The passion of the teacher believing was the passion I felt growing up. Unlike Mrs. Gruell life suppressed my passion to raise my kids.
Having to raise my kids, and help raise many other children of friend's neighbors and family, our survival took precedence.
Working three jobs and sometimes going to school at the same time made the thought of rest and day dreaming about taking naps was the time or relief I gave myself.
I have never lost my passion and realized I did what I had to do when young, mistakes and all. Now I am older and the disabilities of my youth; diagnosed and treated starting in my late twenties have taken there toll. I am left with the passion and not the ability to think clearly or attempt the physical challenge of acting on those passions.
Sometimes the passions become emotional and the emotion easily turns into anxiety or depression.
While watching the movie I grieved for what I can't do and after the movie I wanted to talk to someone. So my friends here I am talking to you.
My sense of hope is in the fact that although I can no longer take actions to give hope and courage to the future, I realize that there are people out there still with passion, youth and the belief in the potential of every person in the world.
I think that is why I am as pleased with Barrack Obama as the candidate who may be president.
Young people are mobilized and have passion and motivation. They have someone to believe in at this time.
This man does not promote work hard for wealth, take care of your own and let others take care of themselves and the big one; if they want to succeed they will.
This is a man who believes in everyone, communication, listening, caring and also full of youthful passion.
At this point I wrote more but removed it as too personal.
Any one out there who may want to participate in my mental flow of the day.
Full Version: I watched Freedom Writers today. Time regreat and youth;
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > Civil Rights and Civil Liberties > Human Rights
I think that this column will probably move you. It sure did me.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/145871
THE LAST WORD
Anna Quindlen
Write and Wrong
A teacher who is psyched about engaging struggling students learns that bureaucracy is more important than pedagogy.
Published Jul 12, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Jul 21, 2008
Each year in the state of Indiana, librarians, teachers and students compile a list of 20 nominated books for the Eliot Rosewater Award, named after a character in the work of Kurt Vonnegut, a native of the state. This year one finalist was "The Freedom Writers Diary," which makes even more bizarre what happened to Connie Heermann, tossed from her classroom for trying to use that same book as a teaching tool.
In the months since Heermann was placed on an 18-month suspension without pay by the school board in Perry Township, her case has been ballyhooed as errant censorship. But it's really a cautionary tale about what's too often the ruling principle in American public education: the timidity and inefficiency of powerful bureaucracies far removed from the daily lives of either teachers or kids.
A bit about "The Freedom Writers Diary": the book grew out of the work of Erin Gruwell, who was once a newbie teacher in a class of at-risk students in California. "At risk" is edu-code: it most often means the students in question are poor, minority, have chaotic home lives, are likely to drop out. Gruwell decided that the road to success for her students was to get them to write their lives. They kept diaries about everything from self-doubt to incest to gang membership. Some of the students used profanity and racial slurs, but a reader notices that as their writing improves, that disappears. As Gruwell says, "As they wrote more, they made better choices." They also had better lives. The students in Gruwell's classes started out believing they might not survive high school—literally. By the end of the book, they're heading to college.
Which brings us back to Heermann, whose students at Perry Meridian High School were not much different from the ones in the diary and who she hoped would see their struggles—and their potential—within its pages. After attending a training session last summer with Gruwell, she came home psyched. She persuaded a local businessman to pay for 150 copies of "The Freedom Writers Diary," but her principal asked her to hold off using it until the central office could take a look. That's unusual—most teachers use materials other than approved textbooks in their classes, and Heermann had done so before—but she started the year with John Grisham's "The Street Lawyer" instead. A lawyer visited the classroom, and students wrote letters to the author. "My kids were loving it," Heermann says. "They were even reading ahead." The engagement that had led Gruwell's students to success in school was in full flower, and Heermann decided it was time for empowerment, and the diary.
Here are the bare facts of what happened next: Heermann sent out permission slips to parents, virtually all of whom signed them. She informed the central office that she would be distributing the books on Nov. 15, and did. Almost immediately she was told to collect the books, and to keep a list of the names of those who did not comply. Most of the kids refused to hand over their copies. And before you could say "free exchange of ideas," Heermann was told that if she didn't resign, she would be fired.
Did I mention that she'd been teaching for 27 years, and that she paid for all those copies of the Grisham book herself?
