Gabriel Ozuna is an undergraduate at Yale University (Class of 2015). He was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley and is a proud resident of Donna, Texas, where he graduated from IDEA College Preparatory.
With less than a month to go before Election Day, it is easy to get lost in the unavailing political banter that always seems to drown out the real issues, which I think neither candidate wants to face. Any intelligent debate gets reduced to an overly simplistic bullet-point plan, slogan, or criticism of one’s opponent. But the current education crisis desperately demands that both candidates submit comprehensive proposals on how they plan to overhaul the educational system after the election.
Unfortunately, yesterday’s debate between Obama's and Romney's education advisers, Jon Schnur and Phil Handy, failed to give much further insight into what changes we can expect in the next four years. Schnur began his defense of President Obama’s first term by describing the President’s “commitment to education” even in the midst of economic collapse. Apparently, writing in a $100 billion provision into his stimulus package makes up for Obama’s failure to enact lasting educational changes in the long run. While the initial cash flow may have helped sustain some programs like Pell Grants and Head Start, the money we threw at them is now gone with little more to show for it than an increased deficit.
Handy, on the other hand, idealistically restated the same educational platform the Republican Party has held for the last decade--using state and local policy to raise educational standards frosted with a fantastic promise of “vouchers for all!” Now, there is much to be said for localizing how schools are run and evaluated in a state-by-state basis so that school districts are better held accountable to local entities like parents and communities. But we need specifics about how Romney plans to create incentives for states to raise their academic standards under his proposed “revamp” of NCLB.
Photo by VOA via WikiCommons
Nihal ElRayess is Senior Managing Director of Student Achievement and Program on Teach For America’s Technology Solutions team.
Nineteen years ago when I was teaching first grade in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, my students were all low-income kids who worked hard and were eager to learn. But statistically only 10 out of 25 would enroll in college.
Today, the bleak statistics are no longer just around college access, but actual college completion. According to a recent study, only 8% of low-income students go on to graduate from a 4-year college by the age of 24 compared to 82% of high-income students. They may struggle to adjust on campus, and often fail to seek critical support services that would help them successfully navigate college.
Photo via Instagram @chrystiane_rose: Bringing awareness to the inequality in educational achievement #universityofdelaware #teachforamerica
Five links that made us think this week:
Can you imagine a world in which college and grad school applications didn’t require SATs, GREs, GMAT, LSATs, and all those other three-letter scary words? A group of civil rights activists in New York recently filed a complaint with the U.S Department of Education to reduce reliance on standardized exams in admissions decisions. The complaint claims that “schools rely on a test that advantages one racial group over another.” This complaint goes along with the trend of several universities across the nation that have already started to eliminate the use of standardized exams.
Remember when back in 2010 Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to public schools in Newark? Two years have passed, yet less than $17 million has been committed. Part of the money has been used to open innovative public and charter schools, including Bard High School Early College and Newark Bridges High School, where new school curricula have given failing students a second chance at education. More to come on the other $83 million...
Photo by Brian Solis via WikiCommons
Carolina’s post marks National Mental Health Awareness Week, which is observed to create awareness and educate the public on mental health.
“That girl was so desperate to lose weight. She was so desperate that she started starving herself and purging her food and working out like a crazy person.”
This was the conversation I was hardly paying attention to last week when I went for lunch with some acquaintances of mine. Most people on the table responded with “omg ew” and “what a freak.” I hadn’t paid attention to all of the conversation, so I wasn’t sure whom they were talking about. Were they talking about me?
Photo via NAMI
Eric is the Executive Vice President of Growth, Development, and Partnerships at Teach For America.
In New York City, kids in the eighth grade have the opportunity to apply to high schools across the city. For my students, that meant the potential to avoid their local “zoned” school which had less than a 50% graduation rate. Helping my students get into high schools that would put them on a path to choose college was my focus in my classroom.
One of my students, Melissa, was most proactive in seeking help. She was an old soul and my most serious student; a diligent worker, always on time, homework always completed, focused intently on any task at hand. In fact, it was a conversation earlier that year with Melissa which accelerated my learning curve as a teacher: After a particularly tenuous day of classroom management, Melissa stayed back and was the last one to leave my room. Poised and confident, she stopped, looked me directly in my beleaguered eyes, and told me I needed to get control of my classroom and teach better, faster. In her words, “get it together.” She was right and I needed to hear it. Reflecting on that interaction helped me to find my ‘teacher self’ and to lead my classroom with more confidence.
One afternoon in the spring, Melissa was in my classroom after school working on her high school entrance portfolio while I graded papers. After a few questions about grammar for her essay, Melissa asked me if I was gay. In the moments of silence while I gathered my thoughts for a response she continued that her uncle was, that she didn’t care, and that she thought people should do what makes them happy as long as it didn’t bother anyone—and being gay didn’t bother her.
Photo courtesy of Eric Scroggins
Today the U.S. Supreme Court hears closing arguments for Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, its first case on the use of race in college admissions since 2003. Wendy Kopp shared her reflections on the case in an Op-Ed piece that ran on Huffington Post. We have reblogged it in full with her permission.
