Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap

It happens every semester, all of a sudden there are a lot more empty parking spaces in the student lot, your class size has suddenly shrunk, one of your old peers from high school has suddenly vanished from campus, and you are left wondering why. That old peer from high school had the same classes as you, the same teachers. You have seen some of their school work and feel that they were just as capable at succeeding at college as you. Maybe even more so. What Happened? According to Dr. Katie Hern this would be a example of the “Sustainability Gap” Which is “The gap between the students ability to perform and the performance they actually sustain over the semester.” As much as I enjoy being able to find a parking spot, we need to find a way to close the academic sustainability gap and ensure a way for others to succeed. I believe if schools, teachers, and students change a few things we can help.

Let’s start with the schools. I believe students need to be on more of an even playing field when they reach the college level. In order for that to happen we need every student to have an equal opportunity at any school. I recently discovered in Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” that our schools can be divided into four different types of social classes. (Working Class, Middle Class, Affluent Professional, and the Executive Elite ) And the way they teach in these classes widely varies. At the bottom we have the working class where according to Anyon “work is following the steps of a procedure” and “The Teachers continually gave the children orders.” One of theses orders was even “Shut your mouth.” At the top of social class we have the Executive Elite schools. Anyon stats that in the executive elite school, “Work is develoing one’s analytical intellectual powers. Children are continually asked to reason through a problem, to produce intellectual products that are both logically sound and of top academic quality. A primary goal of thought is to conceptualize rules by which elements may fit together in systems and then to apply there rules in solving a problem. Schoolwork helps one to achieve, to excel, to prepare for life.” We can just look at what work is considered to be in these two different classes and see why one social class may have a better chance to succeed in college then another. Then on top of having four different social classes we have things like track A and track B, avid classes, and college prep classes. Which if you think about it.... College Prep...is that not what high school is supposed to be? The fact that we need a separate class for college prep just shows schools are failing. What we need is more learning equality. A equal opportunity for all students regardless of there social class in order to help sustain the academic sustainability gap.

Next up, Teachers. I wanna be a teacher, but after I gave my first few music lessons I learned quickly that teaching ain’t easy. I then turned to one of my biggest influences in life, bass extraordinaire, philosopher, educator, and five time grammy winner Victor Wooten. A quote from Wooten’s "The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music” that has stuck with me is “You can only teach yourself. Until we live in a day where I can physically implant knowledge into your head, I can teach you nothing. I can only show you things.” I can show a student something over and over but until they put in the effort, apply some of there own logic and thinking, the results are little to none. This is extremely frustrating when you have a parent wondering why their kid is not the next Jimmy Page after just three $25 dollar lessons. And you have to tell them cause your kid needs to go home and practice more. Another Wooten Quote teachers can learn from is “A kid playing air guitar will play with a smile on their face. Give them the first lesson, the smile goes away. And a lot of times you have to work for your whole musical life to get that smile back. As teachers we can keep that smile, if we approach it the right way. And I say approach it like a language. Allow the student to keep the freedom.” I can remember being asked to write a story by my teacher in the 2nd grade. I can’t recall what it was about but I remember being really into my story. My teacher, who was working his way around the class room checking in on students stories, then approached my desk and started pointed out all my mistakes. Misspellings, run on sentences, comma splices, improper conjunctions…. All of a sudden my story was not so good, I was not into this assignment, all my creativity that was flowing into this story was gone, and so was my smile. I am now 34 and at a community college still searching for my smile. I can’t help but wonder what if I could have just freely wrote my paper. I think as teachers we are so fast to point out mistakes. If we think about it we are bound to make mistakes during the learning process. So why treat them as such a bad thing? The story not the grammar is what is important right? Giving lessons, I realized my biggest mistake is wanting to show students the instrument and all the rules before I even show them music. I believe the same thing happens in schools. Teachers try to teach us grammar before we even know what english is. I think if teachers can learn how to adapt a new way of teaching that allows students to retain their creative freedom we may have another way to help sustain the academic sustainability gap.

We can’t just relay on the schools and teachers to fix the academic sustainability gap. Students Have to do their part too. I believe it to be Mark Twain who once said “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Students have to take matters into their own hands… or minds. According to Malcolm X in his article “Learning to Read”, Malcolm didn’t make it past the 8th grade, he had what he called a “homemade education” he received in prison. When Malcolm was once asked, “What’s your alma mater?” his response was, “Books”. I think it’s safe to say X probably didn’t get much creative freedom in school, but the guy found it on his own. In his own words “Between Mr.Muhammad’s teachings, my correspondence, my visitors, and my reading of books, months passes without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” The freedom Malcolm X found in books is what allowed him to educate himself, and develop, what I’m gonna talk about next, a growth mindset. In “Brainology:Transforming students’ Motivation to Learn” by Carol S. Dweck we learn about two different mind sets. A growth mindset, a belief that intelligence can be cultivated through effort and education, and a fixed mindset, a belief that people have a certain amount of intelligence and that’s it. Dweck states “whether they(students) see their intelligence as something that’s fixed or something that can grow and change-has profound effects on their motivation, learning, and school achievement” A very common trait found in students with a fixed mindset is to give up, and quit. I see this as a direct problem to the academic sustainability gap. If we can find a way for students to already have a developed growth mindset by the time they enter the college level I see a lot less parking spaces at the end of a semester.

In conclusion, I think what students, teachers, and schools can all do to help close the academic sustainability gap is mind the gap. We need to all be aware that it is there so that we don’t fall in. I don’t believe we will ever fully seal a lid on it. There are other factors for people dropping out from personal to financial reasons but if schools had more learning equality, teachers taught in a way that lets us keep our creative freedom, and students started taking their education into their own hands maybe and grow a growth mindset, just maybe it would be more like the academic sustainability gopher hole. Either way I hope to still find parking.

Works Cited

Anyon, Jean. “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” 1980

Dweck, Carol S. “Brainology:Transforming students’ Motivation to Learn” Winter 2008

Wooten, Victor L. "The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music

Berkley Press (April 1, 2008)

“Music as a Language” Ted Talk with Victor Wooten May 29, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvjW9arAZ0

“Think About That” from the album Yin Yang. Compass Records 1999

X, Malcolm. “Learning to Read” 1965