Today, I decided to invite one of my close friends, who is a NYC teacher to take on this interesting NPR Article.

I felt there was no better person to reach out to than him. Why? Because he’s been teaching and dealing with Dominican kids and parents for close to 4 years now.

I suggest you read the NPR Article first, and then my friend’s take on it, with his own personal experiences included. Its a really great read.

Great Expectations

On July 31, 2009, NPR News aired a segment entitled, “At School, Lower Expectations of Dominican Kids.” The piece focused on the large disparity of academic achievement between the children of Asian and Dominican immigrants in Boston.

As a New York City Public School teacher that teaches in a predominantly Dominican high school, I was extremely interested in learning about the findings of the segment. In short, the gist of the report centered on the premise that some schools and educators in Boston, stereotype Dominican children as lazy and uninterested in education. Therefore, they do not deserve attention in the classroom.

NPR’s Claudio Sanchez interviewed a Dominican family, the Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, a high school headmaster, and a Harvard professor for this segment.

All parties offered divergent perspectives on this critical issue, yet the two most striking points came from Wildo Merced and Dr. Margaret Bledsoe.

Mr. Merced, a Dominican teenager, just graduated from high school, but believed that he was ostracized by his teachers because of his ethnicity. Merced stated, “..they would almost, like, try to go way too slow with me. They looked down on me most of the time when they were teaching me.” Mr. Merced’s mother believed that teachers viewed Asian students more favorably than Dominican students as well.

To make matters worse, Dr. Margaret Bledsoe, the Headmaster of Charlestown High School, justified Ms. Merced’s conviction to some extent by stating that Asian kids place a higher value in education. Bledsoe claimed, “they[Asians] buy in more to a belief that academics is their ticket, whereas our Latino students often are, you know, have a lot less confidence that this is actually going to work for them.”

After listening to Bledsoe’s response, I began to wonder, “how could an educator make such an egregious statement?”

Despite the frustrations Bledsoe may have endured with some Dominican students, it is wrong to stereotype an entire group and make blanket statements as a means to justify your inability to reach that group. Should Bledsoe’s statement lead us to believe that all educators in Boston share her belief about Latino students? If in fact, Latino students do believe that education is not “actually going to work for them,” is that acceptable? Do all educators actually have “lower expectations of Dominican kids” as the title of NPR’s segment suggests?

September 2009 will mark the fourth year that I have been teaching inner-city, Dominican high school students from the Washington Heights and Inwood sections of Upper Manhattan.

An outsider’s initial perception of these young, vivacious, and vociferous students from this community might help to solidify widely held stereotypes. Many of these students are habitually tardy, unprepared, and bring whatever baggage they carry from the neighborhood straight into the classroom. In some cases, an impatient educator may want to give up on these students without getting to know them.

Yet, notwithstanding these intricacies, I steadfastly aim to have high expectations for these “Dominican kids” and have seen the results of my actions. Though it may be hard to believe, these “kids” know when “low expectations” have been set for them, and will respond accordingly based upon the standard you set. I have witnessed myriad students’ true passion for learning and discovery. Whether it was learning about Ancient Egyptian civilization or Columbus’ massacre of the Tainos in Hispaniola, these students always demonstrated their passion for knowledge and determination to succeed against all odds.

Moreover, it was these students and their Dominican parents that understood the value of education and the potential opportunities that higher education had in store for them. After enduring various trials and tribulations over the years, I witnessed their potential come to fruition as these same students gained acceptance into four-year colleges and graduated high school, right here in New York City.

In spite of the myriad achievements, triumphs, and experiences witnessing students overcome adversity, the harsh realities of the urban landscape still resonate and have an unfortunate presence in the lives of many of these “Dominican kids.”

I have formed bonds and made connections with some students and saw that progress go to waste because of one summer vacation of neighborhood gang initiation that led to drugs, alcohol, and becoming victims of the streets. In addition, I have seen young parents that didn’t do enough to support their children and in turn, these students did not demonstrate an interest in their own education, thus dropping out of high school.

Unfortunately, some students feed into myths and perpetuate stereotypes because they believe that they have to behave a certain way. For instance, I once asked a fifteen year old student of mine from Inwood about his sporadic attendance and if he planned to go to college. His response was that he is “from the hood, will always live in the hood, and that we [Dominicans] don’t go to college.”

There are no easy solutions to this systemic problem and communities regardless of class or ethnicity need to reevaluate the values they place upon education. Nonetheless, with respect to “Dominican kids” in the inner cities of New York and Boston, there is never an excuse for any educator to “lower expectations” for any child, especially silly ones based upon race and ethnicity.

If indeed educators “lower expectations” and continue to dangerously “buy into stereotypes” regarding the aptitude of Latino children, we will be gambling with the future of our country. Sadly, what is unbeknownst to these educators is that this is one bet we cannot afford to lose.

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