Volume 5 Issue 47…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…November 29, 2002

by John Burl Smith

Research shows that the rubric "education" covers an enormous process that involves cognition, memory and learning. Whether considered equivalent, the process occurs in organisms on all levels. Accordingly, it takes a very sophisticated system to facilitate, cultivate and direct the acquisition of information so that learning results. Graded a failure because the children produced do not match the image desired, public education is in a struggle for its continued existence. Most theorists believe education is not the problem. Instead, the many demands and unrealistic expectations placed on it are the rub.

Human organisms originated as a result of learning on the cellular level. Constituents of one-cell animals performed activities that caused growth, and growth requires nutrition for reproduction. Every organism, no matter its size, functions on the basis of these principles. However, human learning takes on a totally different dimension when transferring social norms is a major goal of education. Normative judgements establish acceptable behaviors and assign rewards and punishment. Making sure children learn this regime is the purpose of public education in the USA.

Under such a regime, education amounts to telling students what to think about information that is presented as "knowledge." Education is more than delivering information. Students should be taught that knowledge is a function of experiences that are individual, but that can be generalized. Vicarious learning allows humans to elaborate on the experiences of others and benefit without physically enduring the incident. Existentially, this reflective ability enables the human to empathetically identify individually and collectively with others sharing similar experiences. Learned behaviors, empathic responses are acquired as a result of communal living and are considered the mortar of modern society. If the desire is to build a cohesive society, education should facilitate, cultivate and direct empathic responses.

Further investigation reveals that art is not only a great educational tool, it stimulates the sensitivities associated with empathic expressions. Learning theorists have found that children who are provided artistic expression early express empathic emotions more freely. They are less aggressive; their views of human nature are more tolerant and diverse. Their self-esteem is higher and they exhibit fewer antisocial behaviors.

Although art in school would strengthen society, taxpayers often label art classes, such as painting or dance, busy work that has nothing to do with getting a "real job." Yet, many professionals on the technical, production, presentation and promotional side of art and entertainment began their education and careers in other fields. Not originally drawn to their craft as a livelihood, maybe an experience in an art class or in a stage production ignited their interest, now they make a very good living. The true beauty of art is that ordinary people at young ages and without any visible talents can find their life's expression in art without being geniuses. Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Big Mac Attack

On behalf of children that have suffered health problems from diabetes to obesity after consuming the high fat, sugar and cholesterol content of McDonald's food on a regular basis, lawyers in Manhattan filed a class-action lawsuit against the fast food giant. McDonald's lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss the suit as frivolous, arguing the claimants cannot show eating Big Macs caused their health problems.

With obesity rampant and millions of regular consumers of McDonald's fatty foods, thousands are expected to join the class action. Other defendants, such as growth hormone dependent beef producers, may be added to the suit, making it a Big Mac attack. More News You Use

Reshaping Education

by John Burl Smith

Painting a clearer picture of education policy, Governor-elect Sonny Perdue is not proposing a grand vision, as his predecessor Roy Barnes. Promising small steps, like "taking teachers' opinions seriously, giving school boards and principals more say over spending, a new career ladder for teachers and new incentives for schools and students to improve SAT scores," Perdue seems content nibbling around the edges. At this point, his desire to "use broader measures to determine how students are doing and to deal less harshly with low performing students and schools" are encouraging signs, after Barnes' one-size-fits-all meat-ax approach.

Another area of frustration for Georgians under Roy Barnes was the view that art had no practical educational or commercial purpose. This attitude hampered efforts to raise Georgia's profile among tourism and convention vendors. A new approach to arts funding in general and education in particular is needed. The southeast hub, Atlanta competes with the world for tourist and convention dollars. Business leaders identify availability and commitment to funding arts' education and projects as positive factors in recruiting employees. Vendors and conventioneers see entertainment and the arts as magnets that draw commerce.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has bought into this logic and is looking to the arts as a key to boosting the city's sagging economy. Atlanta Vibe's hip-hop and spoken word artists are seeking recognition as partners in Atlanta's artistic development. Presently, the city of Atlanta is the major source of government funding for independent artists. Although the state of Georgia is the largest source of arts funding, very little reaches urban contemporary artists, who need more sources of funding to develop the cutting edge entertainment venues needed to compete in an international market. Atlanta artists are making hip-hop and spoken word a trademark of the city, and visitors expect to experience what is being talked about on the international scene.

Atlanta's emerging artists hope Governor-elect Perdue makes investing in arts' education and projects a priority as he reorganizes Georgia's educational policy. Arts investments pay the community back in tourists, convention and entertainment dollars. Moreover, arts funding provide paychecks for a struggling economy. It enriches the citizenry and strengthens the social fabric. Atlanta Vibe Homepage Other Essays by John Burl Smith

Jeanne Marie Leprince De Beaumont (1711-1780)

Born in Rouen in 1711, French author Jeanne Marie Leprince de Beaumont is best known for her version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. A prolific writer of over seventy volumes, Beaumont was highly regarded in her day for her literary efforts to educate the minds and hearts of young people. Her art encouraged them to examine their faults and work to correct anti-social behavior. Her efforts to simultaneously amuse and educate brought both admiration and criticism.

