Hello everyone. I know it has been awhile. I have had some interesting turns on my own educational path. I graduated with high honors from Swarthmore in English and Education.

I traveled through Peru, visiting Lima, Cuzco, Machu Pichu, and Iquitos.

Now I have found a new home for the summer: Washington, DC.

I am working for the Student Conservation Association.


The SCA is " America’s conservation corps. Our members protect and restore national parks, marine sanctuaries, cultural landmarks and community green spaces in all 50 states."

I have a crew of 6 high school students from the Washington, DC area. We are working in Rock Creek Park,



and Dumbarton Oaks

Bad News for New York City Bound Teachers

PANIC!

I was planning to develop a teaching career in new york city. I may have to think again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/nyregion/11teachers.html?ref=education

"In an effort to cut costs and avoid teacher layoffs, the Department of Education on Wednesday ordered principals to fill vacancies with internal candidates only."

Even scarier is this:

"But this year, the department anticipates fewer openings and will not hire externally except in certain high-needs areas like speech therapy and bilingual special education. Instead, principals can fill spots only with internal candidates, including teachers from a reserve pool made up of those whose jobs have been eliminated and many who have earned unsatisfactory ratings."

They will be hiring unsatisfactory teachers instead of fresh, energetic ones coming straight from teaching schools. People from NYCTF and TFA, who often have only a few weeks of teacher training, will prioritized over those who have been training for years.

Future Plans

I begin my lifelong journey as an educator.

This summer I will work as a Summer Commuting Crew Leader for the Student Conservation Association in Washington DC.

http://thesca.org/serve/community-programs

6 High Schoolers and I will restore trails and sites in Washington, DC area parks, meet with leaders of the Environmental movement, learn about conservation and environmental advocacy, and take an incredibly fun trip at the end of the summer. I am absolutely pumped.

Some concerns I have:

My role as white male outsider.

The culture of SCA and other environmental institutions.

Being a good role model.

Being a firm but understanding boss.

Some things I'm looking forward to:

Getting Outside!

Working Hard!

Educating the Youth!

Being in DC during the Obama generation!

A Conversation About Standards

Recently a reader was kind enough to post a comment on by blog:

"Pardon my ignorance, but don't kids need to know what they need to know regardless of where they are? And why would national standards stop you from having community involvement.

All of life has standards that you either meet or don't - why should schools be any different? It is time we start holding kids accountable for their own success - isn't "that" what this country is made out of - hard work by those who are passionate about something?"

I would like to comment about several points.

How do we define what "they need to know?"

Is it what is going to guarantee them economic success in the capitalist system of the US?

Is it what is going to give them entrée into the intellectual elite of the university system?

Is it what is going to make them thoughtful, curious, lifetime learners?

Is it what is going to inspire them to change our world and give them the critical tools to do so?

Another question, who is the they? Students are becoming increasingly, increasingly diverse. They bring with them different racial, national, religious and sexual identities. All of these imply a different worldview. These "standards" are never neutral. In fact they imply a dominant, normative set of knowledge and behaviors that is categorically white, European, and middle class. Often this "school culture" is constructed through content, like Literature and History, with capital L and H, but it also can be constructed through the attitudes and practices of Math and Science pedagogies. To assert that all students "need" to know this information, these attitudes, this culture...is racist.

Now, of course I admit that the reality is, for economic success and a greater chance of improving life chances, it is important to have access to a high level of standard academic fare. However, what happens is that these standards have been used against the students who were not properly prepared, by their communities and their schools to meet the standards, and so it becomes a loosing game, by which the standards are used to keep them from advancing to the maximum of their potential. Especially under the Bush administration, standards were used to color the public schools a "failures", so that public funds could be siphoned off to private schools, charters collaborating with "business partners", and faith-based initiatives. Public money in the private interest.

The interesting question is whether this pattern will continue under Obama. I hope that it doesn't, but Arne hasn't suggested otherwise.

If we are going to have standards, they need to be drastically rewritten, and the evaluation of those standards, and subsequently what is done with that evaluations drastically rethought.

