Blog Archive » 2010 » July

Congratulations are in order for the District of Columbia in securing a place among the finalists for the "Race to the Top" grant competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.   The fact that D.C. made it into the final group along with 18 states is significant.  With a long history of struggles over school reform, coupled with the more recent highly aggressive plans and steps taken by Chancellor Michelle Rhee, the news of D.C.'s inclusion among the finalists may well signal a turning point for a school system that has long held a secure spot at the bottom of any educational list.

At the same time, more vocal critics are emerging with warnings that the Obama Administration's plans for school reform, including the Race to the Top competition, may well have the effect of causing further harm to the children who need school reform the most:  low income urban students in under-performing schools.

In her blog on the Washington Post website, education reporter Valerie Strauss today provided a good summary of the issues.   A distinguished group of civil rights organizations issued a paper on Monday that spells out the major problems with the Race to the Top and the Obama Administration's approach to school reform.    The gist of the report is that by providing massive funding to states on a competitive basis according to the rules established by the U.S. Department of Education, the administration is creating an unequal system of funding that will have a disproportionately harmful effect on African American and Hispanic children in low income neighborhoods.  Other critics have pointed out that the program emphasizes high stakes standardized testing at the expense of genuinely innovative and effective teaching.

Some political forecasts say that Obama's Blueprint for Reform, including the revision of No Child Left Behind, the education law originally passed in the Bush administration, is also stalled in Congress, and that the Obama plan for changes to this law will stagnate.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan clearly disagrees with the critics and has forcefully promoted the Administration's plans to improve public schools.   In speeches and interviews this week, Secretary Duncan has pointed out that significant changes have already occured in the finalist jurisdictions since they had to take certain actions in order to apply for the Race to the Top grants.  President Obama will speak to the Urban League convention this week about the status of his plans for educational reform.

So much has been said and written on the topic of school reform that we might wonder why we're not there yet, after all these years.  Theories abound, fingers are pointed, roundtables and town halls occur, and Johnny still ain't readin' and writin' too good.

Here's all I know as a consumer of the results of K-12 education:  too many students enter college with large gaps in their educational backgrounds.   From basic reading skills to competent writing to simple arithmetic — let alone a robust framework in history and geography and literature and science and social studies — too many students do not have the sound foundation of knowledge and skills necessary to move to the next level.  These gaps cause the students to fail in college, absent a great deal of remediation, and then the colleges are called to task for having poor graduation rates when, in fact, the students may not have been ready to leave high shool.

To fix this problem, colleges are devoting massive amounts of resources to the educational lessons that students should have learned previously.   At a time when higher education is under the gun to control costs, the idea that we have to pay again for what the taxpayers already thought they paid for in K-12 education is maddening.

I must point out that the preparatory gaps are not just a D.C. problem, or an urban school problem, or a low income student problem, or a problem among students with certain demographics.   The preparatory gaps cut across race, social class, urban/suburban and even some public/private lines.

To begin to address some of this preparatory gap, this year a number of school districts — D.C. included — have adopted the Common Core Standards developed by governors and educators.  The leading higher education associations endorsed and welcomed these standards.    The goals of this effort are worthy; whether adoption of the standards will result in more students entering college with better preparation remains to be seen.

Some people ask me why Trinity or any college accepts students who may not be quite ready for the collegiate curriculum.   My answer is very clear:  if we don't educate the students who come to us, who will?  We have a profound obligation to educate every student who comes to us to ensure that she can develop into the intellectual person lurking within her very being.   We should not turn her away, rather, we must find a way to unlock her potential.

As a university founded with a special commitment to women, we know that unlocking the intellectual potential of women has a profound impact on the long-term success of their children and families.  Women continue to be the primary teachers of the young, and the more educated the mother, the higher the child's ultimate level of educational attainment.

Trinity was also founded by a group of Catholic religious women, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who still have this radical idea about the transformation of individuals through education as a spiritual matter, not simply the secular intellectual side.   More than 200 years ago, the commitment of St. Julie Billiart, the founder of the SNDs, to the Gospel imperative of social justice led her to establish schools for poor girls orphaned by the French Revolution.   That justice imperative galvanized Trinity's founders a century ago to create a college for women who, at that time, had no access to higher education in the nation's capital.   Trinity continues that original idea to be a place of access for women (and now including men in our professional and graduate programs) who might not otherwise have been able to go to college.

