I usually like starting a project with the end in mind, that means having an idea of how the final product will look. This project was not like that. Now I know that the transcribed interviews will probably go online (hence the meeting for iweb), but what else? What about it? So what’s the point. I’m missing this. I’ve read a few of the transcribed interviews on the Southern Foodways Alliance, but I’ve also read of a purpose or mission. Any way let me answer some questions about what I do know about (or from) the project:
What have I learned so far?
So far I have a a good deal about the founding of Corps. I was surprised to hear the idea for the program came from a journalist. Weird. Stranger, or perhaps not so strange, the idea came from someone outside of ‘the closed society’. I thought the program always offered a Master’s Degree and was state funded since it was located at a state university. Not! MTC was originally funded by the Phil Hardin foundation (the only private foundation for education in the state) and the Master’s Degree was offered about four years after the program started to help attract applicants and increase retention in the education field.
From the summer training that I witness and hear about this summer (2010) I would think the summer aspect has always been adequate. Not! From participants such as Michael Cox and Andrew HaLevi (both in the first MTC cohort in the class of 1990) the summer training was “weak” (HaLevi, 29 june 2010) The summer training consisted mostly of acclimating the teachers to Southern culture, not the classroom environments that culture produced. In my opinion, the only reason why the Class of 1990 was so strong was because a number of the teachers came from teacher training programs before they came to the Teacher Corps; therefore, their success in the class can be credited more from their training prior to MTC than to training provided by MTC.
Mr. HaLevi touched on a point I thought about a couple time during the summer, what do you do about retention? For the most part the teachers come here for two years and then move onto teaching outside of Mississippi (if they even stay in education) or onto a career field that’s not directly related to education. I know a large goal, or what should be considered a goal of the program, is not needing MTC anymore. However, how can that ever be achieved if no one wants to stay in the state. Do we need to fix the economy and amenities of the state to attract the people that could positively influence education? Which comes first: education or economics? This touches on a deeper issue that could use a blog, or book, of its own.
What questions do I still have?
Some of the I still have about the project I wrote in the introduction to this post. Some questions I have for in the interviews are:
Why did you leave education?/Why did you stay in education?
What were some of the steps you needed to go through when first starting the organization?
What were some of the start up challenges?
Do you stay in contact with the program or current participants?
Where do you see MTC now as compared to when you were a participant? Where do you see it 10 years from now?
If you could change one thing about education in Mississippi what would it be? Is that the same answer you would have given when you were a participant or when the program was founded?
Can things change?
Some of these questions may not apply to the cut and dry history of MTC, but I think they relate to the progress of the organization and of education in the state.
What has the process been like?
The process? Well, the people we have been able to interview were great. Other people, well...I think they’re trying to avoid us or something. I’m not quite sure and won’t waste my time speculating on the issue. The alumni and have a lot of insightful comments on their experiences as a participant, on MTC in general, and education in Mississippi (or elsewhere if they know about other places). The process isn’t as bad as I first imagined it would be. Namely, the transcription process, which I was dreading, hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. We haven’t started to put build our website, but I’m confident that we’ll be able to build a decent website and will learn a thing or two in the process.
All in all, I think we’re building a foundation others can use if they’re looking into the origins and perceptions of MTC. That being said, we’ll make the foundation strong, but don’t expect a mansion. :)
-Radical.
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