Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoent tihng is taht the frist and last ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Fcuknig amzanig huh?
Wo_OT!!!
Showing posts with label Education Policy and Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education Policy and Politics. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
day late, $179,900 short...
Vanderbilt University slashes student loans
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT
how quickly they forget!
In what Universe does this make sense...????
Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.If this policy is intended to open the door to all students, then why does the University require students to disclose their parent’s income? The last time I checked, the application to the graduate school required a financial statement of disclosure-- not just from students, there parents too. This always seemed odd, especially for graduate students over the age of 18.
If financial need is no longer a factor, then presumably the University has waived all fees associated with the application process, right? Perhaps this statement was issued in anticipation of the HUGE, HUGE, loss of the endowment fund???
I guess that makes some people believe the University is more focused on learning than with earnings, well, then...I hope you have a more convincing argument than this! Who knows, maybe they might even cut you a little slack in light of the disastrous financial disclosures. I truly hope you do call me when you launch your next “giving campaign. “ I would personally rather donate to sharks.
To say that “hard working, great kids ...who want to be at Vanderbilt," will be able to attend for free, makes you sound like an idiot. It also sounds like a public relations disaster just waiting to happen.
Now c'mon, Zeppos-- I thought you were one of the good guys? Don't be saying stupid things like that!
No wonder you guys are going broke!Originally published 2/9/09... I was making $10.46/hr at Jere Baxter. Vanderbilt sued me for $3000. I can't even afford the application fee....
Unemployed, in debt & angry as hell
Nashville, Tennsessee USA
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Vanderbilt Slashes Loans for Eduators
Vanderbilt University slashes student loans
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT
how quickly they forget!
http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asps=9108181
what Universe does this make sense...????
If this policy is intended to open the door to all students, then why does the University require students to disclose their parent’s income? The last time I checked, the application to the graduate school required a financial statement of disclosure-- not just from students, there parents too. This always seemed odd, especially for graduate students over the age of 18.
If financial need is no longer a factor, then presumably the University has waived all fees associated with the application process, right? Perhaps this statement was issued in anticipation of the HUGE, HUGE, loss of the endowment fund???
I guess that makes some people believe the University is more focused on learning than with earnings, well, then...I hope you have a more convincing argument than this! Who knows, maybe they might even cut you a little slack in light of the disastrous financial disclosures. I truly hope you do call me when you launch your next “giving campaign. “ I would personally rather donate to sharks.
To say that “hard working, great kids ...who want to be at Vanderbilt," will be able to attend for free, makes you sound like an idiot. It also sounds like a public relations disaster just waiting to happen.
Now c'mon, Zeppos-- I thought you were one of the good guys? Don't be saying stupid things like that!
No wonder you guys are going broke!Originally published 2/9/09... I was making $10.46/hr at Jere Baxter. Vanderbilt sued me for $3000. I can't even afford the application fee....
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT
how quickly they forget!
http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asps=9108181
what Universe does this make sense...????
If this policy is intended to open the door to all students, then why does the University require students to disclose their parent’s income? The last time I checked, the application to the graduate school required a financial statement of disclosure-- not just from students, there parents too. This always seemed odd, especially for graduate students over the age of 18.
If financial need is no longer a factor, then presumably the University has waived all fees associated with the application process, right? Perhaps this statement was issued in anticipation of the HUGE, HUGE, loss of the endowment fund???
I guess that makes some people believe the University is more focused on learning than with earnings, well, then...I hope you have a more convincing argument than this! Who knows, maybe they might even cut you a little slack in light of the disastrous financial disclosures. I truly hope you do call me when you launch your next “giving campaign. “ I would personally rather donate to sharks.
To say that “hard working, great kids ...who want to be at Vanderbilt," will be able to attend for free, makes you sound like an idiot. It also sounds like a public relations disaster just waiting to happen.
Now c'mon, Zeppos-- I thought you were one of the good guys? Don't be saying stupid things like that!
No wonder you guys are going broke!Originally published 2/9/09... I was making $10.46/hr at Jere Baxter. Vanderbilt sued me for $3000. I can't even afford the application fee....
Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
Former Doctoral Student in Public Policy
Former Employee of Metro Nashville Public Schools
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Urban Education: Planting Seeds of Trauma
NY Times: Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School
Is Equal Opportunity Just a Myth?
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in urban communities. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. These are visions we should never forget.
Link to full text: View more »
I remember thinking back to my days living in Manhattan, coincidentally around the same time Jonathan Kozol conducted his interviews in the South Bronx regarding the social inequalities that contribute to declining (or extinction) of the middle class in America.
I lived in what is often thought of as “Liberal West Side,” as Harlem was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office.
Once Clinton moved his office to onto West 125th Street, the heart of Harlem. I can now say with near certainty, that the process is complete as America continues to push out the poor through gentrification, homelessness, and institutionalization.
I remember thinking back to my days living in Manhattan, coincidentally around the same time Kozol conducted his interviews in the South Bronx when writing I lived in what Kozol refers to as Manhattan’s “Liberal West Side,” an area that was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification at the time Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office.
In Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation, Jonathan Kozol paints a vivid picture of the conditions in the poorest sections of New York City. During the early to mid 1990’s, Kozol made several visits to Mott Haven in the South Bronx. As he describes in Amazing Grace, the South Bronx is one of the most severely segregated and poorest Congressional Districts in the United States.
The members of this community have been segregated into a hell plagued with sickness, violence and despair. Kozol argues that this strategic placement serves to isolate the rich from the realities they have thrust upon their fellow man. New Yorkers do not stroll through the streets of Mott Haven, and taxicabs take no short cuts through Beekman Avenue. Many taxicabs will not even venture past East 96th Street. Out of sight is out of mind.
There is no excuse for the conditions in which these people must live. No person should be forced into an apartment that has a higher ratio of cockroaches and rats than human beings.
In 1995, the American Sociological Association (ASA) held its annual conference in New York City. Prior to that meeting, they sent out a fact sheet that may be of interest to ASA members. In this sheet, they too described the same social conditions and asked their members to take note of the changes that occur at 96th Street. I can assure you that the conditions Kozol describes in his book were not exaggerated.
These children are desperately in need of the best schools, yet we give them the worst. They have few libraries, few safe havens, few doctors, and few role models. They have every reason to believe that they are throwaway children and we have certainly not shown them anything else. The social services we have provided are a bureaucratic nightmare. People in need are treated as sub-human, and made to feel ashamed of being poor.
These are among the sickest children in the world. Americans claim to be dedicated to the children and fool ourselves into believing that we are doing them a favor by providing them with medical care, public education, and public housing. Yet, the quality of their neighborhoods speaks volumes of our sentiment and intentions.
Shortly after Amazing Grace was published, managed care rapidly moved onto the New York scene. Around the same time, the Mayor announced he would be closing some of the hospitals that served the poorest of the poor because of financial problems associated with payment and large trauma departments.
Kozol makes the point that people could attempt to gain admissions at a better hospital than Bronx-Lebanon; yet, the privatization of Medicaid has now made this completely impossible. Further restrictions on medical care are inevitable as the result of Medicaid managed care. The law is not designed to protect these people, and this was made obvious in a recent conversation I had with a friend who practices medicine in New York.
My friend John works as a board certified trauma physician at a private hospital on the Upper East Side. The last black patient he treated at Beth Israel was famed rock singer Michael Jackson. I asked him if he ever gets any asthma patients in his ER. He knew immediately of whom I was speaking. “You mean the kids from the South Bronx?” he asked. He told me that they know better than to show up at Beth Israel. “But if they do?” I asked, and he replied, “We ship them back.”
This is the reality. The best doctors treat the wealthiest patients rather than the sickest. Schools educate the best students rather than the neediest. It is no wonder that these children perform poorly in school. By every measure, these children are destined for failure. Their home life is less than enchanting, and they do not benefit from enriched environments and educated parents.
Certainly, there are many dedicated parents who care about their children, but is that enough? When I was in school, children frequently asked the teacher, how will this help later in life. In my class, there was an unequivocal reply, but it could be argued that what children in the South Bronx need to learn couldn’t be taught in the classroom.
There is no doubt that the prevalence of violence in urban neighborhoods affects the ability of children to perform well in school. There is a large body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of chronic stress on memory and the learning process. Rather than taking the children out of these communities, we have constructed prison like buildings for them to attend school. They routinely have gunfire drills reminding them that danger is never far behind.
Children cannot learn in this environment. This constant stress triggers “hot-memory.” Hot memory can be thought of as learning with your heart and not your mind. It is no wonder children perform inadequately in this environment.
It is bad enough that children live in such conditions, must we educate in them too? If we want underprivileged children to learn and grow spiritually, we must create an environment that allows their cool memory systems to take over.
It is only under these conditions that children will permit themselves to learn and develop their intellectual strengths. We have failed to create a safe home environment for urban children, but we can give serious thought to creating a school environment outside of the community so they have fewer fear-driven hours each day.
Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in urban neighborhoods like Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence. The potential impact of chronic stress on academic performance and achievement is not known, but reading scores in neighborhoods like Mott Haven certainly seem to indicate some type of causal relationship. There is virtually no research on looking at the long-term effects of this inflated incidence of PTSD among urban populations. It is important to develop an understanding of the effects of fear on the academic performance of urban adolescents so we can begin to dismantle the myths regarding school performance and minority children.
Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.
Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools. The quick response has been to install weapons detectors and hire school security for urban schools. The presence of school security certainly affects the climate of American public schools by establishing school environments that focus more on student behavior than student achievement. Together, the urban public school and the communities they serve are a constant reminder of the poor living conditions and social reality of urban America.
The secured environment is an indication of the roles students are expected to play later in life. This is a lesson they will not soon forget.
Kozol makes it quite clear that there are several exceptional children in this community. There are probably as many exceptional children here as every other community around the country, yet, so few of them will make it out of the South Bronx. Kozol is careful not to dwell on the exceptional cases of children who successfully navigate their way into the main stream of society. Kozol does this so we do not develop a false sense of hope. If we cling to a few exceptional cases, we may come to believe that what we are giving enough to children like Anthony or Anabelle. Clearly, we can do more. Failure should be the exception—not the rule. Success should be the norm, and until it is, we should not give up hope for these children.
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in a community like Mott Haven. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. These are visions we should never forget.
Welcome to America. The Wealthiest Nation in the World. Now leave.
Reference: Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation. (by Jonathan Kozol)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thank you Wackenhut!
Last year, it was the election commission... this time it was the Board of Ed who failed to secure the personal information, social security numbers, and financial data of local students and employees.The Tennessean openly discusses the salary of Metro teachers in the The Tennessean. The reporter makes it sound like she has uncovered some profound secret: Teachers are underpaid. No shit?
