Should we cancel Black History Month?

Evidently there's an effort to cancel Black History Month. Their argument is that Black History should be celebrated year-round and it is paternalistic toward Black people to only celebrate it one time out of the year.

I agree that Black History should be incorporated into our regular American History text books and classes. However, the fact of the matter is, it's not.

When I teach my Diversity and Equity in Education course at Texas A & M-Commerce, I have the students do several activities to help them become more aware of our lack of awareness. I would challenge you to do the same. Let's try an activity...and please don't read ahead.

Only take about 3-5 minutes for each of the following questions. Try to scroll only as far as the end of the direction.

List 6 people who, in your judgment, have made important, positive contributions to the world or to U. S. society and culture.

Great.

Now list 6 men and 6 women who, in your judgment, have made important, positive contributions to the world or to U. S. society and culture.

Excellent.

Now list 6 Whites, 6 Black/African Americans, 6 Hispanic/Latino/Latina Americans, 6 American Indians/Native Americans, and 6 Asian Americans who, in your judgment, have made important, positive contributions to the world or to U. S. society and culture.

Perfect.

Now look at your lists.

What are the demographics of your first list? What was the dominant culture you listed? What was the dominant gender?

How much more challenging was it to name female contributors?

How well did you do when asked to list 6 people in each culture?

I've done this with quite a few groups...and the results are always the same. More than likely, whether your Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, or any other culture, your first list consisted mostly of males and mostly of White people. More than likely, it was a little challenging to list 6 women. And it is likely that you're now thinking of women and saying that you just didn't have enough time (which is part of the point...the point is to list the people you think of off the top of your head). And finally, more than likely, it was easy for you to list 6 White people, more challenging to list 6 African-Americans, and even harder as you went through the other cultures.

Also, look at how many of your White contributors are intellectuals vs. sports heroes and entertainers. How does that compare to your Black contributors?

I'm guessing that everyone put President Obama on their list...probably Martin Luther King, maybe Rosa Parks. But if you take out the popular ones talked about every Black History month, who else did you put?

What about Garrett Morgan who invented the stoplight? Matthew Henson who was the first one to help discover the north pole? John Lewis, a major person in the civil rights movement and now a congressman? Diane Nash, another major leader during the civil rights movement? Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Richard Wright...all great authors?

Black History month (February)...Hispanic Heritage month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15)...Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May)...and many others...are still important because to this point, other cultures simply haven't been integrated into our regular lives enough for any of us to easily recognize those achievements.

I completely agree that Black History (and every other cultural history) should be incorporated into a regular history lesson year-round. But I listen to teachers every semester tell me, "We don't have time." For some reason, people still see other cultures as an additional burden. Until teachers and others figure out that every culture has made significant contributions to our country, the focused months are still needed.

Teachers! Stop the cupcakes!!

Poverty often dictates that parents often have to purchase cheaper, more filling food to work within their budget and their limited hours in the day. There are some excellent programs that help parents plan their shopping lists so that they purchase more nutritious food for their children. Unfortunately, for parents who are taking the bus to jobs or are working more than one job, they don't often have the time to take the time to prepare food in the way that this new shopping list dictates.

I have been known to be critical of parents who feed their children junk food or provide the kids with money to buy chips and a soda from the corner store. Unfortunately, it's sometimes the parents who are at home, but have other concerns, that are the least educated...and possibly the least concerned...about what develops their children's brains long-term.

At our After-School Academy, though, we are not just struggling with educating the parents, we fight the influence of the schools and other community organizations. Schools, these days, justify nachos as providing a milk product and a grain...as well as other absurd justifications of the four food groups. But beyond that, teachers dismiss kids with cookies, cupcakes, chips, and other high fat, high sugar junk food.

The latest issue of Edutopia quotes Jan Pruitt, from the North Texas Food Bank that provides much of our food at Central Dallas. Pruitt says teachers are often surprised to learn that a "problem" student is really just hungry: "They will say, 'Oh, my gosh. I never thought of him being hungry.'"

I'm guessing the teachers in our area recognize that kids are hungry. However, maybe we need to start educating people that just because a child's "hunger" has subsided, doesn't necessarily mean he/she will be equipped to learn. In fact, that much sugar creates an adverse affect. When the children come home eating their cookies and cupcakes, they are not in the right mindset to sit down and do homework...and then attend enrichment classes. Their after-school sugar high creates hyper-activity, irritability, and other behaviors.