All eyes are on the Supreme Court today as it considers Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, its first case on the use of race in college admissions since 2003. Back then a different group of justices ruled that diversity is such an important national interest that universities could continue to consider race as one of many factors when deciding who to admit. Now the lawsuit brought against UT by a rejected white applicant named Abigail Fisher challenges the right of all colleges to use race in a holistic process that fosters diverse student bodies.
It's expected to be a close decision. If the Court sides with Fisher, our nation's colleges could soon become much less diverse—with major repercussions in every sector of our society.
Photo credit: JimmeyTimmey via WikiCommons
Blair Mishleau, a first-year Twin Cities corps member, teaches writing in Minneapolis. His post marks National Coming Out Day, which promotes a safe world for LGBT individuals to live truthfully and openly.
“I hate gay people.”
“Mr. M, would you ever be friends with a gay person? I wouldn’t!”
“Yeah…that’s messed up.”
The calm, young voices rang out during my homeroom period. A writing brainstorm about Barack Obama had brought up my ninth graders’ strong feelings towards the president’s stance on marriage equality.
In the time between the first hateful statement and my response, every education-related diversity conversation I’ve had flashed before my eyes. I could recall dozens of deep discussions about cultural competency, working with low-income communities, and finding ways to contact home when family members don’t speak English.
But when it came to responding to this—a direct statement of hate towards my sexual orientation—the till came up empty. Authentic advice on dealing with being gay in the classroom has been, for me, few and far between.
Photo courtesy of jglsongs via Flickr Creative Commons
Vanessa Lugo was recently honored by the White House's Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics for her service to education. We have reblogged her reflection on receiving the Champion of Change award in full with her permission.
There are no words to adequately express how deeply honored I am to be receiving the Champions of Change award. As a Hispanic female, a child of immigrants, and an English language learner, I feel that my entire life I have been preparing to engage in this work in our community.
Upon graduating from UCLA in 2010, I entered the profession of teaching through Teach for America; an alternative licensure program founded by Wendy Kopp, whose mission is to place high achieving college graduates, as teachers in our highest need schools. I was placed as a bilingual educator, meaning I could be hired as anything from a Pre-K teacher to a high school Spanish teacher.
I will never forget my first and only teaching interview with the staff at Cole Arts and Science Academy. It lasted for about fifteen minutes over Skype. It was the last question and my answer to that question that changed my life: Why should we hire you over anyone else? My response: I see myself reflected in the students that I will be teaching. I grew up in a low-income neighborhood and I received free lunch at school. My parents are immigrants from Mexico and when I began school they did not speak English and neither did I. I want to demonstrate to my students and families that—there are no limits to what they can accomplish. Querer es poder. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Photo by KF via WikiCommons
Robert Cook is managing director of Teach For America’s Native Achievement Initiative.
Today federal and state workers are taking the day off in honor and celebration of Columbus Day. Retail and department stores are marking items off for their annual Columbus Day Sales and our nation’s school children are enjoying the end of a 3-day weekend.
Beginning in 1934 when President Roosevelt signed Columbus Day into law as a federal holiday, we take the second Monday in October off as a nation to honor the historical discovery of the “New World.” At least that is what I learned as a young boy in school. Today, as a grown man and an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation here in South Dakota, I have another take on this national holiday and the education myths of Christopher Columbus. I am proud to say I do not honor this day as Columbus Day.
Columbus wasn't the first European to land in America; in fact he didn’t even “land” on any of the main lands of the Americas. Historical evidence points to Leif Erickson, as the first European to land and settle a Norse village on Newfoundland some 500 years earlier. When Columbus did reach land in 1492, he “discovered” islands in the Caribbean already inhabited by scores of diverse and indigenous Native tribes.
Photo credit: Native American dancers at the Pie Town Pie Festival, New Mexico. jclarson via Wikimedia Commons
Five links that made us think this week:
Give me an O! Give me an M! Give me a G! Let's hear it, OMG! God is indeed the newest member of a cheerleading squad in a small East Texas town, where cheerleaders' decision to use Bible verses in banners has caused much controversy over the past week. The school superintendent has opposed the squad's actions, citing a law that bans religious expression at public school events. But the cheerleaders are saying "Goooo First Amendment rights!" and cheering their freedom of expression.
World Teachers’ Day is celebrated across the globe every year on October 5th, and this year’s slogan is ‘Take a stand for teachers!’ UNESCO’s Director General, Irina Bokova, released a YouTube video saying, “Each of us remembers our favorite teacher, each of us recalls the feelings of wonder and curiosity they fueled in us.” What teacher does this video make you remember? Personally, I will never forget my World History professor in high school, Blanca Facundo, who taught her students with a relentless drive to shape us into critical thinkers.
Wednesday’s first presidential debate on domestic issues left the audience wanting to hear more on the candidates' education policies. President Obama stood by his position to support education spending, while Gov. Romney claimed that he would eliminate all programs that didn’t pass this test: “Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?"
Photo via World Teachers' Day.
We believe education is the most pressing issue facing our nation. On Pass the Chalk, we'll share our takes on the issues of the day, join the online conversation about education, and tell stories from classrooms, schools, and communities around the nation.
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