Spectacular Things, Part One...

For our Urban Education class we were assigned to Read the book Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, by Brian Schultz. I admit, I actually read it two months ago. I got bored and my class books were sitting there so I pulled out the shortest one (Spectacular Things) to keep me occupied till dinnertime.

I ended up finishing it on the train the next morning. Then I reread it. Finished it the second time on the train ride home. I love this book. Seriously. I would have read it again, but I loaned it to a classmate and by the time I got it back I was swamped with work/school/life.

Anyways, Spectacular Things describes a year in the academic lives of Class 405. Class 405 is a class of 5th graders at Cabrini Green Elementary School in Chicago. Cabrini Green is not a good area. Cops are afraid to go there. Heck, pizza delivery guys are afraid to go there!

Into this environment steps the author, Brian Schultz. As the teacher of Class 405 he initially seems out of place. But he continually tries to relate to his students and hits the jackpot when he introduces them to Project Citizen (http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=introduction). While asking his students what sort of project they’d like to tackle for Project Citizen, the students of Class 405 overwhelmingly bring up the terrible conditions at their school.

Poor heating and cooling, disgusting bathrooms, cracked windows and a lack of basic facilities most schools take for granted, such as a cafeteria or auditorium, were just some of the problems the students brainstormed with their teacher. And then they set about doing something about it.

But enough of repeating the book. Reading the first few chapters really drove home how bad many students in America have it. Almost everything their school lacked, I took for granted in my schools. And I would be outraged if my son’s school was anything like the school in Cabrini Green. But while I could fairly easily move to a new district, this isn’t a viable option for the majority of residents near schools like Cabrini Green. They've learned to make do with what they have. But, to me, this just leads to a self-perpetuating cycle. They don't (can't) succeed. Why pour resources into a failing school? Next generation doesn't succeed. They struggle to provide the opportunities their kids need to succeed. Do you see where I'm going with this? And the sad thing is occasionally you'll get an exceptional kid who manages to "make it" despite the decjk stacked against him. And then the other kids community are told, "If he succeeded so should you. It's your own faults you're not."

Okay, I digressed. And I'm out of time. I'll try to come back to this later tonight...