Two Sides of Social Justice

Yesterday I read an action research project by an inner-city Chicago teacher.  In a unit about social justice, she encouraged her class of twenty-five first and second-graders to think about fairness and compassion, and they responded accordingly:

If I were President I would tell the builders who build houses for rich people to build the homeless houses and I would give them food and a car.

If I were President I would take care of lots of people. People would have 3 day weekends. There would be no school for a week.

If I were President I would give money to school and help all the people in the world improve their schools.

If I were President I would make things good.  I would love the world and I would buy anything for kids and I would get people homes.

Part of me read these sentiments with a great deal of cynicism.  How sad that these children view government as a benevolent, even indulgent caretaker – that rather than giving people freedom to live their lives, they wanted the President to bestow material comfort upon them. 

The Occupy Wall Street seems, at its core, to have a similar idea: they want to stop the most successful people in society from continuing to be successful by spending their money on the foolish and hapless masses who have financially gotten in over their heads.  This (besides the pretentions of activism and the lack of hygiene and decorum) keeps me from being too enthusiastic about their mission and the press that’s glued to it.

So I was pretty shocked, later that evening, to read the following in the Psalms:

Why dost thou stand afar off, O Lord?
Why dost thou hide Thyself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes which they have devised.
For the wicked boasts of the desires of his heart,
and the man greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.
In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
His ways prosper at all times;
thy judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
He thinks in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the hapless,
he lurks in secret like a lion in his covert;
he lurks that he may seize the poor,
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
The hapless is crushed, sinks down,
and falls by his might.
He thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Thy hand;
forget not the afflicted.

If God’s not too good to care for the poor, maybe we should think about doing the same.

You Heard it Here First!

No sooner did I call Michelle Rhee an anomaly amid an archaic, ailing school system, than she resigned her position as chancellor of DC schools.  (Mayor Adrian Fenty, who hired her, was voted out of office several weeks ago after aggressive campaigning by aggreived teachers' union, so it hadn't looked good for her even then.) 

I wish I were less cynical, but when I read about her racial "divisiveness" amid a city that is mostly black, I can only hope that this is a step forward and not what it looks like: a petty foray into the murky, racially-troubled past.  People, why can't we move past this?!

The Times staff, nevertheless, appears upbeat:

A Colorado state senator, Mike Johnston, who like Ms. Rhee is also a Teach for America alumnus, said her work had inspired hundreds of young people to work for education change.

“Maybe Michelle’s greatest contribution is that she is no longer an anomaly,” Mr. Johnston said.

Here's one instance in which I'd love to be wrong.

Waiting For Superman: Part II

Well, I didn't make it to see the movie last Thursday.  The rain that shut down school early also flooded enough of downtown Baltimore that I worried about getting stuck there, and starting the next day I had another nonstop week full of students and classes and one glorious but exhausting field trip.

And all of a sudden, yesterday morning, I realized I had nothing to do!  Rob was at an all-day bikeathon, so I called my friend Laura to see if she'd come with me.  It was a perfect day to walk around by the harbor and pretend we actually lived in a high-rise condos and ate at Oceanaire and Charleston every night.  As much as I love my little patch of earth in the suburbs, there's something very attractive about the city lifestyle.  Everything feels more exciting there, more immediate, more colorful and accessible and real.

Does it seem like I'm putting off talking about the movie?  Maybe I am.  It was very difficult to watch.  There were only a handful of people in the theater with us, and each of us, more than once, gasped or groaned or sniffled audibly.  It's not a good date movie, and it's not a good movie for a teacher to watch on a Sunday night. Or, maybe, ever.  I had trouble even telling friends about it without getting choked up.

The sad truth is that America's schools are in trouble, and no one wants to talk about it.  We know this.  We've seen the statistics that place us near the bottom of the literacy pool in developed nations.  The goals we set for No Child Left Behind are far out of reach; around 30% proficiency in math and reading for most states, and the goal is 100% in the next two years.  Despite the fact that we continue to pour money, time and resources into the system, we consistently fail to educate our children even passably.

The film makes it clear that there are two obstacles standing in the way of better education: first, teachers' unions, which refuse to make any distinction between effective and ineffective members, which insist on tenure for all after an average of two years in the classroom, and which will not agree to merit-based pay or removal from the system if the teacher is spectacularly good or awful; second, the bureaucracy that runs the school system, which consists of federal funding, state funding, local funding and independent school boards, each with its own agenda and set of rules.  Between these two behemoths, it's a miracle if any improvement is allowed to occur anywhere; someone like Michelle Rhee is an anomaly, the result of a loophole that can't last long (and, in fact, despite the extent of the positive change she has wrought, her job is now very much in jeopardy.)  Here's Rhee's sound logic:

For too long, we have let teacher hiring and retention be determined by archaic rules involving seniority and academic credentials. The widespread policy of "last in, first out" (the teacher with the least seniority is the first to go when cuts have to be made) makes it harder to hold on to new, enthusiastic educators and ignores the one thing that should matter most: performance.

