As a Philadelphia-area native, I find participating in the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project particularly meaningful. I remember talking with one of the girls I tutored at University City High School after we finished some math homework. She was stunned to find out we bought water ice at the same place. She remarked, "You can't have grown up near me; you go to Penn."
This remark has stuck with me throughout my years at Penn. In fact, we did live near one another, but in different school districts. An arbitrary line made our educational experiences worlds apart.
In the United States, public education is fragmented. Despite some supervision at the state level, what students receive is basically predicated by their school districts, whose capabilities are mostly determined by property taxes. In fact, public education is very strongly correlated with socio-economic status, systematically putting poorer students at a disadvantage. Schools in poorer areas are under-funded, over-crowded and unable to attract enough qualified teachers.
Philadelphia public schools are really suffering. A comparison between the numbers from my school district, Lower Merion, and Philadelphia City School District highlights this difference, especially since the two districts share the border of City Avenue. The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment is a set of standardized tests taken statewide in third, fifth, eighth and 11th grades. Schools that perform well are rewarded with extra funding, while schools that perform poorly are not.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education publishes the results on its Web site every year. On the math test, 89 percent of fifth graders scored advanced or proficient in Lower Merion, while the results for Philadelphia were 45.8 percent. Reading scores were similar; Lower Merion had 89 percent advanced or proficient, while Philadelphia had 37 percent. The disparity leaps off the page.
It doesn't have to be this way. The Penn-Alexander School received scores significantly above the Philadelphia average. In fact, 77 percent of its fifth graders scored advanced or proficient on the math test and 57 percent advanced or proficient on the reading portion. The Penn-Alexander School benefits from funding and expertise from the University. Unfortunately, it is unrealistic to expect Penn to take over the entire Philadelphia School System.
Whatever adverse effects the ever-expanding Penn universe has on West Philadelphia, there are many ways in which Penn can help the community. In July, the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that more Philadelphia students are being admitted to Penn than in past years. After a history of reluctance to take homegrown scholars, 139 members of the freshman class are Philadelphians. And many students, like me, perform community service in Philadelphia public schools.
However, in the real world, the good intentions of a bunch of nice kids only go so far. Even when those good intentions lead young adults to engage in a greater commitment, like Teach for America, they are a band-aid, not a solution.
There are some serious structural problems with America's educational system. Allocating funds to high-performing schools and punishing those that under-perform is only part of the problem. Public education is supposed to enable Americans to seize the American Dream. Given basic tools, every person has the capacity to work hard and succeed, right? Well, the answer is no. When large portions of children lack basic literacy and math skills, they are unable to succeed. They will continue in a cycle of poverty and dead-end jobs for the rest of their lives, no matter how hard they work.
Many options have been introduced, seeking to solve education's problems. Charter schools, privatization of school districts and partnerships with private institutions like Penn have all been tried. They have elements of success, but they only touch small segments of the population, leaving large numbers of children in poorly equipped, over-crowded and failing schools. Despite all efforts, these children are being left behind.
Penn's partnership with the Alexander School is a step in the right direction. But it's a very small step. Nonetheless, the positive attention it receives is proof that progress can be made. It shows that children really do benefit from greater attention and smaller class size. It will take huge changes in attitudes and funding mechanisms before other schools can rival Penn-Alexander, but at least they have a goal in sight.Edith Mulhern is a senior French, international relations and history majorfrom Ardmore, Pa. Voice of the Sparrow appears on Fridays.