It's hard to unearth exactly why someone was so hell bent on keeping "The Freedom Writers Diary" out of this classroom. Maybe it was the use of a particular racial slur, the one that keeps getting people riled about "Huckleberry Finn" and that provides the perfect teachable moment for discussing racial divisions in America—at least if you're not paralyzed by cowardice. You have to wonder whether the school-board members even read the book. Maybe they never made it to the entry by the student who said, "Who would have thought of the 'at risk' kids making it this far? But we did, even though the educational system desperately tried to hold us down." It's a they said/she said situation, difficult to parse because so much took place behind closed doors. The board lawyer said Heermann was told not to use the book and she did so anyhow. She says after months of silence from higher-ups, she assumed they just didn't care.
If the school board of Perry Township wanted to counter "The Freedom Writers Diary," it certainly did. The book teaches that open discussion about challenging subjects is always best, that engagement always trumps silence. The members of that board were outraged by alleged insubordination when they should have been outraged by the glacial pace of decision-making by their top administrators. Insubordination is what built this country, and a glacial pace in education means you lose kids.
Have I mentioned that it's hard to get really good people to become teachers?
Connie Heermann will be teaching three courses in the fall at a local community college. She'll be making less than $5,000, but she's grateful for the opportunity. She was forbidden to contact her students after her job was yanked out from under her, was forced to go overnight from a powerful presence in their lives to a complete cipher. What made it worse was that she knows they are kids who assume they'll get the shaft. That's what "at risk" means, too. She hears that some stopped going to class. It looks as though her students are not going to wind up the way Erin Gruwell's did. That makes her so sad, but she doesn't regret what she did. "You know what?" she says. "My students have the book. They kept the book!" And then her voice breaks.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/145871
THE LAST WORD
Anna Quindlen
Write and Wrong
A teacher who is psyched about engaging struggling students learns that bureaucracy is more important than pedagogy.
Published Jul 12, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Jul 21, 2008
Each year in the state of Indiana, librarians, teachers and students compile a list of 20 nominated books for the Eliot Rosewater Award, named after a character in the work of Kurt Vonnegut, a native of the state. This year one finalist was "The Freedom Writers Diary," which makes even more bizarre what happened to Connie Heermann, tossed from her classroom for trying to use that same book as a teaching tool.
In the months since Heermann was placed on an 18-month suspension without pay by the school board in Perry Township, her case has been ballyhooed as errant censorship. But it's really a cautionary tale about what's too often the ruling principle in American public education: the timidity and inefficiency of powerful bureaucracies far removed from the daily lives of either teachers or kids.
A bit about "The Freedom Writers Diary": the book grew out of the work of Erin Gruwell, who was once a newbie teacher in a class of at-risk students in California. "At risk" is edu-code: it most often means the students in question are poor, minority, have chaotic home lives, are likely to drop out. Gruwell decided that the road to success for her students was to get them to write their lives. They kept diaries about everything from self-doubt to incest to gang membership. Some of the students used profanity and racial slurs, but a reader notices that as their writing improves, that disappears. As Gruwell says, "As they wrote more, they made better choices." They also had better lives. The students in Gruwell's classes started out believing they might not survive high school—literally. By the end of the book, they're heading to college.
Which brings us back to Heermann, whose students at Perry Meridian High School were not much different from the ones in the diary and who she hoped would see their struggles—and their potential—within its pages. After attending a training session last summer with Gruwell, she came home psyched. She persuaded a local businessman to pay for 150 copies of "The Freedom Writers Diary," but her principal asked her to hold off using it until the central office could take a look. That's unusual—most teachers use materials other than approved textbooks in their classes, and Heermann had done so before—but she started the year with John Grisham's "The Street Lawyer" instead. A lawyer visited the classroom, and students wrote letters to the author. "My kids were loving it," Heermann says. "They were even reading ahead." The engagement that had led Gruwell's students to success in school was in full flower, and Heermann decided it was time for empowerment, and the diary.
Here are the bare facts of what happened next: Heermann sent out permission slips to parents, virtually all of whom signed them. She informed the central office that she would be distributing the books on Nov. 15, and did. Almost immediately she was told to collect the books, and to keep a list of the names of those who did not comply. Most of the kids refused to hand over their copies. And before you could say "free exchange of ideas," Heermann was told that if she didn't resign, she would be fired.
Did I mention that she'd been teaching for 27 years, and that she paid for all those copies of the Grisham book herself?