A 7-year-old girl won't make it to college someday because her teacher has two decades of experience or a master's degree -- she will make it to college if her teacher is effective and engaging and compels her to reach for success. By contrast, a poorly performing teacher can hold back hundreds, maybe thousands, of students over the course of a career. Each day that we ignore this reality is precious time lost for children preparing for the challenges of adulthood.

The glacial process for removing an incompetent teacher -- and our discomfort as a society with criticizing anyone who chooses this noble and difficult profession -- has left our school districts impotent and, worse, has robbed millions of children of a real future.

There isn't a business in America that would survive if it couldn't make personnel decisions based on performance. That is why everything we use in assessing teachers must be linked to their effectiveness in the classroom and focused on increasing student achievement.

The whole article isn't long and is worth reading.  And after a day of being stuck in a major funk, it started to make me feel less depressed and more optimistic.  If people are making movies like this, creating websites like this, and losing their jobs over this, maybe we're on the way to a better system.  For now, I'm going the way of Harriet Ball, who is profiled in the film and on its website as a super-teacher, one of the heroes of the education world:

Q: What can teachers do, right now, to help improve the system?

A: Watch other teachers who are doing well. Give up your planning time and lunchtime and meet up with somebody who's willing to let you observe them. Keep asking until you find answers. Don't give up if that's your dream. If you want to be a teacher -- baby, teaching is a job. Close your door and teach those kids.

Axios!  Amen!

Is Smoking Sinful?

Talk about a loaded question.  It's one about which I've often wondered, being a lifelong Christian and an occasional smoker.

Yes, it's bad for you.  So is eating at McDonald's.  And if done in moderation, it's probably even less bad for you than McDonald's, especially if you're smoking anything other than unfiltered tobacco cigarettes.

Society has certainly demonized it, and as a borderline libertarian (who voted for Obama -- hey, at this point I might as well alienate all of my readers) I tend to come down hard on the other side.  I think secondhand smoke is largely a myth.  I certainly think bars, restaurants and other private businesses should be able to decide for themselves whether to allow smoking on the premises. But that's all politics and personal freedom, and the Church doesn't care much for either.

My good friend Pastor Toby Sumpter recently posted about this issue, and I have to say, it's one of the most thoughtful and balanced perspectives I've ever read on the subject.  He primarily addresses the students of his parish and school, but then broadens his argument to include all of us:

If 9 out of 10 of your elders, pastors, and teachers would frown at it, why do it? Aren't we called to love? And love not only covers multitudes of sins, it looks for ways to die for others. Ordinarily, in our culture, cigarettes are self-serving and the only other people thankful for your indulgence are your friends who also know deep down (or not so deep down) that dad would really not be pleased with this. Is that love?

I'm still not sure what I think.  But it's a pretty compelling argument: Christianity is about sacrificing for others, not doing what we want and forcing them into acceptance.  St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians: "But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak." (8:9)  Just as interesting is the question of whether it's morally wrong for a non-Christian to smoke for similar reasons -- his own autonomy versus the pain and distress inflicted on those he loves.  Some people quit lifelong habits out of deference to their parents or spouses, and I'd like to think it's not just because the nagging wore them down.

Anyone want to jump in with their two cents?  You thought I'd never ask?

Remember the Ladies.

So said Abigail Adams in her famous letter to her husband, the President: "Remember all men would be tyrants if they could."

As husbands are wont to do, he laughed her off, saying, "We know better than to repeal our masculine systems."

My American Lit class read this the other day, and rather than take it as an opportunity to talk about women's rights (the obvious answer, and one I am frankly sick of hearing about) I wanted to discuss the honorable tradition of speaking out about a cause, even if it's nearly hopeless that anything would happen.  I assigned them a brief reflection: write a letter to the President asking him to remember the __________, inserting the name of a group they thought needed an advocate.

Their answers were fascinating.  They wrote about abused children and animals, teenagers ("We get a bad rap -- give us a break!") and the middle class ("Some of us are just trying to make a decent living.")  They shared their outrage and despair quite willingly.  It was a good discussion.

I didn't answer the question in front of them; I prefer not to let my opinions influence the direction of their thought, even though we frequently disagree.  But I'm sure you know what I would have said.  Remember the Armenians.  Because you promised to. Because genocide will not go away.  Because I'd really like to prove Hitler wrong.

