I found Delta Autumn to be a very interesting read. Before reading it, I imagined a collection of philosophical accounts of the first year of teaching, and I would have enjoyed that, but I certainly appreciated the very specific information and advice that the book offers. My favorite sections of the book were the "History of Education in the Mississippi Delta" and the "Parental Involvement and Mentoring" chapter.
While I knew that many of the private schools in the state were created in response to integration, I really didn't have an idea of the big picture. I think it's easy to go into many of the schools where we'll be teaching and just look at them in freeze frame--to just see the worn-down facilities and low achievement levels and not connect them to the history of the system. It can be easy to think, "Why didn't anyone fix these broken blinds that are falling off the window? Doesn't anyone care about the way their school looks?" or "Why don't the parents do something about their child's behavior? Why don't they come to Parent-Teacher Conferences and find out about their child's progress?" It's easy to blame. Our perspectives and experiences are so far removed from most of our students and the communities where we'll be working.
I underlined, "As late as 1950, seventy percent of blacks aged twenty-five and over had not completed the seventh grade. Only 2.3 percent of black students completed high school. In 1950, Mississippi spent an average of $122.93 per pupil on white students, and $32.55 on black students" (6). Sixty years ago most black people in Mississippi did not go through the seventh grade. Sixty years ago. That's less than a lifetime. These are our students' grandparents and great grandparents.
After working with Parents for Public Schools in the last year and spending a lot of time with the parents of kids in Jackson Public Schools, I thought that the chapter on parental involvement was fantastic. Things that I'm so glad were mentioned:
-"Parents may not always feel at ease when dealing with your school."
-"Parents may have bad memories of their own experiences in school. Parents may not always feel welcome at the school. Often parents view the relationship between the school and their child as a source of conflict and distrust... Many parents in the Delta work more than one job, work irregular hours, or have obligations at home that do not allow them the luxury of visiting or calling the school during school hours. In fact, many parents do not have phones."
-"A general lack of accessible information regarding school policies and goals is commonplace in the Delta... teachers and administrators may keep parents in the dark."
-"Sometimes school contact is done exclusively by mail, but this is ineffective for parents who read poorly or not at all. They may feel excluded from the school community or feel humiliated about their lack of education."
Most importantly, "Parents really do care about the well-being of their children, regardless of what actions or interactions you may associate with them... All parents want the best education possible for their children. This may mean different things for different parents, but no parents want a poor education for his or her child, and no parent wants poor teachers." Lack of caring is the last thing we should imagine when thinking about our students' parents.
I think I'll be using Delta Autumn as a reference in the next couple years. It's wonderful to have a book that was designed just for people in our situation in this program.
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