It's hard to unearth exactly why someone was so hell bent on keeping "The Freedom Writers Diary" out of this classroom. Maybe it was the use of a particular racial slur, the one that keeps getting people riled about "Huckleberry Finn" and that provides the perfect teachable moment for discussing racial divisions in America—at least if you're not paralyzed by cowardice. You have to wonder whether the school-board members even read the book. Maybe they never made it to the entry by the student who said, "Who would have thought of the 'at risk' kids making it this far? But we did, even though the educational system desperately tried to hold us down." It's a they said/she said situation, difficult to parse because so much took place behind closed doors. The board lawyer said Heermann was told not to use the book and she did so anyhow. She says after months of silence from higher-ups, she assumed they just didn't care.
If the school board of Perry Township wanted to counter "The Freedom Writers Diary," it certainly did. The book teaches that open discussion about challenging subjects is always best, that engagement always trumps silence. The members of that board were outraged by alleged insubordination when they should have been outraged by the glacial pace of decision-making by their top administrators. Insubordination is what built this country, and a glacial pace in education means you lose kids.
Have I mentioned that it's hard to get really good people to become teachers?
Connie Heermann will be teaching three courses in the fall at a local community college. She'll be making less than $5,000, but she's grateful for the opportunity. She was forbidden to contact her students after her job was yanked out from under her, was forced to go overnight from a powerful presence in their lives to a complete cipher. What made it worse was that she knows they are kids who assume they'll get the shaft. That's what "at risk" means, too. She hears that some stopped going to class. It looks as though her students are not going to wind up the way Erin Gruwell's did. That makes her so sad, but she doesn't regret what she did. "You know what?" she says. "My students have the book. They kept the book!" And then her voice breaks.
Freedom riders (which is part of the tribute of the title of the movie Freedom Writers), of the early 1960s are some of the true heroes of the Civil Rights wars
Their courage to challenge the law helped paved the way for the coming freedom of the Civil Rights Acts a few years later
but gains have lately been marked with many loses since 1980, with America moving backwards not forward, and racism rearing its ugly heads again
And Obama is the one true worldwide hope for America to move forward into a new age, and not backward into more of the same ole' same ole', where people like James Byrd gets dragged through the streets of Texas, and Mathew Shepard gets chained to a fence and pecked to death.
The haters either don't want to see it, not getting past the dark skin color of Obama (most likely Jesus was just as dark, though most religious paintings one sees of course does not show that)
or because change is not what those haters want at all. They want common people kept in slave like conditions, no food, no water, no money, no homes, nothing at all.
The kids have seen change and seen good, and they are passionate again, like the 1960s and 1970s kids
And like that time too, kids are colorblind
A friend is a friend is a friend is a friend, no matter race,creed, religion, color of the skin or color of the hair.
Naive as it is all was, in reality, it is true- All you do need is love.
But the last 28 years all that the leaders taught us was to hate the other side. The enemy.
When the enemy was the leaders of the last 28 years, left and right.
Thank God and Obama change is coming, and the victory in november will be of landslide proportions.
No matter how many smears they throw at us, victory is soon at hand.
May the people and God allow nothing bad to happen like MLK JFK RFK JFK Jr. Allard Lowenstein and all the others taken down and out.
Their courage to challenge the law helped paved the way for the coming freedom of the Civil Rights Acts a few years later
but gains have lately been marked with many loses since 1980, with America moving backwards not forward, and racism rearing its ugly heads again
And Obama is the one true worldwide hope for America to move forward into a new age, and not backward into more of the same ole' same ole', where people like James Byrd gets dragged through the streets of Texas, and Mathew Shepard gets chained to a fence and pecked to death.
The haters either don't want to see it, not getting past the dark skin color of Obama (most likely Jesus was just as dark, though most religious paintings one sees of course does not show that)
or because change is not what those haters want at all. They want common people kept in slave like conditions, no food, no water, no money, no homes, nothing at all.
The kids have seen change and seen good, and they are passionate again, like the 1960s and 1970s kids
And like that time too, kids are colorblind
A friend is a friend is a friend is a friend, no matter race,creed, religion, color of the skin or color of the hair.
Naive as it is all was, in reality, it is true- All you do need is love.
But the last 28 years all that the leaders taught us was to hate the other side. The enemy.
When the enemy was the leaders of the last 28 years, left and right.
