Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Crash or Crash Through: Part 2 581
introductory chemistry course is not in Amira’s interests and will likely diminish her already
plummeting interest in school. If City High is to address the problem of scheduling classes that
better fit with the educational goals and career aspirations of students, there is a need for more
input from the students and a greater degree of local control over the schedule. It is probable too
that the Academy structure would have to be modified to allow advanced classes to be offered on
a schoolwide basis so that such classes could contain viable numbers of students, be taught by
well-qualified teachers, and be supported by appropriate material resources.
If teachers are to make a difference in the lives of their students, it is imperative that they are
thoughtful and responsive to what students know, can do, and are experiencing in their lives. I
regard it as important for teachers to be researchers of their own practices and the ways in which
those practices afford the education of their students. A thoughtful teacher would not just look
for patterns of coherence in the culture enacted by his or her students but would also probe to
identify contradictions and make sense of them. Too often the language of teachers in and out
of the classroom is replete with statements about patterns regarding classroom life, with little
attention to the extent that these patterns are robust and whether or not there are contradictions that
could be removed or perhaps strengthened to create new patterns of coherence. Unless we take
significant steps to change the nature of urban schools, addressing the oppression of students and
teachers and imagining how they might be differently construed, the futures of many students like
Amira will be bleak indeed. Who will prevent Amira from reaching the goal she so desperately
seeks—or dare I ask, who will step forward to help her on her way?
BEYOND STATIC MODELS OF LEARNING
“Girl, you got three strikes against you. You’re Black, you’re poor, and you’re a woman. You’ve
got to rise up. Take this chance and use it well.” The Black, female principal of City High was
an advocate for her students. She saw the potential in every one of them and refused to take
deficit perspectives on what they could accomplish. I was confident that she would support my
suggestions to provide greater challenge in Amira’s academic program. Her support, a political
act, was grounded in her short history as a principal at City High, where almost all of the students
were Black and poor. Her approach was to be highly energetic and hands on. If there was litter
on the floor, she picked it up, if students were out of line, she let them know about it. When she
saw things she liked she was expressive in her support and encouraging to do more things like
that. The principal wanted to offer more advanced placement courses and took every opportunity
to get her students out of the building to learn in the community, especially on the campuses of
nearby universities so that the students of City High would have images of themselves on college
campuses, learning at a university. The principal realized that learning had to do with goal setting
and being able to imagine possibilities that were related to experience. She knew only too well
that the students of City High constituted an underclass, most of whom had never experienced
the fruits of middle-class upbringing and adults who were college graduates. Accordingly, my
requests to provide Amira with a new program were at first met with derision and then unwavering
support. “Dr. Tobin! We got more than two thousand kids in this school. We cannot save them
one at a time!” she chided me. Then without a moment of reflection she announced, “Let’s do it
Tobin. Bring Amira to see me”
In a principal’s office, far from Amira and her peers, structures were created to support her
agency. Those changes did not propel Amira in a deterministic way toward a pre-med program
at College, but they did make it possible for her to stay on course with her vision of becoming a
doctor. Amira’s opportunities to learn were structured by others acting on her behalf and the new
structures expanded Amira’s agency, such that her cultural production, reflected in her learning
of science, was now aligned with the political necessities of having to pass four science courses