The papers seem to gloss over the magnitude if the situation of teacher pay and mobility within Metro Nashville. I wasted a ton of money at Vanderbilt and almost as much in the Ivy League. By investing in a useless program and a worthless degree, I am the first to admit I have made some bad choices, but now I am asking for some advice.
I CAN'T FIND A JOB!
I cannot afford to complete the application, or find transportation to get to an interview.
I am beyond broke. I am so far in debt that I do not even bother to open my mail since it consists only negative balances, bank statements, and letters from collection agencies and the Department of Education.
When I found out that someone recently used my social security number to open an account in Jersey City, I was thrilled at the prospect that my credit score might actually go up!
I never dreamed that I would have to apply for a social services grant simply to find a job. I never thought about fees for fingerprinting, TB tests, official transcripts, examination fees, processing fees necessary to apply a position that really only requires a GED.
As an employee of the Metro Nashville Public Schools, I work part-time as an educator at the "Masters + 30" salary level. I earn $10.46 / hour, before taxes without benefits.
There is a plethora of young, talented individuals like myself who would be more than willing to work for MNPS or any other company if we could simply access the resources necessary to complete the application. We all know that teacher salary is ridiculous to begin with, so no kudos to the reporter at the Tennessean for pointing out the obvious.
This is the reality I live in. This is poverty. This is why I am hoping that someone out there knows someone or some way that I can contribute more to society than what I am taking. I am a leach on society. I will continue to be a leach on society.
That does not go far, and they are currently eliminating employees, so any chance of a raise or future opportunities for advancement seem unlikely during these tough economic times.
I cannot afford additional application fees or costs associated with the Alternative Certification options, and I certainly do not have the resources required to obtain another undergraduate degree just so I can bypass the 6 months of student teach necessary for Metro to deem me qualified to teach Head Start, pre-k or even adult literacy programs.
The bottom line is this: regardless of good intentions or misguided mentoring, I am a financial burden to you all. I pay taxes out of your taxes. I am absolutely convinced that there must be a better way to live than relying upon government subsidies to keep a roof over my head and Ramen noodles in my tummy.
This is the reality I live in. This is poverty. This is why I am hoping that someone out there knows someone or some way that I can contribute more to society than what I am taking. I am a leach on society. I will continue to be a leach on society.
Relying upon the "welfare" of others is a terrible way to live especially when you have something to give back.
People used to laugh when I would inquire about transportation funds, internet access grants or assisted technology funds and resources...
Surely, the AT&T cable bill could have included a measure to assist the disabled and economically challenged members of our community free or discounted online internet service. Certainly one of these big companies coming to Tennessee can help by hiring just one over educated, underemployed, and dedicated employee.
I am not too proud to beg for a job or take some free advice if it will help me to get from here to there. I need someone, anyone, willing to give me a chance to prove myself. I need someone to invest in me!
CONTENT RREPRINTED FROM NEWS: [contest held by Associated Content-- I won a buck!]
Avaialble online:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1309452/morally_bankrupt_how_much_am_i_worth.html?singlepage=true&cat=9
I live so far beneath the poverty line that I am willing to work for the necessities in life that I simply cannot afford such as toothpaste and internet access. I cannot afford the application fees Metro charges for new or returning applicants. I'm not eligible for community training programs or work force development... there are no grant based training programs for people who just made a few bad, BAD investments along the way-- say, for example, a college degree?
I believe I deserve more out of life than this, and I think that if you knew me, you would think so too. Help become the person I was meant to be. Try to the see the person I could become.
I have so much to contribute, but few resources get there. All I want is a chance. All I need is a mentor. Will someone please take the time to invest in me? All I want is a chance. All I need is a mentor. Will someone please invest in me?
CONTENT RREPRINTED FROM NEWS: [contest held by Associated Content-- I won a buck!]
Avaialble online:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1309452/morally_bankrupt_how_much_am_i_worth.html?singlepage=true&cat=9
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Using Examinations & Testing to Improve Educational Quality
Examinations: Comparative and International Studies
Heyneman & Ransom discuss the critical role of national examinations in policy implementation and educational reform. Eckstein & Noah discuss why it is important to use national examinations in education. The reasons for using examinations include (1) to identify student strengths and weaknesses; (2) to provide feedback to officials regarding these strengths and weaknesses--within and between schools, districts, and regional areas; (3) to certify mastery of the curriculum; and; (4) as an established selection tool used in identifying the brightest students, thus providing students with an opportunity to obtain advanced degrees. The authors feel the last function of national examinations to be the most influential on individual performances “Selection examinations are the most powerful motivational lever in the education sector. . . The power of using national examinations lies in their ability to allocate life chances.”
Reference: Examinations: Comparative and International Studies
Max A Eckstein & Harold J. Noah / Eds. Stephen P Heyneman & Angela W Ransom
Heyneman & Ransom discuss the critical role of national examinations in policy implementation and educational reform. Eckstein & Noah discuss why it is important to use national examinations in education. The reasons for using examinations include (1) to identify student strengths and weaknesses; (2) to provide feedback to officials regarding these strengths and weaknesses--within and between schools, districts, and regional areas; (3) to certify mastery of the curriculum; and; (4) as an established selection tool used in identifying the brightest students, thus providing students with an opportunity to obtain advanced degrees. The authors feel the last function of national examinations to be the most influential on individual performances “Selection examinations are the most powerful motivational lever in the education sector. . . The power of using national examinations lies in their ability to allocate life chances.”
In addition to using examinations to gauge students strengths and weaknesses, examinations are also used to compare the educational attainment of students with the changing needs of today’s world and global economy. Examinations are also used to initiate curriculum reform, i.e. by changing the material in national examinations, students must shape their learning in order to perform well on national examinations. The authors also discuss how this approach can fail when it is used as a mechanism to bypass the normal route of gaining public support from parents and communities.
Eckstein & Noah discuss the changing views of testing in American Society, and the controversy surrounding the role of examinations within American Society. They point out the opposing view points regarding the use of rigid, structured examinations in schools as a tool which undermines the foundations of American education: to respond to individual creativity, and make learning attractive to America’s children. The authors also point out the limits to this argument, which fails to accept to testing as an important measurement device. They use China as an example of to demonstrate this point: At one point when China eliminated standardized testing from the curriculum, students assessments were based in large part on Political, Religious, or socioeconomic factors with no way to keep such extraneous variables in check with more objective types of evaluation, allowing for extremely subjective and personal interpretations of student achievement.
The issue at hand becomes not whether or not examinations have a critical role in education, but rather what to measure and how. Seeing how examinations are frequently the strongest indicator as to a child’s future academic success and independent functioning, teachers are under significant pressure to teach those skills which will be measured on such examinations. The authors refer to this as the backwash effect of public expectations, since teachers are often more concerned with a student’s performance on the exam than the relevance of the materials on the exam. When their is a discrepancy in what teachers and students see as useful knowledge, and the skills which are being tested on the exam, this no doubt has a negative effect on what is being taught and what is being learned in schools.
Reference: Examinations: Comparative and International Studies
Max A Eckstein & Harold J. Noah / Eds. Stephen P Heyneman & Angela W Ransom
Monday, August 24, 2009
Recruitment & Retention of Qualified Personnel in Metro Nashville Public Schools
This Tennessean released data on July 5, 2008 reporting disparities in teacher salaries for Metro employees. The article, “Poor kids' teachers earn less in Metro: Hiring bonuses, other incentives target inequities” raises questions about the hiring practices in Metro Public Schools, and reports that teachers earn less in schools that are not meeting the No Child Left Behind benchmarks. This article glossed over the magnitude of this desperate situation in Metro schools.
The basic fact that students are not making adequate progress is a reflection of the top-down policy failure by MNPS and the Board of Ed. Students are not making adequate progress, and teachers are being shuffled around in a desperate attempt to fix a problem that they do not fully understand.
In order to fix our broken schools, we need to look at schools that work. There are in fact public schools in urban neighborhoods that are successfully educating the students despite limited budgets, supplies, and adequate funding. So what is it about these schools that allows them to successfully educate disadvantaged, at-risk students and how can we replicate their success?
Unfortunately, this article does not offer any new insights into the inner-workings of our neighborhood schools. MNPS does not have the answers, nor does our newly elected Mayor who recently launched an aggressive media campaign to recruit new teachers willing to work within the constraints our over-regulated, under-funded public schools.
As an educator and a Metro employee, I earn $10.46 / hour (without benefits) teaching at-risk students, I am offended by the way teachers are treated in the schools, in the community, and by the press.
They are strangely unfamiliar with the political process, and teachers are expected to implement and carry out policies that were designed by academic professionals or educational consultants.
The state Department of Education could not offer any realistic solution to the simple fact that I cannot afford to pay the fees associated with the application fees certification requirements. If the Mayor really needs applicants, perhaps the city should comp the application fees necessary to be considered for employment.
My graduate degree in education is from the very same university that Mayor Dean attended in New York City. When I called HR and the “Certificated Office” to inquire about obtaining a provisional teaching license and alternative certification, I was simply told that I was not eligible for alternative certification and without additional coursework, and tuition and fees, I was not deemed qualified to teach in Metro.
I find it difficult to believe that a city so desperate for teachers is not willing to bend the rules jus a little or waive the application fee for anyone who is willing to work in such a hostile environment.
I am not qualified to teach in Metro since, apparently, Metro “does not teach education.” What a joke. To make matters worse— I had to pay them to find out that I was not even qualified to work with Head Start. I went to Head Start! Shouldn’t that be enough?
If MNPS truly wants a better-qualified staff, then the Mayor, the Board of Education, and school administrators need to take a closer look at the methods used to recruit, retain, and reward qualified individuals willing to sacrifice their financial stability for a career in public service.
Now that I realize my education was a complete waste of time and money, is it any wonder that I am ready to give up on teaching and maybe even ready to leave Nashville for good. The local hardware store has more to offer including benefits!
The high rate of student mobility is compounded by the constant shifting of school personnel. Many schools may just lose the few experienced, dedicated teachers they still have left have, to surrounding districts, cities, and states.
Such instability in the system may even prompt the younger set to leave the profession all together and discourage future teachers from applying for jobs in Metro.
Everything we know about the positive outcomes in neighborhood schools is their strong reliance upon community buy-in and parental involvement. One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter schools, parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents, teachers, students, and administrators fight to get in, and fight to stay there. The act of choosing, in effect, leads to an enhanced sense of community and builds a supportive, consistent, and structured environment. Calling this project “Fresh Start” is ridiculous-- it would be more accurate to call it a very bad ending!
The basic fact that students are not making adequate progress is a reflection of the top-down policy failure by MNPS and the Board of Ed. Students are not making adequate progress, and teachers are being shuffled around in a desperate attempt to fix a problem that they do not fully understand.
