Critical Thinking

I have been teaching high school science for nine years in both an inner city school in San Francisco, and in a suburban school just outside of San Francisco. In both settings I have been shocked by the numbers of students who are not academically ready for the rigors of high school and who have not been able to thrive in my classes. Here are just a few of the issues these students bring with them that impair their ability to succeed in school and that are clearly beyond the teachers’ and schools’ abilities to ameliorate.

• Pregnancy
• Severe illness (I had one student who died of cancer during the school year and another who was absent over 50% of the time due to sickle cell)
• Issues around sexual identity
• Prostitution
• Transgender issues
• Epileptic seizures exacerbated by the mother’s cocaine binges
• Detached retina (and 3 surgeries in one year)
• Post traumatic stress disorder
• Molestation
• Depression
• Schizophrenia
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Father murdered mother in front of student during school year
• ADHD
• Anorexia (including one boy who was hospitalized twice in one year)
• Addiction (I’ve had situations in which the school refused to suspend students who came to school high or drunk, or in which the parents were in denial, despite the evidence)
• Legal problems (in and out of juvenile hall, including one youth who faced years in prison for beating someone to death if he did not pass all of his classes)
• Cops or parole officers pulling students out of class for interrogation
• Immigration issues (including deportation)
• Gangs (including many students who cannot get to school without crossing rival turf and risking being attacked)
• Homelessness, living on streets or in shelters
• Running away from home
• Having more than one home due to divorce and not having all necessary school supplies in both homes
• Not having a quiet place to study at home
• Not having anyone at home to help with homework
• Having no consequences at home for not doing homework or for failing classes
  
• Having familial responsibilities that take precedence over school work (e.g., baby sitting siblings or earning income)
• Having no consequences at home for being rude or disrespectful
• Having parents who lie or cover for them
• Having parents pull them out of class for appointments, vacations, or to rent a tuxedo
• Being socially promoted (e.g., entering high school reading at the 2^nd or 3rd grade level is not uncommon)
  
• Coming from feeder schools that do not assign homework
• Coming from feeder districts that do not hold students back, even when they cannot read or write
• Believing that learning is irrelevant because they can join the military or the family business after graduation
• Believing that education is a plot by the white man

# posted by pantagruel1 : 1:49 PM