I'm a very big sweet tooth. However, I've learned that eating sweets leads to wanting more sweets. I've always been a pretty healthy eater, thanks to my mom. But until I got into my late 20's, I was perfectly satisfied having a brownie sundae fill me up...or cookie dough...or any homemade dessert. I justified the 5 cookies I might eat because they filled me up and I figured they were about the same amount of calories as a larger meal. What I didn't realize was that my body and brain functioned much better on a bigger, healthier meal. When I finally started leaving out the sweets, the craving wasn't so strong.

I'm convinced that our charitable acts of giving poor kids cookies and junk is the reason when they do get a free meal, they throw out the sandwich and soup and eat the cookie and chips. Let's educate those providing lunches and snacks for our children. They need fruit and vegetables. As my mom did us, they need to be encouraged to taste two bites of everything so that they can develop new taste buds.

We have got to do better by our children.

Ripple Effects of Community Organizing

During the 2007-2008 school year the community in Turner Courts began coming together to speak out about many of the injustices and inequities in their community. We didn't have the process perfected yet. Each time we had a meeting it was like pulling teeth to get people to come out. But, there were little victories won here and there and some community members gained a little more faith in the process. Click here and you can see many of the efforts we undertook.

Unfortunately, just about the time we were building steam...just about the time residents were beginning to feel a stake in the process and knew they had the ear of the city and the Dallas Housing Authority, the decision to tear down Turner Courts came through. Central Dallas, along with all of the residents, were forced to find other places to settle.

We have attempted to keep in touch with our friends and neighbors from Turner Courts, but we're often dependent on them calling us since their phone numbers often change pretty regularly. I think it is a testament to say that many have kept our phone numbers and call to check in every once in a while.

Yesterday the phone call came from Maria.

Maria has six kids. She makes sure that she takes advantages of opportunities, makes sure to attend Bible study 2-3 times a week, and wants to see her children receive the best opportunities possible. Maria is also enrolled in a GED program. If her car is broken down, she packs up the family (even the baby) and they ride the bus wherever they need to go...planning ahead to manage the extra ride time and the extra distance between where the bus lets off and where she needs to go.

Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Maria struggles with her oldest two boys--one 16 and one 14. Both have found the "wrong crowd" and both hate school. Every morning, she drops them off at school. All day long she hopes and prays that they will remain there throughout the day. Often they don't. Maria now has more than $1500 in truancy tickets. She takes responsibility for her family, but she does not know what else to do. She is working hard to make sure her other four stay on the right path, but the tickets and the constant truancy issues keep distracting her from her focus on her youngest ones.

Maria called yesterday to get advice. She thinks her boys should be required to work in order to pay off the truancy tickets instead of her having to struggle to pay tickets and risk jail while her boys continue to skip school. She said the truancy officer explained to her that the only way things would change is if she talked to the people in Austin.

My first reaction was that she shouldn't be shirking her responsibilities as a parent. She should be held responsible for her boys' actions. But, the more I listened to her (and I know her boys), I realized that she had a point. She is not just complaining; she has a solution to offer. And she wants to write whoever is making these laws to help them think about it differently as well.

It was because of our community organizing efforts in Turner Courts that Maria called. She wanted to know how to write the letter and who to mail it to. She has already started planning how she can go around to different parents who have truant children and get them to sign on to the letter.

I haven't decided if I agree with Maria's approach. But, the point isn't whether or not I agree. The point is that Maria has a problem and a potential solution and she is taking the initiative by using our democratic system to make her voice heard. My hat goes off to Maria!

Gigapan photo of the Inauguration

This is very cool...One gigantic photo of the Inauguration. I'd love to know how he did that.

My favorite is snapshot 15 of Bush.

By: David Bergman (DavidBergman) on January 22, 2009
I made this Gigapan image from the north press platform during President Obama’s inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. It’s made up of 220 images and the final image size is 59,783 X 24,658 pixels or 1,474 megapixels.