There's no "race to the top" money for universities like Trinity who spend considerable time and resources on closing the gap that should never have occurred in the first place.   We serve our students well as a matter of mission while also insisting that our partners at the K-12 level really must do their part to improve collegiate preparation.

So, who wins the Race To The Top, and should we care?  To the extent that this or any federal program makes it possible for more students to learn at higher levels, and, hence to enroll in college with a greater chance of more immediate success, then the students win.   This competition should not be about Delaware or California or Arizona or Pennsylvania or the District of Columbia.   This competition should be about leveling the playing fields so that every student in the race has an equal chance to make it to the top.

Secretary Duncan has said, frequently and rightly, that improving educational opportunities for all children is THE civil rights issue of our time.  I agree wholeheartedly.   If he truly believes that statement, however, then he needs to make sure that in the race to the top, millions of children are not left behind because the process of incentivization only rewards those who know how to run the race.

One of the greatest educational threats to American society today is NOT that this nation is failing to produce enough mathematicians and computer scientists, though that is certainly an economic problem, nor is it the catastrophe of failing urban public schools, though that is a scandal and a tragedy of grave proportions.   No, the greatest educational threat today is that people who are already well educated are acting like ignorant Neanderthals, abandoning the most fundamental principles of liberal education — "liberal" in the true academic sense of the large perspectives of the liberal arts, not as a political word (yet) — in favor of the most narrow-minded anti-intellectual hate-stirring race-baiting views of the polity and community life.

Exhibit A:  Andrew Breitbart.   Raised in Brentwood, a wealthy neighborhood of Los Angeles where the Hollywood stars and moguls live.   Supposedly educated at Tulane, one of the most elite research universities in the country.   Must have skipped a lot of classes.  One of that small fraternity of right-wing Internet wags who manufacture headlines designed to foment social division and political turmoil.   Truth is optional in this universe.  Sophisticated intellectual frameworks and broad-minded views of human life need not apply.

Breitbart is the source of the Shirley Sherrod controversy.   But the political arsonist knew exactly the tinder he was sparking.  The Obama Administration, terrified lest anyone think that the president might actually favor or promote Black causes, responded to Shirley Sherrod's allegedly racist comments with a speed we have not seen recently.  Would that the administration had responded to the BP oil well explosion as quickly and decisively.   Heedless of any normal rules for treating employees fairly, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack fired Sherrod based apparently on what Andrew Breitbart and other wingers said about her speech.   (Everyone has apologized to Sherrod since this started, but still….)

Problem being that the speech was nothing like the Breitbart report.   And, here's where the ultimate value of the liberal arts education that should be coursing through the veins of these well-educated journalists and politicians alike has failed miserably.

Watch the Sherrod video in its entirety. Anyone who has taken a college course in literature or rhetoric or sociology or anthropology or history or economics or politics or even theology in the last half century would surely understand how to deconstruct the speech.   All of literature is about the stories of human cultures, told through the voices and vocabularies and vernaculars of the poets and storytellers and writers and journalists and essayists of each age.   History is never completely objective; history is the story of the society told in the voices of those who lived in the times, perhaps bleached through generations of research and revision, but nevertheless, the source documents resonate the truth of the original voices.   This is the reason why, in higher education, we insist on research into the original documents, to remove the filters of interpretation that obscure the truth.  You have to read the WHOLE document, watch the WHOLE video, not just the part you like, the part that suits your narrow view of the world.

Shirley Sherrod told her story in a vernacular that was moving and powerful.   She told the truth about her experience as a young girl growing up on a farm in the rural South in the first half of the 20th Century.  She talked lovingly of her father and his dreams for his family — before he was murdered by a white man who was never punished for the crime.   She was honest about her initial skepticism of the white farmer.   (Find me a white person who has truly never had similarly dim views of at least one black person — please!  Let's be real.)  She got over her initial skepticism when she realized that Farmer Spooner, too, was victimized by the power structure — the economic powers.