Thank God and Obama change is coming, and the victory in november will be of landslide proportions.
No matter how many smears they throw at us, victory is soon at hand.
May the people and God allow nothing bad to happen like MLK JFK RFK JFK Jr. Allard Lowenstein and all the others taken down and out.
Obama may be your hero...but he can't hold MLK's jock strap.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
QUOTE(Indianhead @ Jul 19 2008, 07:44 PM) 
Obama may be your hero...but he can't hold MLK's jock strap.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
A lot of people called MLK boy, also.
I read the book, Teaching As A Subversive Activity, early in my teaching career and it a
significant impact on me. That was a lot of years ago but I still would recommend it.
significant impact on me. That was a lot of years ago but I still would recommend it.
QUOTE(Indianhead @ Jul 19 2008, 08:44 PM)
Obama may be your hero...but he can't hold MLK's jock strap.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
I wonder what MLK would think of Obama's character? I would respect his opinion, that's for sure. IH, you're really stuck on this southern cultural thing....I guess you're disappointed the south states are part of the United States of America. My husband and I were talking about the cultural divide that still exists between the North and the South....he believes it will take another century or more for the differences to dramatically diminish. I think he's right.
QUOTE(rla @ Jul 19 2008, 09:13 PM)
A lot of people called MLK boy, also.
Yeah...well, I'm sure MLK would be thrilled to have Obama or any adult male addressed as "boy". But being a class act, MLK would most likely chalk it up to "whatever" or something along that line....such as consider the source.
indianhead-
your use of the word boy is very upsetting to black people.
That you know and not just ignorant of that fact, makes it 1 zillion times worse.
your use of the word boy is very upsetting to black people.
That you know and not just ignorant of that fact, makes it 1 zillion times worse.
Cutecat-
I am ashamed at the lack of appropriate responses to your thread.
I am ashamed at the lack of appropriate responses to your thread.
QUOTE(Indianhead @ Jul 19 2008, 08:44 PM)
Obama may be your hero...but he can't hold MLK's jock strap.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
Why would he want to hold someone's jockstrap?
Seems a vulgar statement to make indianhead about someone I would venture to guess Obama haters hated (one of many, being that his words rang out and scared so many people
back then that he was killed by the same people in power today
No one could hold Jesus' jockstrap either
and today's sport heroes in the games you love indianhead all cheat...using stuff that makes their jockstraps a different size than it once was, and taking one kid down after another
emmulating those heroes
Then again today, people steal people's jockstraps and sell em on the internet in fascist auction sites with totalitarrian rules...go figure how dumb America is.
Ever check out the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, indianhead? Not too far a drive from where you are...I recommend it...
take a look at the people's faces who are going through it...
QUOTE(Pegatha @ Jul 20 2008, 01:46 AM)
Cutecat-
I am ashamed at the lack of appropriate responses to your thread.
I am ashamed at the lack of appropriate responses to your thread.
I agree.
At a time when the powers that be, from a national perspective, just want to privatize everything
about education, for their friends to make money from the National Tragidy we call Education
and the powers that be, locally, just want to keep taxes low and the school boards stacked with
local venders and religous fanatics, who will reform the system? The Grants Maqnagement program
operated from Washington? If it were not for a few hard headed professionals, working from
within the system, there would be no hope at all. And frankly, I don't see much hope. It is not that the information doesn't exist for knowing how to improve the system, 10 times over. The problem
is that the will to do so is lacking. There is a very wide spread fear of knowledge throughout the land. Opening one's self up to this awareness, means that one must change. That is still too frightening for too many persons. The question becomes, how can we help our neighbors reduce
this feeling of threat?
raise taxes, teachers salaries quadrupled and religious a-holes out of the loop please
one way to better the public education system is to make public education mandatory and get rid of private schools.
Make the rich kids go with the poor, and you will see how fast the system changes.
my mother in law for a number of years was a teacher in Brooklyn...she had to xerox her own papers at her own expense and was not allowed to use the school ones
Out of pocket...that is ridiculous.
one way to better the public education system is to make public education mandatory and get rid of private schools.
Make the rich kids go with the poor, and you will see how fast the system changes.
my mother in law for a number of years was a teacher in Brooklyn...she had to xerox her own papers at her own expense and was not allowed to use the school ones
Out of pocket...that is ridiculous.
