"Empathy is Needed in Education"

"For the first time ever, the public schools in Philadelphia began this school year 100% online, neck-deep in a global pandemic; in the midst of more publicized occurrences of racial injustice and political upheaval. We all again juxtaposed the reality of America’s dual system of justice when we witnessed the negligible presence of law enforcement..."[Link to my piece published in the Southwest Globe Times]

York, PA poised to turn charter huh?

And the big story is...

So, just a couple of hours from Philly in York, PA, the York City School District's schools are poised to become PA's first all charter district, having just been taken over by the state...or wait, what are they calling it? "Receivership"??? Aside from the fact that the term sounds ominously like a term from Lois Lowry's The Giver, Pennsylvania hasn't been doing well with the whole, "we can run a district better" thing.

They've been "receivership"ping Philadelphia's public schools since 2001. It is important to note that under their omniscient (sike), all watchful (pshh), recievership eye, we've plunged further and further into debt, all the while experiencing a net-GROWTH in the size of our district by the acceptance of many charter schools!

Some nuts swear by charter schools and are headstrong in their belief that the management of real public schools by these quasi-public, pseudo-accountable entities and the dissolution of teachers' unions are the answers to what ails many students in public schools! Not so!

If teachers' unions are the roadblocks to education, then by default, our wealthier suburban counterparts and their students would be enduring similar struggles since they, too, have teachers' unions. But, I'm sure, *they* have access to functional libraries, a nurse, counselor, the arts, gym, and a myriad of extra curricular activities and tutoring services at their disposal! As they should, but so should we, but I digress...

If the choice advocates really believed in the idea of "choice" as they suppose, they'd be pushing for such free-market enterprise in areas beyond Philadelphia's city borders, and I don't mean in Chester, but rather Chichester. Not in Camden, but in Council Rock!

My point? Pick one! Any one! There are many!

It's easy to pick on teachers and an unrealistic measure of student achievement like a single (or even a few) test scores! That is easy to package, ship, sell, and unload on an unsuspecting and easily swayed general public.

The problems are much more complex than that! Issues of the limitation of resources and opportunities, issues of true poverty, issues of substance abuse, issues of 8-year old heads of households, issues of homelessness, domestic violence, sexual abuse and in some cases (unpopular though it may be to discuss) the poor choices of parents and guardians.

Converting a school or an entire system does NOTHING to ameliorate those problems! Converting a school or an entire system to a charter oversimplifies complex problems all the while vilifying most of the hardworking, dedicated, well-equipped, certified public school teachers who have dedicated their lives to the service of educating generations of students and their families!

If we should fix anything, it should be the narrow-minded, elitist, pompous, high-minded, racist way of thinking on the part of many in positions who not only make laws, but those who buy...ooops, I mean, "influence" laws!

Barbershop PhDs

Anyone who has ever frequented a barbershop knows that there are very interesting conversations that can be had there! Sports, religion, politics, women, the news, and myriad other topics! Guy code says, what is said in the barbershop, stays in the barbershop! (Or did I just make that up? lol)

Anyone who has ever frequented the shops knows also that EVERYTHING is a conspiracy!!

Many brothers are passionate about their beliefs, whether fact or conjecture! Sometimes the foolish thoughts and topics on which we opine are annoying and at other times, hilarious!

But barbershop conversations, debates, and arguments definitely have their place in the overall movement of black men into civic, family, academic, and other forms of constructive engagement! Since I'm black and I frequent black shops, I speak from that perspective! In the shops are voters and tax payers! In the shops are fathers and sons, mentors and mentees, youth sports coaches, teachers (YES SIR!!), Pastors, clerics, politicians, and very attentive young boys and teens who are listening!

While I jokingly attach PhD to barbershop to poke fun at some of our sermons that are based on unfounded facts and upon which some of us will swear, I don't mean to belittle the opinions of our barbershop comrades. (Although some of us do speak with such authority (feigned)---as if we, ourselves, advised the President and foreign leaders or conducted the scientific research that proves the government conspired)

When public schools in Philly are brought up, I ALWAYS insert myself into the conversation! Some are on my side, others are not! When we're on opposite sides of the aisle, it can be.....ahem.....interesting! I do not stand down! Because I teach in the same community where I get trimmed up for the weekend, I have a whole slew of students and parents who can vouch for this young, black, male teacher who speaks from the core of his soul!!

I may not be a true Barberhop PhD, but I'm a teacher! And doggone it, a good one!

World Famous........teacher?

Yes. Valerie Strauss writes of teacher, Rafe Esquith in the Washington Post recently as "the world's most famous teacher." You can read the interview for yourself and the title of his most recently published book.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/07/16/the-worlds-most-famous-teacher-blasts-school-reform/

The quote that I loved the most came after Strauss asked Esquith about the new common core standards:

"In my classroom, you still put a period at the end of a sentence....I don't need a new set of standards to make that clear to me."

And let the teachers' church say.......AMEN!