Acknowledging Difference

So in my fourth posting I said I would talk about Mr. Barksdale in my next freewrite opportunity. Some time has pasted and I can think of some other things to write about, but I’m going to do what I said I would do. So! Here’s my Mr. Barksdale posting:

Mr. Claiborne Barksdale has done something awe inspiring through the Barksdale Reading Institute. It’s one thing to recognize the importance of early childhood education, it’s another to tell it to others, but it’s something entirely different to devote your life to it (especially in Mississippi).

When Mr. Barksdale talked about differentiated instruction a flame brightened in my mind. My parents knew the importance of educating their children at a young age. Two things stick out in my memory: 1) My mom always said I went to a Christian school because the other schools only offered half day Kindergarten, while the Christian school was full day 2) my mom loved Mrs. Dee (my kindergarten and favorite teacher) and complimented her because—among other great attributes—she divided the students up and instructed based on reading/learning levels. Now, as a kindergartener I had no idea we were ever placed in groups based on reading levels. I didn’t find out until years later when my mom talked about it and I read some old quarter reports/remarks from Mrs. Dee. It’s not that Mrs. Dee was prejudice against students in a medium or lower level reading group, it’s just that she recognized her students learned on a different pace and in a different manner. She tailored what we needed to learn to us; therefore, we learned it.

Differentiated instruction. The mere mention or acknowledgement of difference seems to put people on edge now-a-days. Race, sex, class, cognitive skills all throw people into a fit. I keep mentioning Lani Guinier in my posts because what she has to say applies so well to what I’m learning during this internship. I went to her lecture at Amherst on this idea of post-racism or post-racialism in the United States now that Barack Obama is President. Let me state my opinion for the record, post-racism, post-racialism, post-race or however you word it is bologna. As much as I talked about the world being colorblind and people moving beyond difference when I was growing up, I think I’ve matured to a point where I know that that doesn’t help the powerless. Mr. Barksdale made me realize this even more when he talked about the influence of class on attaining a decent education.

If I turn a blind eye to a 5 year old who has never been read to, who does that help? If you know a young student has rarely if ever been given praise before they enter grade school and you turn the other cheek, who does that help? You can’t expect students who start off school at such a disadvantage to be okay once they enter kindergarten or first grade. You can’t expect kids to pull themselves up from bootstraps they don’t have. You have to consider difference; you must know that there is a marked difference.

Ok, I think I might be drifting off to a topic related to differentiated classroom instruction, but bigger than what I meant to post in this meager blog. I know what I want to say, though.

Open our eyes.

Where is the justice when we let the least of us fall and we keep on walking? If we can’t do it for moral or simply humane reasons let me put it in economic terms because money talks: when the bottom rises, the whole rises. The US has been rapidly falling behind other less developed nations when it comes our educated youth population. In order to stop and reverse this trend that will surely lead to decline and downfall, the United States must provide an opportunity for an adequate 21st century education to all of its citizens. Quickly the majority of these citizens are becoming the poor and minorities. Possibly the most important step would be providing high level pre-school/pre-kindergarten education, mandated and funded.

I did it again; I made grand statements. I can’t seem to stay in the classroom. Maybe that’s because what happens in the classroom spills over into the rest of society. Maybe it’s because I’m in college and still have a bit of idealism my half-full cup. Either way, I said what I wanted to say. The question is will I do, will we do, what we need to do to change it?

-Radical.

A Change: Run No More

I knew this one was coming, but I’m glad. Greenwood, how do I describe it? Well, one city (if you can call it a city) seems like two. For all intents and purposes, it is two cities--Greenwood Black and Greenwood White. For one of the better Delta cities and according to Ben, “One that’s doing pretty well for itself”, Greenwood doesn’t have much to offer--Greenwood Black that it.

When we rode through Greenwood Black you would think we were riding through a village in Southeast Asia, India, or Latin America--anywhere but the United States. Yet, we weren’t; we were ridding through our backyard. Oh my goodness! The shotgun homes were worst than I imagined. It wasn’t just one or two homes; it was ALL of them! What many people would consider backyard storage units people used as homes. Over crowding, no privacy, no wonder this environment breeds sexual abuse.

