http://youtu.be/hFp2SD-AUdw
I was surprised to hear the beginning of this clip on the radio. It is of Merryl Streep performing as Margaret Thatcher, she says to the British Parliament:
"Teachers cannot teach when there is no heating, no lighting in their classrooms..."
There is such an obvious connection between the quality of the school environment and the quality of academic outcomes that it almost sounds as a cliché. Even though I have not seen this film, and therefore don't know the context of the clip, Thatcher's proclamation sounds like the all-too-known issue in education. There is little understanding of the processes that occur in the human-environment interaction, What is it about a poor environment that impedes education's goals? There are the clear functional factors: We cannot see without proper lighting. We cannot learn if we are sitting at an uncomfortable temperature. But beyond that, what does it mean to attend a school in disrepair? What are the implications for education as "the great equalizer"?
This is the subject of my dissertation research and of much of my future research.
My concern is the reproduction of social structure, where poor school children attend poor school environments and attain poor educational outcomes.
As Margaret/Merryl adds:
"Who's fault is that?"