Just the Facts, Please

As advisor of the school newspaper, I have two goals for my students:

1) Be aware of the world around you.

2) Get the facts.  Opinion comes later or, preferably, not at all.  There is more than enough opinion journalism in the world.

One of our first big stories is about the health care debate.  I am gleeful at the prospect of bombarding people with the truth.  I am SO SICK of liberals claiming that this debate is racially charged.  People, use your brains.  Thankfully, our president is still using his:

“Look, I said during the campaign there’s some people who still think through a prism of race when it comes to evaluating me and my candidacy. Absolutely,” Mr. Obama told NBC News. “Sometimes they vote for me for that reason; sometimes they vote against me for that reason.”

But he said that the matter was really “an argument that’s gone on for the history of this republic. And that is, what’s the right role of government?”

The president said the contentious health care debate, which came on the heels of extraordinary government involvement in bailing out banks and automobile companies, had led to a broader discussion about the role of government in society.

“I think that what’s driving passions right now is that health care has become a proxy for a broader set of issues about how much government should be involved in our economy,” Mr. Obama told CBS News. “Even though we’re having a passionate disagreement here, we can be civil to each other, and we can try to express ourselves acknowledging that we’re all patriots, we’re all Americans and not assume the absolute worst in people’s motives.”

He is so . . . refreshingly . . . SANE.  And I'm not sure whether I agree with the health plan he's touting, but I sure respect him for telling it like it is (here and elsewhere!)

Likewise, I am SO SICK of conservatives throwing around terms they don't know about.  If I had my way, people would get cited on the spot for passing on information they haven't verified.  Intelligent people are not exempt, either.  A professional acquaintance recently warned me about cell phone telemarketers. My school's principal believed the hype about godless Pepsi cans.

Get. The. Facts.  Or keep your opinion to yourself.  That's my policy.

The Speech

You knew it was coming . . .

For those of you who are living in the "dens and caves of the earth," the President made a speech today addressing schoolchildren everywhere.  Here is the whole thing in three quick soundbites:

"At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school.  That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school.  There is no excuse for not trying."

Amen.

"The truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject that you study.  You won't click with every teacher that you have.  Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute, and you won't necessarily succeed in everything the first time you try it.  That's okay.  Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who have had the most failures."

Preach it!

"If you get into trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker; it means you need to try harder to act right.  If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid; it just means you need to spend more time studying.  No one's born being good at all things; you become good at things through hard work."

THAT'S what I'm talkin' about.  No excuses.  This was the most parent-like speech I've ever heard him give, and I mean it in a good way.  Yes, there were a lot of cliches, but we've been awfully heavy on cliches from the other side (You're Perfect Just the Way You Are and other taglines of complacency) for a long time.  It's good to hear someone advocate for hard work and struggle.

It's almost hard to believe that there were parents out there (lots of them; many of them at our school) who wanted permission for their kids to AVOID watching this address.  No, please, whatever you do, don't let my children listen to the President!  They might learn something about bipartisanship or self-sacrifice!  Yikes.

My only criticism was political: I thought he was about to mention the Suzuki Triangle (teacher, parent, student) but he stretched it into a quadrilateral with the addition of the government as a fourth corner.  I definitely don't agree with this, but I am a recovering Republican, and it was only for a moment that I rolled my eyes before continuing to listen to and enjoy what was overwhelmingly a positive and (dare I say it?) conservative set of remarks.

Score one for tough teachers everywhere!

You Don't Have To Take My Word For It.

Today marks the end of an era.  The last episode of Reading Rainbow will air:

The show's run is ending, Grant explains, because no one — not the station, not PBS, not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — will put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show's broadcast rights.

The article goes on to blame the Bush administration (this is NPR, after all) for establishing such an attitude.  Personally, I think the NEA should have been disbanded years ago, and it's absurd to continue the program in the face of the current economic stress.  Furthermore, it should not be television's job to teach kids to read (or even to love reading, as the article claims.) That's the domain of people like me.

Political invective aside, however, I have to say that the demise of the show makes me sad.  My family didn't have cable TV until I was 13 (I remember this because they got cable WHILE I was away at summer camp.  The injustice!)  So I grew up on public television programming, for the most part.  Reading Rainbow was one of our favorites, and I doubt that anyone my age, even the ones who grew up with cable, wouldn't be able to sing the theme song if prompted.  Remember?  "Butterfly in the skyyyyyyyy . . . "

And now you have something to sing for the rest of the day.

Goodbye, Summer

Not just my summer (although that's fading alarmingly fast.)  Maybe yours, too.  This week TIME magazine mentioned our President and Education Secretary's predilection toward year-round schooling.

There are some cool things about summer, like:

• The beach. And, fine, the pool is an acceptable substitute.


