Every Child Deserves the World
Posted March 29th, 2010 by Homa TavangarThere’s a school just outside L.A., where all the students are classified as “poor.” Until a few years ago, the school’s location was considered part of a gang’s territory, with a violent history. Crossing the line to get to the Vaughn school meant you were taking your life into your own hands. But the day I walked into the high school now known as Vaughn International Studies Academy (VISA), groups of students were preparing to take the stage for a Chinese New Year celebration, packing red silk vests as their weapon of choice. The freshmen sang first, and seniors sitting in the front of the assembly were singing along to the Mandarin lyrics. Later, a few girls showed us their local environmental education initiative and we joined another group during their lunch period where they were planning a simulation of a Darfur refugee camp experience which they’d help middle schoolers to lead.
Students at VISA learn about the world. Photo credit: Eric O'Connell
Instead of adding to the accounts of failing schools and drop out students, this story from L.A.’s San Fernando Valley demonstrates the power of global education for transformation – on a local level. When school principal Stan Leandro, himself a child of San Fernando, CA, took Tony Jackson, Vice President for Education at the Asia Society, and me for a tour of the school, we met kids like Oscar, who proudly announced that when he came to VISA he started with four “F’s” and two “C’s” but his last report card resulted in four “A’s” and two “B’s.” “Mr. Leandro, why didn’t I get the most improved prize?” he pleaded. “You did great; but you’re gonna reach higher,” was the gist of the principal’s response, who somehow seemed to know how all his kids were doing. Oscar seemed happy with that. And in class after class that we visited, we saw great learning environments for core classes like English, Math and Science, with engaged students and teachers – the kind of place every child deserves to learn in.
Student writing in Mandarin. Photo credit: Eric O'Connell
Flags of the world adorn the entrance of the school. I asked Mr. Leandro if this, along with the Chinese language requirement, is what makes the place so special. “No, it’s not. See the banner in the middle? We’re displaying our progress yearly in state-wide tests.” So, is that steadily rising performance what makes the school so special? “No,” he said, “that’s just a reflection of what we’re building.” He went on to explain that their “core values” are fueling a cultural shift – and this is the difference.
VISA's API scores is something to be proud of.
As a member of the Asia Society International Studies Schools Network , VISA’s teachers and staff are trained to prepare children to be globally competent and college/work ready. The adoption of a mind-set that helps the students to see themselves as part of a bigger world, with valuable skills and the motivation, or simply the HOPE, that they can build a better future, empowers them to achieve and succeed. The school taps into global learning opportunities and service engagement at the local and global levels to help transform the culture into a positive one. The students still have a long way to go to reach the top echelon of SAT scores and many remain at-risk, but the context of global learning offers an important means for changing the lives of these youth living under the poverty line, with hopes and dreams to rise above.
VISA’s example shows that global learning is powerful, and for any child – despite the odds against them. Previously this might have been the exclusive domain of elite children who could travel abroad. Today, we can’t afford to keep it exclusive. Our economy and even our national security depend on raising a generation that’s not just plugged in, but connected, truly connected on a human level. Academic environments help this process by teaching world languages, literature from many parts of the world, scientific learning that transcends national boundaries. They adapt best practices for education from around the world, and celebrate inclusiveness and diversity as part of their operating principles.
Home environments can reinforce these efforts. Simplest acts, like grocery shopping together for one new variety of produce junior has never tried before, or renting a family-friendly movie set in a different country; and more profound steps, like making friends across boundaries and engaging in dinner table conversations across generations can launch your child on a process of feeling at home in the world, like a global citizen. These don’t cost much, and we can’t afford not to do this for our kids.
Please check back for ideas you can use at school and at home for all our kids to “grow up global” and please share what’s worked for you.
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Homa Sabet Tavangar is the author of Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World. She is the mother of three aspiring world citizens, ranging in age from 6 to 16.
11 Comments
Great post! I agree, every child deserves the world!
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May 6, 2010 at 2:11 pm by SueWhy are the students “poor” in quotes? Does the author mean that the kids really are not poor? Is being poor an insult we should shy away from? A label we should not hamper students with? Or is poverty something we as a society should discount? Does it make us uncomfortable to think of “poor” students? Is the author poking fun at poverty or, even worse, is the author suggesting poverty has no affect on children’s education or achievement levels? In fact, parent’s income is the one factor that can reliable predict a student’s test scores and achievement level.
I work at a Title I school where all the kids are on a free lunch, not even a reduced lunch. Many of the kids suffer health problems. One boy had AIDS and was being raised by his grandmother. A number have parents who have died due to health issues. One little girl saw her mother die right in front of her. Other kids have family members who have been shot by gang members. Other kids have fathers who are in jail or killed by the police. There are lots of single mothers and lots grandparents raising the kids. Many kids come to school hungry, some are unwashed, and others tell me they are cold at night. Most of the parents do work, but they are the working poor, working 2-3 jobs, doing jobs such as delivering papers at 4:00am, often with their kids in tow because they don’t have anyone to watch the kids at that hour. Those kids come to school sleepy.
These kids suffer problems that do not help them be in a state of “ready to learn” every morning. Please stop dismissing poverty as though it has no affect on kids and their ability and desire to learn in school. If we want to close the achievement gap, we need to look at poverty and counter the effects of poverty.
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April 27, 2010 at 6:16 pm by KiraWhile Vaughn may be a successful school by some measure, what is that measure? Vaughn is in Program Improvement. They have not met Adequate Yearly Progress and their California High School Exit Exams show that 50.5 % are NOT proficient in English and and 54.9% are NOT proficient in Math. In fact, for the last 2 years they have gotten lower high school scores than the state average. These results are despite quite a bit of funding from private organizations. I’m assuming the private money means that this charter school is getting more per pupil than a regular public school. Unrestricted money for Vaughn is $10,562 per student vs $5,512 per student for the state.