In order to fix our broken schools, we need to look at schools that work. There are in fact public schools in urban neighborhoods that are successfully educating the students despite limited budgets, supplies, and adequate funding. So what is it about these schools that allows them to successfully educate disadvantaged, at-risk students and how can we replicate their success?
Unfortunately, this article does not offer any new insights into the inner-workings of our neighborhood schools. MNPS does not have the answers, nor does our newly elected Mayor who recently launched an aggressive media campaign to recruit new teachers willing to work within the constraints our over-regulated, under-funded public schools.
As an educator and a Metro employee, I earn $10.46 / hour (without benefits) teaching at-risk students, I am offended by the way teachers are treated in the schools, in the community, and by the press.
They are strangely unfamiliar with the political process, and teachers are expected to implement and carry out policies that were designed by academic professionals or educational consultants.
The state Department of Education could not offer any realistic solution to the simple fact that I cannot afford to pay the fees associated with the application fees certification requirements. If the Mayor really needs applicants, perhaps the city should comp the application fees necessary to be considered for employment.
My graduate degree in education is from the very same university that Mayor Dean attended in New York City. When I called HR and the “Certificated Office” to inquire about obtaining a provisional teaching license and alternative certification, I was simply told that I was not eligible for alternative certification and without additional coursework, and tuition and fees, I was not deemed qualified to teach in Metro.
I find it difficult to believe that a city so desperate for teachers is not willing to bend the rules jus a little or waive the application fee for anyone who is willing to work in such a hostile environment.
I am not qualified to teach in Metro since, apparently, Metro “does not teach education.” What a joke. To make matters worse— I had to pay them to find out that I was not even qualified to work with Head Start. I went to Head Start! Shouldn’t that be enough?
If MNPS truly wants a better-qualified staff, then the Mayor, the Board of Education, and school administrators need to take a closer look at the methods used to recruit, retain, and reward qualified individuals willing to sacrifice their financial stability for a career in public service.
Now that I realize my education was a complete waste of time and money, is it any wonder that I am ready to give up on teaching and maybe even ready to leave Nashville for good. The local hardware store has more to offer including benefits!
The high rate of student mobility is compounded by the constant shifting of school personnel. Many schools may just lose the few experienced, dedicated teachers they still have left have, to surrounding districts, cities, and states.
Such instability in the system may even prompt the younger set to leave the profession all together and discourage future teachers from applying for jobs in Metro.
Everything we know about the positive outcomes in neighborhood schools is their strong reliance upon community buy-in and parental involvement. One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter schools, parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents, teachers, students, and administrators fight to get in, and fight to stay there. The act of choosing, in effect, leads to an enhanced sense of community and builds a supportive, consistent, and structured environment. Calling this project “Fresh Start” is ridiculous-- it would be more accurate to call it a very bad ending!
Monday, August 10, 2009
On Not Being Able To Write
Membership has it's Privileges
The first letter I received was from Cornell. My first letter of rejection came from the graduate program in Health Policy Analysis at Cornell University. Yes, it represented failure, but I do not believe it was my own.
It was the failure of a society with rigid social norms. One that demands the sequence and continuity so many us lack in this modern day society of step families once, twice, three tines removed... yes, children of divorce, children like myself lack . A society that is afraid to see; afraid to hear; and afraid to speak. A society allowed a child like me to feel as though their entire self-worth is based solely upon the judgment of four strangers at an Ivy League Institution.
It is a society made up of individuals taught how to think, how to feel, how to conform, and how to hide. It forces us to place the world into simple categories so that we may understand the complexities around us. We are taught that a spirit is our savior and the law is our sanctuary.
We learn to recognize good and evil; black and white; blessed and damned. We are forced to choose good or evil; black or white; blessed or damned.
It is a society that allows us to believe in fate and destiny and blame failure and injustice on circumstance and gods.
It teaches hatred and intolerance and breeds complexity and anger. It is a society that I neither respect nor believe, and a society that needs careful evaluation and gentle handling.
There is no order, there is no justice, there is no comfort. It is the society of a people, and people in need of a soul.
There is a theory about psychologists that claims many people choose to study the field of psychology in an effort to understand their own mind. I have spent so many hours contemplating the source of my insecurities and fears.
Eventually I came to the fields of sociology and education, since I feel it was the combination of the two that facilitated my belief that a degree from Harvard or Princeton or Yale would make my problems disappear
The day I was accepted at Columbia was one of the most difficult days of my life because it was something I was told I would never accomplish (even though Columbia is only “the doormat of the Ivy League”).
I chose to go to Vanderbilt since it represented freedom. Freedom from the confused ideals of my parents, and marked a clear boundary between their world and my own.
In the hours before I left to drive to Ithaca for my first interview, my first interview, my mother told me I did not deserve to get into Cornell.
Because I was only 21 at the time I applied, I was being claimed as a dependent child on my mother’s tax returns and my father placed on the payroll that had enormous consequences even to this day.
I could not complete the FAFSA financial aid application, or apply for need-based scholarships since neither parent would release financial statements to the Dept of Ed or anyone else.
I begged my father to reconsider and sign on as a guarantor. His exact words were, “I am not willing to gamble $50,000 on your future,” so I was on my own once again. I thought that if I could just make it through Graduation, everything would be okay. I would be able to pick up student insurance and my pain, stress, and anxiety would all disappear.
I would no longer be subject to my father’s conventions of checks and balances: the stress of dependency would all disappear—I would finally be free from the ghosts and voices echoing through my head.
[On Not Being Able To Write: Recovered File July 14, 1995]
I am writing this letter because I simply do not have the strength or courage to say these words outloud.
I did not lay when I told you that my father was denying insurance coverage, or when I told you that my mother felt that my illness did not justify her early return from Bermuda. I neither lied about these things, nor in my recollections of similar incidents in the past simply because I do not believe that a child could make such things up. I do not believe a child comes into the world innately evil deserving of such memories, and I will no longer take responsibility of the actions of two very bright, but very cruel individuals.
When I brought you the first draft of my Cornell essay, you told me there was much more to talk about than a learning disability, and indeed, there was. I wrote over one hundred copies of that essay, each version trying to explain some kind of failure.
Through each graduate application, I heard my father’s words echoing throughout my mind bringing me back to a sadder time. I will never forget these words:
I am writing this letter because I simply do not have the strength or courage to say these words outloud.
I did not lay when I told you that my father was denying insurance coverage, or when I told you that my mother felt that my illness did not justify her early return from Bermuda. I neither lied about these things, nor in my recollections of similar incidents in the past simply because I do not believe that a child could make such things up. I do not believe a child comes into the world innately evil deserving of such memories, and I will no longer take responsibility of the actions of two very bright, but very cruel individuals.
When I brought you the first draft of my Cornell essay, you told me there was much more to talk about than a learning disability, and indeed, there was. I wrote over one hundred copies of that essay, each version trying to explain some kind of failure.
Through each graduate application, I heard my father’s words echoing throughout my mind bringing me back to a sadder time. I will never forget these words:
“If you don‘t go to an Ivy League school, it doesn’t matter where you go...”
“These schools don‘t like to see kids who went to so many schools, they want kids who will stay there for all four years... “
The first letter I received was from Cornell. My first letter of rejection came from the graduate program in Health Policy Analysis at Cornell University. Yes, it represented failure, but I do not believe it was my own.
It was the failure of a society with rigid social norms. One that demands the sequence and continuity so many us lack in this modern day society of step families once, twice, three tines removed... yes, children of divorce, children like myself lack . A society that is afraid to see; afraid to hear; and afraid to speak. A society allowed a child like me to feel as though their entire self-worth is based solely upon the judgment of four strangers at an Ivy League Institution.
It is a society made up of individuals taught how to think, how to feel, how to conform, and how to hide. It forces us to place the world into simple categories so that we may understand the complexities around us. We are taught that a spirit is our savior and the law is our sanctuary.
We learn to recognize good and evil; black and white; blessed and damned. We are forced to choose good or evil; black or white; blessed or damned.
It is a society that allows us to believe in fate and destiny and blame failure and injustice on circumstance and gods.
It teaches hatred and intolerance and breeds complexity and anger. It is a society that I neither respect nor believe, and a society that needs careful evaluation and gentle handling.
There is no order, there is no justice, there is no comfort. It is the society of a people, and people in need of a soul.
There is a theory about psychologists that claims many people choose to study the field of psychology in an effort to understand their own mind. I have spent so many hours contemplating the source of my insecurities and fears.
Eventually I came to the fields of sociology and education, since I feel it was the combination of the two that facilitated my belief that a degree from Harvard or Princeton or Yale would make my problems disappear
The day I was accepted at Columbia was one of the most difficult days of my life because it was something I was told I would never accomplish (even though Columbia is only “the doormat of the Ivy League”).
I chose to go to Vanderbilt since it represented freedom. Freedom from the confused ideals of my parents, and marked a clear boundary between their world and my own.
In the hours before I left to drive to Ithaca for my first interview, my first interview, my mother told me I did not deserve to get into Cornell.
Because I was only 21 at the time I applied, I was being claimed as a dependent child on my mother’s tax returns and my father placed on the payroll that had enormous consequences even to this day.
I could not complete the FAFSA financial aid application, or apply for need-based scholarships since neither parent would release financial statements to the Dept of Ed or anyone else.
I begged my father to reconsider and sign on as a guarantor. His exact words were, “I am not willing to gamble $50,000 on your future,” so I was on my own once again. I thought that if I could just make it through Graduation, everything would be okay. I would be able to pick up student insurance and my pain, stress, and anxiety would all disappear.
I would no longer be subject to my father’s conventions of checks and balances: the stress of dependency would all disappear—I would finally be free from the ghosts and voices echoing through my head.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Let your voice be heard...
Dear Elyssa:
Yesterday, you called your Senators and asked them to pass the economic recovery package and retain its health care provisions. Collectively, you made hundreds of calls in less than 24 hours! But from the feedback I've received from you, it's clear that the phone lines are jammed, mostly with Rush Limbaugh fanatics urging a "no" vote.
We need to take this battle to the next level if we want to ensure health care is included in the economic recovery package - and that this package passes at all.
Can you write a letter to your Senators? We're going to print out every letter you write and hand deliver them to Senate offices to make sure your voice is heard.
We've gotten word that Senators on Capitol Hill are working to gut the health care provisions in President Obama's economic recovery plan.
Meanwhile, people all over the country are losing their jobs and their health care. These people desperately need the protections in the economic recovery package that help them retain their family's health insurance. And the entire country needs this bill to pass so we can create jobs and start turning our economy around.
Click to write a letter to your Senators now! We'll hand deliver your message to their offices.
I know I just reached out to you yesterday, but this is urgent! The fate of not only the health care provisions, but the entire economic recovery package is in jeopardy.
Please take a moment to write a letter to your Senators so we can hand deliver them and make sure your voice is heard!
Thank you for all that you do.