• Cold beer and grilled bratwurst. By the light of a lantern in the evening.  When you don't have to get up early and teach the next day.


• Friends. Yes, I know you can have friends anytime, but we don't get a chance to socialize much during the school year.  And I've eaten more steak in the last month than in the whole school year prior.  Most recently in a Guinness-curry-chocolate sauce, which was most swoon-worthy thanks to Jim.


• Sudden drenching rainstorms. I've loved these since before I stopped being afraid of them.

And there are some dumb things about summer, like:

• Mosquitoes.


• Summer camp (I'm not referring to a week or two in a cabin with spiders, canoes and campfires, building character.  I'm referring to the obsessive to-the-moment schedules of many kids, who go to so many specialized camps they hardly have a day to themselves.)


• A non-agrarian society which doesn't really need summers off anymore.


• A dumber population. Sorry, it's true: look around, and you'll see we are far below the standard in Asia and Europe.  By contrast, a test at Jersey City High school in 1885 contained the following questions.

Find the product of 3 + 4x + 5x2 -6x3 and 4 - 5x - 6x2.

Write a sentence containing a noun used as an attribute, a verb in the perfect tense potential mood, and a proper adjective.

Name three events of 1777. Which was the most important and why?

(Here's the killer: it was a test for admission to high school.  So the kids taking the test were 8th graders.  I'm a high school math and English teacher, and I don't think I could answer any of those questions! Taken from The Bell Curve.)

Bottom line: I think summer school is a great idea.  Shorter terms, maybe four per year, with holidays between.  Yes, and we should also adopt the British system of calling vacation "holiday."  It sounds so much classier.

Why I Voted for Our President

Happy Inauguration Day!  Our school announced it would be closed just last week, so we get to stay home (second quarter grades were still due in by noon, though -- gotta love online grading, where you're always accountable.)

I watched every major speech Obama gave during his long, slow rise to power, but I didn't see any of them live.  I just never happened to be free then, or near a TV (we don't own one.)  Today I was planning to go to my parents' to watch; but when I checked the NYTimes website, it had a live feed that was quite clear and streamed through with very few hiccups.  It also had the advantage of being QUIET.  The only things I heard are things I would have heard if I had actually been there: cheering, music, polite applause, and of course the words of those on the stage.  I can only imagine how annoying it must have been to have commentators rattling off statistics about Michelle's dress and Cheney's medication levels.

As a registered Republican and someone who identifies more with the Libertarian Party than just about any other, I thought I would take a moment to defend my vote, which I cast proudly for our new President.

My reasons, in order from least to greatest, are below:

• Protest. I voted for Bush twice.  I felt he and the Republican party behaved completely contrary to the principles of CONSERVatism.  They didn't conserve anything -- money, resources or energy.  They spent just as wastefully as Democrats do.  So, I figured, a Democrat couldn't possibly be worse!  And I enjoyed thinking about my name in the category of "Republicans who voted for Obama."  I sincerely hope my party takes the next eight years to regroup and emerges stronger and more conservative than ever, and if they do, my vote will be back in their camp.

• The speech. He gave many great ones, but I'm speaking of the speech he gave after all that nonsense about Jeremiah Wright.  I was moved to tears several times, and for me, it was the antidote to the night I walked out of "Crash," also in tears, and thought, "Our country will never move past racism.  Never."  To hear him speak honestly and frankly about the demons in his past, on both sides of the black-white divide and beyond, was freeing, and from that moment I began to believe that with his help, we could actually heal and move forward.

• My bishop. I was in an agony of indecision for several weeks after Obama won the nomination.  Could I really cast a vote for someone who was more pro-abortion than any candidate in history?  In the end, though, my bishop settled the question for me when he reminded us all that there is no perfect candidate, nor no "right" candidate for Christians, and that we should choose whomever we thought would be the better leader for our country.

• Jed Bartlet. My friend Terry refers to The West Wing as "soft porn for liberals." Set in the Clinton era, it told of a president who couldn't have resembled Clinton less: principled, devout, loyal to his family and in love with his wife, cool-headed but prone to righteous indignation at only the most appropriate times.  My sister owns all 7 seasons on DVD, and as she finished one I'd borrow it and stay up all night watching the fast-paced dialogue move through crisis after crisis.  After Season 1, I started telling my friends that if Jed Bartlet ever ran for president, I'd vote for him.  Although I disagreed with him on just about every policy, I reasoned, he was a good man.  That would be enough.  A good man could do a lot.

I didn't go downtown today because, to be honest, I feared for my life between the weather and the crowds.  But now, I really wish I had gone.  At least I was one of the 8 million people who were there in spirit, basking in the cool glow of computer screens.