Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol. 11 Issue 13…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…March 28, 2008
Education and the New
Dark Age
By John Burl Smith
The dictionary defines education
as a process of learning and/or the knowledge and development resulting from
such a process. Knowledge then is the knowing, cognition, cognizance, realization,
perception, understanding and so forth acquired as a result of that process.
Education signifies the acquisition of information, data, and/or facts that one
transmutes into skills, aptitude, techniques and expertise to varying degrees
based on individual preference. For centuries, education or the acquisition of
knowledge was pursued simply as a form of individual betterment. Becoming
enlightened was a cherished goal identified with wisdom, sagacity, omniscience
and cultivation.
With the arrival of the new
millennium and George W. Bush, everything changed, particularly the approach to
education. Knowledge became suspect, and the United States (US) entered a new
"Dark Age." Reminiscent of the Catholic Church, which continued
demanding adherence to flat earth mythology, even after astronomers proved the
earth was not the center of the universe, US educators, like phenemenologists, cling to an unenlightened reliance on
standardized test scores to measure education.
The benighted Bush age heralds mountebanks as revered sages, while charlatans
are praised as icons. Pushing his religious views, Bush rejected scientific
approaches to understanding and solving problems. Now, the lack of absolute
proof to support theoretical constructs allows baseless theories to masquerade
as legitimate challenges to science. Appeals to authority have taken the place
of painstaking investigation. However, the most devastating blow to knowledge
in the United States has been the introduction of "No Child Left Behind"
as avant-garde.
Since the advent of "No Child Left Behind," secondary education has
been debased by an obsession with test scores as an absolute measure of
learning. This reverses the age old pursuit of knowledge for self enrichment. A
flawed indication of what takes place in a child's head, the reliance on test
scores send educators on a fool's errand. A mad hatter's scheme that Bush
claimed would save a system allowed to deteriorate after Brown v Board of
Education of Topeka (1954),"No Child Left Behind" leaves black and
poor children at the bottom of the "rabbit hole."
Analogous to Alice in Wonderland, the Court fumbled trying to correct the
inequalities of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. However, whites steadfastly
refused to provide equal education to black children. Rather than educate black
and now poor white children, the federal government under Bush's "No Child
Left Behind" is destroying public education, while undermining the
knowledge base in America. The Queen of Hearts has won again, because for
anyone who dares play fairly and teaches all children equally, it's "off
with their heads."
Psychologists have researched the learning process for centuries and have come
to understand what increases, as well as decreases, learning. First, the most
important variable related to learning in normal children, is maturation - the
rate, time and duration of change during growth cycles. All children do not
grow at the same rate, which means they don't do lots of things at the same
rate, particularly learn. Consequently, a one size fits all approach to
education, like "No Child Left Behind," is doomed to failure, if
educating children is the goal.
The second greatest drawback to this approach is the role of test scores, which
for the most part measure recall rather than aptitude. Aptitude -- the capacity
or potential ability to perform an as yet unlearned task or skill, or the
likelihood of achieving a given degree of success in academic pursuits -- is a
better predictor of successful learning. In other words, test scores should be
only one of several indicators used as measures of academic progress.
Agreeably, the ability to recall information is important, but proper
application and utilization of information goes beyond prescribed answers
required on most standardized tests. Education under "No Child Left
Behind" is about getting the right answers. Knowledge is about how to
think, ask the right questions and proceed in an orderly fashion to reveal what
the evidence indicates.
This subtle difference is missed by educators who support "No Child Left
Behind." Moreover, schools have become over burdened with attitudes that
are quite contrary to the goals of educating. Also, psychologists recognize the
negative impact of stress on learning. The more stressful the learning
environment, the more difficulty learners have assimilating knowledge and
performing tasks. Anxiety is a distraction; it constricts brain functions. The
concern with discipline, social pressure, fear of not doing well on tests, the
home environment, cultural differences, teachers' attitudes toward students of
different races and economic status are just a few variables that can be
stress-related and affect learning and classroom performance.
Black students have a legacy of slavery, which puts them in a class all by
themselves. The impact of their slave legacy on learning has never been
researched. It has simply been dismissed by the dominant white society. Yet to
the contrary, reading and writing were punished severely for centuries; then,
slave descendants were given inferior educations in segregated schools. Were
not slave descendants' children "left behind" educationally? No other
students were subjected to this type of brainwashing regarding learning. If
Jews are still impacted by the Holocaust, why can't blacks still be affected by
slavery and Jim Crow segregation?
