Foreword: Over the course of this collection, I have almost subconsciously written about groups of people and how they interact with the government rather than issues, for people are politics. Now I would like to write about what keeps contributes to the way these groups interact with their government.
As a lower-income, African-American, adolescent female, the demographics I fit under are wide but first and foremost, I am an institutionalized learner. At least 8 hours of my day, 5 days a week is dedicated to sitting in a classroom, to learn about things that exist outside of it. This chapter explores how governmental decisions about education affect the state of democracy in this country.
As a lower-income, African-American, adolescent female, the demographics I fit under are wide but first and foremost, I am an institutionalized learner. At least 8 hours of my day, 5 days a week is dedicated to sitting in a classroom, to learn about things that exist outside of it. This chapter explores how governmental decisions about education affect the state of democracy in this country.
Democracy and Education from Amani Bey on Vimeo.
The way schools are run and the way they are funded is directly reflective of the plutocratic state of this country.
In 2001, due to shifting financial status, the School District of Philadelphia’s School Board was replaced with the SRC, the School Reform Committee. The five members, appointed by the mayor and governor, take the responsibility out of the hands of taxpayers, principals, and students, due to financial failure, and leave them with no say. Democracy left the PhilaSD in 2001.
Sartre said, “Education is to help the human being come to terms with his individual project, accept his freedom and facticity, and emerge as the unique human being that he is.” True education is where all knowledge converges. Interdisciplinary learning is not yet a universal practice in classrooms and the lack of this practice leads to voters unable to fully appreciate the gravity of each issue and the ramifications of their decisions. Validating a person's experience empowers them to use what they have learned inside and out of the four walls of a classroom to make conscious decisions and uplift their communities instead of becoming products of them (see my chapter on Gangs).
However, the high stakes testing from both a school district and universities’ standardized test requirements transform education from a learning experience to an accrual of information with no practical use. It has been said if "You provide independent people capable of independent thought and you will virtually destroy the economy". Docile students become docile voters.
It is no surprise “ schools that have 90 percent or more minority students spend $733 less per student than schools with 90 percent white students enrolled”(Rolling Out). Colored peoples are always at a disadvantage in education, and therefore in an economy that was built on their backs. In 2011-2012, in York County 91 out of 100 students were suspended from school and in 2011, 1 out of every four Philadelphia School District student was suspended.Out of these statistics, an overwhelming majority were students of color. Schools with less funding garner more disciplinary action and turn into the jails the money taken from schools build. In 2014, $400 million was budgeted towards prisons in Pennsylvania, while $216 million was cut from education funding.
Lower Merion, a school district in Pennsylvania that spends $22,140 per pupil( 2011 Axis Philly ), has a suspension rate of 3%. The students that live in this school district belong to households whose median income is $107,326 (US Census), which is more than 3 times that of the median income of Philadelphia residents. Lower Merion students have higher graduation and college attendance rates. Education is also becoming a commodity for companies to sell and buy, being funded by the state. Charter schools have been heralded as reformative saviors in the broken school system. In fact 28% of philadelphia school district funding goes to charter schools, while only 10% goes to high schools.
Plutocracy is the state of any government that is run by the rich. Lower Merion’s school district is only one of the many governmental advantages given to the rich in this country. Education is key for power, but if those in economic power, seem to be the only ones who advance by receiving the best education, the power remains in the hands of those who’ve had it all along. This lack of space for some in a classroom directly correlates with the lack of space for them in the economy and plutocratic state of this country.
Funding and Plutocracy from Amani Bey on Vimeo.