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.
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