The education systems have been there for a long time, and people view them as the great equalizer of the citizens and the path out of poverty. The primary objective of these systems is to equip people with the necessary skills, knowledge, and values that will enable them to tackle life issues. Even though it is an equalizer, the system grapples with providing the same quality of education throughout the country. The systems have been ignoring most of the neediest students who are falling through the cracks. The number of dropouts has raised a big question on how to readmit those students back into the system. Victor Rios suggests that there should be a change in perspective on how people view them. Most of the students are classified as “at-risk" or "dropouts," but Rios suggested people should change the deficit perspective and classify them as “at-promise” and look at them as people who have something to offer rather than a vessel to be filled. Based on Victor’s message, numerous lessons can be learned.
Main Body
The first lesson is that, although l abels are important, using the negative labels to classify students has led to more damage in the education system. Students' hopes and dreams are cut short because the system failed them. The lack of the education system's unifying factor has led to young people perusing other means like joining gangs, drug abuses, which leads to violence, incarceration, and the worst, death. Class and race have played a huge role in further damaging the students. The poor class is left with no access to the required resources, which leads to dropping out of the education system. The Mexican and African Americans are mostly associated with gangs that are not important.
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Secondly, through the system’s loopholes, many students develop great character and skills to handle life issues. Many things go through their heads each day about education since they all have dreams and visions. Teachers should help the students turn away from the "school to prison pipeline," where students are pushed out of school and into the prison (Wilson, 2014). The students go through a lot, and with the help of the right teacher, all this can be turned around. It is hard for a student to open up, but the right platform and encouragement should help them once they do.
Thirdly, to help the "at-promise" students, everyone needs to get rid of the deficit perspective. Understanding their stories to establish the best mechanism to help them (Rios, 2015). Students are considered to be searching for knowledge and solutions, which the teachers have. We should also value the stories that the students tell. Most of them show great character, skill sets, and resilience to survive, and this is a positive thing that should be incorporated into the education system. The skills can motivate a student to do more as Rios improved his performance.
Lastly, students from poor backgrounds should be supported with resources. Although the grit may be there to do better, students may not go far if the resources are not available. The necessary resources should be given to the underprivileged students to get them further (Allen et al., 2021). Job training, mentoring, and counseling should be provided to the students to encourage them to learn from their mistakes instead of criminalizing them. It will create a system that always has the students back in case of anything.
Compare/ Contrast
Even though the education system has changed so much, the educational experience has not changed. There are still more dropouts currently like before, and the system is still failing most of the underprivileged people. The race has also been a key factor in the country. Accessibility of education resources was a limiting experience that is still being experienced in the current system. The current system is also trying to improve education accessibility through some community and government sponsorships. Another difference is the level of information literacy; with the digital world's current growth, reading and writing are not enough. Schools are implementing a digital infrastructure that helps them in their activities.
Several factors affected my success. Grit was the major one, I was determined to improve how my family lived, and this determination brought my success. The other factor was the availability of resources as the teachers believed in us to perform better each time. Learning from best practices also improved my performance since I knew how to perform a complex task using the simplest means. Other students were successful because of similar factors. Also, equal access to education encouraged the students to work extra hard.
A student's determination to work hard is affected by their life goals and the encouragement they receive from their peer and teachers. When the right environment is provided to them, they become successful. The schools may perform many functions to help a student grow. The manifest function of the education system is to provide knowledge and skills to the students. The students should be able to use the skills and knowledge provided to become successful. The education system's latent function is to provide a social environment where all students can learn equally.
Conclusion
The education system is important, as it equips learners with the necessary knowledge and skills. The system has some cracks that we need to fix immediately. Education should be equally accessible to all the citizens disregarding their characteristics. Rios' perspective has shed some light on me in that we need to change our attitude regarding the students that the system has failed. We should find a way to incorporate them back into the system easily. First, we need to listen and value their stories and provide the right support. Victor's perspective is important, as it will help transform the "at-promise" students into better people in society. A case example is Rios' experience. He had juvenile records and was on probation, but he now has a Ph.D. from the University of California.
References
Allen, R. E., Kannangara, C., & Carson, J. (2021). True grit: How important is the concept of grit for education? A narrative literature review. International Journal of Educational Psychology , 10 (1), 73. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.2021.4578
Rios, V. (2015, November). Help for kids the education system ignores . TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/victor_rios_help_for_kids_the_education_system_ignores
Wilson, H. (2014). Turning off the school-to-prison pipeline. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 23(1), 49.