Something that surprised me was the absence of police in these environments. You would think if these areas were high crime/drug locations the cops would swarm like bees to honey. Then again, what did PE say about 911 in the hood?

Black Greenwood depressed me. It’s easier to stay optimistic when reality is not staring you in the face. The problems are copious and they’re mounting everyday. Call it a character trait, call it naïveté, but I’m still optimistic. Why? Because if we improve one problem we’ll start to improve many. Education. In Mississippi education isn’t a sinking or capsized ship, it’s already at the bottom of the sea. We need to raise it from the dead. I’m also optimistic because in an environment where problems come from all angles, you can focus education in the cross hairs. Let me take that back, it’s more like a shotgun. If we fire at education, the multiple projectiles will hit other problems. I’m not a gun enthusiast, but this analogy works.

The Bridge over the river separating Greenwood is like a bridge into another world. Can you imagine living on the Black side of Greenwood and knowing that a better world exists right over the bridge? It’s not just the size of the homes; it’s the infrastructure, the neighborhoods, the schools, and the security (present and future). If you don’t know any different, you grow up you entire life see Black people live one way and White people another, why would you have any motivation to change that?

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ever since

The Tallahatchie River. I think it actually clicked with me this summer that this is the river where Emmet Till was dumped. I can’t remember if I posted about Emmet Till, but if you’re reading this you may know the story, if you don’t then go read about it. On our trip to Greenwood we continued to Money, MS—a town between a river and railroad tracks. In Money we stopped at the rubble of Bryant’s Grocery, the location where 14-year-old Emmet Till wolf whistled at a white woman. It didn’t start running through my mind why I cared or felt something when I was at the store. More precisely, why I didn’t care for so long. Don’t get me wrong, I CARE about the Civil Rights Movement and Black history, indeed it is my favorite topic in history and I can talk about all day long. However, I feel like I should have known…it’s my history. I feel like I should know more about the big parts and the little parts, the extraordinary and the ordinary. So many things that happened in the past give reason to why things are the way they are in the present. It’s the legacy of oppression; it still oppresses.

It’s been a long, long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

How long will we have to wait until cities like Greenwood across this nation experience positive change? Will the youth of the nation have to sacrifice their lives where the government won't take the lead? I don’t know how we can ask someone to pull themselves up from their bootstraps when they don't even have boots.

We took a trip to Greenwood, MS. We don’t live there. Even when were in the city I was protected from the streets in a van—a University van. Thinking back on it I think just driving through (doing the infamous fly-over after Katrina), as I was looking out, protected, others were looking in. I hope I did not make them feel like they were some strange creatures in a strange world—that they were somehow detrimentally different.

I talk about change a lot, and of things I’ve posted, some might call them radical. But, I wonder if I have the strength to do it myself. I’m human; I’ve had dreams too. Can I ask you to sacrifice yours, without doing it myself? Is there a way that we don’t have to sacrifice? Must it always be from the bottom up? If only we lived in a perfect world, but we don’t, we live in this one. I have hope though that a change is gonna come, “oh yes it will.”

-Radical.


Note: Inter-paragraph lyrics are from Sam Cooke's song A Change is Gonna Come

Not just another “your experiences so far blog”

I hope you don't mind Ben, I kind of want to keep this one short. Let’s see, looking at the whole internship so far through the lens of topics/reading we’ve had, I think we’re progressing from race to class. That’s a big step.

I remember on the first day I mentioned the issues of classism when we spoke to Tucker, but we never really came back to it. It kind of sat out there in limbo, or more correctly on the side---as a aide note. However, from Mr. Barksdale last week to the SEF publications we’re reading now, class has become a central lens.

