Self-Fulfilling Prophecy ; Labeling Expectations
"Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations".
-Earl Nightingale
-Earl Nightingale
By: Luis Almanza
Expectations of the individual student at a Cps high school reflects the way students are taught. In the Chicago Catalyst, an article based upon the college acceptance of former cps students it was found that the expectations of graduation and success are unequally spread in various types of CPS schools. The research further found that the expectation at a selective enrollment high school is for all students to graduate, while at neighborhood high schools the hope is for many to graduate. Consequently, the research shows that graduates from selective schools are more likely to seek post-secondary education. CPS describes the neighborhood and selective enrollment schools from very different perspectives. Selective enrollment is seen “to meet the needs of Chicago’s most academically-advanced students”, and defines local high schools “as your first option”. These two types of high schools are built on two separate ideologies, one which gives the connotation that all students will graduate ,and the other with with no expectation at all.CPS claims to “prepare students for college or a job”,this presents the idea that all of these will not succeed and go on to postsecondary education and some are destined to fail and only manage to get a “job” that is based upon no educational skill. The low expectations for students in neighborhood high schools is reflective of the low graduation rates and the acceptance of these students in post secondary schools. The schools with the lowest expectations according to Mr. Sanchez a counselor at the Kennedy high school on the near south side of chicago are often the what he calls the “one percent of students who choose to fail school ”. By labeling the students based upon the type of school they are in and creating expectations based upon this is offers students no emotional support as for what they can achieve in their future.
The graduation rate of the two levels of schools is an estimated 20 percent gap according to the CPS website. Expectations and the characterization of the students play a pivotal role based upon The research of the chicago postsecondary project which is based upon cps high schools students who were followed throughout their four years.This research has shown that between 1980 to 2002 the overall belief in students to attend a four year college has increased 36 percent. Despite the increase,the gap in achievement of selective and local high schools has remained stagnant over the past 10 years. CPS is at fault for allowing students to become subject to the idea that they are failures. The way that CPS defines this school because it already sets a negative connotation for what a student who enrolls in a local high school as opposed to the positive connotation of a student who enrolls in a selective enrollment high school. Which defines one as successful and the other as underachieving which is enforced upon the students themselves.
As Mr. Gonzalez, a honors and regular Spanish teacher at Kennedy High School, stated “ I notice the difference between both classes. In one class everyone wants to learn while in another no one does anything. So much so that students even ask me personally why do you give homework if no one is going to do it?” The difference in the expectation is present in not only the teacher but the students themselves because they have come to believe that they will not surpass the idea of what they will achieve. Lowering the expectation to not even attempting the homework shows that the student has lost their aspirations by even asking the question. While a former Jones alumni stated that “it only takes one person to set an example, however if no example is set then the student can never comprehend success”, this remains true and is seen through the rate of achievement in graduation of CPS high school graduates.
Similarly enough the Chicago Catalyst and its research based on past CPS graduates found that selective enrollment schools “are built around the process of applying to a selective or very selective college, while neighborhood high schools are not”. This statement labels the affects the students psychologically by establishing to the students that they are not as intelligent as other students and will not be able to reach post secondary education. Despite all of the compelling and overwhelming research the common question arrised is what about the students who simply don't want to learn. A CPS counselor and a UIC professor Mr. Sanchez call those students the “1 percent”. He claims those are the students who simply don't want to work in his experience, one in particular, proves right. He questioned a student about why they had a poor attitude and low grades the student stated “why should I work when my father, a truck driver for the city, makes twice the money you make and he can get em in and in 3 years i'll be making more than you”. This real example, while extreme says Mr. Sanchez tells me that their are genuinely students who don't want to graduate and feel they don't need to. This is hardly ever the case while this 1 percent is being used as an example of why the expectations are low for some students the majority of students are trying and are simply being taught unequally. The types of CPS schools differentiate greatly in honors to regulars and student achievement. The various expectations and labels are used to suppress students of the two levels to create a social superiority to one another. One fears the other for either being labeled as dumb and another for being labeled as intelligent. This is not a fault of the teachers, students, or even schools,but to the administration with their preconceived expectation which is embedded in the label of the type of school.In local/neighborhood highschools a successful year consists of a 75 percent graduation rate ,still 10 percent below selective enrollment schools.The “successful year” should be a year when the graduation rate is equal in both types of schools, so all schools can be labeled as high achieving and are expected to graduate.
