Priceless lesson

Teacher, students put learning into action, show what can be done

By Marion Brady
Special to the Sentinel

May 22, 2004

For educators, there ought to be an annual SPOOSE -- "Silk Purse Out Of Sow's Ear" -- Award. If some foundation will underwrite it, I nominate Chicago teacher Brian Schultz and his fifth-grade class as its first recipients.

Schultz got in touch with me recently to tell me he thought I'd like what he and his class were doing.

He was right. At a time when many educators, usually under duress, have turned their classrooms into mind-numbing, joy-killing, drill-them-'til-they-drop test-prep factories, Schultz has taken a different approach to teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. And life.

He and his students operate out of Room 405 of the Byrd Community Academy. BCA is in Chicago, in a building smack up against Cabrini-Green, the public-housing project with a national reputation for gang activity, drugs, street violence, unemployment and dysfunctional families. Cabrini-Green has all the stuff of which failure is made, and it often delivers door-to-door.

Last December, casting around for something that might actually motivate his students, Schultz asked if there was a problem they'd like to take on. He guessed they'd come up with something like "more choices of drinks at lunchtime."

He was wrong. With all the enthusiasm of youth, they told him the worst problem was their sorry school building. They needed a new one.

They had reasons: The bulletproof glass in classroom windows had frosted over with age, shut out daylight, and rattled in the wind. Room temperatures swung back and forth between the low 60s and mid-80s. Plumbing leaked. Light fixtures were broken. Restroom roaches were aggressive. There was no auditorium, no gymnasium, no lunchroom, no stage, no doors on toilet stalls, no garbage cans. Assemblies were held in a hallway; lunches were eaten in another hallway. There was never enough soap, paper towels or hot water.

The kids were serious. Following a model developed by the national Center for Civic Education, and supported locally by the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago, they put together a plan that wrapped action and academics tightly together. Student inspections of the school identified and documented the nature and seriousness of problems. Letters drafted to the school board, the mayor, central-office administrators and legislators invited them to visit the school and see conditions for themselves. Surveys were designed and administered, and interviews conducted. Photographic and video presentations were prepared and news releases written. A supporters' list was created and follow-up communications suggested ways those outside the local community could help. Strategies for raising money and public awareness -- protest marches, petitions, a strike, bake sales, car washes, and so on -- were discussed. Budget information was studied. Internet searches expanded options and understanding. An informative, attractive Internet site was created (www.projectcitizen405.com). The working (and failure to work) of governments were observed firsthand.

The project is still under way. Some of the worst problems in the school are being addressed, which is a pretty good indication that what the kids want they're not going to get. But from an educational perspective, the project is surely a howling success.

For starters, average daily attendance in the class is 98 percent. That's pretty much unheard of in most schools, much less in one like Byrd Community Academy.

What brings the kids to class? Without a doubt, reason No. 1 is Brian Schultz. He's demonstrating the impossible-to-measure impact of a teacher who cares about, listens to, and genuinely respects kids.

Two: One of the most powerful human needs is for autonomy, independence, control over one's actions. The drive is probably even more powerful in kids than in adults. Within the narrow boundaries that our traditional approach to schooling permits, Schultz's fifth-graders have autonomy and control.

Three: The kids are out of their seats, dealing with the real world in all its intellectually stimulating complexity. Contrast that with the "sit down, shut up, listen-because-you'll-need-to-know-this-next-year" fare they'd come to expect.

Four: Succeed or fail, what they're trying to do is genuinely important, not merely in the context of schooling, but in the larger world beyond the fence. It's not just getting ready for the next grade, not just a game or simulation, not just preparing for a test, not just jumping through yet another ritual hoop, not just doing what their parents or Schultz wants them to do. It's learning as means to end -- making Cabrini-Green a better place.

The young need reasons they consider legitimate for learning to read and write, and nothing is more legitimate than making a difference in how well the world works. The costs of failing to recognize that fact are incalculable.

Marion Brady, a longtime educator, lives in Cocoa. He wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at mbrady22@cfl.rr.com.

Get home delivery - up to 50% off