Детские тюрьмы

А вот чем кончается социальная несправедливость:

 I saw children lined up and marched into a closed off area where they stood in front of the doors to their “rooms” and had to take of their belts before entering the room. They counted off like criminals and then changed to go to P.E. Their frustration and rebellion was obvious in their body language.

…

Suddenly the reality of what I had seen and witnessed penetrated my consciousness, and the shocking realization that we put children in jail rocked my existence. I know. How could someone with my education and experience not know this? All I can say with hindsight is that I don’t think I ever allowed this reality fully into my awareness until that moment. Or perhaps I just thought jails for kids would be different. That they would get to go home for the weekend or something.

…

In that same week I was at the bus stop at Buckley Park with a group of young boys of high school age. I began to talk to them. Every single one of them had been in and out of Denier. When asked, they shared that it made no difference to them in terms of their lives and who they are now. In fact, it just seemed to make thing worse. The message they received is that they were less than human. They were completely disempowered by the rigid structure, and they rebelled even more when free.

…

Low income youth do less well in school often because they bring fewer life experiences and less exposure to knowledge and vocabulary to their school learning. This is ironic given that due to their “behind” status, these students are often the ones given the driest educational lessons. In other words, they are drilled endlessly to prepare them to take standardized tests, and what they really require is enrichment through the arts and field trips. Real life learning and creative expression expand the capacity to learn and grown. We are doing the opposite.

Краткий перевод:

Журналист, пишущей об образовании, сходила на экскурсию в детскую тюрьму и расплакалась. Она увидела там детей, которых ходили строем, снимали ремень при входе в «свои комнаты» и другие стандартные тюремные прикиды.

Потом она поговорила с местными подростками, которые рассказали, что все в какой-то момент побывали в этом заведении, где им популярно объяснили, что «они недочеловеки». Они также сообщили, что выходя на свободу, они не полюбили систему больше, чем раньше.

Журналист пишет, что в тюрьмы попадают дети из социально необеспеченных семей, которые обычно плохо учатся. Под «учебой» система понимает успешное заполнение стандартизированных тестов,  к подготовке к которым сводится вся система общественного образования.

Обычно дети из бедных семей плохо заполняют такие тесты потому, что они мало читают, мало видят. Таким детям нужно были бы занятия искусством и походы в музеи, но школа предлагает им только скучные компьютерные тесты и тюрьму.

А вот как учат своих детей богатые и образованные родители из Калифорнии:

Mr. Eagle knows a bit about technology. He holds a computer science degree from Dartmouth and works in executive communications at Google, where he has written speeches for the chairman, Eric E. Schmidt. He uses an iPad and a smartphone. But he says his daughter, a fifth grader, “doesn’t know how to use Google,” and his son is just learning. (Starting in eighth grade, the school endorses the limited use of gadgets.)

Three-quarters of the students here have parents with a strong high-tech connection. Mr. Eagle, like other parents, sees no contradiction. Technology, he says, has its time and place: “If I worked at Miramax and made good, artsy, rated R movies, I wouldn’t want my kids to see them until they were 17.”

The Waldorf experience does not come cheap: annual tuition at the Silicon Valley schools is $17,750 for kindergarten through eighth grade and $24,400 for high school, though Ms. Wurtz said financial assistance was available. She says the typical Waldorf parent, who has a range of elite private and public schools to choose from, tends to be liberal and highly educated, with strong views about education; they also have a knowledge that when they are ready to teach their children about technology they have ample access and expertise at home.

Вольдорфская школа не свободная, но и не государственная. Никаких компьютеров, никаких тестов. Дети имеют дело с живым человеком — учителем. Занимаются человеческими делами: строят, шьют, играют.

Родители не переживают: обучиться владению компьютером они смогут и дома, в любом возрасте.

Школа стоит 24 000 долларов в год. По сути, это взятка государству за то, чтобы детей, родители которых могут себе это позволить, не обучали тому, что они недочеловеки.

Как сейчас в России: если есть деньги откупиться, то в армию можно не ходить.