by Aziah Siid
One borough, five different neighborhoods, five different schools, five different thoughts — but always straightforward because that is Brooklyn at its core.
Indeed, as 2023 comes to a close, discussions about inequitable school funding, chronic absenteeism, and the need to teach more culturally relevant material aren’t going away just because the calendar switches to a new year.
Adults always have plenty to say about education, but we asked five students living in the nation’s biggest city to tell Word In Black what they’d like to see change in their school in the new year. Although there are always weighty matters to consider in education, you’ll see from their replies that kids will be kids — and you might have had some of the same thoughts when you were their age. (Does anyone want to wear uniforms?) Here’s what these young Brooklynites had to say:
Madison Birchmore, 13, Seventh Grade
“My school year is going really good. I’m getting good grades, and I’m starting to like math more so I get really excited for math,” Birchmore says. “I just wish people would be more clean. The students don’t really care about things or that people have to use it after.”
Along with getting more excited about work, she also expressed her complaints about other subject areas.
“I would like it if my ELA teacher gets a little more patience with us ’cause she gets mad easily.”
McKenzie Cummings, 12, Seventh Grade
“What I liked about the school year is being able to understand work better. Teachers were more understanding of what I needed work with,” Cummings says. “What I want to change is the lunch. I want it to look and taste better.”
Khai’yel Simon, 8, Second Grade
“I liked pajama day and the book fair,” Simon says. “I wouldn’t ask them to change anything.”
Nathaniel Issac, Ninth Grade at Uncommon Charter High School
“One thing I would change is the dress code to not wear uniforms — I feel like uniforms are only necessary for stuff like trips,” Issac says. “One thing I would keep is the study hall during seventh period since it gives me a chance to do my homework before I leave school.”
Rashaud Barrows, 17, Twelfth Grade
“Honestly, at the beginning of the year, since we were coming out of COVID, everything was discombobulated,” Barrows says. But year after year, I could see things slowly coming together in a way that was really fostering a direct path and a direct goal: Everyone needed to graduate.”