Finally, I'm not sure what "all of life has standards" actually means, but the rest of the paragraph about hard work in success in the American dream...has largely, conclusively, statistically, been proven by sociologists and economists to be largely that...a dream. Social mobility is largely illusion, and for those who do achieve it, usually involves dramatic losses to sense of self, rootedness, and background.

In fact, that to me is the scary, underbelly to the Obama myth. I have tremendous respect for Obama, and I know he worked his but off, for decades, to get to where he is. But if anyone thinks he is a regular joe, they are off their rocker. He lived in Indonesia, Hawaii, had a government official as a dad, in fact two international father figures, and went to one of the best private schools in Hawaii. He worked hard, but he had a hell of a head start. And yet, the Obama myth suggests that any struggling Black kid in North Philly, College Park, South Bronx, East Cleveland, or any similar place can "make it" to the top. Do you believe that?

Obama Makes Me Cry

I was having a great Obama day on Tuesday. The family was out with the dog, I felt so happy and proud to see our first Black first family in the limelight. And then I read Sam Dillon's NYT article about education : "Education Standards Likely to See Toughening"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/education/15educ.html

And I wanted to cry. I began to ask myself why I had spent all those hours during election weekend canvassing, calling, hoping, asking the electoral college gods to spur fortune, "that strumpet", to our favor. Why, as an educator, should I vociferously fight for Mr. Obama, if this is what we get:

Arne Duncan saying he wants to be "a catalyst for the development of national academic standards."

What happened to local control, community involvement, and autonomy?

What comes out of this article is that Arne and the Obama administration are pursuing "more of the same failed bush administration policies" to fix education. By the way does my quoted rhetoric sound familiar to you? If it does, it's because that's the rhetoric Obama used to call McCain the same as Bush in the election. Irony.

What's really dissapointing is the cheer-leading sils on the so-called progressive left that just love president Obama's plan.

The Center for American Progress: " 'They’re putting money and ideas behind what they think are the changes needed in public education,” Ms. Brown said. 'That signals their seriousness about major reform.' "

Randi Weingarten, of the so-called stick in the mud unions said she would "give the new administration the benefit of the doubt". The unions rocked it for Obama in the campaign! They should be all over his ass, making sure his education plan is bold, new, and progressive, instead of boring, old, ineffective, and not good for students! Sheesh.

Congressman Sestak was on campus on Monday and he loved Obama's education plan to death.

Listen, I love Obama as much as the next guy, but we need some people to stick up to him and tell him what is what. I thought the benefit of having a moderate democrat in office was so that we could push him to the left.

The Arrogance of our Educational Leaders

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/education/04educ.html

"Mr. Fenty said he made the trip to New York to observe the “endgame” of mayoral control of public schools, a controversial governance model that New York adopted seven years ago and that Washington turned to in 2007."

As if all big cities must inevitably succumb to mayoral control.

"In another classroom, students for whom English is not a first language studied a drawing and tried to name the objects they saw — cows, birds, trees. Mr. Klein expressed approval when he noticed the children were dressed in white uniforms. “Muchas gracias,” Mr. Klein offered. “You look so beautiful! Does everyone like their uniform? So do I!”"

This sounds like some totalitarian dictator at an educational brainwashing session.

It just shocks me the way these men in charge run around town dictating the terms of the game to everybody else, as if they, and only they have the right answers. We really need to take back control from these people.

Mapping Experience

A current dilemma:

A student I tutor asked me to help her with maps. I quickly realized that her schools had dismally failed her. As a freshman in high school, she had practically no fluency with maps, georgraphy, history, or political science. She didn't know the difference between the US and the rest of the world on a map, what or where Europe really was, how many languages people spoke in different countries, etc... It seemed more like she didn't have "map language" than that she didn't know anything about these issues, but I knew that she needed to know this stuff in order to succeed in school. I quickly pulled up a world map on a computer and launched into a 90 minute survey of all of world geography in history, including the 7 continents, basic introduction to government and economics, a brief brief brief idea of colonialism, and any other pertinent interesting information I could think of.