Frances Jackson Coppin (1837-1913)
"It was deeply touching to me to see old men painfully
following the simple words of spelling, so intensely eager to learn. I felt
that for such people to have been kept in the darkness of ignorance was an
unpardonable sin." -- Frances
Jackson Coppin on teaching ex-slaves to read and write.
Born a slave in Washington, D.C. on March 23, 1837, Frances Jackson was the
daughter of a racially mixed couple. By 1849, Sarah Orr Clark, one of Jackson's
aunts who worked as a housekeeper earning six dollars a month, had saved $125,
enough money to purchase Jackson's freedom. Two years later, Jackson and
another aunt, Elizabeth Orr, moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where Jackson
lived with and worked as a domestic servant in the home of George H. Calvert,
the great grandson of Lord Baltimore, the settler of the state of Maryland, and
his wife, Mary Stuart, a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scotland.
The Calverts, a childless couple, enrolled Jackson in the Rhode Island Normal
School, where she completed a two-year course. Jackson paid for private lessons
in French. She was happy living with the Calverts; Jackson later recalled,
"My life there was most happy, and I never would have left, but it was in
me to get an education and to teach my people. This idea was deep in my soul.
Where it came from I cannot tell. It must have been born in me."
In 1860, Jackson moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where she enrolled in Oberlin College,
the first institution of higher education to admit blacks and women. Jackson
studied Greek, mathematics and English. She also continued to take private
French lessons. She sang in the Oberlin Church choir, and was a member of the
Young Ladies Literary Society.
In addition to money from her aunt Sarah and some black leaders, Jackson paid
for college by giving piano lessons. In 1863, while still a student, Jackson
founded a night school for newly freed slaves that were migrating to Ohio
during the Civil War. Jackson became the first black American selected to teach
in Oberlin's Preparatory Department. Her reputation as an educator grew.
In 1865, she became the second black woman in the USA to earn a B.A. Upon
graduating from Oberlin, she was hired as principal of the girls' division of
the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, which became Cheney State
College. Consisting of a preparatory department, separate boys' and girls' high
school course of study and teacher training course, the Institute was
established in 1837 by Quakers for the higher education of black youth.
Jackson also taught Greek, Latin and mathematics. In 1869, she became principal
of the entire school, the first black woman to hold this position. As
principal, she improved the education process. She prohibited corporal
punishment, developed a close working relationship between students, parents,
faculty and managers, held regular parent-teacher meetings and sent
"conduct papers" to parents. Her efforts at the Institution
influenced other schools, including the Philadelphia School district, which
adopted her system of sending progress reports to parents.
Angered by the fact that the only way for a black male in Philadelphia to
acquire a trade was to first be in prison, she raised three thousand dollars to
establish the Industrial Department at the Institute, which offered tailoring,
bricklaying, carpentry, plastering, shoemaking, printing, stenography,
dressmaking, millinery, and typewriting. This department opened in January
1889, making it the first trade school for black Americans in Philadelphia. In
1903, Jackson-Coppin retired from the Institute, after nearly 40 years of
service.
Jackson wrote children's stories and a regular column on women's issues for the
Christian Recorder, the newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME)
Church. She was a vice president of the National Association of Colored Women
and president of the local Women's Mite Missionary Society and later national
president of the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the AME Church.
She created the Women's Exchange and Girls' Home, which provided housing and
instruction in dressmaking, cooking and domestic economy for students and
workers. She served, for thirty years, as a member of the board of managers for
the Home for Aged and Infirmed Colored People in Philadelphia and was appointed
to the Board of City Examiners for Clerical Officers, and served as a French interpreter
in the Philadelphia court system.
On December 21, 1881, Jackson married the Rev. Levi Coppin. She accompanied him
to his post as bishop of the AME church in Cape Town, South Africa, where the
couple organized the Bethel Institute, a missionary school with self-help
programs. The Coppins returned to the United States in 1904 and settled back in
Philadelphia.
Late in life, she wrote Reminiscences of School Life, and Hints on Teaching, a
collection of teaching techniques and stories of some of the Institute's 668
graduates that became black America's leading teachers, lawyers, top-ranking
civil servants, college administrators, professors, dentists and physicians.
