All Children Can be Winners

This was written in response to the Code Red articles in the  Spectator and was published by the newspaper on April 15 2010

At last the depth of the problems in the lower city has been graphically revealed. Let’s hope that Hamilton will never be the same.

In 1998 I became the trustee for ward 2 and saw the uncomfortable inequities in neighbourhoods. Children often had little to do outside school, and few safe outdoor spaces in which to play. Schools were overwhelmed with the needs of their students who often had significant learning, social, or emotional problems, were dealing with trauma arising from the war- torn countries from which their families had fled, or had left abusive families. In one school there was nearly a 100 per cent turnover of students each year.  Parents wanted to be supportive but often had no phone, could not be contacted at work, and did not have transportation. Student attendance and achievement were low.

Inner City Schools were first identified as ENOC schools (Education Needs in the Old City) in 1972; the first junior kindergarten classes were placed there.  School boards continue to identify high-needs schools, and provide them with additional resources, staffing and staff development.  In addition, these schools use any partnerships and donations they can find. The Best Start urban pilot has brought welcome resources and community planning for young families and the Poverty Round Table’s work has resulted in additional support for schools and neighbourhoods.  All these initiatives have brought some gains in student achievement but not the large increases needed to reach provincial standards.

But  as Jean Anyon says” Attempting to fix  inner city schools without fixing the city in which they are embedded is like trying to clean the air on one side of a screen door”.

So how can student achievements in inner city schools be improved?

 Issues of poverty must be addressed. Government interventions must be equitable, and governments must use their ability to set adequate minimum wage standards, social assistance, family and child benefits and disability pensions.  Once these were in place, families would be under less stress, could afford the accommodation that is currently available, and would not need to move their families around. With less mobility, children could learn more. Less school time would be spent on emergency food, clothing closets, seeking grants and donations, and more on teaching.

Educational issues must be tackled. When parents do not have a high-school diploma, there are two big implications:

Parents who did less well in school tend to have children who do the same. The Centre of Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning, University

of London, UK, found that many children as early as three years of age from disadvantaged backgrounds are already a year behind those who are the

children of graduates, in vocabulary, and understanding of colours, letters, numbers, sizes and shapes. To break this cycle a National Child Care Plan that

incorporates early childhood education and family support is needed.

Secondly, without a high-school diplomaadults do not have the skills for most jobs. In 2009, the C.D. Howe Institute found the probability of someone between the ages of 25-64, who is without high school certification, reporting an income below Low Income Cut Offs (LICO) after tax in 2005, is nearly one in three. If Hamilton had a plan to increase life- long learning from birth to old age, it could enhance formal and informal learning, and improve prosperity. The outcomes sought might be similar to Vancouver’s Learning City project: “enhanced access to learning opportunities for at-risk, disadvantaged and marginalized community members and groups; higher enrolment and completion rates for students at all levels; increased access to and use of learning technologies; and greater citizen engagement and social inclusion”.

   

Finally, to support students in schools there need to be co-ordinated approaches to children’s health prior to birth and into adulthood, safety and security, recreation, neighbourhood planning, and for the transition into the work-place.  This could be in the form of a Strategic Children’s Plan.

 As Fiona Nelson, a former Toronto trustee says, “Children do not divide into winners and losers unless we chose to divide them so”.  In Hamilton we must decide to make all our children winners.