When Slavery & Math Don’t Mix

            A homework assignment that was supposed to be given to fourth grade students at an elementary school in New York is the source of controversy and outrage.  Last week students were supposed to be given a math assignment which included insensitive statements about slavery.  The math assignment which was titled “Slavery Word Problems Homework” asked students to solve several problems using the number of slaves on slave ships and the number of whippings a slave received over a month[i]. 

            What is alarming about this controversy, are the teachers who believed it was okay to give students’ homework of an insensitive nature.  The report stated that a teacher new to the building was given the assignment from a veteran teacher to give to her class.  The new teacher asked a student-teacher to make copies of the assignment so the assignment could be given to the students.  If it had not been for a student teacher’s refusal to make copies of the assignment because the student-teacher felt the assignment was insensitive, the controversy could have been worse.  Fortunately, the assignment did not make it home and students and their families were spared from participation in this calamitous act of insensitivity.

            Although there are claims the math questions were a product of a social studies assignment on slavery by another fourth grade class taught by the veteran teacher, one has to question why the teacher would consider using these questions in the math assignment and call the assignment Slavery Word Problems.

            In what is supposed to be an era of political correctness, sensitivity and tolerance, there appears to be less political correctness, less sensitivity, and less tolerance coming from our schools.  What is puzzling is these acts of insensitivity and intolerance are increasingly coming from teachers. 

Knowing the offending teachers are a veteran teacher and a teacher new to the building, one could speculate the offending teachers should have known the assignment was offensive and inappropriate.  Furthermore, the report did not state if either of the offending teachers expressed remorse is troubling and leads one to believe this was an intentional act.  Lastly, for this incident to occur during Black History Month is equally disturbing.

            To stem this increasing insensitivity and intolerance among teachers, districts should mandate periodic sensitivity training as part of teacher ongoing professional development.  Additionally, school administrators should become more diligent with the monitoring of lesson plans and assignments to prevent incidents such as this from happening.  An incident such as this is preventable.  Finally, as part of their disciplinary action and penitence, the teachers should formally apologize to the whole school and be placed on some type of disciplinary probation.  I do not believe the teachers should be fired or transferred, unless this is not an isolated incident.

If school leaders do not act on behalf of children to eliminate the rise of insensitivity and intolerance among teachers, our children may give up on education.  Our country cannot afford to continue to lose another generation to underachievement and low expectations because a preventable problem was not corrected.

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[i] www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/177473/ny1-exclusive--community-outrage

The Call for Universal Pre-K

            In his State of the Union address President Obama announced his desire for every child to have access to a high quality early childhood education.  In what is being hailed by many as a call for universal pre-k, it has been reported that most of President Obama’s vision for universal pre-k is already being eroded. 

 

According to published reports by several new agencies, the White House has circulated a “blueprint” on what universal pre-k would look like.  The blueprint would only guarantee federal funding to states for the schooling of four–year olds from families that earn below 200 percent of the poverty line.  Additionally, new programs such as expansion of Head Start and increase availability of home visits by nurses and social workers will be part of a number of services that will support poor children[i].  If this blueprint turns into policy, then our country will not have universal pre-k, our country will have an upgrade of Head Start.

 

While an upgrade of Head Start was adequate for another time, it is not enough for the economic realities of a future which requires mastery of reading, writing and work-based skills.  President Obama believes that universal pre-k is the “best long-term economic investment America can make[ii].”  Most Americans would agree with the President and would not want a Head Start upgrade.  Americans want all children to have access to quality early childhood education. 

 

Although the economy is on the mend, the new reality is higher unemployment, a widening skills gap, and jobs with lower wages.  This new reality brings greater opportunity for families (especially in the middle class) to fall in and out of the poverty line.  As it stands in this new reality, a majority of American families are receiving some form of government assistance in the form of food stamps and health insurance for their children.  This new reality makes it imperative that universal pre-k is truly universal.

 

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[i] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/obama-preschool-education_n_2688994.html

[ii] ibid

Changing Our Lens of High School Students

            What would happen if we fundamentally changed how we view high school students?

            As our public high schools continue to produce students with significant outcome gaps despite almost a century of reform efforts, little consideration has been given to changing the lens in which our educational ideology views high school students.  Currently, high school students are perceived as young, immature, irresponsible individuals who require ongoing supervision.  By viewing high school students in this manner hinders the ability of adults to view high school students differently once these students graduate high school.  It is time to change to change the lens from which we view high school students and introduce a new lens:  the high school student as an “emerging adult.”

            In viewing high school students as emerging adults, our perception of high school students should change.  High school students should now be viewed as individuals who are going through the rituals and rites of passage into adulthood.  The language about high school students should also change.  Labels such as immature and irresponsible should now be viewed not as character flaws, but as skills to be developed and refined in preparation for adulthood while in high school.  Additionally, viewing high school students as emerging adults also compels adults to view high school students as the next group of individuals to take their place in adulthood and either continue their education or enter the workforce.  This would instill confidence in the public and private sectors to hire high school graduates.

