Is the achievement gap a result of apathy?

When I opened my Baltimore Sun this morning I wasn’t surprised to see a bold headline that read “SCHOOL SYSTEM FLUNKS REPAIR.” Having taught in the city for two years and seeing the continued failure of our city schools, I figured it was just another public exposure of the poor conditions we deal with on a daily basis. However, I was even more shocked to see that this article was about Baltimore County schools. County schools are far from perfect, and having had the opportunity to observe a couple of classes in some of the “leading” county high schools, I know that the magic that happens there isn’t much greater than the magic that happens in our very own classrooms. What angered me most about this article was seeing the ever-growing disparities in expectations between the education systems of Baltimore City and County.

County officials are outraged by the horrible conditions of their schools, which they believe ultimately hinder their students’ academic achievement. Travesties like rusty bathroom stalls, poor climate control, and stained or missing ceiling tiles are causing uproar by a team of auditors. As the article reports, the County Executive said, “That [the school system] would institutionalize such a low standard of expectation is a real concern to me,” in regards to the published list of “noteworthy deficiencies” that the auditing team found. This list includes things like “books stored near hot-water pipes,” “an electrical outlet in need of repair” at an elementary school, and “warped window blinds” at a high school.

County officials should be upset that the children they serve aren’t getting the best of the best. My question then is, why aren’t city officials more upset about the conditions of our schools? Is it maybe because we don’t even have books, working electrical outlets, or window blinds to get angry over? Or is it because our system faces such greater problems that the facility concerns aren’t even on the radar? I really don’t mean to sound bitter or overly sarcastic (though I know I do), but how can such disparities between neighboring systems go unnoticed or at least kept so quiet? This just goes to show that the achievement gap exists far beyond the low-performing student population we serve or the poor neighborhoods from which they come – it exists because so few people care. And I guess that’s where we come in, with the challenge to care in Charm City.

Read the March 19 Baltimore Sun article, "School system flunks repairs," here:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.co.audit19mar19,1,5755985.storyv