QUOTE(graham4anything @ Jul 20 2008, 09:18 AM)
raise taxes, teachers salaries quadrupled and religious a-holes out of the loop please
one way to better the public education system is to make public education mandatory and get rid of private schools.
Make the rich kids go with the poor, and you will see how fast the system changes.
my mother in law for a number of years was a teacher in Brooklyn...she had to xerox her own papers at her own expense and was not allowed to use the school ones
Out of pocket...that is ridiculous.
one way to better the public education system is to make public education mandatory and get rid of private schools.
Make the rich kids go with the poor, and you will see how fast the system changes.
my mother in law for a number of years was a teacher in Brooklyn...she had to xerox her own papers at her own expense and was not allowed to use the school ones
Out of pocket...that is ridiculous.
I wouldn't want to see us out law private schools but I sure as Hell don't want to any tax money going to them in the form of vouchers.
[quote name='Pegatha' date='Jul 19 2008, 03:04 PM' post='865497']
I think that this column will probably move you. It sure did me.
It sure did... The comments on the column were well meaning but unrealistic. The point is that these are kids who have been told they can't, they won.t let you and you are not worth it in every aspect of their lives. That is why they are vulnerable to gangs, street violence and drugs. The false sense of family even among drug users, the actions they take on the streets are they same they see or use at home and school.
These are not kids that one experience or one book are going to be healed. No I am not saying they should not get the book but in that circumstance 3 to 10 will try, 3 to 5 may have the strength to try and one may succeed.
The loss of the one teacher compared to the success of the other was time. Time to communicate, work with, teach the skills and follow through.
I have a sister who had a similar experience as a director of children's book programs in Public Libraries. Google my sister shows as an expert in children's literature and libraries.
The book was "My fathers friend" and as she fought the library board in North Carolina, fired and was interviewed about the book on NPR. At the same time the New York School system was battling over the same book. It was for children who had a parent that was gay. It also was about the only book out there at the time that spoke to these children.
Many people go down in the fight gor change but without those willing to change things success is never obtained.
I wish my voice and mind were clear enough on a regular bases that I could do more then visit with my friends at CGCS about passion and courage. (god bless spell check or few of you could understand me!)
I think that this column will probably move you. It sure did me.
It sure did... The comments on the column were well meaning but unrealistic. The point is that these are kids who have been told they can't, they won.t let you and you are not worth it in every aspect of their lives. That is why they are vulnerable to gangs, street violence and drugs. The false sense of family even among drug users, the actions they take on the streets are they same they see or use at home and school.
These are not kids that one experience or one book are going to be healed. No I am not saying they should not get the book but in that circumstance 3 to 10 will try, 3 to 5 may have the strength to try and one may succeed.
The loss of the one teacher compared to the success of the other was time. Time to communicate, work with, teach the skills and follow through.
I have a sister who had a similar experience as a director of children's book programs in Public Libraries. Google my sister shows as an expert in children's literature and libraries.
The book was "My fathers friend" and as she fought the library board in North Carolina, fired and was interviewed about the book on NPR. At the same time the New York School system was battling over the same book. It was for children who had a parent that was gay. It also was about the only book out there at the time that spoke to these children.
Many people go down in the fight gor change but without those willing to change things success is never obtained.
I wish my voice and mind were clear enough on a regular bases that I could do more then visit with my friends at CGCS about passion and courage. (god bless spell check or few of you could understand me!)
QUOTE(graham4anything @ Jul 19 2008, 03:06 PM)
Freedom riders (which is part of the tribute of the title of the movie Freedom Writers), of the early 1960s are some of the true heroes of the Civil Rights wars
Their courage to challenge the law helped paved the way for the coming freedom of the Civil Rights Acts a few years later
but gains have lately been marked with many loses since 1980, with America moving backwards not forward, and racism rearing its ugly heads again
May the people and God allow nothing bad to happen like MLK JFK RFK JFK Jr. Allard Lowenstein and all the others taken down and out.
Their courage to challenge the law helped paved the way for the coming freedom of the Civil Rights Acts a few years later
but gains have lately been marked with many loses since 1980, with America moving backwards not forward, and racism rearing its ugly heads again
May the people and God allow nothing bad to happen like MLK JFK RFK JFK Jr. Allard Lowenstein and all the others taken down and out.
This is one of the issues of debate today. I wish people were color blind but they are not. Older people have experience that affected them but not all were effected in the same way.
