In response to “The X-Out Factor” in the GOOD Ideas/Poverty issue (jfp.ms/poverty):
I see all five factors from Donna Ladd’s assessment (“The X-Out Factor”) in my classroom, where most students are on free or reduced lunch, but none spoke to me more than dependency.
I see dependency in the way students call me over just so I can stand by them as they work out a math problem. I see it in the way students request (and in some classes, receive) extra credit for everything from buying a homecoming t-shirt to bringing in copy paper. At the start of a recent exam, one student asked expectantly, “Aren’t you going to give us the answer to one multiple-choice problem?”
Educators have a saying: “Never work harder than your students.” Taken the wrong way, this phrase invites a race to the bottom where no one is working hard and grades are given instead of earned. Rather, we teachers must not only make students do the intellectual heavy lifting but also explain to them why. Dependency does not just perpetuate the cycle of poverty; it stops people from receiving the education that will break them out.
Every dependent has an enabler. During my first year in Jackson Public Schools, I was that enabler. I graded the first semester on a curve, hoping to give students time to adjust to my rigorous standards and high expectations. Yet no admonition about hard work could counteract the message I was subtly sending: “Keep it up. You’ll pass. This is good enough.” I don’t grade on a curve any more, and when I see my students excel, I feel guilty for having doubted them in the first place.—Alexander Barrett Jackson
