May 14, 2009
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Yes, yes - ‘education is the civil rights issue of our time.’ If the 40,000 variations on that theme didn’t sink in during the 2008 campaign season, I get 140-character reminders often enough via Twitter.
And when was the last time we saw any sort of civil rights crowd that didn’t have a well-coifed Al Sharpton at the front - or trying to muscle his way to the front - with one eye searching for the media and the other eye searching for a mirror?
Get used to Al in Education, folks. That ‘Strong Schools’ bit last year was the calm before the annoying, prolonged, ineffectual drizzle that’s a Sharpton storm.
Here’s a press release/e-mail I got the other day. I’ll parse it.
Hi Matthew,
Did you see that Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich came together today — and at the White House of all places? The meeting was to discuss education equality and how to improve our nation’s schools. It was a remarkable gathering and you can read about the event here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/05/07/gingrich_bloomberg_and_sharpto.html?wprss=44
Trios are good. Sometimes individually great men combine to make something greater - like the Three Tenors, or even Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting singing “All for One [and All for Love]” on The Three Musketeers soundtrack.
This combination - unlike the two cited above - has a weak, embarrassing link. Gingrich could be a classic Kenny Rogers and Bloomberg one of those successful but ever-evolving David Bowie types. Sharpton, however, is not to be taken seriously. He’s a bit like the ukulele player Tiny Tim, God rest his soul.
Can you imagine what song we’d get from Kenny Rogers, David Bowie and Tiny Tim?
And you can see footage of the event here: http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0509/unlikely_trio_at_the_w_h_444542bd-4539-431b-abf6-f06fca3f1f77.html or here http://www.edequality.org
I’d rather hear the song.
The meeting was in advance of education equality day, which will feature thousands of people coming together to demand education equality in Washington DC on May 16th: http://edequality.org/page/s/eepday
Let me know if you have any questions.
Here’s one: Why does anyone in education take Al Sharpton seriously? How quickly we’ve forgotten his actions in the Tawana Brawley case, his outright racism and his lifelong defense of his actions. Don’t bother Googling for Sharpton’s apologies to Stephen Pagones, the others he accused of rape, defilement and hatred, New York State or the public. He’s never uttered any.
And how spineless we’ve become, especially in public education, not to hold a man like Sharpton to account. Sharpton’s prominent involvement in education issues shows how weak the field of education leaders really is - and how badly we need some respectable, heroic leaders.
I’m getting tired of scoundrels like Al Sharpton, but I’m more tired of the milquetoasts who let it slide. I’ll pass on “Education Equality Day” in lieu of celebrating “High Standards and Integrity Day.”
Some of us celebrate that one every day. Do you?
May 14, 2009
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Western International University is popping up in the sidebars of quite a few newsletters and websites lately. WIU is just one of that massive wave of distance education services that have become more prominent in recent years, though they’ve been around for a few decades. The opportunities for outfits like WIntU to offer both brick-and-mortar and online / distance options to working adults - who seem to be increasingly pressured to get a degree, any degree at all, as quickly as possible - have combined with a rapidly growing market to ensure that we see a great deal more of them, and with greater legitimacy, than in the past.
WIntU, like others, offers a long list of degree programs and online degrees as well as individual courses that may or may not be transferable. They’re a larger operation with campuses from Arizona to India.
As I’ve written before, whether you personally are interested in online or distance education makes no difference. It doesn’t even matter whether it’s good or bad. What matters is that as a teacher, parent, student, or generally responsible person, you understand what’s out there - and especially what’s being sold to willing consumers.
Read the ads, pitches and websites for places like WIntU, regardless of your stance, if you want to keep on top of education. Tens of thousands of consumers do - and for their sake, you need to understand what these schools/businesses are about.
Mar 24, 2009
Posted | 2 comments
Greg Lippman and Jennifer Andaluz together provided the brains, muscle and elbow grease to found Downtown College Prep, the subject of Joanne Jacobs’ “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds”. To get the ball rolling, they created a small summer institute that would establish and test the themes that would drive DCP. From page 25:
“To connect with potential students and parents and try out their ideas, Lippman and Andaluz organized Summer Bridge, a free skill-building program for underachieving middle schoolers. Lippman’s parents donated the money for the program; San Jose State provided classroom space. Middle school counselors in San Jose recommended students, mostly Hispanic, who were struggling in school.
Expecting the usual summer snooze, Bridge students found themselves sweating through reading and math skills in an academic boot camp with Lippman and Andaluz as their drill sergeants. But, once they got over the shock, students got hooked on the attention and the sense of purpose. Their parents wanted more. Bridge parents began meeting with Lippman and Andaluz to discuss a charter high school.”
They did that without a fat, taxpayer-driven bank account. Makes you wonder what a public school with a $27,000 per-pupil budget is capable of - and why were aren’t seeing it.
Mar 19, 2009
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Chapter 1 of Joanne Jacobs’ “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds” introduces San Jose’s Downtown College Prep, a charter school serving mostly Mexican immigrant families. DCP takes underperformers and develops them to succeed at a 4-year college or university. From page 9:
“”At DCP [Downtown College Prep], low achievers aren’t told they’re doing well; they’re told they can do better, if they work hard. The school doesn’t boost self-esteem with empty praise. Instead, Lippman and his teachers encourage what is known as “efficacious thinking,” the belief that what a person does has an effect. If you study, you’ll do better on the test than if you goof off. Work hard in school, and you can get to college. You have control over your future. So, stop making excuses and get your act together. The complete lack of sugarcoating may seem harsh to outsiders, but students seem to appreciate the honesty.”
Kids are the best fraud detectors alive. Honesty shows love and sincere concern. It’s no wonder that students at DCP - or anywhere, for that matter - prefer respectful honesty as they develop.
Mar 16, 2009
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From the introduction [p. 2] of Joanne Jacobs’ “Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea, and the School That Beat the Odds” comes the following passage. It’s sober, honest commentary on the reality of failing schools.
“Parents who have money can exercise school choice, either by buying a home in an area with good public schools or by paying tuition.
But less-affluent parents are stuck with what they get. If the local school is led by a distant bureaucrat, staffed by inexperienced or burned-out teachers, whipsawed by education fads, and dominated by bullies, parents are told reforms are on the way: Just wait a few years, and then a few more.
If the school is just second-rate, parents are fed happy talk about how everyone’s special and those nasty test scores don’t indicate the real learning kids are doing. Why, they’re going to be lifelong learners! It doesn’t matter that they’ve learned nothing so far. They can look it up on the internet.
Nobody says: “Juan can’t read or write well enough to fill out a job application; he doesn’t have the math to qualify as an apprentice carpenter, electrician or plumber. He can go to community college, because they’ll take anybody with a pulse. But he’ll be stuck in remedial classes to learn what he was supposed to learn in elementary or middle school. The odds are he’ll get discouraged and quit.” That, they don’t say.
… and when someone does say it, the victimized cry foul. Not the truly victimized, either.
