Education in "The Wire"

While most people know there are problems with the education system in inner-city school districts, few people are aware of the true extent of the issue. Many people are quick to place blame on one institution or another for the entire problem. Some blame the schools, some blame the teachers, and still others blame the students. But the reality is that all parties are to blame. Students lack motivation, teachers lack experience, and schools lack resources. And each element of this cycle perpetuates the other elements, creating a downward spiral of illiteracy, crime, and poverty that is seemingly impossible to escape. This truth is evident throughout season four of The Wire. Through its characterization of Randy, an 8^th-grade member of the Fayette Street Mafia, as well as inner-city children in general, The Wire paints a clear, grim picture of the troubles that face urban children.

Through the character of Randy, we are able to see how the inadequate funding of urban schools, in combination with these schools' inexperienced teachers, causes students to lose motivation. From afar, Randy seems like a polite, intelligent kid who could really go far in life. He runs a business selling candy in the streets (4.1) and in his school (4.3), and knows what he wants to do when he grows up-own his own store (4.5). This shows Randy as a hard working entrepreneur who has legitimate goals in life. Randy is also characterized as courteous. For example, Randy's respect is evident in the scene that depicts his first day of class. While all the other kids are talking to each other and ignoring their teacher as they enter the classroom, Randy introduces himself and offers a handshake to his new teacher (4.3). A few moments later, when the teacher is unable to hush the students, Randy quiets the class so the teacher can begin his lesson (4.3). Later, Randy even helps out with the mayor-to-be's campaign, even though he was paid up front and could have ran off with the money (4.6). By staying to do the actual job as well as helping his teacher, Randy is shown as a respectful, honorable character.

However, in school, Randy is not motivated. Because the inexperienced teachers cannot keep their classes in order long enough to teach the kids, most students fail, causing them to feel stupid and incapable, as well as to see school as a waste of time, leading to a loss of motivation. This is evident in the faces of the students of one class, who look extremely bored as a teacher scolds them while passing back their failing test grades, saying the horrible test grades symbolize "the amount of interest [they're] taking in [their] own future[s]" (4.4). But Randy is actually too smart for his class. Because teachers have so much trouble keeping their classes in line, their students learn new things very slowly. Randy already knows what is being taught in class, and so feels unmotivated to continue with his teacher's slow, boring pace. This is evident when Randy's teacher asks him to answer a math question, to which Randy responds, "Is this a trick question?" because it is so easy for him to answer that he can't believe it is actually being asked of him (4.3). Since he is learning next to nothing in school, Randy decides to use his time in the building to pursue his candy-selling venture, which leads him into a world of trouble. Instead of attending class, Randy's lack of motivation in school leads him to steal hall passes (4.3), skip class (4.3), impersonate children of other grades to sell them candy without getting caught (4.3), and act as a lookout as a girl is (unbeknownst to him) raped (4.6)

Through The Wire, we are able to see Randy's fall from promising individual to lowly criminal. While Randy may be a fictional character, he is a testament to the many students in the urban school system whose lack of motivation has lead them astray. Without motivation, these students drop out of school, get involved in illegal activities, or become addicted to drugs-locking themselves and their future children into the same socioeconomic status they were born into. By destroying every last ounce of hope in these children, the combination of poverty, the streets, and the urban school system steals away all roads to a better life that may have once been attainable.