You can imagine how problematic this was. I'm stuck. I want her to succeed in school, but I don't want to fall in to the trap of enslaving her within the dominant discourse without any sense of critical thought. I tried to show some of the ways that the "map" of the world is unjust, but with 90 minutes, I was racing to tell everything I knew about the map. I am going to keep working with her on this stuff, and any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Major Props

I want to give major props to a blog I LOVE. A fellow swarthmore alum and current teacher, Scott Storm's Pedagogy With Class is an amaaaaaazing blog on pedagogy radicalism and just good teaching. Please check it out!

http://pedagogywithclass.wordpress.com/

Data for Duncan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/education/02educ.html

Arne Duncan has said that to qualify for a second round of educational stimulus funding, schools are going to have to submit data on performance, teacher assessment, and data on student success in terms of graduation and college.

Yall are expecting a rant from me, right?

Well, actually I think this is a good thing. Of course we should be tracking and monitoring the performance of our schools and the success of our students. The thing to be worried about is what data is collecting and how is it being used. If data on struggling schools is used to shut them down, shuttle their students to privates, and take their funding away, that is B.A.D., BAD. But there is no reason why the government should throw away taxpayer's money without seeing any critical reflection on the part of administrators, politicians, and stakeholders on the ground.

Mais Quoi?

Ummmmm?


"Staff at a high school in the US state of Texas had students settle their differences by fighting inside a steel cage, a local newspaper has reported." - BBC

Diversity Conversations Lacking in Our Schools

Attended a talk today by Anita Chikkatur. Ms. Chikkatur is an alum of Swarthmore and is pursuing her Ph.D at UPenn while teaching at Carleton college. Ms. Chikkatur's talk was called Difference Matters: invisible and incomplete narratives about race, America, and inequality at a diverse, urban public high school.

The talk focused on the ways the high school failed to adequately address the issues of race class and gender clearly present at a diverse urban school. Chikkatur's research and talk focused mainly on the teaching of an African-American history class, which was interpreted as a way for the school to diversify its curriculum. The teacher, however, was ill equipped to teach the class as she had not studied African-American history and did not feel comfortable discussing race.

Here are a couple of Chikkatur's findings that I find most provocative:

Diverse schools should offer opportunities for students to discuss and critique race class gender and sexuality and critique systems of oppression in the US.

Schools right now often ignore the two "foundational holocausts" of the formation of the US: the genocide of the Native American people's land and lives, and the enslavement and transfer of Africans to American soil to drive the nascent American economy.

I certainly agree that diverse schools need to do more to get their students talking about what is going on in their schools and how that reflects forces and systems in the wider society. I know, from having attended diverse high schools in Atlanta and Cleveland where practically no attempt was made to address diversity, that this can have disastrous consequences for students of all backgrounds.

I was also interested by Chikkatur's insistence on a hierarchy of oppression, arguing that the Eastern European immigrant experience and the hardships experienced by that community can not be compared with those of the enslaved African peoples.

I wonder if we can come up with a way of talking about oppression and domination that doesn't equate oppressions that are obviously difference in scope and effect and yet doesn't denigrate the real experiences of people, communities, and histories.

Some great commentary on recent issues by Gerald Bracey and Pedro Noguera

Spent some time skimming blogs for good commentary on Obama's ed speech.

This one, from Gerald Bracey on the Huffington Post, is great.
Gerald Bracey: On Education, Obama Blows It, Part II

Posted using ShareThis

Favorite line:

"I voted for Obama. I canvassed for him. I registered voters for him. But on education, he has yet to hit the basket. Diane Ravitch, never once called a bleeding-hear liberal and assistant secretary of education for George H. W. Bush, recently said that, from what she's seen, Obama is a third term for George W. Bush and Arne Duncan is Margaret Spellings in drag. She was not doling out compliments to either man. (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2009/02/is_arne_duncan_really_margaret.html."

Pedro Noguera's is great as well.

