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Check out this awesome article pushing privilege envy syndrome I came across this week. According to the author of this article, there’s no way students of color in Waterbury, Connecticut can do well in school because the schools they go to are mostly majority black and such schools spend $4,000 less per pupil than neighboring majority-white schools ($16,000 per pupil for majority-non-white schools vs. $20,000 per pupil for majority-white schools).
Really? A four thousand dollars per pupil deficit is the key factor explaining the achievement gap between black students and white students? Here are two reasons why this alleged instance of “system racism” is flapdoodle.
- According to the OCED, the average class size in an American classroom is roughly 21. Let’s assume that the majority-white, $20,000-per-pupil schools neighboring Waterbury meet this benchmark. In order for the majority-black, $16,000-per-pupil schools in Waterbury to pay its teachers as well as the majority-white school districts pay their teachers, Waterbury would need to have an average class size of 26. So all that’s needed to equalize the teaching component between the haves and have-nots in Waterbury is for those who run the majority-black schools to be a little more efficient, a little more mindful when it comes to managing its resources.
- Growing up on Long Island, I went to a school district with high-per-pupil spending. But we routinely got our butts kicked in football, basketball, and baseball by schools with much lower per-pupil spending. Why? We had better facilities and spent more on equipment and coaching than these other schools. By all rights, we should have been a sports powerhouse. We weren’t a sports powerhouse, however, because, beyond a certain level of investment, money no longer matters. These “lesser” schools had inferior but totally adequate equipment and coaches and they feasted on us because they outclassed us in what mattered most: athleticism and grit.This lesson applies to Waterbury schools as well. The real issue isn’t that neighboring schools spend more per pupil; the real issue is whether $16,000 per pupil is enough to accomplish what Waterbury schools want to accomplish. And assuming for the moment that Waterbury’s primary purpose is to produce college-ready graduates, I aver that $16,000 per pupil is more than enough. Sixteen thousand times 21 (the average class size nationally) equals $336,000. Now call me nuts, but if I ran a school that brought in $336,000 for every 21 students enrolled, I think I’d have more than enough money to hire competent math and English teachers.
Final Thoughts
Promoting privilege envy syndrome is wrong because it pampers the people who can least afford to be pampered. By telling poor people to focus on the material and political resources of the wealthy, you are effectively telling them to ignore the ample opportunity and agency that they have to better themselves. You are effectively telling them that the fault doesn’t lie in them, it lies in the stars—or in that neighboring school district that spends $4,000 more per pupil. And what happens when poor people are given a pass by the “cool” people? Nothing. And that’s the problem. Pampered people—whether poor or otherwise—rarely feel obligated to change their ways.
Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. What say you? Is the article above another clear instance of the “cool” people promoting privilege envy syndrome? Or am I stretching things a little? Let me know what you think when you get a chance. Peace.
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