** LARGE FORMAT PRINTS OF THIS IMAGE ARE NOW AVAILABLE HERE:
http://gallery.pictopia.com/davidbergman/photo/7565856/

Read more about it on my blog at:
http://www.davidbergman.net/

For more information from the photographer, send a blank email to pano@davidbergman.net
Date Taken: January 20, 2009
Date Added: January 22, 2009
Bookmarked: 105 times
Total Views: 4189298 views
Snapshots: 1755
Size: 1.47 gigapixels
Field of View: 194.19 degrees wide, 80.09 degrees high

Teaching algebra with pizza, water balloons, and ice cream

How many of us grew up taking math classes thinking there was nothing useful about them? How many of us have finally discovered that math has a purpose and is useful in nearly everything in every day life?

Wouldn't math had meant so much more if we had been taught Algebra served with a side of ice cream?

Steve Norton uses his creativity to teach algebra in a very practical...and fun...way. His students learn, love to learn, and are figuring out how to apply math to everyday situations.

I love that they learn algebra to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Graph a line, graph a line, here is what we know: Draw a table, pick an X, plug it in, and go.

Get a list of five or six, and graph your ordered pairs. Connect the dots, a line you've got, if you've graphed with care.

Graph a line, graph a line, from slope-intercept form Y equals MX plus B. Here is what it's for:

At B you cross the Y-axis, and M, it stands for slope. Begin with B and move with M. It makes a line, we hope!

Anyone out there who can teach algebra and math creatively?...or know someone else who could? I'd love to talk them into volunteering their skills at our After-School Academy one day a week.

Strengthen schools and decrease unemployment

I'm still trying to figure out why some people can't make the connection between strengthening our schools and long-term economic growth.

One friend said that the stimulus package should be called an investment package. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing...stimulating our economy in order to have long-term growth (i.e. return on an investment)? Dictionary.com defines it...

Investment: the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.

My understanding is that we want returns on our money so that our $700B is not put into some bottomless pit.

So, I return to education.

Rebuilding schools provide immediate jobs for engineers, construction workers, architects, and many others, while also strengthening the capacity of schools for the future generations of children who will attend them. Obviously, the people who cut this out of the budget hasn't been to places like East St. Louis that desperately need new schools...or even other places who simply don't have the capacity to include current technology in their buildings.

Pell grants allow low-income students the ability to dream and believe that college is accessible to them, too. Believe it or not, there are a lot of students who aren't able to access the extra loans needed (or are fearful of going into debt) to pay what Pell grants don't pay. Though Pell grants in the past may have paid for a college education and left some money for living expenses, that's not the case these days.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released a report giving an economic sketch of black people. You can read more about the report in the recent Washington Post article.

Nearly two-thirds of Black people are 45 and younger.

2.2 million black people were unemployed last year.

However, by looking at the Black people that are employed, you can get a good picture of their economic outlook. There is a strong correlation between work and education.

Of the 6.8 million black men who are employed, the vast majority have at least a high school diploma. Many have college degrees or diplomas from technical schools. The same is true for the 8.4 million working black women.

For black men ages 20 to 24 without a high school diploma, on the other hand, the unemployment rate is 55 percent -- an abysmal 91 percent for 18- and 19-year-olds. For uneducated black women 20 to 24, it's close to 30 percent.

The higher the education level, the lower the unemployment.

With more than 40 percent of blacks failing to graduate from some of the nation's largest urban school systems, little wonder that one in nine black men between 20 and 34 are behind bars.

The report doesn't say getting an education makes you rich. But it does demonstrate that a higher education level provides a much better access to jobs.

Wanna know how to solve the economic crises??

Invest in education!

Drunken Negro Cookies

I'm at a loss...

I think I could understand this more if the man openly admitted to being racist. What completely blows my mind is that he (and others...like the ones who made the Obama Waffles), especially in this world of politically correctness, do not seem to recognize this as racism. They do not recognize that their awful caricatures are connected to a ugly past. I guess it should be understandable. It's not their past. But why not at least pay attention to the news and peoples' reactions?!

I shake my head...

Helping negotiate the college system

Indianapolis Metropolitan High School, a charter school, has the right idea.

Just because students graduate from high school doesn't mean the high school is finished and the kids don't need anymore help. Guidance counselors at Metropolitan High School help former students navigate their way through the college system.