I know I wrote in the thank you letter to Mr. Barksdale, “Race is no doubt a factor, but to neglect the role of class is to do a disservice an even greater number of children.” I believe that wholeheartedly. Moreover, looking at the problems faced with class and race in concert paints a clearer, more disheartening picture.



Class. I think my entire life I’ve been privileged for the simple fact that class didn’t come up, not because we’re wealthy, but because I’m military. Somehow, overseas it seems we’re all on the same playing field and the government covers almost everything. Even people who enlist right out high school with nothing to their name seem okay because Uncle Sam takes care in many ways. My parents didn’t have the same exact privilege. Both grew up poor…poor. When I tried to explain a shotgun house to my mom last week she said, “Yeah, I grew up in one.” Even when they left Louisiana they were only one step up—living pay check to pay check. By the time my full brother and I came along it was maybe two or three pay checks to pay checks, but I couldn’t tell. I was oblivious. When it comes to class status I went from 'oblivion' to 'it was never mentioned'; that's how I lived my life for 16 years. Then, the orders came…”We’re moving to South Carolina.”

Sadly coming back to the United States opened my eyes to some things that I thought nothing of living overseas, going to Amherst did the same. I never realized I go straight for the clearance racks or shop at stores on that side of the tracks. Who knew the cashier would take note and tell my mom, “You always buy the sale items.” Of course I thought about paying for college, but I never actually thought I would turn away a school because they couldn’t give me aid. This is all coming from what I consider to be a middle class background. Can you imagine what it would be coming from a low income or working class background?

Going to college out of state, to a small Liberal Arts college out-of-state, also makes you notice some things. You would think noticing car brands might be trivial, not for me. It was one of first things I noticed. In New England everyone and their mother drives Audis, BMWs (the SUV model is popular), a Benz, Range Rover, Infiniti or foreign brand like Toyota. Aha! So that’s how those companies stay afloat. I used to wonder because where I frequent in South Carolina I see Chevy, Ford, Crysler, some Jeep, Honda, and some Toyotas too. I was almost certain Audis were pretty much non-existent in the U.S.—WRONG.

Even with all this, I lived a privileged life: 1) because my parents sacrificed for me; they still do 2) When I was young my parents could provide all of the boring Hooked On Phonics, Arithmetic drills, and books I needed to keep my mind busy. They reinforced they cared with words and actions. My life may have turned out a lot different if my parents, even if they wanted to, couldn’t provide for my education. That’s what class does. It’s not about the clothes, or the cars, it’s about the opportunity.

How can I buy a Beamer when I can’t afford a book? How can I think about wearing Armani when I can’t articulate a complete sentence? That’s what class has been doing for...forever. It castes, it restricts, and in many instances it segregates people from people, and people from opportunity.

Race is no doubt a factor, but to neglect the role of class is to do a disservice to an even greater number…

-Radical.

P.S. Okay, so maybe this one wasn’t as short as I expected.

Reflection on Another’s Journey

For this blog post I read Angela Doyle’s blog. I was trying to figure out which blog I should read. I’m sure many of the teachers have great or insightful things to say, but I didn’t have time to read all of them and I only knew a couple of the teachers that we were actually able to choose from. So, I used the clues around me to choose a teacher who I thought probably kept a pretty good blog. Simply, I chose Angela Doyle because I walk past the Outstanding Portfolio Plaque with her name on it as the 2009 recipient of the award. If she kept a good portfolio, maybe she also kept a good blog.

Angela’s first-year blog surprised me. I started the blog thinking not all of the blogs were going to be sunny and rosey, but frankly, hardly any of the blogs that first year were sunny or rosey. Angela gave it to us straight, and as the first semester progressed she became more and more frustrated with the students. She even went to the point of swearing them (only in the blog of course!). I felt bad for her. And when she talked about the football game, I just felt sad. I had no idea that the students' potential is in everything they do, but their lack of motivation or follow-through is also in everything they do.

