Children, Education and Equality (Part 1)
She didn’t seem like she should be on a back
street this early in the morning alone...it isn’t safe for a girl. It is 7:27AM
and I am approaching my stop. It is located in a defunct shopping area street that’s
now a hub for bars and strip clubs. Across the street stretch low-income
apartments and government housing projects which are the home to many low income and welfare
families.
My big yellow bus rolled farther down the street and I saw in the morning dusky light that the girl is in her 40’s and a streetwalker working her
trade, hoping for more of the same sadness that keeps her employed. I meet her
eyes as I drove by and saw shame, emptiness and pain. In the weeks to come this
would be a routine sight on that hidden street on my route.
As I throw the switch on my stop-signs traffic halts and
my kindergarten and elementary kids board the bus, polished up for a day
in class and another of the first days of the rest of their lives. They are simply
wonderful kids with futures and hopes, just not a lot of privilege…not yet. The
eyes of their moms and dads are filled with expectation that their children
will benefit from a good school and caring teachers, and even breakfast when they arrive at campus. The kids take their seats and we set off to school; parents giving final waves blowing
kisses from the sidewalk.
I smile at the parents. I am trying to assure them that their children will
get the same care I would give my own children on our ride to school. I promise
them with my face.
I lament because most of the inhabitants of my city will never
see this street, bus stop or the darker, tougher side of these children’s
surroundings. I am a new school bus driver placed here in this job like an unsuspecting
audience of one, beholding the opening curtain of a mysterious and partly
tragic play. The first scene breaks my heart, calls me to prayer and motivates
me to write the story of what I see. These
dear kids face extreme brokenness daily on their street and all around them. I’m
guessing that this neighborhood represents one hundred more like it in my city
and millions more around the world.
An experienced voice familiar with this barrio told me that
there are few parents in these homes and that these children are “raising themselves in a lot of situations.”
I can go home to a comfortable safe house in the evening.
They live where crime and unrest are the norm. There is stress on their faces a
lot of times. Some kids ask if they can just ride the bus all day! I think it
might the best spot that they can hope for…kind of a rolling oasis of sorts like
a trip on their own yellow motorhome. I just tell them, “You are going to do
great things in school today because you are AWESOME!” They ARE awesome!
When the students disembark at school each child receives a
positive word from Mr. Ron. It sounds like this:
You have
great talent!
It’s going
to be a good day for you!
Show love and respect today!
You have
all you need to succeed!
__________ Elementary kids are the best ever!
Nice smile!
In short, I try to find whatever positive thing to bring a little more hope to these kids. Anything to make them feel that they
are SOMEBODY! They ARE somebody!
A few months ago I was driving through a very affluent area
of my city. I saw a school in that neighborhood specially designed to give
advanced education to the children there. The students wore uniforms and the
campus looked very exclusive. The children are obviously privileged. No doubt
they are offspring of professionals and business people who want the very best
for their kids.
These children and
their parents might have never seen the barrio streets where I pick up their
fellow students 20 miles away. Don’t the affluent live in a closed world too? But
isn’t it a safe, sanitary and a more protected community? Their school is available to children privelegded birth. I find myself hopeing
they will come to know their rare opportunity and the status they haveand that they will someday help with the suffering of these born with less.
I am left with questions by this contrast in opportunity and situation.
So where does equality in life, education and privilege
enter the scenes of this play that is unfolding before me? How in our blessed
country can a child from privilege and a child from the ghetto experience the
same opportunity to succeed in life? It seems like one child has it all and the
other has so little it smarts. If “all
men are created equal” why are things so out of balance. I hear the words of
Dr. King echoing in my mind, “I have a dream…” My empirical experience on the
early morning streets driving the bus shows my city is still in search of Dr.
King’s dream.
When I replay these strikingly different scenes-the barrio
kids boarding the bus and the Academy kids tucked safely into their pristine
campus I hunger to see justice done for the sake of the children. They need a
chance to be together. Could they trade places for a day? Could they share their
names, some meals, teachers and classrooms…for a day and then perhaps more?
These children are equal in talent and potential regardless
of the social situation they are born into and I wonder for the kids sakes: if
there is not a better way to give broken and poor kids a chance for equality in
education and to educate kids isolated in privileged to the plight of their
less fortunate peers. Can the dream of equality in education become reality
somewhere?
I would love to hear your thoughts about children, education and equality.
