School Policies that Exclude or Hinder Students from Poverty

I currently teach in a rural high school with a total student body of around 350. The classes are small, and many students live in poverty. In fact, over 50 percent of our students receive free or reduced lunches. That being said, our school continuously strives to find ways to connect with the community. In addition, the school's two main rules of "respect" and "responsibility" set the policies regarding classroom setting, disciplinary procedures and graduation requirements. After recently finished a class about poverty, however, I believe that many of our high school's policies are either geared toward the middle class and their hidden rules of behavior excluding those in poverty, or the policies directly conflict with the hidden rules of poverty. This article will discuss several school policies or procedures and how they either exclude or hinder those students who live in poverty. I will publish proposed solutions to some of these problems in a future article.

The first policy which excludes many people from poverty exists in the scheduling of our parent teacher conferences. On the surface they appear to help the poor some because a school club offers free babysitting. However, conferences are only held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on two weeknights. People from poverty do not often receive the preferred factory job shift and most likely would work second or third shift. Those who work during second shift would automatically be excluded from conferences. And those who do not, would need to find transportation to the school as well as overcoming their own fears of education and teachers in general. Presuming, of course, that the parents even heard about the conference dates from his or her student because they probably wouldn't subscribe to the local newspaper and may not even be able to read any newsletter that was sent home.

Another major problem occurs with the formal voice within testing. State tests and national tests such as the ACT and SAT use a type of wording familiar to the middle class. The structure of directions and the articles within typically are written in a linear fashion, quite foreign to the round about conversations that the lower class is accustomed to using. It is bad enough that students from poverty are required to show their knowledge on a test designed for the middle class. Now our school is also striving to incorporate similar end-of-course exams to allow students credit in a course. A student could have succeeded in a course due to teacher intervention and using new strategies, only to find themselves up against a brick wall at the end of the semester. Granted, a teacher should spend time with his or her students from poverty to teach them the language of middle class and the linear structure, but many teachers fail to realize that these differences exist. Thus, students from poverty are excluded from success despite their knowledge of content because they do not know how to communicate their knowledge in the formal register.

Many teachers believe that students from poverty are defiant and bull-headed, but the truth is much different. Students from poverty have a fight instinct and are generally fearful of educators, making their interactions difficult for teachers to understand. When disciplining, many teachers talk to students from poverty in a parental tone. This strategy hinders students from poverty for a couple of reasons. First, when students are at home they usually must use a parental voice with their siblings to show control. When a teacher also uses a parental voice toward them, suddenly they butt heads. The situation is akin to having two alpha males trying to control a situation. Secondly, this strategy hinders students from poverty because it makes them dependent instead of independent. To grow into successful adults, students from poverty need to operate with options and learn how to make choices on their own. Too often, people in poverty are dependent upon others. Speaking to students in a parental voice sends them back into being dependent upon others. Instead, teachers should use an adult voice, and teach students about their options in a situation. This will be discussed further in my next article on poverty.

Although there are many more practices within our school that either exclude or hinder students, the last one I will address in this article involves the policy about .mp3 players. As .mp3 players have become inexpensive and abundant, students love to listen to music during work time in class. Students from poverty operate in a home life filled with constant noise. When classrooms are silent it hinders the success of students from poverty. Listening to music at appropriate times can provide students a way to focus on their work, using the music in a constructive way. It is a form of accommodation for students in poverty which should seriously be considered.