The major obstacle I found Angela to have was student’s actually caring; she explains this in her “Managing my classroom would be easier if students cared” blog. Angela started out the year with the mindset and goal that she would be like her teacher who helped the students take responsibility for their education. Unfortunately for her she soon came to realize that most of these students do not care and that making them care would be more difficult to the Nth degree than in the school she went to because these students are facing N times more variables telling them they shouldn’t care.

I’m glad the Angela experienced some success with her "successlets" and one student who excelled in mathematics. In connecting with an earlier post, I think it would be easy to look at Angela’s successlets and wonder how she ever term them successlets. Like I said, success is measure based on a sliding standard. You give all that you can, that’s all I can ask.

Ok, a quick switch. I know the MTC second-years and staff members (alumni) complain substantially about inadequate administrative support. When I hear all of this, I have two thoughts: 1) “Wow. How can you operate when the teachers and administrators are at odds? How could they be promoted to such a high position and be so incompetent? Someone please shut down the institution that’s producing these people. 2) How bad can it really be? Teachers have to operate in a broken system, but shouldn’t have to teach in an environment where they are in physical danger. For a principal to put the responsibility entirely on Angela to get a student to stop physically harassing her is incredulous. The principal put Angela in danger everytime they sent the student back to class, refused to suspend the student (or expel because of the nature and habitual nature of the offense), or have the school bring charges against the student. The least they could have done was talk to the student. SOMETHING! Make him know that his actions are not okay and will not be tolerated.

There is a marked difference between Angela’s first year blog and her second year blog. She taught her first year at Holly Springs High School (the same location of summer school this year; with a name like that you wonder how bad the place can be), but transferred the Potts Camp High School her second year. I can tell Angela had an easier time teaching at Potts Camp. The students didn’t come to school just to have meal and/or make life a living hell for the teachers. It seemed her students wanted to actually make something of themselves and cared about their community (the student-made flyer circulated around school addressing gossip illustrates this). But Angela picked up on something worth noting, something that I also thought about. The flyer named “Holly High” explicitly as a bad example, a 1.7. In an earlier blog a parent said the problem with the Holly Springs was the morale. The county, the parents, even other students tell Holly High students they aren’t worth anything. You never want to be that school. I know many students who went to private school in Charleston instead of public high school in North Charleston (No. 7 in 2007 for the most dangerous cities) looked at my school that way. It was the same way people from my school characterized Stall High School, only right down the street but in a different district and a completely different environment.

Do we not think that students recognize this? We do. They do. How can we expect a turn around success when we set them up for failure mentally; when we refuse to even acknowledge the success that do bud.

Let me stop blogging here. I’m beginning to wallow and I can't think to be of any help if I’m caught up feeling sorry for someone. I don't’ know how.

-Radical.

“No Time to Lose”: Questions, Statements, and Revelations

For copious reasons (e.g. time, workload, simplicity, and effectiveness) this blog post will be almost a replica of the notes I took from the reading No Time to Lose: Why America Needs an Education Amendment to the US Constitution to Improve Public Education. Before I begin, I need to preface this post. I read the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) publishing very emblazoned at some points. Therefore, some parts of the post may be slightly inarticulate and rely on simple and rather uneducated words. (words that I myself might not speak aloud) ☺

Key: Q=question S=statement/comment

Pg. 4-Low income/minority funding disparities
-Why is America so afraid of opportunity for all of its citizens? I’m not even arguing for a flat world, it’s for your own people. It’s for you.
-Political race: Political race is what Lani Giuner and Gerald Torres refer to as the act of enlisting race to fight injustices. Low income whites and minorities as a whole are citied together in political race because low income whites are raced as black or brown, that is, in some instances low income people suffer the same injustices minorities face.

Q-Are the Federal governments in countries out performing us (with better education rankings), such as China and India investing more money per pupil? I suspect so.

Q-I wonder if we need another Cold War to kick people into gear to realize that education is an urgent matter.

Q-If you can have state take-overs of failing schools and school districts, why can’t you have federal take-overs of failing states. Then again, would that mean almost every state would be taken over?

