Hope is in the Air by Brittany Borman

As a native resident of Northern Virginia,  this trip gave me a unique look at a city so close to where I’ve lived for the past 18 years.  Sure, I’ve heard about the educational inequities in DC and around the nation, and I’ve spent more time studying these inequities since coming to William & Mary, but actually going and visiting some of these schools really struck me, especially our visit to Anacostia High.  Anacostia is located in the South side of DC.  You can see the Capitol Building from the windows of its classrooms, but the two are worlds apart.  Anacostia has a truancy rate around 40%.  Many of these kids deal with broken families and all sorts of problems at home, interfering with their classroom experiences.

But as we observed young, capable, teachers in the classrooms of Anacostia High, hope was in the air.  These teachers inspire and challenge their students to order, discipline, and hard work.  They challenge them to learn and to grow.  I sat in on a math class for students who were “over-age, under-credited,”  and I expected to see a relatively disengaged groups of students.  On the contrary, I saw a classroom full of kids having a blast doing math problems!  Not only were they engaged in learning, they were really enjoying themselves.  This seemed to be the result of a highly engaging and effective teacher leading the students through a review game of math bingo before their “quest” the following day.  Throughout the school, both students and teachers were fighting hard to beat the inequalities these kids have been born into.  But it’s hard work, and although they’re making large gains, I feel like there has to be something more we can do.

This was the main thing that I took away from this trip:  Many people are working very hard to give all kids an equal opportunity at a good education and a good life.  But if more people are aware of the problem, then more people will help fix it.  We are living in an age where education reform is becoming more and more of a forefront issue, and I am very excited to be a part of this movement.  I came home from this trip excited to make a difference in the world of education.  Let’s do this together!