Lack of Resources and Opportunities in Low Socioeconomic Schools

Lack of Resources and Opportunities in Low Socioeconomic Schools

For the past six weeks, I have only worked one day per week (Wednesdays) due to illness and my mother’s death. I had music classes to teach, and only I could teach them. This week, I began to feel better on Wednesday, so I decided to work again on Thursday. Somewhat ironically, I was sent to the same school site where I last worked six weeks ago. I was unaware then that they had no regular music teacher and thus, no formal instruction. Hoping to avoid the brain-shattering noise of last time, I thought I would at least try to teach these kids something this time. This is when I discovered that all of their guitars need maintenance of some sort. Some of them are missing strings. One of them is missing a tuning key. All of them are detuned. They do not have a tuner or strings, and it is impossible to tune guitars by sound when they are making so much noise banging on the drums and playing other instruments. Additionally, it is much easier to obtain an accurate pitch using a tuner versus sound. They also do not have any working keyboards; they are all broken. They have not had an actual music teacher at all this year.

I had yet another doctor’s appointment today regarding my resistant sinus infection. This doctor’s office is near the office of the company I work for, so I decided to pay them a visit and let them know the state of things at this school site and offer solutions on how to make it better. This is when I found out that the instruments at this school site actually belong to the school, not the company, and have not been maintained because they do not have a music teacher to maintain them, so the kids just end up abusing the instruments and rendering many of them unusable. Their instruments were serviced at the beginning of the school year, but never tended to again for this reason. The sad state of their music program is heartbreaking, but I hope to change it for the better and have committed to returning to this school site every Friday to teach music. Going forward, I may add another day of the week as well.

I returned to the school yet again today, this time with a tuner so I could tune the guitars that are in working order. I was prepared to try again to teach music, but they ended up being severely understaffed today (this school is always somewhat understaffed) and I ended up with a group of kids playing basketball instead of teaching music.

A few things that I have observed about this school in the three visits I have made to it these past few months is that they are understaffed, unstructured and lacking resources. Six weeks ago is not the first time I visited this campus, however. I first visited this campus as a graduate student in an education program. I was researching the connection between low SES (socioeconomic status) educational demographics (i.e. schools located in poorer regions) and achievement, including test scores and graduation rates. The day was January 21, 2009 and the school principal had ordered that the entire school watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama. One of the teachers I observed defied this order from the principal and refused to play the inauguration in her class. Yes, she was white. Yes, I did say something. Ironically, she turned out to be a graduate student at the same school as myself. As of 2014, she had not made it through the graduate program.

A thought occurred to me amidst my frustration today with this school and this memory of having been here before. I began by feeling bad for these kids whose school lacks the resources to provide them with a proper music education. I have the ability and the desire to help them, but have found my hands tied three times so far in my endeavor to help them. The disadvantages they have are not just limited to a lack of a music teacher or a lack of working musical instruments. The problem is much larger than that and has been a problem for at least 8 years now. These kids have the desire and, in some cases, the ability. I have heard some of them play the electric guitar or drums and have heard potential. I have seen their artwork. They have some really talented artists. I have watched their dance groups rehearse. Poor children and children of color are no less intelligent or talented than more affluent or Caucasian children; they just are frequently disadvantaged by their circumstances, their school and by the people who are supposed to lead them, but who fail to recognize their contribution. Research has shown a positive correlation between music education and academic achievement. Research has also shown a correlation between socioeconomic status and achievement. This is why a loan forgiveness program was developed for teachers who agreed to teach in low SES schools; a program that is now in danger thanks to morons who have never been in a classroom, except as a student. I started the day today with hope and ended it with frustration, but I hope maybe next week will be different.