She dedicated the book to her beloved aunt, Sarah Orr Clark, who bought her freedom.
Coppin's crusade for industrial education and self-help resulted in the social
and economic advancement of black people. Her message of equal opportunity,
delivered nearly two centuries ago, is just as relevant today: "We should
strive to make known to all men the justice of our claims to the same
employment as other men under the same conditions. We do not ask that any one
of our people shall be put in a position because he is a colored person, but we
do ask that he shall not be kept out of a position because he is a colored
person. 'An open field and no favors' is all that is requested."
Coppin died on January 21, 1913, in Philadelphia. A girls' dormitory at
Wilberforce Institute in Cape Town, South Africa, and Coppin State College in
Baltimore, Maryland are named in her honor. (Sources: www.governor.ohio.gov, www.aaregistry.com and www.essortment.com/all/fannyjacksonco_ozb.htm)
School: 1957 vs. 2007
By Anonymous
Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot
with shotgun in gun rack. 1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's
shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack. 2007 - School goes
into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or
gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school. 1957 - Crowd
gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies. 2007 -
Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with
assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students. 1957 -
Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to
class, sits still and does not disrupt class again. 2007 - Jeffrey given huge
doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money
from state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his dad whips him
with his belt. 1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to
college, and becomes a successful businessman. 2007 - Billy's dad is arrested
for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State
psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused and their dad
goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.
Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school. 1957 - Mark
shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock. 2007 - Police called,
Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and
weapons.
Scenario: Pedro fails high school English. 1957 - Pedro goes to summer school,
passes English and goes to college. 2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state.
Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a
requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against
state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core
curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living
because he cannot speak English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them
in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed. 1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny is charged with domestic
terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings are removed from home, computers are
confiscated and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed
to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is
found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him. 1957 - In a
short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing. 2007 - Mary is accused of
being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.
Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.
Herenton
Hints at Saving School System
On March 20, Memphis Mayor Willie
Herenton announced his intention to resign, effective
July 31. The mayor was reelected in October. Political pundits and others
surmised the mayor was resigning after sixteen (16) years ahead of a federal
grand jury investigation involving his relationship with a black city
contractor named Elvin Moon.
The federal grand jury is looking into $50,000 Moon paid Herenton
in a 2005 real estate deal. The payment came after Moon landed no-bid contracts
with the city valued at $702,000. The mayor has denied any wrongdoing and
questioned the probe. According to Mayor Herenton,
ninety-five percent of the more than 12,500 contracts valued at more than $2
billion that he has signed over the past sixteen (16) years went to white
contractors. Yet, federal authorities and the media are focusing on contracts
with black businessmen. Herenton is black.
The mayor has denied the ongoing grand jury probe influenced his decision to
step down. Instead, Herenton told The Commercial
Appeal his sudden resignation has everything to do with becoming the next
Memphis City School superintendent. Mayor Herenton
held that position from 1979 to 1991, prior to running for mayor. The position
is currently vacant; the school board plans to fill the vacancy by July.
Speculation is, if not selected for the job, the 67-year-old mayor can rescind
his resignation.
Herenton made public a letter dated February 7 that
he sent to the school board outlining "his frustration with a school
district troubled by state and federal investigations into a range of spending
abuses, low student-achievement scores and the wounding of three students in
separate on-campus shootings this school year." In part, Herenton wrote, "A product of the Memphis City School
System, former classroom teacher, principal and superintendent of schools, I
have sadly watched the deterioration of what was once a respectable school
system. One contributing factor has been in the selecting of the superintendent
of schools.''
The recently departed superintendent, Carol Johnson and her predecessor, Gerry
House, were from out of state. Based on his letter Herenton
believes selecting outsiders do more harm than good, since outsiders lack a
strong commitment to 'our community and our children.' He wrote, "National
searches produce résumé builders and often candidates with no
long-term commitments to a community.''
During his 12 -year tenure as school superintendent, Herenton
complained about the lack of public education funding from the city and county.
Like most predominantly black urban school systems, Memphis has special needs,
and Herenton launched a number of bold initiatives in
recognition of those needs during his tenure, 'including a program that allowed
inner-city schools more freedom in deciding how to teach poor students with
special needs.'