To your health,
Levana
Drastic Times
Drastic Times, Drastic Measures
Read more about economic recovery at: http://my.barackobama.com/sharestories
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1459637/drastic_times_drastic_measures.html
America Needs Economic Recovery
We're often asked how we plan to take this unique moment in history - when a grassroots movement for change elected a president - and turn it into a force that can build stronger communities, block by block. read more... http://change.gov
Drastic Times, Drastic Measures: America in Need of Economic Recovery
http://my.barackobama.com/sharestories
As I was thinking about how to respond to the numerous requests from the Obama Transition Team that has been sent out to numerous community organizers and political activists and agencies across the country, I am reminded of my graduate school days where I lived in what Jonathan Kozol refers to as Manhattan's "Liberal West Side."
During the time I lived there, in the mid-late 1990's, the American Sociological Association (ASA) held its annual conference in New York City. Prior to that meeting, they sent out a fact sheet that may be of interest to ASA members. In this sheet, they too described the same social conditions and asked their members to take note of the changes that occur at 96th Street. I can assure you that the conditions Kozol describes in his book were
not exaggerated.
Oddly enough, the very same area was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification at the time Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office. As described in Amazing Grace, the South Bronx is one of the most severely segregated and poorest Congressional Districts in the United States. The members of this community have been segregated into a hell plagued with sickness, violence and despair. Kozol argues that this strategic placement serves to isolate the rich from the realities they have thrust upon their fellow man. New Yorkers do not stroll through the streets of Mott Haven, and taxicabs take no short cuts through Beekman Avenue. Many taxicabs will not even venture past East 96th Street. Out of sight is out of mind.
There is no excuse for the living conditions of these children and their families. No person should be forced into an apartment that has a higher ratio of cockroaches and rats than to human beings.
These children are desperately in need of the best schools, yet we give them the worst. They have few libraries, few safe havens, few doctors, and few role models. They have every reason to believe that they are throwaway children and we have certainly not shown them anything else. The social services we have provided are a bureaucratic nightmare. People in need are treated as sub-human, and made to feel ashamed of being poor.
These are among the sickest children in the world. Americans claim to be dedicated to the children and fool ourselves into believing that we are doing them a favor by providing them with medical care, public education, and public housing. Yet, the quality of their neighborhoods speaks volumes of our sentiment and intentions.
Shortly after the publication of Amazing Grace, managed care rapidly moved onto the New York scene. Around the same time, the Mayor announced he would be closing some of the hospitals that served the poorest of the poor because of financial problems associated with payment and large trauma departments.
Kozol makes the point that people could attempt to gain admissions at a better hospital than Bronx-Lebanon; yet, the privatization of Medicaid made this completely impossible. Further restrictions on medical care are inevitable as a direct result of Medicaid managed care plans. The law is not designed to protect the poor, the fragile, and the disenfranchised.
This was made obvious in a recent conversation I had with a friend who practices emergency medicine on the elite Upper East Side of Manhattan. My friend works as a board certified trauma physician at a private hospital on the Upper East Side. The last black patient he treated at Beth Israel was famed rock singer Michael Jackson.
This is the reality. The best doctors treat the healthy and wealthy instead of the people who have the greatest need. They give no thought to the equitable distribution of services; they just file insurance claims and billing statements. Doctors should consider who stands to could benefit the most from their skill and experience. Perhaps we should invert the payment schedule so physicians and other health care providers should receive a higher rate of reimbursement for treating the most vulnerable populations.
Patients with the greatest need get the worst care.
Great teachers teach great students in great neighborhoods. This makes no sense!
And we wonder why the division between the have and the have-nots continues to grow?
People often ask me why I am so angry about the living conditions of poor urban minorities. My response—how can you not be enraged by the way we treat our own citizens? Children who did not ask to be born into poverty and substandard living conditions. Why aren't you angry? I cannot be the only one who places human kindness, dignity, and integrity above the lure of the almighty dollar!
I have thought for many years that the system is upside down, and I become more and more convinced of that as I grow older. To paraphrase the message of the new Windows Vista commercial, The Mayor's campaign slogan, or any number of economists trying to figure out what to tweak, where, and just how much... clearly there is a level of inter-connectedness that exists between the various sectors of the American marketplace and economy. Give them a real challenge.
Similarly, many different things influence the human condition by upsetting the delicate balance between those who can and those who do. We need to focus on improving the lives of those who might... People who can and do amazing things when given the chance. People who can excel under the right set of circumstances given the right support, the right guidance, the right tools, and the right opportunities. People who may not have the monetary (financial) resources to invest in themselves, their families, or their communities.
We must take action on a number of fronts to create some type of stability in our country, our economy, and the international marketplace. We need to start here, now, in our own communities, schools, and invest in ourselves.
Did it really take a $700 Billion wake up call for our citizens to realize that that all is not well in America. It is time to get real about healthcare. It is time to get real about education. It is time to get real about the cost of education. It is time to get real about this god-forsaken war that we are still in!
This country is in desperate need of a wake-up call, and we must develop a course of action that embraces a multi-dimensional approach and vast restructuring of the laissez faire way of regulating healthcare in the past.
Tell Washington, "HEALTHCARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT!"
Tell our children, "WE BELIEVE IN YOUR FUTURE!"
Tell the people in your community, "WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER!"
Tell the for-profit healthcare industry, "WE ARE NOT FOR SALE!"
I am not for sale, yet my healthcare company pimps me out based upon their ability to negotiate with fat cat for profit healthcare giants like HCA and First Health who are by no means the business to make people well! It does not take a rocket scientist to see the perverse incentive to keep people sick and dependent upon costly medications and treatment protocols.
Look at the facts; if we get healthy, they go broke! So let's shake it up a bit, and turn this sad state of affairs upside down!
If we are to find some resolution to the unprecedented, simultaneous collapse of the economy, the market place and/or government and the collapsing housing market in United States, it seems obvious that people, the economy, healthcare, education confidence and faith in the American people it is time to take drastic efforts to strengthen our greatest asset and hope for the future: Our children!
Drastic times call for drastic measures!
Let's start with education: Next year, I want Harvard to take in the worst students. Take the worst students who would not have made it past the front door of the admissions office. Take the worst students. Students who did not break a thousand on their SATs and barely made it through watered-down high school curriculum. Let them benefit from a first class education.
Guess what Harvard? The smart kids don't need you! They are already ahead of the game. We can sit them in a corner for a year or two because they do not need the Ivy League to succeed. By definition, they are already streamlined for success and they will no doubt be great with or without you!
There is no doubt that the prevalence of violence in urban neighborhoods affects the ability of children to perform well in school. There is a large body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of chronic stress on memory and the learning process.
Rather than taking the children out of these communities, we have constructed prison like buildings for them to attend school. They routinely have gunfire drills reminding them that danger is never far behind.
Children cannot learn in this environment. This constant stress triggers "hot-memory." Hot memory can be thought of as learning with your heart and not your mind. It is no wonder children perform inadequately in this environment. It is bad enough that children live in such conditions, must we educate in them too. If we want underprivileged children to learn and grow spiritually, we must create an environment that allows their cool memory systems to take over. It is only under these conditions that children will permit themselves to learn and develop their intellectual strengths.
We have failed to create a safe home environment for urban children, but we can give serious thought to creating a school environment outside of the community so they have fewer fear-driven hours each day.
It is any wonder that these children perform poorly in school. By every measure, these children are destined for failure. Their home life is less than enchanting, and they do not benefit from enriched environments and educated parents. Certainly, there are many dedicated parents who care about their children, but is that enough? When I was in school, children frequently asked the teacher, how this would help later in life. As a young girl in a suburban classroom, there was an unequivocal reply, but it could be argued that what children in the South Bronx need to learn cannot be taught in the classroom.
Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in urban neighborhoods like Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence. The potential impact of chronic stress on academic performance and achievement is not known, but reading scores in neighborhoods like Mott Haven certainly seem to indicate some type of causal relationship. There is virtually no research on looking at the long-term effects of this inflated incidence of PTSD among urban populations. It is important to develop an understanding of the effects of fear on the academic performance of urban adolescents so we can begin to dismantle the myths regarding school performance and minority children.
Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.
Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools.
The quick response has been to install weapons detectors and hire school security for urban schools. The presence of school security certainly affects the climate of American public schools and sends a symbolic message to members of the community, the world, and especially the students themselves regarding the role they are expected to play as they mature into adolescents and young adulthood.
The school rules mimic are not unlike those one might expect to find in a state prison. Students are rewarded for obedience and they are taught to follow the rules rather than to think critically. On the back of the No Child Left Behind legislation, we indoctrinate our youngest members of society with "core curriculum" and "Back to Basics." Students across the country are judged on their ability to regurgitate facts on high-stakes standardized tests.
Lesson plans are filled with repetition exercises and workbook pages rather than student projects or classroom discussion. We teach conformity, rules, and limits. We teach kids to be blind followers. The skills we are teaching are better suited for prison rather than the real world. Teachers are teaching the kids to follow rules, to conform, and to reward obedience rather than creativity.
The secured environment is an indication of the roles students are expected to play later in life. This is a lesson they will not soon forget. School rules and core curriculum makes classroom silencing an everyday event in the urban classroom. And as my list of "off-limit" subject matter grows longer each term, the need to bring such things into the dialogue becomes more and more apparent. I actually have a printed list of topics that I am forbidden to discuss in the classroom: The election, politics, race, religion, suicide, pregnancy. The more topics they add, the more relevant they become. The unspoken truth has becomes louder and louder the more we are silenced. There is a big pink elephant standing in the middle of my classroom! There is a big pink elephant in the middle of our community!
By focusing on student behavior rather than student skills, knowledge, and achievement, we are showing all members of the school, the community, and the children themselves that we have already given up. Together, the urban public school and the community it serves are a constant reminder of the perpetual cycle of poverty and the poor living conditions and social reality that continue to plague urban America.
Kozol makes it quite clear that there are several exceptional children in this community. There are probably as many exceptional children here as every other community around the country, yet, so few of them will make it out of the South Bronx. Kozol is careful not to dwell on the exceptional cases of children who successfully navigate their way into the main stream of society. Kozol does this so we do not develop a false sense of hope. If we cling to a few exceptional cases, we may come to believe that what we are giving enough to children like Anthony or Anabelle.
Clearly, we can do more. Failure should be the exception—not the rule. Success should be the norm, and until it is, we should not give up hope for these children.
This is our time to let our voices be heard. Any number of social justice agencies from moveon.org, to Cover the Uninsured, to Families USA, Center for Community Change, Health Care for America Now; have opened the blogosphere so that everyday common folk like you and I can submit our opinions to the Transition Team in Washington. They are begging us to participate, to give our opinions, to let our voices be heard. They need our help. Let us make this the country we are proud to call home. Let this be a new beginning for us all, and let us make this a land of real opportunity.
