The article discusses the ‘belonging gap’ in schools, where students feel unseen or undervalued, leading to disengagement before academic decline. It shares an example of a student who attended multiple schools and appeared quiet and unmotivated. The piece emphasizes that this gap emerges when schools fail to fully recognize students’ identities.
Key Points
- Belonging gap causes students to disengage by feeling unknown or undervalued.
- Example of a student switching schools multiple times, described as quiet and unmotivated.
- Disengagement precedes falling behind academically in school environments.
Implications for Educational Freedom
This highlights failures in traditional public schools to foster student belonging, underscoring the need for school choice options like charters or vouchers where parents can select environments that better value and engage their children. Empowering parents through ESAs could address such disengagement by allowing tailored educational settings that promote freedom and individual needs.