Understanding that high school students are emerging adults, would require a change in how we view the purpose of high school.  The current model of high school would not be adequate for and emerging adult ideology.  Our ideas about expectations, needs, curriculum, class offerings, and pedagogy would have to be overhauled. 

High school curriculums would continue to place emphasis on mastery of the CORE courses, but these courses would provide direct connections to the successful transition into the adult world.  High school electives would focus on the development of skills and competencies that instruct students on the skills they would need for success in either post-secondary education/training or in the workforce.  Examples of elective courses are: etiquette (in society and workplace), financial management, applied technology, technical writing, project management and organizational dynamics.  Additionally, the curriculum and courses would no longer be fragmented and disconnected, but would be on a continuum that is connected to past and current courses.

With changes to the curriculum, pedagogy would also change.  Teachers would have to infuse technology and tools that are utilized in post-secondary education/training and the workforce.  When providing instruction, teachers should be utilizing powerpoint, EXCEL and other software/programs.  Lastly, assignments should be project based and submitted via programs such as Google Docs, Dropbox and other cloud based programs. 

If we change the way we view high school students, we may finally have the world-class schools and students we want and our emerging adults will also compete on the global level.

Wearing the Mask

We Wear the mask that grin and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

This debt we pay to human guile; with torn and bleeding hearts we smile,…

Why should the world be overwise, in counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us while we wear the mask…

            One of my favorite poems is “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  As an educator, this poem speaks to the complexity of a problem many youth in economically distressed communities face as they attempt to resolve the internal conflict over the relevancy of education while living in the realities of an economically distressed community.

            We expect our youth to get an education so they can obtain the skills to go to college, get a career and become a contributing member to our society.  However, for many youth in economically distressed communities, this expectation does not appear to be realistic or obtainable.  Due to the lack of viable models of success, many youth find it hard to identify educational success with how success is defined in economically distressed communities.

            In many economically distressed communities, success begins (and sometimes ends) with graduation from high school.  The problem with this ideology is that youth see very little success from their peers and adults in their community who graduate from high school.  Since many high school graduates in economically distressed communities struggle to find a job that pays above minimum wage and is not connected to fast food, retail, maintenance or security.  Additionally, many youth see their former peers, neighbors and family members unemployed or underemployed and their dreams lost. 

As a result of the “veil” of success has been removed and the youth develop a misguided understanding that graduation from high school does not equate to success. 

They equate their chance of success in the paths of sports and entertainment.  Unless a youth believes he/she has athletic potential or can sing (or rap), they see their future on the same path as those in their community.  Therefore, youth begin to wear the mask.

In the realm of education, the mask is given a label.  Common labels such as educational apathy, disruptive to instruction, and immature (i.e.: “class clown”) portray these youth as underachievers’ who are on the path to becoming another “statistic.”  As youth become older their mask are called incorrigible and then criminal and they become an unwelcomed presence in their schools. 

As the mask hardens and their dreams of another life begin to fade, they are constantly being told education is important to their future.  Unfortunately, no one is able to help them to make connection between what they are being told to learn and how it applies to continuing their education or the world of work.  Frustration and anger sets in until the youth drops out, is pushed out, or socially promoted to graduation.

Who will help these youth take off their Mask?

Moving Toward Inclusive Sports

            Last week the Obama Administration through the Office of Civil Rights sent school districts across the country a guidance document that outlines the rights of students with disabilities to participate in school athletics.

           The thirteen page document outlined five principals and provided specific examples for enforcement of civil rights law.  School Districts were informed when offering sports they cannot generalize students with disabilities.  Schools must consider each student and provide “reasonable modifications” to games but not “fundamental alterations” that would significantly change the game or give students with disabilities an advantage.  Additionally, schools must provide students with disabilities on teams the same aides after school as they would have during the school day[i].

            The action taken by the Office of Civil Rights is a significant win for parents who have children with disabilities who have championed the cause for school sports being inclusive.  It is well known the benefits participation in sports has on building a healthy lifestyle, leadership and character traits.  For students with disabilities, participation in school sports has additional benefits.

Participation in school sports helps students with disabilities build relationships with non-disabled peers.  The stigmas and misinformation attached to students with disabilities in an academic setting become transferred into the non-academic realm.  The generalizations and assumptions made by non-disabled peers and coaches hinder the opportunity to view disabled students as a teammate. 

If coaches and non-disabled peers truly understood that students with disabilities have the intangible qualities they seek in a teammate, the Office of Civil Right would not have to be involved.  On a daily basis, students with disabilities show courage, determination, and full effort to overcome the challenges of their disability.  Their academic lives are filled with meeting the goals and objectives in their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) so they know what their task is and understand the road that leads to success.  These are the qualities every coach coveted by every coach.

