Oak Park & River Forest High School: The Bastion of Liberalism in White America and the Problem With Education
I have been teaching at Oak Park & River Forest High School (OPRF) going on five years. It used to be this mythic place in my mind. I always wanted to attend it When I was working with Julie Peters, my program chair, to complete my student teaching placement, she advised me not to put OPRF as one of my choices as they rarely ever took student teachers. Only adding to the mystique, and wonder, of the school in my eyes. Then I graduated!
As many people know finding a job as an educator, especially at a good school, is extremely hard. Few positions open and there are many applicants. I applied to many, many, many schools and only received two interviews. The school I student taught at, and OPRF. To make a long story short, the school I student taught at did not hire me, and OPRF did. Huzzah! Slowly but surely the mystique and wonder were worn away, kind of like knowing how a hot dog is made.
I gave you this context to tell you that I chose this week because I work in this school which provides me with unique insight into the school. I have not watched this documentary before, but I was ready to agree with it wholeheartedly as I see many issues on varying topics in my day-to-day work. However, after watching the documentary, and receiving some context behind its filming, I walked away feeling a bit murkier on my stance. One of the main questions that this episode brought up to me is the efficacy of a documentary like this. One thing that I brought up in our last class is the issue of separating class and race, and how that trivializes any argument about inequity we can truly have. Race has been a tool used to divide and create differences among people that have more in common than the inverse, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the great Fred Hampton both championed these ideas before their untimely deaths. This is not to say that I do not believe Black Americans, and more broadly people of color, do not face unique issues, on the contrary, I am painfully aware of this and believe these stories should be told. However, when making a documentary that is meant to educate people I think it is important to make a less disingenuous argument that does not tokenize our students. One case is the student Terrance.
Terrance plain and simple is a special needs student. He was struggling with school because the classrooms he was in did not service his needs. He can benefit from the structures and supports of a Special Education classroom and it was a disservice to not allow him that support. I understand the data showing we have representation issues across the nation in honors and AP courses, but to use a student like Terrance to try and highlight inequities is a disgusting choice by the director.
It seems like the bigger issue that is represented through Terrance is our country's view on Special Education. We turn our noses up at it as if it is beneath us, yet those are the students who need and deserve the most support from us because they can be successful. Yet we we overwork and underpay our Special Education teachers which results in burnout and understaffing putting those who need us the most at risk.
The History of Oak Park and NIMBYs
The one point that I do agree with in this first episode, and I am sure it is a through line for the entire documentary, is the "liberalism" that is prevalent in this community. Oak Park is a community of people who can be classified as NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) or the White Moderate as referenced in Dr. King's Letters From Birmingham Jail. This is represented in the many complaints stakeholders, parents, and community members made against the Black Lives Matter assembly that was done for people students of color.
The first episode of the documentary does a decent job of highlighting some of the historical problems with the community, but I can dive a bit deeper. This was a school built in 1873 and for roughly 100 years was not integrated. This is a community that was known as a "Sundown Town", and one that hosted both a men's and women's chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. So when a student says this school was not made for them, I understand and I agree because roughly 50 years ago they would not have liked me in the town, let alone teaching their kids. This is an important history to talk about when in this building because these things do not go away. Hell, this community was defending a janitor who was found out to be an SS Officer in the 80s.
Now the community champions their liberal ideals, they have many flags and yard signs advocating for representation; however, when it comes to making actual change they like to pump the brakes. Our school is in year three of our detracked freshmen curriculum and there was quite a vocal group that opposed it. They argued that this would dumb down our education and all of their high-flying students (re: white students) would suffer from the lack of challenge. Many people complained about hosting a place for students of color to voice their concerns about their school and our country as a whole.
This is a community of White moderates. They love to talk about how where they live is progressive. They love to hang flags in their windows to represent all of their love and care for everyone in the world. However, when push comes to shove, they will stand opposed to many changes because they are worried about the effect it will have on their children. They will say "That sounds great, but is it the right time to do this" or "I am glad you are learning about Indigenous people, but when will you talk about the pilgrims". This community like many communities champions ideas but folds when it comes to putting plans into action because they are scared to give up power.
Why is Oak Park & River Forest High School demonized?
