Going to
Tindley School was an eye-opener for me. It was my first experience of a
Charter School, and there has been such a lot of politicizing about charter
schools in NZ. Here at Tindley, although the population demographic is mainly black and low
income, there is a real drive, both from the school and the community, to achieve success. In fact, the school has Title 1 funding and ALL of the students are entitled
to free or reduced cost lunch.
All
students in this school are doing honours classes (like an extension programme). The students might not be
classed as honours students in other public schools, however, at Tindley, all do
Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Calculus, Algebra, Geometry, Social Studies, Spanish and Advanced Placement English. The only options available are Physical Education, Art and Vocal Music. There is no Home Economics or Wood shop; all subjects are directly leading to a high level, academic programme that will ensure entry into top universities.
If students
struggle, they stay at school until 5.30 for extra tuition. One parent provides
food at 3.30 every day for students who are staying to get extra help.The expectation is that ALL students will go to
college and ALL will succeed. Students
are called scholars. The cohort groupings (like our houses) are named after
universities -- Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Brown, Purdue, Columbia, Stanford, etc.
Most of these
students (oops, I mean scholars) were never exposed to the idea of college being an option for them when
they were young. Many white kids grow up with college being discussed in their families and so it is always part of
their thinking -- these students don't know names of universities before they come to Tindley. They become
scholars by being given a high expectation. They choose the school and then
work to make learning successful.