Favorite Line:

"The most successful charter schools -- and let's be clear, not all charters are successful -- have demonstrated that increased autonomy, combined with site-based decision-making over the use of resources, can sometimes contribute to greater effectiveness. There is no reason why similar strategies cannot be deployed in regular public schools."

Obama on Education

Obama finally made a policy speech on education today. From the Washington Post, New York Times, and Education Week coverage of the speech a few things are clear.

Barack Obama cares about our children and their eduction. And for that we should be very grateful. These are not the Bush years, where pure cynicism and business interests were the rule of the day. Bush did not care about children or their education. He simply cared about pushing for the reforms that would benefit his friends in the business-style reform industry.

According to the white house website, Obama supports:

1) "Investing in early childhood initiatives" like Head Start;

2) "Encouraging better standards and assessments" by focusing on testing itineraries that better fit our kids and the world they live in;

3) "Recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers" by giving incentives for a new generation of teachers and for new levels of excellence from all of our teachers.

4) "Promoting innovation and excellence in America’s schools" by supporting charter schools, reforming the school calendar and the structure of the school day.

My Responses:

Much of Obama's rhetoric on education has stressed the need for America to be the best. Echoing jingoistic , conservative ideology of the Reagan years and the anti-Russian 50's and 60's before them, Obama is rehearsing a kind of America is best exceptionalism that we need to get away from. We live in an interdependent, globalized world. What we need is for every student to be educated to the best of their ability and in a way that allows them to be critical actors within the world in which they exist. Why is the level of education in Africa not as important as that our students score better on tests than Chinese ones? What we don't need is a kind of test-driven arms race between the students of the United States and China? What does that accomplish? Who wins? And what to they win? A medal?

The four pillars:

1) okay, all good people in education support early childhood initiatives, no controversy there, good move Barry.

2) Now, this one is complicated. It all depends on the specifics of how these policices play out. If by "testing itineraries that better fit our kids and the world they live in," we are talking about culturally relevant pedagogy that accoutns for race class gender sexuality literacy and locale, then I'm totally down. If we are talking about alternative assesment strategies like portfolios and teacher assesment, then I am oh, so down. But if we are talking about simply tweaking tests, then, yes, okay, do what the research says, but I am not so down. We have established that testing is detrimental to students' education and students' self concept. Why are we rushing to continue the same test-based reform ideology of the Republicans?

3) Again, sounds great right? This third pillar has some really good things and some not so good ones. The idea of creating a teaching corps, creating new incentives and routes to recruitment is all great. The more the merrier. Let's make sure they get the training they need, but seriously this is all awesome.

Now the problem I have, and it is a big one, is a merit-pay based system, which is essentially what Obama is proposing, and by the way he has indicated his willingness to go up agains teachers' unions, the very ones that worked their buts off to get him elected, to push through this reform. Under a merit based system, outstanding teachers could get paid much more. Now since I plan on being an amazing teacher, this sounds great to me! Right?

But think about this. Imagine two rubrics under which performance could be measured:

1. Standardized testing. If raises are linked to score increases on tests, then this could encourage cheating by teachers at the worst and an even more dreary test-driven slave master approach at the best.

2. Selection or assesment by superiors. Imagine school politics. How in the world could this be done effectively without encouraging favoritism?

Obama says we need to find a way to move bad teachers out of the classroom. I agree. But how are we defining bad teachers? Who gets to define it? What happens when a teacher who is pursuing a politically unorthodox curriculum that stimulates his students but offends his superiors is characterized as "ineffective"? That's why the tenure system we have is crucial.

4. Okay, the school calendar thing I'm not really going to touch. I don't know enough about it. Charters. Charters. Charters.

Positive aspects of charters:

1. sometimes they work.
2. sometimes really cool charters get created, like all black afrocentric curriculum charters.
3. having a self-concious mission can often create results.

Negative aspects:

1. they skim the best students and resources away from the surrounding schools, moving the cream of the crop away to islands of excellence (a phrase obama used). But EVERY student deserves excellence.

2. they often use recruitment policies to keep out special ed students and students with behavioral problems.