Sometimes kids need someone to answer the questions like, "Where do I go to get a textbook?" Sometimes they need someone to help them figure out why their financial aid went away and is no longer credited to their account.

We need more counselors like the ones at Metropolitan High School--people who will help streamline the process and create a communication line from the student to the school (whether it be community college, university, or trade school) and vice-versa. We need people who can answer what may seem like "simple" questions for those of us who have already been through college...but can be quite intimidating for a first-generation college student who feels like he/she is the only one who doesn't know what they're doing.

If this method doesn't work High-Tech High has another idea. "Almost every adult at the school serves as an adviser to twelve to fifteen students, meetinga t least weekly with the group and keeping each advisee for all four years."

Poor students and students of color have traditionally attended college at a much lower rate than White or Asian students...and many of their parents have not attended college either. So, for us to expect them to be successful at navigating the college process on their own--figuring out which student loans offer the better rate, what department to go to when needing extra financial assistance, how to pay your bills, and how to budget the student loan money--is a lot to ask. The ones who manage it, my hat goes off to them; it is a complicated process.

The students need a point person...someone they can trust to help them understand the process and answer their questions. Many of us had parents who helped us understand (or handled the process all-together). Many others don't have that.

I've often said we need a College Liaison in every low-income community just like we have Community Prosecutors. In addition to making it known that we prosecute community crimes, we need to be willing to offer long-term alternatives in a very visible way. We need someone who is committed to the community and willing to be that point person. And, in my opinion, just like the Community Prosecutor, it needs to be federally funded.

But, since that isn't on any drawing board that I know of, if we could re-tool public high school counselor's job descriptions and, first of all, turn them back into counselors (instead of test administrators), then equip them and charge them with being available for former students, we could provide a door of opportunity that some students don't realize can be available to them.

Anyone got connections to help move that dream forward?

Attention: Culture is finally being considered an asset!

It seems the new trend is to hire people of color for the most challenging jobs possible. Barack Obama became the top leader of our country and inherited the worst economy ever...and now Dr. Francisco Cigarroa, a Mexican-American pediatric surgeon, has "become the first Hispanic to preside over a major university system" (University of Texas)...a system that has major financial struggles and complaints about diversity.

This is a new day and I believe a person of color is the exact person for the job (if only we'd have thought of that earlier in our lifetime). In these two particular situations, both men are very educationally qualified...and their status as a person of color gives them an insight and unique perspective that many others don't have.

Maybe in this new climate, we'll do a better job of seeking out the highly qualified people of color who have been around, but are often overlooked. Maybe we will begin to appreciate that the academic qualification along with the understanding of diversity is a stronger candidate than one with only academic qualifications.

See more here:

Texan becomes first Hispanic to lead a major school system

Offering education can fight "terrorism"

Several years ago, I read a book called Children in Danger, by James Garbarino. I was amazed at his comparison of children in war zones of third world countries to the experiences children in the inner city of the United States of America face. The similarities were striking.

As I was reading Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen's comments about children in Pakistan made me, once again, think of the striking similarities between our inner cities and third world countries.

It also made me think of our absurd ignorance.

Here is an excerpt:

A Republican congressman from California interrupted Mortenson in midsentence, challenging him. "Building schools for kids is just fine and dandy," Mortenson remembers the congressman saying. "But our primary need as a nation now is
security. Without security, what does all this matter?"

Mortenson took a breath. He felt an ember of the anger he'd carried all the way from Kabul flare. "I don't do what I'm doing to fight terror," Mortenson said, measuring his words, trying not to get himself kicked out of the Capitol. "I do it because I care about kids. Fighting terror is maybe seventh or eighth on my list of priorities. But working over there, I've learned a few things. I've learned that terror doesn't happen because some group of people somewhere like Pakistan or Afghanistan simply decide to hate us. It happens because children aren't being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over death.

In my work in the inner city, I, too, have learned a few things. Much like Mortenson, I have learned that the kids in the inner city aren't any different from other children. They don't grow up wanting to be prostitutes pimped out by their mothers or drug dealers who will spend a lifetime with a felony on their record. They are no more born to be violent than any other child. They do not simply decide to become criminals, hoping to terrorize people.

For the very same reason Mortenson spoke of, those characteristics and acts are results of children with lots of potential not being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over prison or death.

Why can't we recognize this??