At the chalkface
The American dream?
I’VE JUST returned from New York. My daughter’s there trying to teach rascals to read. In Harlem. I worry. Couldn’t she have done this in Shepherd’s Bush? The Cotswolds? Or Cheltenham Ladies? Even after Mayor Giuliani’s purges it can be an edgy place. Savage inequalities see to that. It might be better, but bits are still off limits. Like Harlem? Can I
visit? Well, yes. “But get rid of that Guggenheim Museum bag! You look like a tourist!” Another slumming tourist taking a holiday in other people’s misery. We take the subway
and surface into another world, a third one. A mostly Black third world. This cannot be an accident. This must be cold calculation – to not educate a whole slice of society. “Avoid eye contact and shut up!” People talk a lot to no-one
and look at nothing. There are lethal distractions on the Corners. Mothers are desperate to keep their babies away from them – and in school. “Those who stay will be
champions!” says daughter. Eh? “A slogan. It’s on their school
T-shirts!” Daughter’s school is Obama-
backed and full of Tough Love and Zero Tolerance. My liberal stuff’s a busted flush. “It sometimes works!” There are High Expectations. “I am the leader of my life!” – it’s on wristbands and posters.
But ... it’s cant, isn’t it? Pure
cant? Why is it always the most oppressed who are fed these meretricious dreams? “I will become a leader in
communities and the world” is another slogan. Will they? I feel dizzy and angry. “You wouldn’t get this at
Winchester or St Paul’s.” “I know dad, but sometimes it works. Your stuff didn’t!” It’s coming our way,
this American stuff. We too have tots walking past adverts for good
behaviour. “Who you are in the corridor reflects who you’ll be in life!” said one.
Ronald Crumlin and Attila Dervish larked under it.
They’ll clearly be clots in later life. But who am I to mock? We don’t seem to educate our working class either. Daughter returns, smiling.
The similes lesson went well.
One girl couldn’t read because she couldn’t afford glasses. A
10-year-old boy jumped a level and wrote a note – “Miss Alice you are a piece of art”. Crikey! We leave. Her pupils can’t.
I take the subway – and my righteous anger – back to a nice, White, three-star hotel. There’s another poster in Washington Square of a hip, positive, young teacher. “I teach in NYC because everyday it teaches me!” And me. “They’re trying for Chrissakes!” Indeed. What do I know?
editor@sec-ed.co.uk
News
Global links inspired by 2012
by Emma Lee-Potter
As the countdown to the 2012 Olympics gathers pace, UK schools are seizing the opportunity to forge links across the world. Five schools in Haringey, north
London, have twinned with five schools in Trinidad and Tobago as part of International Inspiration, London 2012’s official international sports legacy programme. The initiative encourages young-
sters to use the power of PE, sport and play to enrich the lives of mil- lions of children and young people in 20 countries, including Trinidad and Tobago. The school partnerships are
being managed by the British Council, which has vast experience of linking schools internationally, in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust. In the coming months, stu-
dents from the five Haringey schools will be working on a joint project with their counterparts in Trinidad and Tobago, using sport as a way of learning about each other’s cultures and developing leadership, communication and presentation skills. With this in mind, youngsters
from the Haringey schools late last month welcomed teachers from Trinidad and Tobago to discuss plans for the project. Lord Coe, chair of the London
2012 organising committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, accompanied the teachers. One of the highlights included a sports festival at St Thomas More
Olympic values: Lord Coe, chair of the Olympic 2012 organising committee talks to pupils from Sir Thomas More RC School in London about their link with Trinidad and Tobago
RC School in Wood Green, where teams from Haringey schools rep- resented five of the International Inspiration countries. Activities included athletics, football, basket- ball and sports leadership. Dr Colm Hickey, headteacher of
St Thomas More RC School, said they were delighted to be involved in the programme.
“We have a culturally diverse
community, with over 95 per cent of our students from minority ethnic families, so the values underpinning the International Inspiration pro- gramme have the utmost relevance to us,” he said. “We are very enthusiastic about
the power of the initiative to encour- age more young people to engage
in sport and to develop as active citizens.” Meanwhile, Shukri Ahmed, a
year 10 student at Hornsey School for Girls, another of the schools involved, said: “I am glad that Hornsey School has links with Trinidad and Tobago because it is spreading our reputation in a good way. I feel proud of myself and our school.”
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