Sherrod was not afraid to use the labels like "white" and "black" that make so many people cringe, and "rich and poor" and "have and have not."   She had to use the labels to tell the story faithfully.   We can hardly tell the story of the United States without using racial labels, but some revisionists would prefer that we not mention those untidy facts — like slavery, like poverty, like lynchings, like Jim Crow laws, like discrimination, like failing public schools, like what's said behind closed doors.

But Sherrod was not telling a story of victimization, hatred or division.  In fact, her primary message was quite clear:  first, that the primary divisions in American society are economic and social class, not race; and, second, that the Black community must seize the moment to make changes that will ensure a better future for the rising generations.   She was actually quite blunt and powerful in challenging the young people of the Black community to reach higher and insist on excellence.   Her message was one of hope, with a vision for the future of all people of all races coming together to build the community.   Echoes of Martin Luther King, Jr.

You might disagree with her, you might have a different story to tell, but clearly, her voice was honest and authentic.

Students who paid attention in their college years might hear in her words echoes of the literature of poverty and oppression, hope and redemption — echoes that can be found in all great works from Plato to Shakespeare to Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison to John Steinbeck and Edwige Danticat and Khaled Hosseini and Azar Nafisi.   A student of theology would recognize the language of the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church, even the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II, in Sherrod's heartfelt description of her realization that the real problem in our society is the gap between rich and poor.

A truly liberally educated person, upon hearing Sherrod's story, would say, "My goodness, what a tremendous tale of courage, of triumph over hardship, of self-discovery and personal change."   A pseudo journalist interested only in making his own headlines and fomenting hatred would take a snippet from her speech and cry,"Racist."

A liberal education does open the mind of the reader and listener to the possibility that the voice of the speaker or writer will be illuminating and even persuasive, changing the mind of the listener by broadening perspective.

Right-wingers (not conservatives, we'll get to that in a minute) decry the "liberal" tendencies of American higher education.   Why anyone is surprised that the study of the liberal arts makes people more broad-minded escapes me.   In fact, the whole point of a "liberal" education — meaning the study of the liberal arts — is to enlarge the person's intellectual capacity, to "liberate" the mind to pursue knowledge through study and inquiry, to learn how to conduct a disciplined research into any topic, to know and to appreciate the breadth of human experience, to question convention, to invent solutions, to understand the moral parameters of life, to ponder the great philosophical questions not the least of which is why some people like to spread hate.   A "liberal" education is not about partisan politics but a wholistic view of life that is the opposite of narrow-minded ignorance.

To be a "liberal" in political terms has become a bad idea today, so much so that liberals have embraced the term "progressive," which also has problems.   To be a "conservative" in political terms today is to be associated with extremists whose views bear little relation to real conservatism.

Real conservatism prefers limited government, relatively unrestrained capitalism, and respect for traditional institutions.   Real liberalism advocates equal justice and human rights, fostering social change to achieve those goals.   Moderates in the middle reflect values of each ideology, and most Americans are somewhere in the middle.

Unfortunately, the provocateurs of the Internet age eschew any meaningful relationship to true ideology, liberal or conservative, in favor of the mindless pitting of people with different interests against each other.   Sadly, our political leaders give entirely too much credence to these inflammatory extremists, thereby failing to provide the thoughtful leadership on difficult issues that the people truly crave.

President Obama is one of the most thoughtful, intellectual presidents we've ever had.  But he's surrounded by political operatives who repress his ability to exert true leadership on tough topics like race because they are afraid that he will be perceived as "too Black" or "too liberal."   Well, heck.  He needs to be himself.   He needs to liberate himself from those advisors who are making him plain vanilla.  That's not what the voters ordered in 2008, and not what they want now.

Perhaps Obama needs to surround himself again with a buncha good old fashioned liberals — those who really believe in the liberal arts as an organizing framework for understanding human life.   He might do well with a refresher course on voice and vernacular, how to promote and advance the real American story in a way that is compelling and truthful.   Perhaps those of us who do higher education for a living can organize some continuing education for folks at the White House.

Maybe Shirley Sherrod can be a guest lecturer.

Perhaps we can take up a collection for a scholarship for Andrew Breitbart to sit in the back as well — so long as he attends every class this time.