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in a community like Mott Haven. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. Be silenced no more.
Read more about economic recovery at: http://my.barackobama.com/sharestories
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1459637/drastic_times_drastic_measures.html
America Needs Economic Recovery
We're often asked how we plan to take this unique moment in history - when a grassroots movement for change elected a president - and turn it into a force that can build stronger communities, block by block. read more... http://change.gov
Drastic Times, Drastic Measures: America in Need of Economic Recovery
http://my.barackobama.com/sharestories
As I was thinking about how to respond to the numerous requests from the Obama Transition Team that has been sent out to numerous community organizers and political activists and agencies across the country, I am reminded of my graduate school days where I lived in what Jonathan Kozol refers to as Manhattan's "Liberal West Side."
During the time I lived there, in the mid-late 1990's, the American Sociological Association (ASA) held its annual conference in New York City. Prior to that meeting, they sent out a fact sheet that may be of interest to ASA members. In this sheet, they too described the same social conditions and asked their members to take note of the changes that occur at 96th Street. I can assure you that the conditions Kozol describes in his book were
not exaggerated.
Oddly enough, the very same area was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification at the time Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office. As described in Amazing Grace, the South Bronx is one of the most severely segregated and poorest Congressional Districts in the United States. The members of this community have been segregated into a hell plagued with sickness, violence and despair. Kozol argues that this strategic placement serves to isolate the rich from the realities they have thrust upon their fellow man. New Yorkers do not stroll through the streets of Mott Haven, and taxicabs take no short cuts through Beekman Avenue. Many taxicabs will not even venture past East 96th Street. Out of sight is out of mind.
There is no excuse for the living conditions of these children and their families. No person should be forced into an apartment that has a higher ratio of cockroaches and rats than to human beings.
These children are desperately in need of the best schools, yet we give them the worst. They have few libraries, few safe havens, few doctors, and few role models. They have every reason to believe that they are throwaway children and we have certainly not shown them anything else. The social services we have provided are a bureaucratic nightmare. People in need are treated as sub-human, and made to feel ashamed of being poor.
These are among the sickest children in the world. Americans claim to be dedicated to the children and fool ourselves into believing that we are doing them a favor by providing them with medical care, public education, and public housing. Yet, the quality of their neighborhoods speaks volumes of our sentiment and intentions.
Shortly after the publication of Amazing Grace, managed care rapidly moved onto the New York scene. Around the same time, the Mayor announced he would be closing some of the hospitals that served the poorest of the poor because of financial problems associated with payment and large trauma departments.
Kozol makes the point that people could attempt to gain admissions at a better hospital than Bronx-Lebanon; yet, the privatization of Medicaid made this completely impossible. Further restrictions on medical care are inevitable as a direct result of Medicaid managed care plans. The law is not designed to protect the poor, the fragile, and the disenfranchised.
This was made obvious in a recent conversation I had with a friend who practices emergency medicine on the elite Upper East Side of Manhattan. My friend works as a board certified trauma physician at a private hospital on the Upper East Side. The last black patient he treated at Beth Israel was famed rock singer Michael Jackson.
This is the reality. The best doctors treat the healthy and wealthy instead of the people who have the greatest need. They give no thought to the equitable distribution of services; they just file insurance claims and billing statements. Doctors should consider who stands to could benefit the most from their skill and experience. Perhaps we should invert the payment schedule so physicians and other health care providers should receive a higher rate of reimbursement for treating the most vulnerable populations.
Patients with the greatest need get the worst care.
Great teachers teach great students in great neighborhoods. This makes no sense!
And we wonder why the division between the have and the have-nots continues to grow?
People often ask me why I am so angry about the living conditions of poor urban minorities. My response—how can you not be enraged by the way we treat our own citizens? Children who did not ask to be born into poverty and substandard living conditions. Why aren't you angry? I cannot be the only one who places human kindness, dignity, and integrity above the lure of the almighty dollar!
I have thought for many years that the system is upside down, and I become more and more convinced of that as I grow older. To paraphrase the message of the new Windows Vista commercial, The Mayor's campaign slogan, or any number of economists trying to figure out what to tweak, where, and just how much... clearly there is a level of inter-connectedness that exists between the various sectors of the American marketplace and economy. Give them a real challenge.
Similarly, many different things influence the human condition by upsetting the delicate balance between those who can and those who do. We need to focus on improving the lives of those who might... People who can and do amazing things when given the chance. People who can excel under the right set of circumstances given the right support, the right guidance, the right tools, and the right opportunities. People who may not have the monetary (financial) resources to invest in themselves, their families, or their communities.
We must take action on a number of fronts to create some type of stability in our country, our economy, and the international marketplace. We need to start here, now, in our own communities, schools, and invest in ourselves.
Did it really take a $700 Billion wake up call for our citizens to realize that that all is not well in America. It is time to get real about healthcare. It is time to get real about education. It is time to get real about the cost of education. It is time to get real about this god-forsaken war that we are still in!
This country is in desperate need of a wake-up call, and we must develop a course of action that embraces a multi-dimensional approach and vast restructuring of the laissez faire way of regulating healthcare in the past.
Tell Washington, "HEALTHCARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT!"
Tell our children, "WE BELIEVE IN YOUR FUTURE!"
Tell the people in your community, "WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER!"
Tell the for-profit healthcare industry, "WE ARE NOT FOR SALE!"
I am not for sale, yet my healthcare company pimps me out based upon their ability to negotiate with fat cat for profit healthcare giants like HCA and First Health who are by no means the business to make people well! It does not take a rocket scientist to see the perverse incentive to keep people sick and dependent upon costly medications and treatment protocols.
Look at the facts; if we get healthy, they go broke! So let's shake it up a bit, and turn this sad state of affairs upside down!
If we are to find some resolution to the unprecedented, simultaneous collapse of the economy, the market place and/or government and the collapsing housing market in United States, it seems obvious that people, the economy, healthcare, education confidence and faith in the American people it is time to take drastic efforts to strengthen our greatest asset and hope for the future: Our children!
Drastic times call for drastic measures!
Let's start with education: Next year, I want Harvard to take in the worst students. Take the worst students who would not have made it past the front door of the admissions office. Take the worst students. Students who did not break a thousand on their SATs and barely made it through watered-down high school curriculum. Let them benefit from a first class education.
Guess what Harvard? The smart kids don't need you! They are already ahead of the game. We can sit them in a corner for a year or two because they do not need the Ivy League to succeed. By definition, they are already streamlined for success and they will no doubt be great with or without you!
There is no doubt that the prevalence of violence in urban neighborhoods affects the ability of children to perform well in school. There is a large body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of chronic stress on memory and the learning process.
Rather than taking the children out of these communities, we have constructed prison like buildings for them to attend school. They routinely have gunfire drills reminding them that danger is never far behind.
Children cannot learn in this environment. This constant stress triggers "hot-memory." Hot memory can be thought of as learning with your heart and not your mind. It is no wonder children perform inadequately in this environment. It is bad enough that children live in such conditions, must we educate in them too. If we want underprivileged children to learn and grow spiritually, we must create an environment that allows their cool memory systems to take over. It is only under these conditions that children will permit themselves to learn and develop their intellectual strengths.
We have failed to create a safe home environment for urban children, but we can give serious thought to creating a school environment outside of the community so they have fewer fear-driven hours each day.
It is any wonder that these children perform poorly in school. By every measure, these children are destined for failure. Their home life is less than enchanting, and they do not benefit from enriched environments and educated parents. Certainly, there are many dedicated parents who care about their children, but is that enough? When I was in school, children frequently asked the teacher, how this would help later in life. As a young girl in a suburban classroom, there was an unequivocal reply, but it could be argued that what children in the South Bronx need to learn cannot be taught in the classroom.
Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in urban neighborhoods like Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence. The potential impact of chronic stress on academic performance and achievement is not known, but reading scores in neighborhoods like Mott Haven certainly seem to indicate some type of causal relationship. There is virtually no research on looking at the long-term effects of this inflated incidence of PTSD among urban populations. It is important to develop an understanding of the effects of fear on the academic performance of urban adolescents so we can begin to dismantle the myths regarding school performance and minority children.
Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.
Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools.
The quick response has been to install weapons detectors and hire school security for urban schools. The presence of school security certainly affects the climate of American public schools and sends a symbolic message to members of the community, the world, and especially the students themselves regarding the role they are expected to play as they mature into adolescents and young adulthood.
The school rules mimic are not unlike those one might expect to find in a state prison. Students are rewarded for obedience and they are taught to follow the rules rather than to think critically. On the back of the No Child Left Behind legislation, we indoctrinate our youngest members of society with "core curriculum" and "Back to Basics." Students across the country are judged on their ability to regurgitate facts on high-stakes standardized tests.
Lesson plans are filled with repetition exercises and workbook pages rather than student projects or classroom discussion. We teach conformity, rules, and limits. We teach kids to be blind followers. The skills we are teaching are better suited for prison rather than the real world. Teachers are teaching the kids to follow rules, to conform, and to reward obedience rather than creativity.
The secured environment is an indication of the roles students are expected to play later in life. This is a lesson they will not soon forget. School rules and core curriculum makes classroom silencing an everyday event in the urban classroom. And as my list of "off-limit" subject matter grows longer each term, the need to bring such things into the dialogue becomes more and more apparent. I actually have a printed list of topics that I am forbidden to discuss in the classroom: The election, politics, race, religion, suicide, pregnancy. The more topics they add, the more relevant they become. The unspoken truth has becomes louder and louder the more we are silenced. There is a big pink elephant standing in the middle of my classroom! There is a big pink elephant in the middle of our community!
By focusing on student behavior rather than student skills, knowledge, and achievement, we are showing all members of the school, the community, and the children themselves that we have already given up. Together, the urban public school and the community it serves are a constant reminder of the perpetual cycle of poverty and the poor living conditions and social reality that continue to plague urban America.
Kozol makes it quite clear that there are several exceptional children in this community. There are probably as many exceptional children here as every other community around the country, yet, so few of them will make it out of the South Bronx. Kozol is careful not to dwell on the exceptional cases of children who successfully navigate their way into the main stream of society. Kozol does this so we do not develop a false sense of hope. If we cling to a few exceptional cases, we may come to believe that what we are giving enough to children like Anthony or Anabelle.
Clearly, we can do more. Failure should be the exception—not the rule. Success should be the norm, and until it is, we should not give up hope for these children.
This is our time to let our voices be heard. Any number of social justice agencies from moveon.org, to Cover the Uninsured, to Families USA, Center for Community Change, Health Care for America Now; have opened the blogosphere so that everyday common folk like you and I can submit our opinions to the Transition Team in Washington. They are begging us to participate, to give our opinions, to let our voices be heard. They need our help. Let us make this the country we are proud to call home. Let this be a new beginning for us all, and let us make this a land of real opportunity.
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in a community like Mott Haven. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. Be silenced no more.
Monday, February 23, 2009
"Liberal Hell?" Hardly!
Elyssa Durant at 6:41pm February 23
Judson, let me clarify that statement since it was not intended to be a be astatement about finance. By definition, Harvard and the other Ivy's seek out the most talented individuals through the admissions process. Historicallly the Ivy League diffeentiated themselves by refusing to look at other criteriaq for admissins such as sports ability.... it seems only fair that ability to pay should be removed from the talent search process. By suspending admissions for one year is not intended to "screw the wealthy" and given their historical search process should not be viewed or perceived that way. Unfortunately, that is not really the case as we know due to other sociological factors, edcuational attainment is often linked to SES. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia, Yale and Brown seek out the best students, who are already slated and identified to be successful. Sort of like the "gifted" programs that will be successful without the added benefit ....
Elyssa Durant at 6:47pm February 23
of esteemed professors. (sorry-- ran out of room) I'm not talking about the redistribution of wealth, I al talking about providiging an equitable system of educational reform. When the Ivy's take only ttyhe best students that have been identified as heving those qualities that will make them successful, then it seems a bit redundant. There are many people who could benefit from an excellent education, among them are student who do not have the necessary home environments that create a culture of success. I don't think our society will suffer if we ask the most talented among us to do a minimal service requirement by teaching and sharing the intelelctual gifts that have been bestowed upon them.... edd
Friday, February 6, 2009
Vanderbilt University slashes student loans
.jpg)
Vanderbilt University slashes student loans
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT
http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?s=9108181
Going to Vanderbilt University is about to become more affordable.
The university announced it's doing away with millions of dollars worth of student loans.
There will soon be no more need-based loans at Vanderbilt University, but instead grants and scholarships that students won't have to repay, according to University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos.
"The way this all works is that anybody that applies to Vanderbilt is admitted regardless of your financial need," explained Zeppos.
Not only will the new financial aid initiative save some students thousand of dollars it will allow anyone to attend the prestigious university.
"If you hard working, great kid...and you want to be at Vanderbilt, it's affordable," Zeppos said.
The money for the program comes from fundraising efforts.
$200,000,000 in scholarship funds has already been raised and there is a goal to raise another $100,000,000.
"It's really the combination of the years of hard work and leadership of a lot of people taking us to the next level of where Vanderbilt needs to be," Zeppos said.
This years graduating class will have their need-based loans waved in the spring.
The program will open up to all undergraduates in the fall of 2009.
In what Universe does this make sense...????
If this policy is intended to open the door to all students, then why does the University require students to disclose their parent’s income? The last time I checked, the application to the graduate school required a financial statement of disclosure-- not just from students, there parents too. This always seemed odd, especially for graduate students over the age of 18.
If financial need is no longer a factor, then presumably the University has waived all fees associated with the application process, right? Perhaps this statement was issued in anticipation of the HUGE, HUGE, loss of the endowment fund???
I guess that makes some people believe the University is more focused on learning than with earnings, well, then...I hope you have a more convincing argument than this!
Who knows, maybe they might even cut you a little slack in light of the disastrous financial disclosures. I truly hope you do call me when you launch your next “giving campaign. “ I would rather donate it to sharks..
To say that “hard working, great kids ...who want to be at Vanderbilt," will be able to attend for free, makes you sound like an idiot. It also sounds like a public relations disaster just waiting to happen.
Now c'mon Zeppos-- I thought you were one of the good guys? Don't be saying stupid things like that!
No wonder you guys are going broke.
Updated: Nov 1, 2008 04:49 PM CDT
http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?s=9108181
Going to Vanderbilt University is about to become more affordable.
The university announced it's doing away with millions of dollars worth of student loans.
There will soon be no more need-based loans at Vanderbilt University, but instead grants and scholarships that students won't have to repay, according to University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos.
"The way this all works is that anybody that applies to Vanderbilt is admitted regardless of your financial need," explained Zeppos.
Not only will the new financial aid initiative save some students thousand of dollars it will allow anyone to attend the prestigious university.
"If you hard working, great kid...and you want to be at Vanderbilt, it's affordable," Zeppos said.
The money for the program comes from fundraising efforts.
$200,000,000 in scholarship funds has already been raised and there is a goal to raise another $100,000,000.
"It's really the combination of the years of hard work and leadership of a lot of people taking us to the next level of where Vanderbilt needs to be," Zeppos said.
This years graduating class will have their need-based loans waved in the spring.
The program will open up to all undergraduates in the fall of 2009.
In what Universe does this make sense...????
If this policy is intended to open the door to all students, then why does the University require students to disclose their parent’s income? The last time I checked, the application to the graduate school required a financial statement of disclosure-- not just from students, there parents too. This always seemed odd, especially for graduate students over the age of 18.
If financial need is no longer a factor, then presumably the University has waived all fees associated with the application process, right? Perhaps this statement was issued in anticipation of the HUGE, HUGE, loss of the endowment fund???
I guess that makes some people believe the University is more focused on learning than with earnings, well, then...I hope you have a more convincing argument than this!
Who knows, maybe they might even cut you a little slack in light of the disastrous financial disclosures. I truly hope you do call me when you launch your next “giving campaign. “ I would rather donate it to sharks..
To say that “hard working, great kids ...who want to be at Vanderbilt," will be able to attend for free, makes you sound like an idiot. It also sounds like a public relations disaster just waiting to happen.
Now c'mon Zeppos-- I thought you were one of the good guys? Don't be saying stupid things like that!
No wonder you guys are going broke.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
This economy sucks.
www.healthcare.com/tags/sample-of-personal-statement-for-pharmacy-school/
Maybe the application essay I wrote might work better for someone else. I didn't get get the job or an offer of admission.
Go figure. Maybe for once in my life, I am right on time and right on target. Or perhaps the rest of the world has finally caught up... So for all of you folks who have been there with me, don't forget this...
"If you walk behind me I may not lead, and if you walk before me I may not follow... but if you stand beside me, I'll be your friend."
Maybe the application essay I wrote might work better for someone else. I didn't get get the job or an offer of admission.
Go figure. Maybe for once in my life, I am right on time and right on target. Or perhaps the rest of the world has finally caught up... So for all of you folks who have been there with me, don't forget this...
"If you walk behind me I may not lead, and if you walk before me I may not follow... but if you stand beside me, I'll be your friend."
NAACP Files A Civil Complaint Against MNPS
NAACP Files Civil Rights Complaint Against MNPS
If MNPS is found to be in violation, MNPS stands to lose as much as
67 million dollars in federal funding.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1430172/naacp_files_civil_rights_complaint.html
The NAACP Files a Civil Rights Complaint Against MNPS
Elyssa Durant
Nashville, Tennessee, January 26, 2009. The Nashville affiliate of the NAACP has filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education over the pending rezoning of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Keith Caldwell, community member and parent filed the complaint on January 20, 2009 just minutes after President Obama was sworn into office as the first Black president in the United States of America.
This announcement, made Monday morning, January 26, 2009 at the NAACP headquarters of the local affiliate as the media and several members the community watched. Reverend James Lawson, civil rights activist who worked with Martin Luther King Junior, and Marilyn Robinson, president of the Nashville NAACP, joined Caldwell. In a statement, Rev. Lawson stated that he believes the rezoning plan is “immoral, unethical, and wrong.” Mr. Caldwell fears that the already segregated neighborhoods of Nashville will suffer as a result of a return to neighborhood schools. Both look towards the landmark Brown vs. Board decision as an example of how separate but equal is inherently unequal, however there a several well- known and established members of the Black community who disagree.
Pastor Enoch Fuzz, community leader and activist, notes that a return to neighborhood schools will encourage parent involvement and brings with it large federal subsidies to provide students and their families with much needed financial resources in the poorest sections of Nashville. Karen Johnson, elected member to the school board also points out that the plan includes comprehensive plans to allow significant choice that includes transportation for children who are not performing well in their current school environment.
The rezoning hearings took place in an open environment and involved a Task Force made of up of community members and parents. The Task Force, the majority of who are African-American unanimously supported a return to neighborhood schools in favor of the rezoning plan. The plan allows for choice with transportation.
The Civil Rights branch of the DOE investigates discrimination complaints for institutions that receive federal funding and will investigate the claim.
If MNPS is found to be in violation, MNPS stands to lose as much as 67 million dollars in federal funding. Caldwell’s children attend magnet schools and are not at risk of being transferred back to their locally zoned schools, however, Caldwell hopes that this investigation will prompt MNPS to halt the implementation of the rezoning plan.
If MNPS is found to be in violation, MNPS stands to lose as much as
67 million dollars in federal funding.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1430172/naacp_files_civil_rights_complaint.html
The NAACP Files a Civil Rights Complaint Against MNPS
Elyssa Durant
Nashville, Tennessee, January 26, 2009. The Nashville affiliate of the NAACP has filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education over the pending rezoning of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Keith Caldwell, community member and parent filed the complaint on January 20, 2009 just minutes after President Obama was sworn into office as the first Black president in the United States of America.
This announcement, made Monday morning, January 26, 2009 at the NAACP headquarters of the local affiliate as the media and several members the community watched. Reverend James Lawson, civil rights activist who worked with Martin Luther King Junior, and Marilyn Robinson, president of the Nashville NAACP, joined Caldwell. In a statement, Rev. Lawson stated that he believes the rezoning plan is “immoral, unethical, and wrong.” Mr. Caldwell fears that the already segregated neighborhoods of Nashville will suffer as a result of a return to neighborhood schools. Both look towards the landmark Brown vs. Board decision as an example of how separate but equal is inherently unequal, however there a several well- known and established members of the Black community who disagree.
Pastor Enoch Fuzz, community leader and activist, notes that a return to neighborhood schools will encourage parent involvement and brings with it large federal subsidies to provide students and their families with much needed financial resources in the poorest sections of Nashville. Karen Johnson, elected member to the school board also points out that the plan includes comprehensive plans to allow significant choice that includes transportation for children who are not performing well in their current school environment.
The rezoning hearings took place in an open environment and involved a Task Force made of up of community members and parents. The Task Force, the majority of who are African-American unanimously supported a return to neighborhood schools in favor of the rezoning plan. The plan allows for choice with transportation.
The Civil Rights branch of the DOE investigates discrimination complaints for institutions that receive federal funding and will investigate the claim.
If MNPS is found to be in violation, MNPS stands to lose as much as 67 million dollars in federal funding. Caldwell’s children attend magnet schools and are not at risk of being transferred back to their locally zoned schools, however, Caldwell hopes that this investigation will prompt MNPS to halt the implementation of the rezoning plan.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Is Equal Opportunity Just A Myth?
Is Equal Opportunity Just a Myth?
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in urban communities. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. These are visions we should never forget. [[click below to link to full text]]
View more »
In Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation, Jonathan Kozol paints a vivid picture of the conditions in the poorest sections of New York City. During the early to mid 1990’s, Kozol made several visits to Mott Haven in the South Bronx. As he describes in Amazing Grace, the South Bronx is one of the most severely segregated and poorest Congressional Districts in the United States.
The members of this community have been segregated into a hell plagued with sickness, violence and despair. Kozol argues that this strategic placement serves to isolate the rich from the realities they have thrust upon their fellow man. New Yorkers do not stroll through the streets of Mott Haven, and taxicabs take no short cuts through Beekman Avenue. Many taxicabs will not even venture past East 96th Street. Out of sight is out of mind.
As I was reading Amazing Grace, I remember thinking back to my days living in Manhattan, coincidentally around the same time Kozol conducted his interviews in the South Bronx. I lived in what Kozol refers to as Manhattan’s “Liberal West Side,” an area that was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification at the time Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office.
There is no excuse for the conditions in which these people must live. No person should be forced into an apartment that has a higher ratio of cockroaches and rats than human beings.
In 1995, the American Sociological Association (ASA) held its annual conference in New York City. Prior to that meeting, they sent out a fact sheet that may be of interest to ASA members. In this sheet, they too described the same social conditions and asked their members to take note of the changes that occur at 96th Street. I can assure you that the conditions Kozol describes in his book were not exaggerated.
These children are desperately in need of the best schools, yet we give them the worst. They have few libraries, few safe havens, few doctors, and few role models. They have every reason to believe that they are throwaway children and we have certainly not shown them anything else. The social services we have provided are a bureaucratic nightmare. People in need are treated as sub-human, and made to feel ashamed of being poor.
These are among the sickest children in the world. Americans claim to be dedicated to the children and fool ourselves into believing that we are doing them a favor by providing them with medical care, public education, and public housing. Yet, the quality of their neighborhoods speaks volumes of our sentiment and intentions.
Shortly after Amazing Grace was published, managed care rapidly moved onto the New York scene. Around the same time, the Mayor announced he would be closing some of the hospitals that served the poorest of the poor because of financial problems associated with payment and large trauma departments.
Kozol makes the point that people could attempt to gain admissions at a better hospital than Bronx-Lebanon; yet, the privatization of Medicaid has now made this completely impossible. Further restrictions on medical care are inevitable as the result of Medicaid managed care. The law is not designed to protect these people, and this was made obvious in a recent conversation I had with a friend who practices medicine in New York.
My friend John works as a board certified trauma physician at a private hospital on the Upper East Side. The last black patient he treated at Beth Israel was famed rock singer Michael Jackson. I asked him if he ever gets any asthma patients in his ER. He knew immediately of whom I was speaking. “You mean the kids from the South Bronx?” he asked. He told me that they know better than to show up at Beth Israel. “But if they do?” I asked, and he replied, “We ship them back.”
This is the reality. The best doctors treat the wealthiest patients rather than the sickest. Schools educate the best students rather than the neediest. It is no wonder that these children perform poorly in school. By every measure, these children are destined for failure. Their home life is less than enchanting, and they do not benefit from enriched environments and educated parents.
Certainly, there are many dedicated parents who care about their children, but is that enough? When I was in school, children frequently asked the teacher, how will this help later in life. In my class, there was an unequivocal reply, but it could be argued that what children in the South Bronx need to learn couldn’t be taught in the classroom.
There is no doubt that the prevalence of violence in urban neighborhoods affects the ability of children to perform well in school. There is a large body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of chronic stress on memory and the learning process. Rather than taking the children out of these communities, we have constructed prison like buildings for them to attend school. They routinely have gunfire drills reminding them that danger is never far behind.
Children cannot learn in this environment. This constant stress triggers “hot-memory.” Hot memory can be thought of as learning with your heart and not your mind. It is no wonder children perform inadequately in this environment.
It is bad enough that children live in such conditions, must we educate in them too? If we want underprivileged children to learn and grow spiritually, we must create an environment that allows their cool memory systems to take over.
It is only under these conditions that children will permit themselves to learn and develop their intellectual strengths. We have failed to create a safe home environment for urban children, but we can give serious thought to creating a school environment outside of the community so they have fewer fear-driven hours each day.
Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in urban neighborhoods like Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence. The potential impact of chronic stress on academic performance and achievement is not known, but reading scores in neighborhoods like Mott Haven certainly seem to indicate some type of causal relationship. There is virtually no research on looking at the long-term effects of this inflated incidence of PTSD among urban populations. It is important to develop an understanding of the effects of fear on the academic performance of urban adolescents so we can begin to dismantle the myths regarding school performance and minority children.
Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.
Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools. The quick response has been to install weapons detectors and hire school security for urban schools. The presence of school security certainly affects the climate of American public schools by establishing school environments that focus more on student behavior than student achievement. Together, the urban public school and the community it serves are a constant reminder of the poor living conditions and social reality of urban America.
The secured environment is an indication of the roles students are expected to play later in life. This is a lesson they will not soon forget.
Kozol makes it quite clear that there are several exceptional children in this community. There are probably as many exceptional children here as every other community around the country, yet, so few of them will make it out of the South Bronx. Kozol is careful not to dwell on the exceptional cases of children who successfully navigate their way into the main stream of society. Kozol does this so we do not develop a false sense of hope. If we cling to a few exceptional cases, we may come to believe that what we are giving enough to children like
Anthony or Anabelle. Clearly, we can do more. Failure should be the exception—not the rule. Success should be the norm, and until it is, we should not give up hope for these children.
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in a community like Mott Haven. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. These are visions we should never forget.
Welcome to America. The Wealthiest Nation in the World.
Reference: Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation. (by Jonathan Kozol)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1251493/is_equal_opportunity_just_a_myth_.html?cat=2
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in urban communities. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. These are visions we should never forget. [[click below to link to full text]]
View more »
In Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation, Jonathan Kozol paints a vivid picture of the conditions in the poorest sections of New York City. During the early to mid 1990’s, Kozol made several visits to Mott Haven in the South Bronx. As he describes in Amazing Grace, the South Bronx is one of the most severely segregated and poorest Congressional Districts in the United States.
The members of this community have been segregated into a hell plagued with sickness, violence and despair. Kozol argues that this strategic placement serves to isolate the rich from the realities they have thrust upon their fellow man. New Yorkers do not stroll through the streets of Mott Haven, and taxicabs take no short cuts through Beekman Avenue. Many taxicabs will not even venture past East 96th Street. Out of sight is out of mind.
As I was reading Amazing Grace, I remember thinking back to my days living in Manhattan, coincidentally around the same time Kozol conducted his interviews in the South Bronx. I lived in what Kozol refers to as Manhattan’s “Liberal West Side,” an area that was undergoing rapid transformation and gentrification at the time Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took office.
There is no excuse for the conditions in which these people must live. No person should be forced into an apartment that has a higher ratio of cockroaches and rats than human beings.
In 1995, the American Sociological Association (ASA) held its annual conference in New York City. Prior to that meeting, they sent out a fact sheet that may be of interest to ASA members. In this sheet, they too described the same social conditions and asked their members to take note of the changes that occur at 96th Street. I can assure you that the conditions Kozol describes in his book were not exaggerated.
These children are desperately in need of the best schools, yet we give them the worst. They have few libraries, few safe havens, few doctors, and few role models. They have every reason to believe that they are throwaway children and we have certainly not shown them anything else. The social services we have provided are a bureaucratic nightmare. People in need are treated as sub-human, and made to feel ashamed of being poor.
These are among the sickest children in the world. Americans claim to be dedicated to the children and fool ourselves into believing that we are doing them a favor by providing them with medical care, public education, and public housing. Yet, the quality of their neighborhoods speaks volumes of our sentiment and intentions.
Shortly after Amazing Grace was published, managed care rapidly moved onto the New York scene. Around the same time, the Mayor announced he would be closing some of the hospitals that served the poorest of the poor because of financial problems associated with payment and large trauma departments.
Kozol makes the point that people could attempt to gain admissions at a better hospital than Bronx-Lebanon; yet, the privatization of Medicaid has now made this completely impossible. Further restrictions on medical care are inevitable as the result of Medicaid managed care. The law is not designed to protect these people, and this was made obvious in a recent conversation I had with a friend who practices medicine in New York.
My friend John works as a board certified trauma physician at a private hospital on the Upper East Side. The last black patient he treated at Beth Israel was famed rock singer Michael Jackson. I asked him if he ever gets any asthma patients in his ER. He knew immediately of whom I was speaking. “You mean the kids from the South Bronx?” he asked. He told me that they know better than to show up at Beth Israel. “But if they do?” I asked, and he replied, “We ship them back.”
This is the reality. The best doctors treat the wealthiest patients rather than the sickest. Schools educate the best students rather than the neediest. It is no wonder that these children perform poorly in school. By every measure, these children are destined for failure. Their home life is less than enchanting, and they do not benefit from enriched environments and educated parents.
Certainly, there are many dedicated parents who care about their children, but is that enough? When I was in school, children frequently asked the teacher, how will this help later in life. In my class, there was an unequivocal reply, but it could be argued that what children in the South Bronx need to learn couldn’t be taught in the classroom.
There is no doubt that the prevalence of violence in urban neighborhoods affects the ability of children to perform well in school. There is a large body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the effects of chronic stress on memory and the learning process. Rather than taking the children out of these communities, we have constructed prison like buildings for them to attend school. They routinely have gunfire drills reminding them that danger is never far behind.
Children cannot learn in this environment. This constant stress triggers “hot-memory.” Hot memory can be thought of as learning with your heart and not your mind. It is no wonder children perform inadequately in this environment.
It is bad enough that children live in such conditions, must we educate in them too? If we want underprivileged children to learn and grow spiritually, we must create an environment that allows their cool memory systems to take over.
It is only under these conditions that children will permit themselves to learn and develop their intellectual strengths. We have failed to create a safe home environment for urban children, but we can give serious thought to creating a school environment outside of the community so they have fewer fear-driven hours each day.
Studies consistently report lower academic achievement in urban neighborhoods like Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Children growing up in urban neighborhoods have a much higher incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most researchers believe this to be the direct result of living in stressed communities plagued with street crime and violence. The potential impact of chronic stress on academic performance and achievement is not known, but reading scores in neighborhoods like Mott Haven certainly seem to indicate some type of causal relationship. There is virtually no research on looking at the long-term effects of this inflated incidence of PTSD among urban populations. It is important to develop an understanding of the effects of fear on the academic performance of urban adolescents so we can begin to dismantle the myths regarding school performance and minority children.
Under these conditions, it is not surprising to learn that students also report pervasive feelings of fear and do not feel secure despite the added presence of security personnel on school grounds. For these students, school is a mere extension of the violent communities in which they live.
Since urban communities have many different sources of stress, it is important to examine how school policies contribute to the learning environment in public schools. The quick response has been to install weapons detectors and hire school security for urban schools. The presence of school security certainly affects the climate of American public schools by establishing school environments that focus more on student behavior than student achievement. Together, the urban public school and the community it serves are a constant reminder of the poor living conditions and social reality of urban America.
The secured environment is an indication of the roles students are expected to play later in life. This is a lesson they will not soon forget.
Kozol makes it quite clear that there are several exceptional children in this community. There are probably as many exceptional children here as every other community around the country, yet, so few of them will make it out of the South Bronx. Kozol is careful not to dwell on the exceptional cases of children who successfully navigate their way into the main stream of society. Kozol does this so we do not develop a false sense of hope. If we cling to a few exceptional cases, we may come to believe that what we are giving enough to children like
Anthony or Anabelle. Clearly, we can do more. Failure should be the exception—not the rule. Success should be the norm, and until it is, we should not give up hope for these children.
America claims to be dedicated to equal opportunity, yet equality is not sufficient in a community like Mott Haven. These kids need more. We need to think about equity, not equality. It is not enough to hide them away. These are visions we should never forget.
Welcome to America. The Wealthiest Nation in the World.
Reference: Amazing Grace: The lives of children and the conscience of a nation. (by Jonathan Kozol)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1251493/is_equal_opportunity_just_a_myth_.html?cat=2
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Media Manipulation: Metro Nashville Public Schools
Educated Decision or Media Manipulation? (The Nashville City Paper, July 17, 2008)
If I didn't know better, I would think that the local media is supporting the ridiculous decision to transfer MNPS principals from one failing metro school to the next after reading "State reorganization moves on to school principal assignments," July 9, 2008.
I find it deeply disturbing that the media (and the community) have failed to recognize this for what it is: a desperate attempt to convince the community that we are actively working to improve the quality of education in our public schools.
This last minute attempt to restructure neighborhood schools will most likely do more harm than good to the community at large. The high rate of student mobility in Metro (approximately 40% per year) is compounded by the constant shifting of district-wide changes to school personnel by transferring teachers, administrators, and support staff on a regular basis.
Everything we know about the sociology of education in urban schools shows us that there is a strong correlation between parental involvement and student performance.
One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter, parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents, teachers, students and administrators fight to get in, and fight to stay there.
Successful schools are an extension of the community at large, where everyone works together to create a common set of experiences; creating an environment that encourages parental involvement and community participation.
If Metro continues to alienate educators by disemboweling the organizational structure within public schools, we may just lose the few experienced and dedicated teachers we still have left to surrounding districts, cities, and states.
By failing to examine the issue in further detail, the press and our community leaders are failing in their mission to provide the community with the information they need to participate in the political process that is MNPS. The media have a responsibility to examine and provide the community with the information they need to make informed policy decisions.
Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
Nashville, Tennessee
Share: Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Newsvine StumbleUpon Google
Posted: Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:47 am
If I didn't know better, I would think that the local media is supporting the ridiculous decision to transfer MNPS principals from one failing metro school to the next after reading "State reorganization moves on to school principal assignments," July 9, 2008.
I find it deeply disturbing that the media (and the community) have failed to recognize this for what it is: a desperate attempt to convince the community that we are actively working to improve the quality of education in our public schools.
This last minute attempt to restructure neighborhood schools will most likely do more harm than good to the community at large. The high rate of student mobility in Metro (approximately 40% per year) is compounded by the constant shifting of district-wide changes to school personnel by transferring teachers, administrators, and support staff on a regular basis.
Everything we know about the sociology of education in urban schools shows us that there is a strong correlation between parental involvement and student performance.
One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter, parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents, teachers, students and administrators fight to get in, and fight to stay there.
Successful schools are an extension of the community at large, where everyone works together to create a common set of experiences; creating an environment that encourages parental involvement and community participation.
If Metro continues to alienate educators by disemboweling the organizational structure within public schools, we may just lose the few experienced and dedicated teachers we still have left to surrounding districts, cities, and states.
By failing to examine the issue in further detail, the press and our community leaders are failing in their mission to provide the community with the information they need to participate in the political process that is MNPS. The media have a responsibility to examine and provide the community with the information they need to make informed policy decisions.
Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
Nashville, Tennessee
Share: Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Newsvine StumbleUpon Google
Posted: Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:47 am
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tennesseean Releases Teacher Salaries for MNPS
The Tennessean released data on July 5, 2008 reporting disparities in teacher salaries for Metro employees. The article, “Poor kids' teachers earn less in Metro: Hiring bonuses, other incentives target inequities” raises questions about the hiring practices in Metro Nashville Public Schools, and reports that teachers earn less in schools that are not meeting the No Child Left Behind benchmarks. This article glossed over the magnitude of this desperate situation in Metro schools.
The basic fact that students are not making adequate progress is a reflection of the top-down policy failure by MNPS and the Board of Ed. Students are not making adequate progress, and teachers are being shuffled around in a desperate attempt to fix a problem that they do not fully understand. In order to fix our broken schools, we need to look at schools that work. There are in fact public schools in urban neighborhoods that are successfully educating the students despite limited budgets, supplies, and adequate funding. So what is it about these schools that allows them to successfully educate disadvantaged, at-risk students and how can we replicate their success?
Unfortunately, this article does not offer any new insights into the inner-workings of our neighborhood schools. MNPS does not have the answers, nor does our newly elected Mayor who recently launched an aggressive media campaign to recruit new teachers willing to work within the constraints our over-regulated, under-funded public schools. Teachers, administrators and the community are strangely unfamiliar with the political process, and teachers are expected to implement and carry out policies that were designed by academic professionals or educational consultants.
As an educator and a Metro employee, I earn $10.46 / hour (without benefits) teaching at-risk students, I am offended by the way teachers are treated in the schools, in the community, and by the press. The state Department of Education could not offer any realistic solution to the simple fact that I cannot afford to pay the fees associated with the application fees certification requirements. If the Mayor really needs applicants, perhaps the city should comp the application fees necessary to be considered for employment. I find it difficult to believe that a city so desperate for teachers is not willing to bend the rules just a little or waive the application fee for anyone who is willing to work in such a hostile environment.
My graduate degree in education is from the very same university that Mayor Dean attended in New York City. When I called HR and the “Certificated Office” to inquire about obtaining a provisional teaching license and alternative certification, I was simply told that I was not eligible for alternative certification and without additional coursework, and tuition and fees, I was not deemed qualified to teach in Metro.
I am not qualified to teach in Metro since, apparently, Metro “does not teach education.” What a joke! To make matters worse— I had to pay them to find out that I was not even qualified to work with Head Start. I went to Head Start! Shouldn't that be enough? If MNPS truly wants a better-qualified staff, then the Mayor, the Board of Education, and school administrators need to take a closer look at the methods used to recruit, retain, and reward qualified individuals willing to sacrifice their financial stability for a career in public service. Now that I realize my education was a complete waste of time and money, is it any wonder that I am ready to give up on teaching and maybe even ready to leave Nashville for good. The local hardware store has more to offer including benefits!
The high rate of student mobility is compounded by the constant shifting of school personnel. Many schools may just lose the few experienced, dedicated teachers they still have left to surrounding districts, cities, and states. Such instability in the system may even prompt the younger set to leave the profession all together and discourage future teachers from applying for jobs in Metro.
Everything we know about the positive outcomes in neighborhood schools is their strong reliance upon community buy-in and parental involvement. One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter schools, parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents, teachers, students, and administrators fight to get in, and fight to stay there. The act of choosing, in effect, leads to an enhanced sense of community and builds a supportive, consistent, and structured environment. Calling this project “Fresh Start” is ridiculous-- it would be more accurate to call it a very bad ending!
The basic fact that students are not making adequate progress is a reflection of the top-down policy failure by MNPS and the Board of Ed. Students are not making adequate progress, and teachers are being shuffled around in a desperate attempt to fix a problem that they do not fully understand. In order to fix our broken schools, we need to look at schools that work. There are in fact public schools in urban neighborhoods that are successfully educating the students despite limited budgets, supplies, and adequate funding. So what is it about these schools that allows them to successfully educate disadvantaged, at-risk students and how can we replicate their success?
Unfortunately, this article does not offer any new insights into the inner-workings of our neighborhood schools. MNPS does not have the answers, nor does our newly elected Mayor who recently launched an aggressive media campaign to recruit new teachers willing to work within the constraints our over-regulated, under-funded public schools. Teachers, administrators and the community are strangely unfamiliar with the political process, and teachers are expected to implement and carry out policies that were designed by academic professionals or educational consultants.
As an educator and a Metro employee, I earn $10.46 / hour (without benefits) teaching at-risk students, I am offended by the way teachers are treated in the schools, in the community, and by the press. The state Department of Education could not offer any realistic solution to the simple fact that I cannot afford to pay the fees associated with the application fees certification requirements. If the Mayor really needs applicants, perhaps the city should comp the application fees necessary to be considered for employment. I find it difficult to believe that a city so desperate for teachers is not willing to bend the rules just a little or waive the application fee for anyone who is willing to work in such a hostile environment.
My graduate degree in education is from the very same university that Mayor Dean attended in New York City. When I called HR and the “Certificated Office” to inquire about obtaining a provisional teaching license and alternative certification, I was simply told that I was not eligible for alternative certification and without additional coursework, and tuition and fees, I was not deemed qualified to teach in Metro.
I am not qualified to teach in Metro since, apparently, Metro “does not teach education.” What a joke! To make matters worse— I had to pay them to find out that I was not even qualified to work with Head Start. I went to Head Start! Shouldn't that be enough? If MNPS truly wants a better-qualified staff, then the Mayor, the Board of Education, and school administrators need to take a closer look at the methods used to recruit, retain, and reward qualified individuals willing to sacrifice their financial stability for a career in public service. Now that I realize my education was a complete waste of time and money, is it any wonder that I am ready to give up on teaching and maybe even ready to leave Nashville for good. The local hardware store has more to offer including benefits!
The high rate of student mobility is compounded by the constant shifting of school personnel. Many schools may just lose the few experienced, dedicated teachers they still have left to surrounding districts, cities, and states. Such instability in the system may even prompt the younger set to leave the profession all together and discourage future teachers from applying for jobs in Metro.
Everything we know about the positive outcomes in neighborhood schools is their strong reliance upon community buy-in and parental involvement. One thing that makes magnet, lottery, charter schools, parochial, and private schools so good is the fact that parents, teachers, students, and administrators fight to get in, and fight to stay there. The act of choosing, in effect, leads to an enhanced sense of community and builds a supportive, consistent, and structured environment. Calling this project “Fresh Start” is ridiculous-- it would be more accurate to call it a very bad ending!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)