The guidelines by the Office of Civil Rights should provide the opportunity to demonstrate the abilities of disabilities.  Once the stigmas fall away and assumptions corrected, inclusive school sports teams will be the norm.  Hopefully, years later people will look back on the action taken by the Obama Administration and celebrate it as an historic moment in our history and we will wonder why it took so long for it to be done.

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[i] www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/students-disabilities-school-sports-obama_n_2546057.html

The Miseducation of a Celebrity

            Last week I attended an event where the guest speaker was a well-known recording artist who spoke about his involvement in causes of social justice.  As the artist began speaking about the various social justice causes he supports and why, when he began to talk about the problems in public education, he spoke with the same narrow, prescriptive lens as many celebrities and high profile individual supporters of the transformation of public education.

            The artist, like many celebrities and high profile individuals spoke about public education from a deficit perspective with sweeping generalizations.  Speaking as he was an “authority” on the problems in public education, the artists discussed the research studies he has read, the schools he has visited, and discussions he has engaged in with high profile individuals in the public and private sectors, politicians and others with interest in public education. 

The solutions the artist claimed would transform public education reflected a shallow and simplistic view of the problems plaguing public education.  Arguing the problems in public education stemmed from unions, poverty and lack of qualified teachers and resources in poorer schools.  The artist believed that competition from charter schools, diminishing the power of unions and creating empowerment zones such as the one in Harlem would transform public education.

Although these ideas were a rehashing of solutions previously stated by many celebrities and high profile individuals, surprisingly absent from the artist solutions was an acknowledgement of being part of an industry that targets youth and promotes academic underachievement.  The artist failed to consider how the recording/entertainment industry creates a perception of success coming via underachievement and under education.  Many recording artists are portrayed and promoted as being street smart with a criminal past.  Many of the most successful recording artists are the ones who’s “street cred” is based on having a criminal past that includes not completing high school, selling drugs and being incarcerated.  Additionally, the boasting about excess (money, sex and drugs) in their music and lifestyle captures the attention of impressionable youth who seek to emulate this lifestyle instead of getting an education.  If public education is to be transformed, outside influences such as the targeting of youth by the entertainment industry must be addressed.

As we work to transform public education, it is important that celebrity and high profile supporters understand the problems plaguing public education are complex and multilayered and should not be generalized or viewed as simplistic.  It is also important for celebrities and high profile supporters to understand the impact they could have on the transformation of public education if they can change the culture of their industry that promotes underachievement and targets youth.

Armed Teachers?

            Last week’s topic discussed the decision by the leadership of some school districts to have armed police inside school buildings. This week’s topic will discuss the decision by the leadership of some school districts to provide firearms training to teachers.

In response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School the leadership of some school districts decided to provide teachers with firearms training.  The rationale to provide firearms training teachers is based on the idea that in the event of a potentially deadly crisis, an armed teacher would be able to counter or eliminate the threat and minimize fatalities.

The rationale behind the decision to provide firearms training to teachers is reckless and irresponsible.  This flawed rationale assumes that 1) having armed teachers will act as a deterrent to future deadly crises and 2) in a crisis an armed teacher will act in the manner of a trained professional.

The assumption that training and arming teachers will deter future deadly crises is wrong.  It is virtually impossible to predict when and where a catastrophic event may occur.  Therefore, district leaders should focus on ensuring protocols involving the visitation of individual into school buildings are stringent and comprehensive.  Typically, when a visitor comes into a school building, the visitor signs in at a front desk, sometimes a request for identification is asked by the person at the front desk and the visitor is sent to the main office.  At the main office, the visitor states their purpose for the visit and waits to conclude the purpose of their visit by either waiting to pick up their child or being taken to a room for a conference.  Visitation protocols could be strengthened by having a secured waiting room that is near the front desk and directly away from children.

Having a secure waiting room could prevent a violent act from occurring since the potential offender would likely show signs of nervousness or frustration over not being able to directly enter the building to reek havoc.  This display of nervousness or frustration would be a warning sign of a potential threat.  The secure waiting room would be the place to further assess if the visitor is a threat to school safety.

The final flaw in the rationale of training armed teachers is the belief in how a teacher will respond to a real threat to school safety.  The assumption is the armed teacher will respond to an armed threat with deadly force if the threat cannot be countered or deterred.  Asking a teacher to be prepared to take a life is a zero sum gain.  I do not believe enough thought was considered to the emotional toll and trauma a teacher will go through if he/she has to take the life of another person, even if the act was justified.  If trained service men and women have emotional and traumatic damage from taking lives in war, how do we expected teachers who will be given significantly less training will respond to the emotional trauma?