Even better, perhaps Breitbart will endow the lecture series on Justice and Liberal Education to atone for his shameful neglect of his own education.

MUST READ:  E.J. Dionne, "Enough Right-Wing Propaganda"

See:  Frank Rich, "There's a Battle Outside and It's Still Ragin'"

See:  Maureen Dowd's column in today's New York Times

See:  Politico for a good analysis of the finger-pointing that has ensued in the Sherrod case

For more on the Sherrod case see "On Success" at the washingtonpost.com

Follow me on Twitter @TrinPrez

I was rumbling down from the mountains this morning when my Blackberry flashed with a message from Security Chief Doris Bey and the subject line "Earthquake" grabbed my attention.   No damage on campus, thank goodness, from the mild tremors that shook the DC region this morning.   But, oh my, what an auspicious message to end my Adirondack sojourn and begin my journey back to Washington!

Dawn was just breaking over Long Lake as I packed the car and waved silent goodbye to my favorite little cabin in the woods, and gave thanks again to my friend Joe, the owner, who rents this little bit of heaven to many city-weary folks like me.    A few weeks in the peace and quiet of the North Country does wonders.   Beyond feeling rested and restored, I also have my collection of pictures to remind me of all the good things here through the long months ahead.

I'll keep fond memories of the chipmunks (above) and many different kinds of woodpeckers (bel0w)…

….and of course, those elusive blue jays…

The startled looks on the faces of fawns along the side of the road…

Or the turkeys crossing the road… (why do they do that?)….

Or that cute little fox…

Beautiful vistas of fields and flowers…

The art of checking email while kayaking…

People sometimes ask if I have a picture of me in the kayak…. well, here you are:

Yes, mom, I am wearing a life jacket.

(Mom:  why are you doing anything that requires a life jacket?)

Of course, I will remember the loons…

Back to reality…and Trinity!  We have a big agenda ahead, and I'm ready to roll!

Thanks to all readers who have enjoyed and commented on the Adirondack Chronicles…. I'm glad to know that these little stories and photos have given you some cheer.

Each year when I start out my vacation in the Adirondacks, I am still wearing my "city eyes" and "urban ears."   I see all the deep greens and browns of the forest, but it's a blur, and the lakes all look pretty much the same.  My city eyes are trained not to stare too deeply, to mind my own business.  My urban ears are used to tuning out the constant noise of the city.

As the days unfold in the deep woods, my optics change, wilderness eyes coming into focus:  within a week I can see past the first rows of trees into the darker parts of the forest where the wildlife lives.  I can soon tell the difference between a bump on a log and a painted turtle, a fluttering leaf on a birch that becomes a yellow warbler, a reddish stone that has the eyes of a fox.

My urban ears become attuned to the silence of the forest, at first stunned by the lack of sound, and then hearing sounds that make the silence so beautiful:  a ripple on the water, the dragonfly's wings, a loon calling far out on the lake.   My deep forest ears become so used to listening to this silent symphony that I find the noise in town startling.

I learn to read the signs of the sky and water:  when a passing cloud is a blessed relief from the sun, when it signifies a huge storm coming.  The lake surface tells the stories of bright blue clear days and steel slate stormy skies approaching.

I try to hold onto my wilderness eyes and deep forest ears when I return to Washington, visiting the beautiful places like Blackwater Wildlife Refuge and Nanjemoy Creek in Maryland.  But I know that, in time, my city eyes and urban ears will take over once again, making it necessary for me to plan another return to the North Country for my annual adjustments.

Of course, I also come to know that even the beautiful wildnerness has its dark side.   This little guy is pretty cute, right?

Well, that is, until you see him make off with dinner!

The fresh air does wonders for appetites!

Some gulls prefer trolling on a sandy beach.  Other gulls prefer sunning on a log on an Adirondack lake:

On a hot afternoon on Follensby Clear Pond, the ducks were not about to move from their lounge chairs even for a visitor, whom they simply eyed languidly…

Even the frogs were just laying around…

But this osprey, nesting on top of a tall pine tree, never wavered from her vigilant watch for predators who might steal the chicks in that nest:

Later in the evening, I watched the sun set over Blue Mountain Lake:

A beautiful end to a perfect day in the North Country!