3. they are notoriously unstable and can have their charter revoked at any time, effectively ending all the work and promise that created the charter and put the students their in the first place.

4. they are often a site for pofit seeking, business interest, direct-instruction education types to pursue their goals.

We should learn from the positive aspects of succesful charters and incorporate those into our system of education. but Charters are by nature provisional and therefore can never be a long term solution to the woes of our education system.

Which brings me to my strongest criticism of Arne Duncan and Obama:

They have no systematic, comprehensive, long-term vision of a succesful school system. They piece meal embrace policy solutions that may or may not work. What we need is VISION.

Bush and the Republicans. They had a vision. It was evil. But at least they had one. That is what we need from Obama. And I'm afraid we will be waiting for quite some time.

Personal Attention

I was checking out this article on the experience.com education site... Interesting that the public school teachers say they only spend 4 % of their time giving personal attention to students! How can we fix this?

Powershift

(Youth educating youth at Powershift...)

This weekend I attended a unique educational opportunity. The conference Powershift.

The conference brought 12,000 youth climate activists from all over the country to build the movement to end the climate crisis and lobby congress for change. There were panels, presentations, workshops, films, a career fair, grad school fair, lobbying training, and lobby day on Monday.

For my part, I opted to train participants in the ins and outs of Lobbying. The training was put together by Wellstone Action. These types of training programs, outside the standard curriculum of colleges and high schools are so powerful, that they tempt me to seek a career doing workshops and trainings rather than a career within the imprisoning halls of a high school. We shall see.

Some provocative questions stay with me whenever I go to conferences like this. What happens when you bring together are large amount of people around a specific issue, who may have very different ideas of what change needs to be made or how to make it. Thinking specifically about Powershift, what happens when the participants (and remember the whole idea of the conference is about empowerment) shift the power away from the organizers and come up with their own agendas? For example, a brilliant young woman fiercely questioned the environmental advocates who led our legislative briefing questions, saying the platform we were asking for was not bold enough to stop the most catastrophic effects of climate change. What happens when conference participants on their own organize direct action tactics that were not sanctioned or organized by the conference?

Furthermore, one of the major goals of powershift was social justice, equality, and dismantling of opression within the movement. To that end, there was strong representations of oppressed commnities at the conference, African-American youth from ecocnomically depressed areas, Native American reservation youth, to name two examples. But what was to stop the dynamic of having a mostly white participant body from continuing oppression. The occasional workshop on race or class privelege or dismantling oppression would most likely only be attended by people who are already allies. Even more, on the lobby day, where it would certainly be possible to have groups of 60 people meeting with 1 congressperson for 10 minutes, and factual knowledge and appropriate political discourse is prized, who is given voice, who takes voice, and what does this mean?

To learn morea bout the organizations involved with powershift check out:
Green For All-- pushing for "green the ghetto"...aka Van Jones
Energy Action Coalition--Youth led coalition of climate activist organizations
Sierra Student Coalition-Student run arm of the Sierra Club
National Wildlife Federation--one of the oldest conservaqtion orgs in the US

Literacy Lecture

Last night I went to a lecture. Here is the description: 

The Language of Schooling and Academic Success

    Louise Wilkenson     
Distinguished Professor of Education, Psychology, and Communication Sciences at Syracuse University
7:30 p.m. Science Center 109

Students in the United States must develop proficiency in English that 
is sufficient to meet the increasingly complex academic discourse 
requirements of American schooling.  Students' school achievement 
depends upon their being proficient in academic language, which is the 
language of classroom instruction and of textbooks.  This presentation 
will describe the sociocultural and linguistic components that define 
academic language proficiency, including the academic discourse 
requirements of schooling. Implications for teaching students whose 
first language is not English, as well as effective classroom teaching 
in general will be addressed.

The speaker basically argued that English Language Learners are often able to learn English well enough for social interaction and to Read for Pronunciation... so they can read out loud something to you, but NOT for Comprehension, so they wouldn't be able to tell you what they read or understand it. She says that this will have drastic consequences against their academic success and so individualized action should be taken to help them. 