Le Triomphe de la vérité ou mémoires de M. de La Vilette, Beaumont's first book appeared in 1748. It came after the annulment of a two-year-old arranged marriage to M. de Beaumont, a "dissolute libertine." She left France in 1746 for London, where she tutored upper-class girls and began writing to educate children.

Industrious and very high-minded, Beaumont often translated her work from French into English. She composed her stories with her pupils in mind, and sometimes invited their collaboration. The results appeared in English collections such as the Young Ladies' Magazine or Dialogues between a Discreet Governess and Several Young Ladies of the First Rank under Her Education (1760). A visionary teacher, Beaumont believed in her girls' capacity to think for themselves. Individual growth and development are central in her stories of rewards and punishments. Her tales often concluded with overtly religious messages.

Beauty and the Beast, the tale of a beautiful maid, whose love releases a handsome prince from the spell which made him an ugly beast, is in her Magazines pour les enfants (1757). (Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers (London: Chatto & Windus, 1994) History Homepage

Disgruntled wants to know: Since the discovery of oil, Nigeria has come unglued. It has gone from a net exporter of foodstuffs to an economy in chaos that relies on imports of crops it once produced. The outbreak of violence following the publication of an article claiming the prophet Muhammad would take a beauty contestant for a wife is just the latest in a string of incidents that typifies a country being torn asunder by political and religious strife. Does anyone doubt outsiders, oil and corrupt officials are at the root of Nigerian instability?

Disgruntled feels: Peeped! At the NATO confab last week, thousands protested against the arrogance of the US. A Canadian official criticized George W. for his hubris in lecturing his country on defense spending. Unlike the hired hand Bob Woodward, who was fed pabulum and regurgitated milksop for the masses to make Bush go down smooth like molasses, more people see the real beast. Neither a strong leader, revered commander-in-chief nor envy of the 'free' world, the Canadian official peeped Bush, calling him a 'moron.'

Disgruntled says: Senator Tom Daschle, object of an unsolved anthrax attack, negative media and death threats, voiced concern about the influence that shrill right-wing radio talk show hosts exert on weak-minded gullible people. Bombing abortion clinics, like the fugitive Eric Robert Rudolph, and killing doctors, these fanatics believe in the 'right to life,' but go beyond dialogue to neutralize opposition. Dismissing Daschle's concerns as the whining of a liberal Democratic loser, media talking heads ignore the fact that the death threats and disasters do not impact the shrill right-wing agitators. More Disgruntled Moments

Beauty and the Beast

by Disney Productions

Uniquely Disney, the full-length animation of the age-old tale of Beauty and the Beast is entertaining and educational in the tradition of Jeanne Marie LePrince de Beaumont. Winner of several awards, the Disney film recounts the tale of a book-loving beauty and a beast that is really a prince whose castle and person are under a spell cast by a temptress because of his cruelty and insensitivity. The spell can only be broken if he learns to love someone and is loved in return.

Set in a provincial French village, the beautiful maiden is pursued by the local huntsman and swain, Gaston. The beauty Belle spurns his unwanted attention. When Belle's father, an inventor, gets lost on his way to a fair to enter his latest invention in a competition, he happens upon the Beast's castle and is imprisoned for trespassing. Belle goes to his rescue and offers herself as the Beast's prisoner. When her father returns to the village for help to rescue his daughter, he is ridiculed and tossed out of the local inn by Gaston's minions. A handsome and strong moron, Gaston plots to have Belle's father placed in an insane asylum to force her agreement to his marriage proposition.

In the meantime, Belle and the Beast are learning to love one another. He allows her to see her father who is determined to rescue Belle, but has fallen ill on the trail. Out of love, the Beast releases Belle from her promise to stay with him forever. When Belle returns home with her father, Gaston's plot is thrown into action. Using the magic mirror the Beast gave her, Belle proves her father is not a lunatic because the Beast really exists. Sensing her affections for the hideous creature, Gaston incites the townspeople to join him in destroying the Beast. He tells Belle, "If you're not with us, you're against us." Gaston becomes the true beast as he wages a battle to kill the Beast and loot his castle.

Filled with lessons about human behavior, weaknesses and strengths, Disney's animation - Beauty and the Beast - is suitable viewing for the entire family. Venue for an Artist

Inmate Suicide

On October 24, 19-year-old Northur Monquez Burks was arrested and placed in a Clayton County, Georgia jail for failure to appear in court on a seat belt violation, a misdemeanor. Two days later, the Atlanta teenager was found dead inside his cell.