While I personally do not believe in the stupidity that NCLB testing and “accountability” have produced, I also don’t believe that charter schools are the answer to helping impoverished students. (Read: “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”) Why don’t public schools get the funding that Vaughn seems to have gotten? Why aren’t all kids learning Mandarin, Spanish or French, regardless of their math and English scores? What about music? Why does everything, especially for poor children, hinge on “test prep” for Language Arts and Math rather than education?
Vaughn, however, despite it’s low scores, does seem successful in terms of keeping kids interested in education and in terms of exposing kids to a larger world.
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Mihal Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
@Kira,
You are correct, Vaughn is in Program Improvement due to the insane restrictions of NCLB. In fact we were 3/10 of a percent away from getting out of Program Improvement. However, if you are using test results to measure success you can see from the graphic above that over the past ten years, Vaughn has grown over 300 points in its API score. In fact, there has not been a single year of decline. I challenge you to find a school that is 99% Latino and 100% free and reduced lunch in population that is equal to or better than our school. That is why Vaughn is ranked 10 out 10 when compared to similar schools. In regards to funding, what is stopping other schools from seeking grants and additional support? Although, please understand that money alone is also not the answer. Vaughn’s success is due to an ensemble of hard-working professionals.
Lastly, I am not sure why you are so quick to state that charters are not the answer? Charters have never been the answer they are simply an option; an option that parents are grateful and thankful for.
Furthermore, this is not a blog that is advocating the creation of more charters. There are many charters in Los Angeles that are not “global” and do not consider a global perspective in their curricular design. VISA is special due to it’s connection with the Asia Society’s ISSN network. This national network consists of many schools that are not charters. There are even entire school districts taking on this initiative of graduating global citizens. I apologize for rambling, but I did feel the need to respond and clarify.
While I do work at Vaughn, my response represents my personal views.
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Mallory Reply:
May 6th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
@Kira, Thanks for pointing out Vaughn is a Program Improvement school. The author writes:”Instead of adding to the accounts of failing schools and drop out students…” And, yet, since it is in Program Improvement and more than 50% of the high school kids fail the exit exam, Vaughn, too, by the standards that all schools are measured against *is* a failing school. Join the club!
Where is the accountability? If and when Vaughn, too, shows that it cannot raise its test scores, will it, too, be closed like so many public schools in poor neighborhoods? Will it be taken over by the state? Will it turn into another charter? These are the solutions posited by the current and previous administration and touted by conservative politicians and by many journalists. Will its teachers be deemed “failures” and “dead wood” as the teachers at every Title I (impoverished) school are labeled?
Vaughn should stop pretending to be something it is not. This school has 2x the per pupil funding (and more actually), and yet, it too, *cannot* do what all public schools are asked (being forced) in this day and age to do.
Is NCLB right? Is it fair? I don’t think so either, but I, too, am tired of the games schools play to appear “successful.” The standards and whole notion of accountability need to change. And, frankly, all kids in *all* public schools deserve the funding that Vaughn gets.
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Thanks for this great feedback. As your comments reflect, so many parents really WANT a global perspective and experience for their children, and as Americans we all come from someplace else. Integrating the immigrant or multi-cultural reality into our family’s values can be such a natural act. I’m excited to keep hearing from you and look forward to more posting!
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Mallory Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 5:15 pm
@Homa, Your comment makes me think you miss the point. *Many* great schools are in Program Improvement and those students and their teachers are being labeled “failures.” The difference between them and Vaughn is they don’t have a PR machine behind them. Your “blog” here was even posted on the Vaughn website. (Not sure if is still there.) Another difference: since Vaughn is funded by one of the main billionaire boys club foundations (did they pay you?), Vaughn will likely not close any time soon, despite having a similar record as other schools that teach the same demographic. Really tired of the rah-rah PR put out by charter schools. Is that what they spend their (that is, the public’s and, in Vaughn’s case, foundation) money on?
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I am immigrant my self, and my daughter is growing as a “mixed” child, which I am very happy and proud of, she is learning Spanish and English at the same time and in the future I hope she can travel around the world and do community service in different cultures, as I ones did in the native tribes of Peru and South America. What I think is that cultures boundaries are falling down and culture is becoming universal, like for example in my house, we eat Indian food and drink Argentinian mate while listening to Jamaican reggae music that my husband loves. We are now in the position of choosing what do we like of different cultures and make it our own, creating our own unique culture in our families. And one of the things that VISA is doing for this kids is opening the doors of the world to them, so they can choose from it what they like the best. Every Saturday in my house we have a mother’s group where moms and children come and we all learn about spiritual ways of raising our kids, our group is so diverse, from all cultures and backgrounds! I love it! it just shows how we are becoming one race of people. We are also reading “Growing up global”!
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March 29, 2010 at 4:40 pm by Anne McCarten-GibbsWhat a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it, we here in California get battered with news about our education problems, while success stories like this get lost. What an impressive educational culture they have built.
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March 29, 2010 at 3:22 pm by victoria o'neillWow, what a fantastic school, and hopefully this will become the model for all schools. The title of this eloquent article pretty much says it all.
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March 29, 2010 at 2:22 pm by AnitaThis is so beautiful and inspiring. I love this concept of “growing up global.” I guess it’s not just a concept for me, as a child of immigrants myself. But the way you’ve articulated this shows how universal this experience can be, even for those who may have never left their own hometown. Please keep sharing these stories!
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