Pg. 9-“In the United States today, most students in doctoral and post-doctoral programs in the fields of engineering and mathematics are ‘foreign nations’…if this trend continues, the US could have…a problematic over-reliance on other nations for technical know-how.”
-The prescience of this quote is proven in the Deep Horizon oil disaster. Deep-sea technology is not available in the US, it’s only available in five countries (e.g. China, Russia, Japan) I first heard about this from an official from the U.S. Coast Guard on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but here’s a link to an online article about technology the US does not have that more advanced countries do: http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-real-reason-america-refused-international-help-on-the-oil-spill-2010-6


S-Social Security will not be worth sh—squat. Education is linked to the economy. The economy is linked to Social Security. Therefore by transitive property education is linked to Social Security. If we’re sowing generations of uneducated citizens our economy will reap the costs. Social Security will not be non-exist because of the quantity of baby boomers; Social Security will be non-existent because of the quality of education baby boomers received compared to what we’re offering today.

S-You pay now or you pay. Invest in education now. I guarantee you you’ll be covering more than principal if we postpone this even longer.

S-If this comes back to bite me in the butt 10, 20, 30 years from now or even tomorrow…I don’t care: Socialism=highest democracy. I’m not arguing for complete socialism, some things just don’t need micromanaging. However, I am a proponent of bigger government. Who exactly do I hold accountable when I have problems of this magnitude. Clearly districts, counties, parishes, and states aren’t getting the job done, but whom within those states bears liability? If the Federal government took a larger roll we’d have one place to look instead of many. Besides, people feel like they have more at stake when the Federal government gets involved; the YOU become WE.

Pg. 15-That’s why people bi—h (complain) about No Child Left Behind, it’s not necessarily that the concept (or all of it) is bad, but nothing’s funded. I can’t make something out of nothing.

S-Lawmakers, “movers, and shakers” disassociate themselves and their interests (what’s at stake) from those most hurt.
-Many people who have the “power” to do something on a grand scale block themselves in and others out with an US/THEM mentality. Being human is not enough. It’s quite sad that the root of the word ‘political’ mean people, too many of us forget that.

Pg. 19-What are they doing? I know I’m not the only one with access to these numbers! Check out the Cold War period in these graphs. I’m a history person, I look for tends and patterns and try to find explanations within historical context.

Pg. 26-I wrote about Cold War education in my final semester one history paper.

Pg. 26-What I say on page 15 about NCLB?

Pg. 32-You know why an education amendment just might work in the long run? Who’s bi—ching (wanting to repeal) the Social Security Act—not that many people. Once people realize an education amendment is for the greater good (for them) they’ll buy into it like an inside trader.


At the end of No Time to Lose, current and past court cases are discussed. Although I think power exists in the judicial system and that this is one of the, if the only, first line of offense to redress grievances. However, a judicial order is not the same as a law. This is a nation wide problem. It won’t get solved with a new policy or renewal of energy once every four to eight years. Something, somehow has to make education reform more stable, effective, and sustainable. Our future is at risk.

-Radical.

The Measure of Success

Let me first just start out by saying the Barksdales are amazing people! I would really love to speak about both, but I’m going to focus on Mrs. Barksdale in this one (I think in my next freewriting opportunity I’ll write about Mr. Barksdale since I’ve already started a written reflection on his talk with us).
 
I titled this blog the measure of success because Mrs. Barksdale talk about Connor. Du Bois dedicates an entire chapter of his book The Souls of Black Folk to "the Meaning of Progress." In the chapter Du Bois teaches the children of sharecroppers in the backwoods of Tennessee. He questions what progress would be for these children and these families. Was he really helping them by educating them when they really could use economic not intellectual progress. Since I read that book I've been questioning the meaning of success. Whose meter (or yard) stick do we use to measure it? Is it a formula with a single prescribed outcome? Mrs. Barksdale and Brandon fall right into my line of thought.

Here's my theory: You don't have to go to the best colleges, make the most money, or be the most famous person in the world to be a success. Success is something intangible; it's measured in steps forward.

