The statistics regarding education for English as a Second Language Learners (ESL) in America are bleak and abstract: According to George Washington University Face the Facts initiative, there is only one public school teacher for every 150 ESL students, while a range of research shows that ESL students are more likely to drop out of high school than their English-speaking counterparts.
But if you want to gain an opinion of ESL education that is truly illuminating, look no further than Dylan Garity’s poem, “Rigged Game.” A slam poet for Button Poetry, Garity performed the poem last month at the 2013 National Poetry Slam competition in Boston. In it, he describes a negative cycle of standardized testing and speaks to a system that fails ESL students and constrains teachers.
Whether or not you agree with Garity’s assessment of ESL education, his poem is certainly worth a watch.
(h/t Upworthy)
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