She cited the concept of different tiers of words. 

Tier 1: common general words: baby, daddy, etc.

Tier 2: more academic, words

Tier 3: esoteric contexutualized words

She submitted that elementary teachers need to explicitly teach these tier 2 words as early as possible.

While Dr. Wilkenson and her colleagues clearly have good intentions and are working towards something that they think will be beneficial to the communities they have described---English Language Learners (those students for whom English is not their first language)---it definitely reeked of cultural defitism. There is something WRONG with these students that NEEDS to be fixed. And we, the wise educational researchers know exactly how to FIX them. We will fix them, integrate them into the system,  mainstream them, and take away their differences. It is the subtractive schooling that Valenzuela writes about (citation will come). Take away from them all the strengths they have: their native language, home culture, identity; create a deficit for them, identify them as in trouble; and figure out how to subtract their otherness in order to make them just like everyone else.

Look, of course she is right that somebody who cannot perform in writing the way that somebody from a literate, middle or upper middle class family would is going to have trouble in school and be punished academically for it. But that to my mind identifies a problem WITHIN SCHOOLS, not within the student. Are we going to change the student to fit the institution or can we change the institution to recognize the strengths of the student? 

I am attending the following lecture tomorrow and will report!

Thursday, February 19th  
The Black Struggle for Education: Civil Rights, Community Activism, and 
Parental Choice.
4:30 p.m. Science Center 101

Moderator: Cheryl Jones-Walker, Visiting Assistant Professor of Black Studies and Educational Studies

Panelists:  Professor Dionne Danns, Education, Leadership and Policy Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington; Isaac Ewell, Director of the Gates Small Schools Project, and a board member of the Black Alliance for Educational Options; and Professor David Stovall, Education 

For the Love of the Art

I was browsing the experience.com education website and read their most recent article:

Will you love teaching ?

The article asks teachers what they love about the job and then lists their responses:

1. The Students

2. Responsibility

3. Creative Work

4. Summers Off 

5.Other Faculty

6. Variety

While I certainly agree with "the students," "creative work," and "other faculty," I thought of some other reasons why I want to get into the field. 

Social Justice 

This can be viewed from two lenses. 1- Highly qualified and critical teachers are not being employed in large numbers in poor communities of color. Attempting to correct this disparity on an individual level is one motivation. 

Then there is also the idea of trying to help students develop critical lenses with which to analyze and critique society in a way that leads to an understanding of institutional injustices and curricular forms of oppression. Furthermore, a radical teacher might be able to work with students on activist projects towards justice and liberation. 

Teaching What You Love

I can't get away from this. I love books. I love reading. I love the stories. The conflicts. The characters. The writer's vision. There is a sense in which a good teacher should want to teach because they truly love the work of the domain they are teaching. 

Public Service 

I have to admit, I also am on the public service kick. As a teacher you are employed by the state to hopefully help transition youth into critical and actualized members of society, who are productive members of your community. 

I would love it if you all would write in what it is attracts you about education!

Love and Solidarity, 

Marc Engel 

Some organizations I think are cool!

These are awesome people on the ground trying to make praxis: turning theory into reality!

Ed Liberation

New York Collective of Radical Educators

USSA

These organizations are a great resource for those working as teachers but wanting to do more to implement their radical values. Sometimes it can be hard to get past the nitty gritty of working all day just to keep your kids under control, make lesson plans, and stay on top of everything not to mention, figuring out how you are going to overthrow the system! These organizations do lots of events, dialogs, campaigns, and organizing to keep you in touch with youth, and to keep you in the movement!

