15 July 2009
View from the doorway.
Posted by nico under: Life as we know it .
I have been visiting different preschools in the area in order to give myself new ideas as to what I can bring into my own classroom. Yesterday, the school I visited was on the campus of an Ivy League University. From the moment I walked into the building, I was in disbelief. This place was amazing. When I walked in, it felt and looked more like a home than a school. The usual bright, harsh fluorescent lights were replaced by warm lamps. There were stuffed chairs, a carpeted hallway and even a piano just beyond the foyer. The security put in place was a doorbell with a welcoming sign. I rang the doorbell and was greeted by an administrative assistant who showed me where I could wait to speak to the director.
Compare that to the school I visited this morning. I was met by a uniformed police officer with a wand who scanned me to ensure I was safe to enter the building. The lights were fluorescent and the soft carpet and chairs from the previous school had been replaced by linoleum and a folding chair.
The children in the first school I mentioned are growing up seeing school as an extension of family and home whereas the others are seeing it almost as a jail-type setting. Are we setting the children in our innercities up to fail before they even walk through the door? How can get more of that private, suburban feel into our urban schools? It needs to begin from the moment the children and their parents walk in the door…
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