The demoralizing environment, decrepit (老朽的)building and minimal materials make the high school experience for these children an uphill baffle. Merely graduating from such a high school is difficult, much less becoming a high-caliber science or engineering student. Schools with students from a higher socioeconomic level would not tolerate the obstacles I encountered daily. Improvements need to be made efficiently and made soon, or the divisions among people in this country will only become more extreme.
Of course, there are things that concerned citizens can do to help. Get involved with a school, especially one in a poor area. Volunteer to give a presentation or just to spend time with the children. My students were excited to talk to an insurance salesperson who came to give a career exploration lecture. They not only were genuinely interested in the opportunities he described but also were amazed that such a man would donate an afternoon to them.
Although those measures can help, they are not enough. For teaching to be effective, the entire environment of the inner city needs to be changed. Teaching someone the difference between velocity and acceleration is irrelevant if the person is hungry and scared. Programs that educate parents in child-rearing, organize low-income groups into cooperative units, fight drug trafficking and help to clean up the ghettos physically will improve the life in the community.
The small alterations and " new" proposals currently filling the newspapers are certainly not strong enough to transform a decaying and demoralized school structure that has been disintegrating for decades. Inner-city schools need so much more, and the children deserve so much more than our society is willing to give. Like many other people, I entered the teaching profession eager to investigate change and found many institutionalized obstacles in my way. It should not be so difficult to make a difference.
By saying "an uphill battle", the author means