I still feel shame about the labor/race riots in New York in the 1800s" when the Irish killed every person of color over employment " no Irish need apply" created an explosive, hostile environment.
I still tear up when I thing of a group of children of color or black or negro having to be floated on a barge on the river to save their lives.
I was not alive but can tell you my Irish immigrant grandparents all eight of them who fulfilled stereotyping by working the railroads on my dads side and did police work on my moms. Mu grandfathers name was Patrick and when he died he was a police detective. "Paddy the cop" "Paddy wagon in reference to drunken Irish being rounded up". To this day I recent that St Patrick's day promotes the Irish alcoholic stereotype when its purpose is to promote I Irish pride.
OK so I am proud of what was accomplished in the 1960's but there is shame there also. Drugs and increased addiction came home from Vietnam " all we are saying is give peace a chance".
2008-
Gang's in OMAHA DECREASING GANG VIOLENCE INCREASING and still almost every news story is a drive by shooting. Something wrong with the media?
I guess either the schools are finally paying attention( no way with no child left behind for eight years encouraging the dropouts to save their stats) or the gangs like alquida have just moved to other cities and other states. Oh could be the drug of choice in the Midwest is meth. I do not know but no Graham THE SUCCESS'S ARE STILL THE 1. OUT OF 100.
The cost of affordable college, housing and the claim that Medicaid is bankrupting do to the permanent injuries and paralysis of gang members in the system. ( sounds like whats happening with soldiers who have to come home) I think I see a mentor program evolving in my brain.
when the economy tanks, the group that is hit the hardest is the poorest
More crime, violence, gang?
What choice is there?
Gangs are an interesting thing
We have people on this board, who are rightwing, who keep yapping about their guns, and getting together for this or that
That is a gang too, though those people are white not black, and whites are doing better than blacks economically
It's a vicious cycle
Many people say the people involved with the BushClinton's bought drugs into America and infilitrated to the ghetto solely to keep those people forever hooked and forever down in the cycle...
and it goes round and round...
More crime, violence, gang?
What choice is there?
Gangs are an interesting thing
We have people on this board, who are rightwing, who keep yapping about their guns, and getting together for this or that
That is a gang too, though those people are white not black, and whites are doing better than blacks economically
It's a vicious cycle
Many people say the people involved with the BushClinton's bought drugs into America and infilitrated to the ghetto solely to keep those people forever hooked and forever down in the cycle...
and it goes round and round...
QUOTE(graham4anything @ Jul 21 2008, 12:47 PM)
when the economy tanks, the group that is hit the hardest is the poorest
More crime, violence, gang?
What choice is there?
Gangs are an interesting thing
We have people on this board, who are rightwing, who keep yapping about their guns, and getting together for this or that
That is a gang too, though those people are white not black, and whites are doing better than blacks economically
It's a vicious cycle
Many people say the people involved with the BushClinton's bought drugs into America and infilitrated to the ghetto solely to keep those people forever hooked and forever down in the cycle...
and it goes round and round...
More crime, violence, gang?
What choice is there?
Gangs are an interesting thing
We have people on this board, who are rightwing, who keep yapping about their guns, and getting together for this or that
That is a gang too, though those people are white not black, and whites are doing better than blacks economically
It's a vicious cycle
Many people say the people involved with the BushClinton's bought drugs into America and infilitrated to the ghetto solely to keep those people forever hooked and forever down in the cycle...
and it goes round and round...
Graham the idea iof the movie is solution for disenfranchised. The news week article is about a repeat situation on a success where the teacher did not suceed but was punished by the education system.
The mixed messages are given by people who say fix what is fixable and follow the rules to fail in regard to what is perceived as predestined or unfixable.
As a parent raising my kids all parent classes and books said when correcting your children they are bad, kids make errors and may do a bad thing but they are not bad or that does not make them bad. OK that was the 1970's. In the movie there seemed to be a pervailing message of these are bad kids and in the nesweek article it seemed to be a message that this was a bad thing the teacher did or that she was a bad teacher.
QUOTE(cutecat @ Jul 21 2008, 02:09 PM)
Graham the idea iof the movie is solution for disenfranchised. The news week article is about a repeat situation on a success where the teacher did not suceed but was punished by the education system.
The mixed messages are given by people who say fix what is fixable and follow the rules to fail in regard to what is perceived as predestined or unfixable.
