ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CINCINNATI
SOURCE: Associated Press
RESEARCHERS say other aspects of urban life block inner-city youths' success.
Poverty is a serious hardship but not the only cause of problems facing children in inner cities, an Education Department report found.
Even after accounting for poverty, the report said, fewer urban students finish high school on time than poor children in rural areas, and they have higher rates of poverty and unemployment later in life.
That, researchers said, suggested that other aspects of city life besides poverty hamper inner-city kids' success.
The urban poor, for example, attend schools with larger enrollments, higher rates of teacher absenteeism, and discipline and safety problems, the report said.
Such students are more likely to watch at least three hours of television on weekdays and spend less time on homework, the report said. They come more frequently from single-parent families and transfer schools more frequently.
``We found that in about half the things we looked at, that the problems in urban schools were due to poverty,'' said Jeanne Griffith, acting commissioner of the National Center of Educational Statistics, which issued the report. ``But in the other half, there was something about being in an urban setting that contributed even more.''
This is not news to urban teachers, who are quick to relate problems urban life creates for their students: Teen pregnancy, fear of being shot, little exposure to people or experiences that reinforce education.
``They go from home to school and school to home,'' said Joan Goodman, a music teacher at Willis Avenue School in the South Bronx. ``They don't have any experiences to bring to the classroom. They don't have the richness of the experiences of childhood.''
But Goodman said these students can learn and become productive adults. Her school invites successful alumni to speak - but she said once they succeed, they move away.
``A lot of times, the mother might be the single parent and really has nobody else to turn to,'' said Martha King, a kindergarten teacher at Dilworth Traditional Academy, a public school in Pittsburgh.
She said she almost put her head down and cried one day as she listened to students relating how they couldn't go outside their homes because of drug dealing and violence, would lie down when they heard shots, and duck in the car when driving through violent neighborhoods.
``Too many of my students have seen murders,'' lamented Brenda Chaney, a reading teacher in Boston. ``One student last year had to move because his brother had gotten shot [fatally] by a gang and they were worried he would get shot, too.''
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB