How will the Life and Legacy of Nelson Mandela be Taught in Our Schools?

            As we mourn and celebrate the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela, I began thinking how will his legacy be remembered in the pages of our children’s school textbooks and in their schools?

            Reflecting on how the textbook industry portrayed Dr. King’s life and legacy, I wondered if the textbook industry would portray Mandela as it has portrayed Dr. King’s life and legacy.  The textbook industry has summarized the life and legacy of Dr. King and reduced it to a footnote that could be placed on a tombstone.  Recalling the textbooks of my school age years, Dr. King’s life and legacy could be summed up like this:

“a Baptist preacher who fought for Civil Rights, is famous for “I Have a

Dream” speech and was killed in Memphis Tennessee.” 

Will Mandela’s life and legacy suffer the same summarization and reduction as Dr. King? When the next generation of young adults read about the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela, would his life be summed like this:

“an indigenous leader who fought to end Apartheid, spent 27 years in prison, was released and became the first black President of South Africa.”

If our children’s textbooks are not reflective of the journey and struggle Mandela took from revolutionary leader to terrorist, from prisoner to President, will their teacher’s fill in the gaps and provide proper instruction on the importance of Nelson Mandela’s fight to end Apartheid?  Will teachers discuss how Mandela chose the path of forgiveness, embraced racial reconciliation and national unity to heal a nation?  Will our children be taught to look critically beyond the textbook portrayal Mandela (and others) to understand the role character, courage and commitment play in ending racial discrimination?  Will our children be taught they have these qualities in them?  Will they be taught they have the potential to be a Nelson Mandela?

I was fortunate enough to have family who helped me to understand the significance and magnitude of Dr. King’s legacy by filling in the gaps that were missing from my school textbooks.  I hope when students learn about Mandela, the content in their textbooks will capture the life and legacy so students can understand the magnitude of the Mandela’s legacy, have meaningful discussions with teachers, family and friends dare to dream they can change the world.

What if We Believed Children Were Our Future?

I believe children are our future

Teach them well and let them see the way

Show them all the beauty they possess inside

Give them a sense of pride to make it easier

Driving into work Whitney Houston’s song “The Greatest Love of All” played.  The song made me think if we really believe children are our future?  If we believe children are our future, wouldn't we as a nation do better for our children?

As a nation, a majority of our children receive mediocre health care, a majority do not receive a world class education and a majority go hungry and are homeless.  If we believed children are our future, more parents would demand access to affordable health care as their right as a citizen of the United States, not a privilege to be toyed with by politicians.  More Governors, Mayors and local leaders would create legislation to improve the education of children, reduce the cycle of poverty and take back neighborhoods so communities can thrive. 

If we believed children are our future, our nation would have universal early childhood programs to provide children a solid foundation to begin their education.  More of our Congressional leaders would vote to appropriately fund public education so children can receive the world class education they deserve. Our Congressional leaders would make the education of children a top priority.

If we believed children are our future, our schools would be a place where learning occurs, a place where children feel safe, a place with resources to support struggling learners, a place where parents and teachers are partners.  More teachers would be advocates of children and provide their students with the same education their children receive in private, parochial and suburban schools.  More administrators would hold teachers accountable for the academic failures of children instead of blaming the child.  Lastly, Districts would hold Principals accountable for schools that fail to meet the educational needs of children.

Finally, if we believed that children are our future, more parents would demand more from their schools.  More parents would attend parent/teacher conferences, volunteer in their child’s school and demand more accountability from Principals and teachers.  More parents would also read to their children, make sure their children are studying and their homework is done.

If we truly believe that our children are our future, it will take an investment from everyone to secure their future.

Employment IQ

            Do you know your child’s Employment IQ?  While channel surfing on the radio, I caught the end of a program about how part of our unemployment problems are due to the antiquated process of how we look for a job and the lack of job readiness.  Since I was only able to hear the last minutes of the program, I was unable to write down the name of the person being interviewed.  When I attempted to look up the broadcast and doing a Google search I was unable to find it. 

The concept of an employment IQ is something a majority of people have not heard of, but in this global economy is just as important to as academic knowledge.  This made me think about young adults who graduate from high school with a low employment IQ?

            While I do not know what elements the guest on the radio believed makes up an employment IQ, I believe, the elements of Employment IQ should consists of: 1) the ability to understand how to connect interest, skills and education to specific jobs; 2) general understanding of the sub jobs within a job category; 3) understanding employer expectations; 4) the ability to conduct a job search using multiple approaches (walk-in, online, social media, etc); 5) the ability to develop a resume for specific jobs; 6) understanding the elements of interviewing (pre-interview research, interview questions, post-interview follow up) and 7) appropriate dress.

            While these are the basic elements of an Employment IQ, advanced elements such as: 1) utilization of technology in the workplace; 2) the ability to communicate effectively; 3) the ability to work in groups; and 4) the ability to multitask projects.

            If circumstances were reversed and young adults were judged by their Employment IQ instead of their academic achievement, parents would be asking for more instruction in job readiness.  If getting a job after graduation from high school was more important than going to college, job readiness would be fully integrated into the curriculum.

            We know this is not the world we live in, but shouldn’t we still want young adults to have both a high academic and employment IQ?

What School Cannot Teach & The Importance of Parent Involvement

                On a daily basis I always come upon a parent or care giver with a young child talking on their mobile phone.  Usually, I don’t pay attention to the conversations of others on their phones, however, this one instance, the conversation made me cringe.

                The loud expletive laced, bad grammar filled rant that spewed out of the woman’s mouth caused several people to stop, stare and shake their heads.  However, what saddened me was the little boy who had to be no more than five years old, holding the hand of the woman, walking (more like being pulled) with the woman while staring and listening to the conversation.  A few blocks later, I passed by a group of highs school girls who were also involved in a loud expletive rant about another female peer group. 

As I reflected over the events that occurred on my walk, I thought about how there are some things schools can teach.  Schools cannot teach character.  Schools cannot teach appropriate behavior or etiquette.  Schools can only model and instruct character, appropriate behavior and etiquette.  Unless there is support ,modeling and encouragement from the home, young adults will continue to graduate with glaring flaws in character, inappropriate behavior and etiquette. 

Parent involvement is crucial to the overall education of the young adult.  The partnership between parent engagement and education is supposed create “well rounded,” productive citizens.  Young adults upon graduation should not only understand how to apply academically what they have learned to post their high school life.  They should also be individuals who understand the role character, how to interact appropriately in numerous settings and social etiquette will play in their future opportunities.  Only with involvement from parents can young adults become well-rounded, productive citizens.

The flaw in this stream of thought is the assumption that parents understand, teach and model character, appropriate behavior and etiquette.  Knowing all parents do not hold the same values, the question becomes how to work around the differences in values to develop well rounded, productive citizens?                

Reflections of the March on Washington and Public Education

            This week our country celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of the March on Washington and the I Have A Dream Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  While there have been significant gains for African-Americans having greater access to mainstream society, there are a number of areas such as poverty, unemployment and institutional racism that still hinder progress to achieving Dr. King’s Dream of equality and social justice. 

            As I reflect on the purpose of the March on Washington and the I have a Dream Speech through the lens of an educational advocate, I wonder how Dr. King and those who participated in the March on to bring equality and social justice to our country would say about the state of public education today? 

            With a majority of the barriers from the segregation era having been removed or greatly diminished, a majority of our public schools, especially in major urban cities and suburbs remain hyper segregated.  Additionally, with the large disparities in academic achievement, funding and access to technology among African-American youth and their white counterparts growing, would Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington believe equality and social justice has come to public education?

            Finally, with public education struggling with student and teacher engagement and the lack of career development and workforce preparation for a global economy, would Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington believe equality and social justice has come to public education?

            Unfortunately, I believe Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington would not believe equality and social justice has come to public education.  I believe they would wonder how could public education continue to be segregated when there were laws created to end segregation are in place.  How could public education appear to still be “separate but equal” when the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v Board of Education made it unconstitutional to educate African-American children separate from their white counterparts?

            As we celebrate the 50^th Anniversary the March on Washington and the I Have A Dream Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., these are just a few reflections about public education to remind us there are still areas in our society that have not met the expectations of Dr. King and those who participated in the March on Washington.

What Not To Wear: Marketing the Fear of Social Isolation

            The end of summer break marks the beginning of the back to school marketing campaign.  The endless commercials from all the major retailers reminding parents and children their business has all the things a child needs for the start of school at the best prices. 

            Past commercials have been fun and creative.  Probably the most memorable back to school commercial was the Staples commercial where the parent was riding down the aisle on a cart gathering school supplies while the children frowned as the song “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” played in the background.  However, this year back to school commercials have targeted back to school fashion and the consequences of coming to school out of style.

            The number of back to school commercials that have informed youth of what they should wear and the consequences of not wearing what they are being told to wear by retailers has crossed the line. 

            The messages being sent to parents and children by the retailers is of social isolation if they do not wear certain clothes.  One such commercial was pulled because the commercial actually showed a child being socially isolated from their peers because the child wore the wrong clothes. 

            Another message being sent is that school is about fashion, not learning.  There are number of commercials that portray students in school doing everything but learning.  One such commercial portrayed a classroom as a runway where a student walked from the front of class to the back of class while peers were sitting in their desk watching the student pass by in various outfits.

            As schools struggle to keep students engaged in learning and help them understand the importance of obtaining an education, messages such as these from retailers give mixed messages to impressionable youth about the purpose of school.  Having a mixed message about the purpose of school, learning and obtaining an education severely hinders the ability of teachers to effectively deliver the curriculum.

Finally, with physical and cyber-bullying being problematic for students who are perceived by their peers as different, the message of social isolation for wearing the wrong clothes places youth in danger and affects their physical health, self-esteem and mental well being.

            I would like to believe that retailers would not intentionally “prey” on impressionable school aged youth by sending mixed messages that would make youth targets for not wearing the certain clothes or encouraging youth to be “cute” instead of smart.  I would also like to believe that next years back to school commercials will be vastly different (in a positive way) than this years commercials.  Let’s hope reason, common sense and an appreciation for education will prevail in next years commercial

The Right to Become A Productive Citizen

            There was a time when the mission of public high schools was to prepare young adults to become productive citizens.  Somewhere along the line, public high schools lost their way and became more concerned about class size, test scores, and other things that distracted the mission of preparing students to become productive citizens.

            A generation ago, when a young adult graduated from high school, it meant something to employers, to his/her family, to society.  For parents and society, graduation from high school was the final rites of passage from young adulthood to adulthood.  To an employer, a high school graduate was an individual who had acquired basic skills, a strong work ethic and an understanding of their new role in society.

            Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about this generation of public high school graduates.  Public high schools are no longer concerned about preparing productive citizens.  Employers do not believe, a high school graduate has acquired the basic skills, a strong work ethic or understand their role in society.  Lastly, parents and society no longer view graduation from high school as a rite of passage from young adulthood to adulthood. 

Young adults are being robbed of their chance to move into adulthood and their opportunity to become productive citizens.  Since they are not given the proper preparation and skill development necessary to move into adulthood and into a productive citizen, the results of this lack of concern is one of the reasons for the economic downturn and recovery our country is currently experiencing.

If we want to make graduation from a public high school become meaningful again, we have to realize the education of young adults is a Civil Right.  In viewing education as a Civil Right, the rebuilding the foundation to developing productive citizens is crucial to reclaiming public school’s lost mission.

Every young adult upon graduation from a public high school should expect their education should lead them to the path to meaningful employment or continuing education.  Every young adult upon graduation from public school should expect their diploma would be viewed positively by employers and accepted for providing the preparation and skill development needed to be a productive citizen.  Finally every young adult upon graduation should expect their diploma would welcome them into the rites of adulthood and afford them the opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of their role in society.

Our nation was built and thrived on our public high schools developing productive citizens.  For generations, it has been the birth right and expectation of our young adults to take their place and continue to grow our society, why should we expect any less of this generation and from the public high schools they attend?`