As a parent raising my kids all parent classes and books said when correcting your children they are bad, kids make errors and may do a bad thing but they are not bad or that does not make them bad. OK that was the 1970's. In the movie there seemed to be a pervailing message of these are bad kids and in the nesweek article it seemed to be a message that this was a bad thing the teacher did or that she was a bad teacher.
The mixed messages are given by people who say fix what is fixable and follow the rules to fail in regard to what is perceived as predestined or unfixable.
As a parent raising my kids all parent classes and books said when correcting your children they are bad, kids make errors and may do a bad thing but they are not bad or that does not make them bad. OK that was the 1970's. In the movie there seemed to be a pervailing message of these are bad kids and in the nesweek article it seemed to be a message that this was a bad thing the teacher did or that she was a bad teacher.
newsweek is a rightwing corporate media
They have a point of view that fits their view of the world
QUOTE(rla @ Jul 20 2008, 09:57 AM)
I wouldn't want to see us out law private schools but I sure as Hell don't want to any tax money going to them in the form of vouchers.
rla, that is what you wouldn't want but can you talk a little more on why you would not want that and what you would like to see.
QUOTE(graham4anything @ Jul 21 2008, 01:17 PM)
newsweek is a rightwing corporate media
They have a point of view that fits their view of the world
They have a point of view that fits their view of the world
I thought Newsweek was to the left and Tme magazine was to the rignt?
QUOTE(cutecat @ Jul 21 2008, 02:36 PM)
I thought Newsweek was to the left and Tme magazine was to the rignt?
I don't think anything remains that is to the left
Who owns Newsweek? The Washington post, which certainnly is NOT the Washington post of Watergate days...
they are all for the $$$$$
It's all a vicious cycle.
It's not the kids faults
It's not the teachers faults
It's OUR fault, because WE are failing THE kids (we=everyone, not just we here on the board)
What incentive is there for any poor person to think he/she will be able to make it, based on current life?
Another reason why its so important for Obama to win. Because people have always said he can't.
QUOTE(Indianhead @ Jul 19 2008, 07:44 PM)
Obama may be your hero...but he can't hold MLK's jock strap.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
Martin was a Southern Christian hero that paid with his life. Obama don't play in his league.
Spin the politics...but do not assume MLK's mantle. It's too heavy for your Chicago boy.
OK I think we need more then one leader and more then one hero, Every generation needs a hero and this generation was picking sports stars and movie stars and corporate America. Now they are reaching a different level and the fact the young people are choosing Obama may not give you hope but it does me.
I would rather discuss the topic from the perspective of the passion of youth ( good and bad) in relationship to civil rights and human rights and the future of all of us.
( The name of the song was Abraham, Martin and John) another song (We can do It) and another song( Ooo Ooo Child Things Are going To Get Easier).
QUOTE(graham4anything @ Jul 21 2008, 01:40 PM)
I don't think anything remains that is to the left
Who owns Newsweek? The Washington post, which certainnly is NOT the Washington post of Watergate days...
they are all for the $$$
It's all a vicious cycle.
It's not the kids faults
It's not the teachers faults
It's OUR fault, because WE are failing THE kids (we=everyone, not just we here on the board)
What incentive is there for any poor person to think he/she will be able to make it, based on current life?
Another reason why its so important for Obama to win. Because people have always said he can't.
Who owns Newsweek? The Washington post, which certainnly is NOT the Washington post of Watergate days...
they are all for the $$$
It's all a vicious cycle.
It's not the kids faults
It's not the teachers faults
It's OUR fault, because WE are failing THE kids (we=everyone, not just we here on the board)
What incentive is there for any poor person to think he/she will be able to make it, based on current life?
Another reason why its so important for Obama to win. Because people have always said he can't.
Graham its good to see you have settled on a canidate.
To you I would like to ask if I am older and tired and poor in health and sometimes spirit; what kinds of things can I do to help the incentive to save children and youth. To help people learn so they might care and to not give up or accept failure as far as the Youth of America and the world are concerned?
What could I do to make a difference as a member of CGCS?
QUOTE(rla @ Jul 20 2008, 03:10 PM)
I agree.
At a time when the powers that be, from a national perspective, just want to privatize ...
At a time when the powers that be, from a national perspective, just want to privatize ...
