"Its not what we teach, its who we teach"

In a conversation with another teacher about the stresses of teaching and how new students continue to arrive in our classrooms. I told her and now we expect a brand new student from another country who knows no English and was ripped out of a setting into a place of complete unknown, to master reading and math at the same pace as a student born and raised in America with a family whos parents are both present, both have college degrees and they take family vacations around the country in hopes to bring about more culture presence and awareness. These are two completely different students and we expect so much from both of them. This goes beyond race. It is simple, student A will not achieve the amount of what we judge as "intelligence" at the same rate as student B. We should not be as concerned about what we are teaching and more about who we are teaching. I once had a student who shared with me that he didn't sleep last night because his brother woke him and started fighting with him over the pillow they shared on the bed. I ended up finding out that he shared the bed with one other brother (3 in one twin bed that is just laying on the floor - two pillows) How do expect him to sit still and focus throughout a school day when he is not getting the same sleep as another student who comes from a family where each child has their own room. Its absolutely ridiculous to have the same expectations for both students.