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Re: Candidate's ed policy
George - for what it's worth, Wright was citing the work of Dr.
Janice Hale, a tenured faculty member of the Teacher Education
Division and professor of early childhood education at Wayne State
University and author of 3 books. Hale's work proposes culturally-
appropriate/culturally-relevant pedagogy that considers the
possibility that African-American children have learning styles that
differ from their European-American peers. Not sure if I agree with
Hale's conclusions, but I find her work to be interesting and
challenging (to say the least). It is far from racist.
For the full text of Wright's speech to the NAACP, go to http://
www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/28/wright.transcript/
Wright's message has been consistent in his latest public speeches:
blacks are different, not deficient.
Given the horrendous number of black children that drop out or are
pushed out of our public schools, it's worth considering what these
differences might be and how they might be best addressed. The
present response, via NCLB, is to dumb-down the curriculum for low-
income black kids and focus on drill and kill. Just read Linda
Perlstein's book Tested to get a sense of what this looks like. It's
clear from the increases in drop-outs that this approach is ill-
conceived, as it makes school less interesting, less relevant, and
more tedious.
Wright, via Hale, urges us to consider alternatives. This is a good
thing.
Peter
On May 1, 2008, at 9:27 AM, George K Cunningham wrote:
Do you also agree with Wrights more relevant comments about
education in
his speech to the Detroit NAACP Sunday night. He asserted that African
Americans are Right-brained and Whites are left-brained, which he
interpreted to mean that White students were good at calculus and
literature and African-American students were good at memorizing rap
songs. A more racist comment you are unlikely to hear outside of a Ku
Klux Klan rally.
He failed to explain which brain Obama favors since he is half Black
and half White.
George K. Cunningham
Professor, Ret.
<QCao009@aol.com> 4/30/2008 9:38 PM >>>
In a message dated 4/30/2008 9:21:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
Bussardre@aol.com writes:
"Asked what he would do to help families, and especially to stabilize
those
in low income communities, Obama said “There is no one thing to do,”
then
listed some strategies: 1) provide gainful employment, particularly
for
men; and
create second chances for offenders who live in those communities by
providing legislation that will offer a clean slate to those who
have
demonstrated
worthiness; 2) Provide early childhood education and pre-k education.
"Responding to a question about what can be done to stop the
outsourcing of
American jobs, Obama suggested a highly educated American workforce
was
key.
He commented on the high value that is placed on education in
countries
like
India and China, where many American jobs have been exported."
Billee:
Sounds like the ghost writer of A Nation at Risk is now working for
the BRT
and moonlighting as a scriptwriter for the Senator from Illinois.
Most of
the folks I met at Stanford were pretty much party line USDOE-funded
so when
someone said that's where his advice was coming from, pieces of the
puzzle
start to fit. There is historical precedent to all of this:
GBush 41
called
Bill Clinton the Education Governor and here in Florida, Betty Castor
all but
knighted Frank Brogan as the model Superintendent when he was
still in
Martin
and prepared his ascent to the Commissionership.
All this simply to say that the "change" candidate needs to be
schooled
much
longer by people like you who have been in the trenches before he can
say he
has an education policy. Having a sister who is a teacher does not
make one
an expert on education. I would look more closely at his community
organizer and advocate track record. Not everything that shines is
gold. And if
calling him out starts screams of racism, so be it.
Truth be told, if we sit down and read what Jeremiah Wright has been
saying
these past three days, he sounds a whole lot more like Martin Luther
King than
we realized and the mainstream press has somehow spun him into this
crazy
nut figure. I like my Presidents with a modicum of courage and I
find
no
solace and reassurance in Obama's denouncement of someone who married
him and
baptized his children. If he cannot stand by Wright, will he stand by
America's
children? And what does he mean by keeping teachers "accountable" ?
It is
such code word for union-busting !!! Accountable to whom? To those
who
enforce drill and kill, test and stress ?
Quan
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