Connor is not the romanticized poor student born to a crackhead mother and father by DNA alone, who beats the odds to become the best student, graduate for a top college, and goes on to live a lucrative life. Connor's life mimics the reality of the most children born into his situation. Educational advancement of correlates to economic status. Connor never received the early childhood education, consistent teaching excellence, or simply the attention he needed from the school system in Mississippi. Almost without a doubt he would have received these basic rights had he won the genetic lottery and was born to a more affluent family.

However, two people didn't fail Connor. In the fifth grade Connor's teacher assigned Mrs. Barksdale to Connor as a reading coach. Mrs. Barksdale became more than a reading coach to Connor, she became his guardian. It takes someone special to give up a good chunk of their life to help another person's child. It goes completely against everything I studied this past semester in biology class. Then why? Why would she do it? Frankly, I don't know; I didn't ask. I suspect, though, that part of the reason is because it's the right thing to do, and every child deserves a chance.

The other person who didn't fail Connor is himself. Just as there is the cliche story of "success", there's the more common story of the cycle. Connor worked, and continues to work, for what he gets. Every step forward is taken with his own feet and every brick torn down is with his own hands. He holds a steady job, treats others kindly, and works voraciously to stay on track in school. The cycle of immobility is just too common where poverty and ignorance spiral into a quagmire nearly too overwhelming to overcome.

What is the measure of success? In Connor's case it's not becoming one more number, one more statistic, one more person withdrawing from life and depositing nothing into it. There is no standard of success; it's entirely individual. America celebrates rags to riches stories, but they are not that common. Therefore, we can't forget to celebrate the stories of progress, of moving forward, no matter how great or small for those too are measures of success.

-Radical

A Portrait of Mississippi

This blog about my experiences so far is not through the lens of food or through pictures. It's through numbers.

The other evening I read the Human Development (HD) Report ("A Portrait of Mississippi) that presented the HD index numbers for Mississippi. The report related Mississippi to other states and the United States in general. It also, hypothetically, made Mississippi a state and compared to nations around the world. In addition to comparisons, the report breaks down the HD index number of populations (black female, white male, black male, white female) in the state and in the state counties.

I've been in Mississippi for two and a half weeks. I didn't need the report to tell me that Mississippi was in bad shape. My parents come from a poor part of Louisiana, and I live in South Carolina. The South as a whole is behind the curve, but the mid-South in particular (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas) lags behind.

A significant factor that contributes to Mississippi’s backwardness is its legacy of racism and classism towards blacks and poor whites. Both of these scopes act as the foreboding miner’s canary of the problems in Mississippi.

Health:

Infant mortality and life span act as the two best indicators of health. In my experience so far, I can't tell from looking around me what the rates are for either (however I can see, sadly, expanded waistlines) but the index numbers open my eyes wide and clear. The infant mortality rate in Alcorn-Prentiss for non-whites is 18.8/1000 births. 18.8! That’s more than Libya and Thailand. Clearly there are still some Third World places in this First World country. This infant mortality rate absolutely appalls and befuddles me. How can this be happening in the United States of America? It crossed between if most people in the United States remain in the dark over the issue or do most people just not care? I’m going to err on the side of the former, but I know full well much of the latter exists.

The average life span in Mississippi (not taking into account the differences between races and classes) hovers around 75 years in comparison to the nationwide average of about 79 years. That may not seem not that bad, but when you take into account the quality of the life (in terms of health) the difference is disparaging. Think about 79 years with fairly regular doctor visits and death of natural causes versus 74 years without medical treatment and death of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). Not that bad doesn’t mean that good.

Education:

Education. You really can’t speak enough of the importance of it in the 21st century, the power of it in the 21st century, and the lack of in Mississippi the 21st century. Mississippi lies at the bottom of education rankings in both quality of education and the quantity its citizens have. Across the board whites are less likely to drop out of high school and more like to get a higher education degree than blacks. In terms of gender, white females are more likely than males to have a high school diploma, but the numbers make an abrupt reverse in higher education degrees. Conversely, black women are more likely to have degree at every level than black men.