According to the recently released autopsy, Burks committed suicide by hanging himself from the upper bunk using the bed sheet. Apparently, Burks was alone in his cell. Burks did not have a history of mental illness or exhibited signs at the time of his arrest that would warrant a suicide watch. Moreover, there were no signs of violence at the scene of the strangulation.

Convinced Burks' death is the result of neglect by the guards and/or foul play, Burks' family and friends reject the sheriff and autopsy reports. Since his death, they have conducted protests outside the jail demanding a more plausible explanation of the young man's demise. Hood Notes Homepage

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is gearing up for the season of giving. At nine, he is not particularly interested in giving; he is wholly concerned with receiving. On the last day of school before Thanksgiving, I helped him with a list of things for which he should be thankful and tried to explain the beauty and meaning of Christmas. The Dark One/Ninja/Zorro wondered aloud after this gloriously touching explanation, "Are you a Scrooge?" Back to Bat Cave

107th Congress

The 107th Congress failed the people. It hastily passed the post-9-11 airline industry bailout. Thousands lost their jobs but received no federal handout. Ignoring public sentiment, it gave George Bush an attack Iraq resolution. Designed to check executive power, the 107th made Congress a rubberstamp. To pull the economy out of recession, Congress raided the Social Security surplus to cut the taxes of wealthy Americans. It gave Bush promotion trade authority, then passed a farm bill, which heavily subsidizes big agribusinesses, and tariffs to protect the US steel industry from foreign competition.

The 107th failed to perform its most rudimentary tasks, such as pass a budget. It did not address the time bomb of Social Security insolvency, provide senior citizens with relief from the high cost of drugs, etc. The list of things not done is so long; this space prevents an enumeration. With much to do, the 107^th reconvened after the November elections for a lame-duck session.

In the blink of an eye, it passed the Homeland Security Act, the largest reorganization of the federal government in half a century. A rider to it repays the pharmaceutical industry for its generous campaign contributions by limiting liability for the harm caused by its drugs. After giving the Bush domestic agenda a boost with terrorism insurance, another coup for wealthy contributors, the 107th adjourned leaving thousands of Americans with the certainty of no safety net when their unemployment compensation expires in time for Xmas.

The economy still flirts with recession; the 107th should have done something to stimulate consumption. Instead its inaction will swell the ranks of the unemployed and stimulate the home foreclosure market. For many families, the holidays will be bleak and the New Year not much better because the 107th miserably failed the people. Politics Y2K2 Homepage

On Meatless!

By Dot

This is the third year that I will not eat turkey, which is a family holiday tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I gave up cows, deer, pigs, and sheep years ago on the road to becoming meatless. I continued to eat fowl and fish, as though one can be meatless and still consume some flesh. Having mentally grown, I found the guts to give up fowl, and I drastically cut back on the fish. Recently, I learned "farm-fresh" could mean the fish was cultivated in a Petri dish or grown in some foul pond where fish are born and die in feces.

Now, I consume mainly vegetables, but there is still a serious and growing health threat. Soy, corn, wheat, etc., are often bio-engineered organisms. Few foods, if any, produced in the USA can be called natural. Even crops 'organically grown' get nutrients from soil fertilized with the manure of cows, pigs and chickens that are fast-tracked from birth to the dinner table via growth hormones. In other words, the food chain has been so fouled that neither fish nor fowl is safe to eat, and vegetables are highly suspect. It is almost enough for one to accept the smoker's reason for not quitting, "You're going to die of something." Then again, there is no excuse for eating meat! Sayonara turkey! More DISHing It Up Hot!

Email jrswriter@comcast.net After World Net Daily published the "Digital Angle," a miniaturized tracking device intended for sub dermal implantation - the manufacturer Applied Digital Solutions, took cover. Under criticism by privacy advocates as well as Christians concerned over the biblically prophesied "mark of the beast," the NASDAQ traded company removed all references to human implantation from its Web site. Its CEO claimed there were "no plans" to make the technology implantable, but rather for the user to wear the device outside the body. Then came Sept. 11 and the resulting urgent drive to increase America's homeland security. And, in this new climate of fear, in which many Americans are susceptible to valuing safety over freedom, security over privacy, the company has found its golden opportunity to reintroduce the sub dermal microchip implant that it had previously deemed too hot for the American public to handle.

Email igietsj@msn.edu How difficult can it be for African-Americans to strongly draw the dichotomy between fighting for civil rights (i.e., rights of all peoples, races, genders, old and young, weak and strong, the healthy and the sick, full-bodied and the handicapped) and fighting for a chosen way of life, such as gay rights, marijuana use rights, kleptomaniac, alcohol use rights, et cetera? While it may be politically expedient to combine forces to achieve a human goal in the face of tyranny, it must be understood that the noble message of civil rights is greatly diluted when people scramble human rights with behavioral rights. More Mailbox

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