The de-tracked curriculum we have established has seen some nice outcomes. We are seeing some more students of color in honors and AP classes, but the administration has yet to give us more curriculum hours to continue our development of the course (color me shocked). I can go into a longer diatribe about the issues of administration in education, but I feel like this is getting long enough. My final question walking away from this is why is this school being demonized?
There are inequities in education throughout the United States, I would argue the vast majority of schools have some sort of inequitable issue or practice. Yet OPRF is put in the crosshairs for what? Because we were honest with ourselves. We allowed cameras into the building to show what all schools struggle with but gave people a school to point a finger and say "Look at the bad guy". We are far from a perfect school and we should be challenged, but we are not the only school that has these issues.
I would argue that these issues can not be fixed at the school level. The issues students of color, and students from less affluent backgrounds face are systemic. If you are tending a lawn you do not simply cut the weeds at their stem, you rip it up by the root. To fix these issues that students across the country face we need a complete overhaul of the school system as a whole, and we should not point fingers at a school for being honest.
I empathize with the disillusionment of our field that is well known to champion social issues, but often falls short in addressing them effectively. As you've mentioned in class and in this post, often the subject is boiled down to just race/culture instead of cross-examining a number of factors that would affect students. However I would like to focus on the liberalism/white moderate aspect of your post and a personal example of that hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteI used to teach a heritage learner program of Spanish at my old school. This school would regularly host cultural events for Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc. My department (World Languages) would also naturally stress the importance of diversity and inclusion so we'd regularly promote these events for our students. The Heritage Program I taught is intended to provide a more rigorous/challenging course for students that already have a working fluency in Spanish as their first or second language and is designed to elevate their Spanish language skills in a similar way that high school English courses would for fluent English-speakers.
Despite this, the 2 Spanish teachers (that taught regular Spanish I-IV and Honors Spanish II-IV) who were in charge of the Spanish Honor Society failed to send representatives to either my classes or the other HL Spanish teacher to recruit new members into a society that offers scholarships and networking opportunities to our students. Naturally the other HL teacher and I went to the department chair and the deadline for new members was extended due to the SHS Sponsors "accidentally forgetting" about the heritage learning program (the only other Spanish program besides regular and honors). This was not the first time that the HL program was left out/forgotten about by teachers who have “Learners use the language both within and beyond the classroom to interact and collaborate in their community and the globalized world” as part of their ACTFL Standards.
It’s true that many issues facing our students are systemic and must be addressed to truly build an education system that works for all of our students; in the mean-time we need to advocate for our students and challenge peers when their practices, intentionally or not, are excluding students for any reason. That itself can also be challenging when you’re the sole advocate, when “there’s not enough money in the budget”, or when your coworkers all have seniority over you, but at the end of the day, if we don’t advocate for our students for “little”-fights, how could we advocate for them on a systemic level?
I'm glad this is a subject we get to talk about as I attended OPRF and currently live in oak park, and though i may see the place and school through a rose tinted glass. Many of the topics you brought up were the first I had heard of this, even after living here my entire life. Both the SS officer janitor and the fact that Oak Park was a sundown town. These were certainly shocks to me and truly make me feel like if been lied to for a long time, but alas the blame falls to me for failing to do my own research. It is true that oak park is quite upfront with how accepting and liberal it is and i think it does have to do with the fact that the people here are quite focused on how others view them. I think you did a great job and really described the intricacies of OPRF well, especially in how OPRF is far from perfect but is not the only school like it.
ReplyDeleteMany of the issues I faced as a student of color at OPRF was not anything systematic, yet that does not mean that it doesn't happen. I understand many of my friends were discriminated against while at school, I had a friend not attended OPRF due to prior issues with the school.
If my comment is a direct response to another person instead of the the initial post pretend it's not, I am unsure how to respond directly.
DeleteI thought you (the initial poster) brought up many great points but specifically considering Terrance I thought I could add more to the conversation. The United States demographic of students as a whole compared to the demographic of students diagnosed with disabilities reveals some odd trends. Examples being Black (and Native American, and Hispanic to a lesser degree) being overrepresented, particularly with emotional disturbance and intellectual disabilities. Additionally, Asians are across the board are extremely underrepresented. Also should be noted that girls are underrepresented but I'm not sure how that intersects with the racial component.