At the University of Mississippi (and really all over the United States; once again, Mississippi is a canary) blacks just seem to “disappear” during the academic year because of their small numbers in comparison to white students (MTC staff member). The University of Mississippi does not reflect the white-black ratio in Mississippi as a whole. In a state where the white-black ratio is 60:40, the Flagship University is closer to 75:25. I haven’t yet heard, but it wouldn’t surprise me if most of the black students on campus were female. It’s a trend I’ve noticed even at Amherst, and have heard countless complaints about from black women in college.

I’ve been writing about higher education, but the real struggle is in the primary and secondary school. Maybe you can chalk up the ratio at the University of Mississippi to black students going to different schools in state or out-of-state all together, but there’s no where for primary and secondary children to go and it shows. In primary and secondary school poor whites are almost as bad off as blacks, period. In this case, class presents the issue. Almost without a doubt, a poor parent(s) does not provide the same educational opportunity for their child that a rich parent does. This is not to cast all impoverished parents in a bad light as if they were all dead beats. The fact is, even if an impoverished parent did everything they could to make their child “succeed”, poor parents just don't have the resources more affluent parents do. Resources include more than just dollars. Time to devote to staying home in the first few months or years, access to day care providers that have an appropriate academic curriculum, and a broader vocabulary and life experience. These resources you can’t buy, and often poor parents can’t provide.

I don’t mean to be judgmental, but you can tell. You can tell which children had those critical resources provided in the early years and still have them now. I could definitely tell at in my Third grade classroom in South Carolina and I can tell at Holly Springs Summer School.


Poverty:

Education disparities directly correlate to income and opportunity disparities and exist on race, class, and gender lines. In a depressing cocktail of all three, poor black women bear the brunt. Black women in Mississippi, on average, earn less than the typical American in 1960 (A portrait of Mississippi). Wait, what? Black female Mississippians plod 50 years behind America. In the words of Marvin Gaye, “What’s Goin’ On?”

One level up, blacks as a whole in Mississippi, still fare terribly. The worst off whites in Mississippi make nearly as much as the best off blacks. I was so shocked when I heard this. Firstly, the “best” income is barely an income at all, regardless of race. Secondly, difference between the income between blacks and whites harkens back to pre-and during the Civil Rights Movement when blacks and whites who held the same job titles earned drastically different wages and salaries. What does say to people? I know what it says to me; even at my best I’m no better than your worst. How the hell can you pull yourself up from your bootstraps when they’re glued to the ground?

Problem, problem, all these problems, how can we fix them? They seem too overwhelming. The cliché line is “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The personal line is, “generations of injustice in Mississippi begin to end with one person. There is no panacea, there is only us.” The people in my next blog are the beginning of the end.

Mission and Culture...They're so much more than objectives

Here’s an excerpt from my journal. To put the excerpt in context, consider the bolded sentences the topic.

Talk about the mission of the organization. Is it a big part of the culture?

If you look on the Mississippi Teacher Corps (MTC) website the closest category to “Mission Statement” is “Objectives. What’s listed under “Objectives” is:

1. To provide dedicated, talented teachers for critical-needs school districts in Mississippi.
2. To afford a structured entry into the teaching profession for outstanding liberal arts graduates who have never before taught.
3. To identify and nurture educational leaders in the 21st century.

The objects on the website do not do the mission of MTC service. Simply, the objectives are inadequate for the scope, power, influence, and necessity of this program. I’ve been here only a week and have heard countless times; “Mississippi is last in anything good and the first in anything bad.” Frankly, it’s not too far off target and education in Mississippi is no exception.

In an in-person conversation Representative Cecil Brown, Chair of the Education Committee in the Mississippi House of Representatives, laid out just some of the challenges to adequate education in Mississippi to put the problem in perspective. Poverty, race, prejudices, dropout rates, teen pregnancy, health care, and teacher shortage present just some of the issues plaguing the state education system. The Mississippi Teacher Corps can’t tackle all the problems, but they try to alleviate what they can by placing top-notch teachers in critical…CRITICAL…needs areas.

