Buffalo School Boycott

City schools in Buffalo, New York, are not exactly a shining example of the bright America we wish we could be. But, the use of a boycott to protest, draw attention to, and ultimately pout ^[1] against the city’s sad state is a microcosm of modern society. It’s a small group of people who are making a lot of noise because they’re angry, and their form of protest is hurting those whom it should help.

According to the Buffalo News, the organized parents are being urged to obtain their child’s soon-to-be-missed curriculum ahead of time. The goal here is not to deprive students of their education, but to collectively show disdain and an unwillingness to support a failing system.

Buffalo has access to a large number of quality teachers, and the city is part of the New York State Regents curriculum, and yet it is falling behind on graduation rates and median income of graduates. Teachers are leaving the city after being unable to find a career in the public school system, or after deciding that working in a poor inner city school is not in their best interests financially. Perhaps student apathy has reached teachers that want to be enthusiastic about their job, and that apathy comes from roots that are entrenched in a city and region that seem doomed to struggle to make ends meet.

Maybe many students don’t care because they are firsthand witnesses to a society where they have to fight every minute of every day to get by. Having spent a meager two years working on an ambulance, I’ve seen a third world country in the neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York. The city is full of houses where children sleep in armchairs, windows are made of cardboard and cellophane, and two people trading drugs at a school bus stop is a more common site than students waiting patiently.

To say it is a land of little hope is an understatement. It doesn’t help much that we enter an age where 85% of college graduates move back in with their parents…the siblings of those who return from four years of hard work have to wonder, “Why should I bother?”

The issue is a misappropriation of funding, and the answer isn’t one that people want to hear. Buffalo is just about broke, and the school systems are the ones hurting the most. The answer to the problem is not to add security guards or administration, and the answer for parents is not to deny their children the meager access to education that they can receive. By keeping their kids home in boycott, parents are only enforcing the behavior that pouting, throwing a tantrum, and choosing not to play the game are the only ways to win.

The show of unity is touching, and it tells us all that these parents want to take the problem seriously. Drawing attention from the rest of the nation will raise awareness, but the issues will only clear up with actual hard work and cooperation from the parents and the city. This boycott was an expression of anger, but the only victims in the end were the students that were kept away from their daily education. The tax dollars that were burned can send a message, but they can not have gone up in flames for nothing.

Peyton Phillips, 17, a junior at South Park High School, explained why he didn’t honor the boycott.

“It’s my duty as a student,” he said. “If I’m getting an education because people are providing that with their taxes, why should I miss this opportunity?

 

It would be such a business-oriented response for the City of Buffalo Board of Education to say, “Well, the parents are working hard…that means we don’t have to.” That response will only draw greater ire and a much harsher response when this comes around again. The city must direct the budget as carefully and wisely as possible, making sure it doesn’t not skimp on necessities in favor of a flashy campaign. The school grounds need to be beautified, the neighborhoods brought up to the lower-middle class standards that were prevalent in the 1980’s, and the administrators themselves need to be seen, by the public, putting in the extra hours and some manual labor.

—  Imagine the work that could be done in one weekend if half of these “unified” parents donated their time.  —

Coke machines in the cafeteria are as wrong as keeping your children home from school. The habits of the parents are picked up by their children, just as the habits of the city influence its citizens. The ability to change the tide and pull these schools out of their dire state is there, but it will require a few blisters, some discomfort, and a lot more noise than one day of boycotting.

Actions speak louder than words keeping your kid home from school.