In closing his February 7 letter, the mayor wrote, "The future of Memphis
will be impacted positively or negatively by our collective abilities to
adequately educate our children. I simply want to help.'' According to The
Commercial Appeal, "If hired as superintendent, Herenton
could expect to be paid as much as $260,000 a year, about $100,000 more than
his current salary as mayor."
The Invaders' Forum
During the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
assassination, the University of Memphis, the Memphis Convention and Visitors
Bureau, and the National Civil Rights Museum will present a special day-long
forum entitled "The Memphis Civil Rights Movement: The Missing
Chapters." The forum will take a scholarly look at the players involved in
the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968.
The discussion will provide unique commentary from a professional and civic
perspective on an event that changed not only Memphis but the world. The forum
will also give students an opportunity to interact with panelists. Invaders'
co-founder, University of Memphis graduate, commentator for The DISH and author
of Archangel: A Hip Hop Vision of Love and the Battle of Good Verses Evil, John
Burl Smith is a panelist.
In conjunction with examining the history of the Invaders, panelists will
discuss the role of grassroots activists as catalysts for change and as actors
in changing the world. The forum will be held on April 2, 2008 at 1 PM in the
Michael D. Ross Theater on the University of Memphis campus. For more information
contact Calvin Taylor at 901-543-5300 or calvin@mcbv.org.
Disgruntled wants to know: It is test time again! Parents, students,
teachers and school officials are stressed over the need to improve test
scores. The state of George ranks near the bottom in test-taking. On the 2007
SAT, the popular college entrance exam, Georgia ranked No. 46. Added to
concerns about test-taking for students and parents in Clayton County is worry
over the school system's accreditation. The school board has 158 days to
achieve more than half a dozen mandates or lose its accreditation. At the
center of the controversy is the county's school board. Some residents are
calling for the board to resign en masse as part of the solution to the
system's problems. Without knowing all the facts, one wonders, is all the fuss
really about educating children or the fact that the board is black?
Disgruntled feels: Drugged! As someone
who has had to rely on prescription medication to manage pain, I fail to
understand the necessity of drugging otherwise healthy children because they
are more active than some parents and/or teachers would prefer. In my humble
opinion, neither inactivity nor docility is a normal childhood state. If my
grandchildren are not running around tearing up the place or otherwise engaged
in some less destructive activity, I would think they are ill, and I will
invariably check to see if they are running a fever. Drugs alter one's
perspective, confuse the mind and impair judgment. Children should not be
drugged to keep them quiet and docile as a convenience for parents or teachers
or to improve tests scores, when no one knows the long run implications of
using mind-altering medications.
Disgruntled says: In the grand scheme of
things, it simply is not sufficient to say you feel our pain. Former President
Bill Clinton claimed he felt our pain; he talked a good game. Blacks voted for
him in large numbers; some even referred to him as the first black president,
presumably because he hired some blacks for high profile positions in his
administration and played the saxophone. Once in office, Clinton moved to the
political right, embracing the Republicans' Contract with America, which did
little to improve the relative socioeconomic and political condition of black
America. The current election is being billed as all about change. If that is
really the case, then the candidates should be presenting concrete proposals to
alleviate our pain, a sore that has been festering in the black community since
slavery and Jim Crow segregation. No longer are vague references acceptable; we
require specifics that address the issues unique to the black human condition;
this admonition applies to Senators Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. Unfortunately,
the vast majority of blacks have come to expect something less than lip service
from Republicans. So, in the case of Senator John McCain, like Republican
presidential candidates before him, we expect he will not even claim to feel
our pain.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email www.dailymail.com
Parents give children Ritalin at exam time...By Laura Clark...Pushy parents are
giving healthy children Ritalin bought on the Internet in an attempt to boost
their exam performance, a leading psychologist claimed. They believe the
hyperactivity drug will prolong their children's concentration at school, while
studying at home and in the exam hall. But they are risking serious health
complications ranging from inadvertent over-dosing to sleeplessness and loss of
appetite, warned Paul Cooper, professor of education at Leicester University.
Email letstalkthe@yahoogroups.com ...Due to felony convictions 1 out of 4 blacks can't vote. While Kentucky has a small black population, it has the most disenfranchised blacks in the country. Governor Steve Beshear is trying to change this by giving people who have served their complete sentences back their right to vote.