Both in my country and yours, privatisation seems to have become a religion. There's this refusal to turn back and see that some things might be better done by those who love doing them, than those in it for a profit. This desire to evangelise, to wipe out any pockets of resistance that embarrass....
QUOTE(cutecat @ Jul 21 2008, 02:52 PM)
Graham its good to see you have settled on a canidate.
To you I would like to ask if I am older and tired and poor in health and sometimes spirit; what kinds of things can I do to help the incentive to save children and youth. To help people learn so they might care and to not give up or accept failure as far as the Youth of America and the world are concerned?
What could I do to make a difference as a member of CGCS?
To you I would like to ask if I am older and tired and poor in health and sometimes spirit; what kinds of things can I do to help the incentive to save children and youth. To help people learn so they might care and to not give up or accept failure as far as the Youth of America and the world are concerned?
What could I do to make a difference as a member of CGCS?
For the first part of your question- make America America again.(which is just words).
Get kids involved in the system, they are finally starting to be.
as for CGCS-long, long time ago here, people wanted to do some event, with a table with a banner with CGCS on it,
and because this site is ALL, it was found out there is really no event any of us could show up at that would represent
CGCS because someone here would oppose having the name (and then themselves) linked to whatever that cause is.
There is almost no issue anyone here 100% agrees on.
A great bunch of my thinking like people left a long time ago wanting to be more productive.
Another bunch about a year or two ago started a splinter board for just that reason, to try and do something more
than just debate.(though some still post here, their attempt is elsewhere to make something more about issues
that are to their thinking.)
Other people here have other places they go with their issues.
Frenchy has his 2nd amendment board, etc.
As livyjr wrote on a thread yesterday about how many non-members are reading, write your own blog like entries
here on this board each day, and you will find people across the world are reading and then those people take their
thoughts about what you wrote to people in their life.
The 9-11 threads magmak1 wrote (and there were many long, long threads), we read by 1000s and 1000s
Kids have a very hard time these days with serious issues. They are either depressing issues, or issues of war are
so far away that they don't grasp it (no draft so they are not immediately affected like kids in the 1950s, 1960s, early
1970s were.)
As for civil rights, having some events where rich/poor black/white/Hispanic kids intermix and become friends
Putting Jewish kids with Muslim kids at events shows kids are kids.
I am not really sure which breakdown or mix you are going for in this thread.
I do think if it is racial one, that the day after Obama wins, tens of millions of black children will from that day, have something they never had before.
The thought that no matter how rich or poor, a black person in America can grow up and dream, and actually now
become President, a thought that was unheard of before 1/20/2009 to almost all black children
Same with making it to the top.
There are so few public Fortune 100 companies that have a black in the topmost position
Blacks still see it as a White company, even if there are a few presidents or vice-presidents of that firm.
Still just "tokens".
And as the economy gets worse and worse, those that are the 1% on top, get nastier and want to screw those 99% who don't have what they have.
Kids need to see they have a future, and a good one, by staying in the system, not opting out of the system, and it
is getting harder and harder to show them that.
again, I am not 100% positive which core issue you are trying to get across.
One thing perhaps could be done, invite some kids here, or hold a group meeting at a library and using their computers invite them here, get them signed up, and have them post their thoughts and ideas...
There were only a few "kids" that have been here since almost everyone here has been here 4 or 5 years now from the Kerry board, and most everyone on the Kerry board was 17 or older.
Or just in general, go to libraries, schools, youth centers. Go to them. Attempt to make a difference in their life, though it is not easy, and they won't be immediately accepting...
There have been alot of movies over the years, that Michelle Pfeiffer one where she was a teacher with students who were all troublemakers, and she broke through, but the system kept stabbing them in the back (the one that had that song "Gangster's Paradise" running through it)...
Break through to one kid and its a miracle.
Teachers in general in a class of 30, know that maybe 2 or 3 will be "seeing what they see", the other 27 will just be
going through the motions waiting for summer vacation and the next year.
But 2 or 3 will actually want to be in that classroom, want to learn something, and want to participate.
Find a child who is one of those 2 or 3 and you already have made a difference.
(I myself sometimes wish I had gone into some sort of teaching, sociology as it used to be called in the 7th or 8th grade perhaps
or poly/sci same age group).
Raise teachers salaries to a ballplayers level, then people will become teachers these days, the pay is so low people
do other things. It is still a stereotype to be a teacher. That needs to be broken.
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