There are lots of complicated reasons that contribute to this being the case but one of those to be considered is that the adults observing students and raising the first flags (besides the students parents) will statistically be a White woman.
Wilson! Really love how thorough you were about giving us a little glimpse at what you do at the school, the historical context to the institution and the community around it: All helps to give us a better picture of what's being pushed under the rug. Utilizing a special education student to prove a point is very short-sighted and for sure was a poor choice of judgement on the part of production.
ReplyDeleteI went to a high school in Skokie that is similar in the sense that it "champions" left leaning ideas and waives its inclusive banners, saying all are welcome. All this while they continue to not hire as many faculty members that would reflect the student population. Similar to your point on change, most of all these initiatives are really farces, aimed at concocting this idea of inclusivity when it's really just to evade any type of scrutiny on the part of community members. If anything is to better the conditions of marginalized students, it has to be external before schools can even begin to contemplate any type of overhaul that would set a base for more students of color and special ed to succeed.
Something that has stood out to me that a previous professor of mine said is “we all absorb the system and act accordingly. If we reproduce it then it has worked.” Unfortunately, we have continued to push these problems and continue reproducing them. Following the rules, procedures, and even lesson plans seem very natural now. There remain vast problems within the education system that we have schools of need because of interlocking systems of oppression. Similar to your argument, yes we need to address and act on issues students face because not all schools may experience that but address the greater picture, at a systemic level.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I do appreciate and see hope when students and faculty take the initiative to address issues their schools face. Signing petitions, creating conversations, and having meetings to begin the change that is needed.
Hey Wilson,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the rundown on the history of Oak Park being a sundown town. I attended UIUC for undergrad, and its campus was located in a city that used to be a sundown town, as well; the issues that poc students had run across in the public schools around Urbana and Champaign were similar to the issues that the students were speaking to in this first episode of the documentary, and I believe if we were to look into the policy making decisions throughout the past few decades, we'd see similarities there as well. (Remind me to talk about this in greater detail in-person if the opportunity ever presents itself.)
To answer your final question, I honestly did not perceive the documentary as a piece that's demonizing Oak Park High School specifically, but rather as a piece that's holding a magnifying glass over the issues that black students are facing with the intention of (maybe) raising awareness to the systemic issues you were talking about. I agree with you that we need a complete overhaul of the school system as a whole, but I am also of the belief that we are simply not at the point where we're ready to accomplish that just yet. Documentaries like this are essential because they provide us with the information to unlearn liberalism and push the needle towards imagining a radical alternative. None of us can tackle systemic issues alone; this is a collective struggle that requires us to build community and educate one another in the process, and I am of the belief that documentaries like this are one way of going about doing just that. If there's a better way of doing it, then we, as educators in this space, need to figure that out together, as well.
Hi, I can relate on the part about how people like to say or put up flags or anything in general to show that they support an issue. But when it comes to the point where there's something that's going to address the issues, there is push against it. I can relate to this since my high school sort of did this in my opinion. This is because they would have school wide meetings about issues but they wouldn't enforce it really. It would just get a 1 hour-ish talk/lecture/conference with all the students in the gym addressing the issue. However, nothing truly changes after the fact. All that happens is that they address the issue and put a band-aid on it and that band-aid falls off in a matter of days if not the next day. As a result, it strongly resonated with me when there was mention of how people say the support it but they don't actually. But rather they just say it to save face and go along with what people are talking about.
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ReplyDeleteHi Wilson! I found your post to be very in-depth. Your post made me think of my own experience teaching. I lived in Urbana after I graduated from UIUC and saw with my own eyes how badly funded special education schools and programs are. I worked at a therapeutic day school, and I fully enjoyed working with all the kids there and being able to help them and make an impact in their lives. However, some of my coworkers were not good for this job since some were in that job because they liked to use their power to discipline the children. It is also very short-staffed, and the pay is very low for the amount of work and sacrifice that goes into a job like that. I ended up leaving that job after about a year since it was hard to work in an environment where the people around you are not supportive, and the job itself is very demanding. I also found that there were a lot of teachers who were racist and were mean to the black kids or even me and other people of color. It is sad that these problems are very real and are still apparent in the 21st century.
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