Barbershops and the American School System

“To own a barbershop. That was his dream”, the principal explained. “He didn’t want to go to college, so he felt that most of what he did at school was just irrelevant.”

Rafael was in his sophomore year. His parents -1st generation Puerto Ricans- had come to the school to ask the principal to “talk some sense” into their son. They wanted for his son nothing but to achieve the American dream, or at least their own version of it. And they wanted the whole package, with all those phrases and words people associate to it.

To make something of himself.

To get a high-salary job.

To get a house and car.

To move to a better neighborhood.

To move up the social ladder.

To be successful in life.

And, of course, the only way for their son to be successful, they felt and believed, was by becoming the first in the family to go to college. The equation was quite simple:

College = success.

Barbershop = not success.

Period.

After 5 years leading in charge, Mr. Rosario’s school had recently  been ranked among the top ten public schools in the country after having led an astounding school turnaround, going from being one of the lowest evaluated schools in the area (a predominantly low income, immigrant neighborhood with high crime and drug trafficking rates) to be among the top scoring schools in the city. He knew his students and their families well. He shared their language, culture and he knew what education means for them: a way out of poverty, violence and discrimination. The school thought of as an airport where they can catch a flight out of the hood with a -hopefully- one-way ticket in their hands.

“But Rafael didn’t want any of that. He just wanted to be a barber. That was his dream. What was I supposed to do? Tell him he should change his dream?”, Mr. Rosario continued, as the group of Mexican principals visiting different schools in the city listened attentively. And, of course, he got me, the guide, thinking. “Was I supposed to tell him to aim higher?”.

I may be wrong but after visiting many schools in the U.S. and talking to dozens of principals, teachers, parents and students, one thing seems clear to me: the ultimate goal of the American public school system is getting kids into college. That´s it. Schools educate for college, because college means success. Period.

College readiness. That’s all that matters.

Yes, they may have Arts and Music programs (although they seem to be approaching extinction), and sports, and extracurricular activities, but when it comes to school evaluation, the only thing that matters is students’ scores on standard tests, because, you know, high scores mean they’re learning, right? Learning what? Math and Language. For what? To get into college, of course, because yes, you can have “fun at school” by doing art, and music, and sports, but when you graduate, you are going to need to get a job, so you come to school to prepare for that moment, the moment you’ll become part of this gear assembly called society.

Because that’s what schools do: they prepare citizens to be part of society. Right?

Home, School, College, Work place. That’s the assembly line.

I still remember sitting in a workshop for teachers at summer training. The speaker explained that the Common Core (or was it the State’s?) curriculum for reading in elementary no longer included making connections to self, to the world or to other texts. Instead, 2nd. graders were expected to find factual evidence in the text to support their ideas only. Because that´s what is needed in college. In other words, reading was a means to an end. Never a source of pleasure or personal development. I felt like raising my hand and saying something like: “Because if they don’t learn that now they’ll be in trouble when they take their SATs in ten more years, right?”

Of course, in a highly competitive, individualistic society, that´s the only kind of education that counts. Words like high-achieving, excellence, top-ranked, high scores, high performance, “aim-high”, “leaders-of-tomorrow”, are sacred, common places in school websites and advertisement banners.

So, what do we do with students like Rafael? They don’t need a college degree to achieve their dreams, and he is certainly not interested in being a leader of tomorrow (whatever that means), so attending school seems to him a waste of time. What could he learn at school that is going to be useful after he graduates?

Could his school offer him anything other than college readiness?

How about learning to find happiness in life (irrespective of how one makes a living)? How about learning to appreciate beauty, or learning to solve interpersonal issues, or find meaning in life? How about empathy, humor, being parents, taking care of the elders? No, that can’t be measured, so that doesn’t count. Could there be anything else to education other than Math, Language Arts, and (to a lesser degree) Science, as emphasized in the hideous  Common Core standards? Yes, there may be.
But that won’t help students get into college! Will it?

If Rafael becomes a barber, would we still, as a society, consider him to be a successful individual? What would we say of a teacher who encourages him not to go to college but to be a barber? ( You’re not teaching him to dream big! You’re not setting high standards!) Could the school teach him to be a happy barber?

Happiness in the curriculum. Yes, teaching for happiness. I know a lot has been written about it, but it still doesn’t seem to be enough. In Happiness and Education, Neal Soddings explores what it is like to have happiness as a goal in education. The National Children’s Bureau, in the UK, has launched “Action for Happiness in Schools”, initiative aiming to put happiness at the heart of school ethos. Many progressive schools in America and around the world have been aiming at it for years. But for the American mindset and education leaders, anything that can’t measured can’t be trusted. And most importantly, can’t be funded.

Yes, happiness can’t be funded.

Personally, I would love to have my hair cut by a barber who can coherently converse on any topic, in more than one language, from arts to music and politics, and philosophy, a barber who writes poetry in his free time, or who plays instruments, or who can stand up for his rights and those of his community, a barber that, having been given all the tools to do whatever he wanted to do with his life, chose to become a barber, because that’s what he damn liked to do with the rest of his life. I would love to have my hair cut by a barber who spent 12 years learning to lead a meaningful, happy life, not just to sit a college entrance exam.

An educated barber.

A successful barber.

A happy barber.

Because that’s -I believe- the ultimate purpose of education: to teach children to find happiness and meaning in life, not just to get students into college.