“If life experiences can change poor kids for the worse, can’t life experiences also change them for the better”?(Eric Jensen, 2009).
This was a quote used at Commissioner Breed's speech to the ESU 2 School Board members Wednesday to illustrate the idea that instead of schools making excuses for why their students are not performing well, they should focus on what they are doing to improve performance.
In his book, Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It, Jensen tells this story:
"A teacher asks students to write a theme about their dreams. Monty writes of being a ranch owner and horse trainer. Teacher gives Monty his theme back with an emphatic “F” and advises Monty to write about something he can actually achieve, and she will consider changing the “F” to a passing grade. Monty tells teacher to keep her “F” and he will keep his dream. Monty turns out to be the person we know today as the Horse Whisperer, Monty Roberts. Monty owns a huge thoroughbred ranch, has written five bestselling books, was focus of a major motion picture starring Robert Redford, and has trained horses for the Queen of England."
We may not have a Monty Roberts in our schools (and then again maybe we do), but we owe to our students to provide all of them with the skills they need to be successful at the next level, whatever that might be. Educator Ron Edmunds once said, "we can educate anyone whose education is important to us."