The graduation rate of the two levels of schools is an estimated 20 percent gap according to the CPS website. Expectations and the characterization of the students play a pivotal role based upon The research of the chicago postsecondary project which is based upon cps high schools students who were followed throughout their four years.This research has shown that between 1980 to 2002 the overall belief in students to attend a four year college has increased 36 percent. Despite the increase,the gap in achievement of selective and local high schools has remained stagnant over the past 10 years. CPS is at fault for allowing students to become subject to the idea that they are failures. The way that CPS defines this school because it already sets a negative connotation for what a student who enrolls in a local high school as opposed to the positive connotation of a student who enrolls in a selective enrollment high school. Which defines one as successful and the other as underachieving which is enforced upon the students themselves.
As Mr. Gonzalez, a honors and regular Spanish teacher at Kennedy High School, stated “ I notice the difference between both classes. In one class everyone wants to learn while in another no one does anything. So much so that students even ask me personally why do you give homework if no one is going to do it?” The difference in the expectation is present in not only the teacher but the students themselves because they have come to believe that they will not surpass the idea of what they will achieve. Lowering the expectation to not even attempting the homework shows that the student has lost their aspirations by even asking the question. While a former Jones alumni stated that “it only takes one person to set an example, however if no example is set then the student can never comprehend success”, this remains true and is seen through the rate of achievement in graduation of CPS high school graduates.
Similarly enough the Chicago Catalyst and its research based on past CPS graduates found that selective enrollment schools “are built around the process of applying to a selective or very selective college, while neighborhood high schools are not”. This statement labels the affects the students psychologically by establishing to the students that they are not as intelligent as other students and will not be able to reach post secondary education. Despite all of the compelling and overwhelming research the common question arrised is what about the students who simply don't want to learn. A CPS counselor and a UIC professor Mr. Sanchez call those students the “1 percent”. He claims those are the students who simply don't want to work in his experience, one in particular, proves right. He questioned a student about why they had a poor attitude and low grades the student stated “why should I work when my father, a truck driver for the city, makes twice the money you make and he can get em in and in 3 years i'll be making more than you”. This real example, while extreme says Mr. Sanchez tells me that their are genuinely students who don't want to graduate and feel they don't need to. This is hardly ever the case while this 1 percent is being used as an example of why the expectations are low for some students the majority of students are trying and are simply being taught unequally. The types of CPS schools differentiate greatly in honors to regulars and student achievement. The various expectations and labels are used to suppress students of the two levels to create a social superiority to one another. One fears the other for either being labeled as dumb and another for being labeled as intelligent. This is not a fault of the teachers, students, or even schools,but to the administration with their preconceived expectation which is embedded in the label of the type of school.In local/neighborhood highschools a successful year consists of a 75 percent graduation rate ,still 10 percent below selective enrollment schools.The “successful year” should be a year when the graduation rate is equal in both types of schools, so all schools can be labeled as high achieving and are expected to graduate.
"CPS: Highest Graduation Rate On Record For Five-Year Grads in 2012, District Predicts." Huffington Post. 11 June 2102. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/11/cps-highest-graduation-ra_n_1587525.html>.
Dwyer, Josh. "The truth behind CPS's graduation rate rise - Illinois Policy." Illinois Policy Institute. 3 June 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://illinoispolicy.org/the-truth-behind-cpss-graduation-rate-rise/>.
"Find a School." Chicago Public Schools. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://cps.edu/Schools/Find_a_school/Pages/findaschool.aspx>.
Gonzales, Rolando. Personal interview. 21 Feb. 2014.
Karp, Sarah. "Top CPS Grads Often Land at Less Rigorous Colleges." Chicago Catalyst. 23 Apr. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.catalyst- chicago.org/notebook/2009/04/23/top-cps-grads-often-land-less-rigorous-colleges>.
Roderick, Melissa, Jenny Nagaoka, and Elaine Allensworth. "From High School to the Future." UCHICAGOCCSR. The University of Chicago, Web. 24 Feb. 2014. <http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Postsecondary.pdf>.
Sanchez, Javier. Personal interview. 8 Feb. 2014.
Dwyer, Josh. "The truth behind CPS's graduation rate rise - Illinois Policy." Illinois Policy Institute. 3 June 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://illinoispolicy.org/the-truth-behind-cpss-graduation-rate-rise/>.
"Find a School." Chicago Public Schools. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://cps.edu/Schools/Find_a_school/Pages/findaschool.aspx>.
Gonzales, Rolando. Personal interview. 21 Feb. 2014.
Karp, Sarah. "Top CPS Grads Often Land at Less Rigorous Colleges." Chicago Catalyst. 23 Apr. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2014. <http://www.catalyst- chicago.org/notebook/2009/04/23/top-cps-grads-often-land-less-rigorous-colleges>.
Roderick, Melissa, Jenny Nagaoka, and Elaine Allensworth. "From High School to the Future." UCHICAGOCCSR. The University of Chicago, Web. 24 Feb. 2014. <http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Postsecondary.pdf>.
Sanchez, Javier. Personal interview. 8 Feb. 2014.