms in relation— those who failed in the schools justified their destruction in the streets” (33). His school did not take ownership for the students that ended up in trouble.  Likewise, New Trier acknowledges the competitive environment that lends to kids’ anguish, yet minimal action to change is done.

“Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life” —Sandara Carey.