MTC is the most selective teaching program in the nations. I’ve filed paperwork for first year teachers from institutions such as Georgetown, Harvard, Stanford, University of Mississippi, Millsaps College, Rhodes College, and (the best of all) AMHERST COLLEGE!!!! These teachers receive intensive training throughout the summer to prepare them for teaching during the school year. Also during the summer, they teach summer school and being classes for their M.A. in education from the University of Mississippi.

The teachers/grad students in this program are not only the best of the best academically, they also exhibit a level of social awareness and are that many others lack. Teachers must have socially and racially conscious minds. Critical needs doesn’t just describe the areas where a teacher shortage exists, it also describes at risk children; it describes a place where one decision is the difference between perpetuating a cycle and breaking free.

Awareness and care make up a big part of the culture. Yes, on campus teachers and interns interact with each other lightheartedly, but in the classroom students don’t need that type of interaction. I’ve spoken with a number of current and former MTC teachers; they prescribe a recipe of tough love, “Care about the students, not what they think about you.” Teacher in Mississippi public schools deal with issues that make the fodder for movies. Rape, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, neglect, malnutrition, and a host of other problems converge on school grounds and often students look to the best teachers to help solve their problems. Because MTC selects people who exhibit a high level of consciousness and care, their teachers are often the ones students turn to.

You won’t find a bad person in this group; they just wouldn’t be here. Success in MTC requires a person to think of others, not themselves. It also requires optimism that things can and will get better. MTC builds these qualities more than anything into their culture, and it shows well.

-Radical.

Surprise Surprise

Without a doubt, my second week in Mississippi was much more demanding than my first week, in terms of admin work at least. If I had to title week two it would be: Reality Check. I think I got a little caught up being chauffeured around to speakers, taking killer notes, and discussing the issues (not actually doing the nitty-gritty work involved in alleviating the issues). However, like most interns I’m also here to get the little jobs done that contribute to a successful big job.

This week Betsy (the other Amherst intern) and I collected, filed, scanned, and copied documents from the first-year teachers. On Sunday we sat in on a staff meeting (my first staff meeting!). We also began preliminary planning for our oral history project. Honestly, no one told me this internship was going to be so much work. Past interns only informed me of the great speakers, fun day trips, and the “chill” bossman. I’m not mad though, I’m gaining skills that I’ll probably be able to use later in life ☺. Besides, I know how great an internship program I’m in. I’ve already begun to hear horror stories from friends about their summers. Eeek!

Anyway, what has surprised me? MMM…how about the volume of work that we’re going to get done this summer. I know, I know, I’m not complaining, just belaboring the point….lol. What really surprised me is the reality check that first-year teachers get. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know; I think coming into the program people have these fairy tale ideas of themselves being that teacher who comes in (some resistance from students in the beginning, but it’s all good after a couple of weeks) and inspires their students to strive for something more than the lives they see outside their barred windows. All the students succeed.

That in most cases is fiction. Fact: Most teachers aren’t that teacher and the overwhelming majority of “those” students go from looking outside the window to being on the other side of it, nostalgically looking in.

The First-years began academic classes and initiation into the reality of race in Mississippi. The others and I enjoyed watching the Daisy Pictures documentaries, even though I know the films were just the tip of the iceberg (The movies were filmed in Oxford, MS on a University campus. In Mississippi that’s a fairly progressive location).

The teachers have to go through a lot more than I expected. Can you imagine teaching full time, coaching, having students come to you with out-of-this-world problems and staying on top of your studies? Geeze Louise. I hope at summer school I get the opportunity to see the first-years, second-years and MTC alumni in action in the classroom. Every week I’m realizing more and more how much of a commitment MTC (and teaching) is. Forget the facts, I hope each and every one of these teachers is that teacher.

-Radical.