Free Readers Ensemble

October 22, 2007

Ms. Pate, Village Trustee Addresses the Gathering of Persons to Hear
the Presentation on Creating a Better Community and Closing the Education GAP in Oak Park.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

Mr. Jim Conway a motivational speaker for the Search
Institute Organization.

Spiritual Organization Speaks to Help Achievement GAP
report and commentary by Ed Vincent

Mr. Jim Conway worked four years on a project with Congregations (religious) on how to build 'assets',
a term used by the organization to build better communities
and folks (links are provided below). The 'better' is a touchy feely group think term that has been expanded by this organization to include some 40 attributes of character and action that they wish to set their goals on.

The higher the percentage of 'assets' met in their goals they believe will lead to 'better' lives and 'better' communities. The Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence, an organization existing within the Search
Institute organization and funded by the "Lutheran Brotherhood, now Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is the founding national sponsor for Healthy Communities". Religion, and going to your house of worship is held as an integral role in the procedure for making a better person and community.

Mr. Jim Conway begins his presentation on Creating a Better Community and Closing the Education GAP in Oak Park.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

The religious nature of the organization seems fine in a church or other house of worship, but in a public school it seems a bit overstepping of church and state issues for a progressive town
or a reader of the United States Constitution who likes the
church/state issue divided and separate. The room had about
30 some people from the area, 10 who were residents and
the others either on boards, committees, or paid by the aforementioned.

Instead of dealing with the actual problem of a GAP in education between various groups of students in the community the talk was more of a series of personal analogies of how one
person can do this or that and that may have some effect on
another person in a positive way. It appeared like an endless
vision of "It's A Wonderful Life" scenarios and lacking any
true statistical relevance to a targeted goal. Mr. Jim Conway commented that the statistics were not supported (valid), but that there were 'large' numbers in the questionnaires. The
metaphysical nature of the numbers caused us to refer to
the process as statistical alchemy. Speaking about and
actually knowing something about the various education GAPS
found around the world and in many countries is a rare event.

In Oak Park the issues surrounding the educational GAP are cultural, and behavioral and mostly people talk in political platitudes and point fingers, and usually at someone else. There are many different items that play a role in not doing well in school. Does the child make an effort? Does the family make an effort? What role does the family place on themselves in
the education of their children?

Some families come to a region with good schools thinking
that their children will be safer (often true) and that just being
in a better school district will yield a better education. There
are children coming from the Chicago public schools who had
an 'A' in reading in Chicago and in Oak Park the same child is
not reading at Grade level. In Chicago their class sizes are
often twice or more the size in Oak Park, and the higher the percentage of underachieving kids in your class the less education will be taught-at least the kind that it answered on
State tests. The group in Oak Park that on average does not
do as well with their education is also a group that national
research shows, holds the belief that the job of education is the responsibility of the school and the teachers, because that
is what they get paid for. Many also show no interest in
their child's school and hardly ever attend school conferences.

If the family also shows no interest in seeing or even asking
if their kids did their homework, making use of ample available help for their children, and are unaware of where their kids are
in the evening, there might be less than adequate progress in
the youths learning. To make things even more complex ad
to this vision; the belief that if you try to do well you're some
kind of a jerk (expressed in racially bigoted terms). A self
perpetuating wheel is set in motion and the way to make changes to these self destructive behaviors often calls for more studies which fail to address the decades worth of work already
conducted where all of the items above have been noted.

Mr. Jim Conway had numerous antic dotes where kids felt
more a part of the community when adults said 'hello' to them.
Having serious problems in a pedagogical realm requires more,
a lot more than feel good stories. The feel good items of
communal interaction should be practiced regardless of the
educational status, but first people of all ages need to have
manners, concerns, and respect for the others in their towns.

If social manners and amenities are not taught in the home,
they are left to either the street or the school, and in Oak Park
the schools are doing as best they can.

The GAP would be closed or diminished rapidly if children born to families with no appreciation of education had them placed in homes where value was given to a good education. How about the idea of requiring parents to come to school conferences, with flexible hours given? If the school district spends $10,000 or more per year on a student shouldn't the parent spend sometime in the school for one or two meetings
a year? If you want to use the library you need to apply for a card. If you want to drive a car, that will take some of your money, your time, and some training, why not education?

The links below are from the people giving the talk.
The links further below are from some of the research
done on GAPS in education.

http://spiritualdevelopmentcenter.org/

http://www.search-institute.org/aboutsearch/bios.html

Addressing the Black-White Education Gap

<>by Ed Gordon

BOOK REVIEW: What Begat the Achievement Gap?
By Nathan Glazer
Nathan Glazer is professor of education and sociology emeritus at
Harvard University.

Education gap threatens students’ economic future
By LARRY BIVINS Gannett News Service
"Social pressures against learning (acting white) and teachers that are not qualified are some of the early issues." Ed Vincent SJC

Education Gap. Between Latino and White Students. Washington, DC (June 23, 2004). from MIT Eduction Dept.

STARSHIP SUBS, Soups, Catering, and more...