Love and Solidarity, 

Marc Engel

Opportunities? for Aspiring Teachers

Hello faithful readers...it turns out during this week I've been a less than faithful leader. Swarthmore college turned up the heat on me with presentations on Fyodor Dostoevsky and Shakespearean plays. Wow, there is so much going on out there in education right now I don't even know where to start. But I think I'll begin with what is going on in my life, education wise. College students all across the country right now are trying to finalize their summer plans, and so am I. We education majors often look to organizations that could give us some hands on teaching experience before doing the real thing. Probably the one most well known summer teaching opportunity is

Breakthrough Collaborative: http://www.breakthroughcollaborative.org/

The students Breakthrough recruits are mostly students of color from low-income communities. The program uses a multi-year process and youth teachers to give these students guidance and instruction to keep them on track for college.

some other summer teaching programs that people do are CTY- Center for Talented Youth
http://cty.jhu.edu/

The catch? Well, you only get a 1000 dollar "living expenses" stipend for the 6 week program. I don't know about you, but for 1000 dollars don't go very far for rent, food, transportation, etc... The other thing is that it is only a 6-week program. So for folks looking to take care of a sizable chunk of their summer, this doesn't help either. The other downside is that the application is relatively involved and competitive. One has to write up lesson plans, activities, come up with three references, do several interviews. And who at top colleges has time to do all of that?

While we are on the topic of applications, there are a few other programs I would like to discuss with you all. Several college grads at my school decide last second that education might be a good career path to them. They haven't done any of the coursework to get a license to teach. Enter Teach for America and the various teachers' fellows programs. Teach for American offers basically a Peace Corps model teaching experience for graduating college students or adult career changers; you get a crash course (and I think its important to emphasize the abbreviated nature of this crash course) in education during the summer, some short student teaching experience, and then you are in the classroom to start teaching. The advantages are that you only have a 2-year commitment, you get your certification to teach and a Master's degree practically for free (big plus, for people like me it could cost anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 to get a master's), and a guaranteed salary. Programs like Philadelphia Teachers Fellows, Washington DC Teacher's fellows, and the biggest most sought after one: New York City Teacher's fellows, all have similar systems and perks.

Okay, sounds great right? Here are my problems with these programs.

1. They don't look for EDUCATION students! I know, it sounds crazy. But honestly, these programs will disqualify you if you've studied education too much. Because they want a blank slate, where they can pump you full of their philosophy and their style, and get you to teach according to their goals. Furthermore, and this does make some sense, they are looking to attract people who weren't going to go into education. The downside, is that it reserves the rewards away from the people who have always been committed to making a difference in education.

2. Very, very little training. Schools that TFA and teachers fellows put teachers in are the hardest, most difficult places to teach in. They are riddled with problems, don't have a high level of institutional support, and have great and deserving, but very tough kids. Sending idealistic college students, who (statistically) most likely came from a white, middle or upper middle class background, into these classrooms with little training or support doesn't seem to help anyone. Neither the teachers, nor the Students.

3. Doesn't encourage lifelong teachers. TFA's 2-year commitment seems to encourage people to do the program for 2 years, then go to med school, or whatever other prestigious career they had in mind. There isn't an emphasis on selecting, training, encouraging, and building a corps of dedicated teachers who want to stay in the system for life.

And of course, these programs do little to address the institutional and structural problems facing our nation's schools. After all, TFA's website boldly states that educational inequality is our nation's greatest injustice....so what is TFA doing about inequal funding policy?

Finally, and after this I will get off of my soapbox, these programs are fully complicit with the corporatist, standardized testing, frenzy that has been killing our schools since the 90s. Rather than working on alternative ways to assess student learning so that they can actually learn something rather than how to take a test, these programs pump more teachers into the field who's number 1 goal is a number on a test. We have to understand that this entire movement, while it may have SUPPORTERS from a diverse group people, the KEY INTERESTS in the movement are those businesses that stand to profit the most: the testing industry, and the privatized education industry.


So choose wisely fellow teachers and stay true to your critical principles!

Love and Solidarity,
Marc Engel

Regime Change

An old president leaves office, a new one takes the oath. An old blogger retires his post, a new one begins hammering the keys. 

My name is Marc Engel and I will be sharing with you my hopes and aspirations, anxieties and insecurities, rantings and treatises, all in good blogging taste of course. I'm taking over for a dear friend Evan Nesterak, and we all know he did a wonderful job. I will do my best to live up to his standard. 

I am interested and committed to many terms in Education: Critical Multiculturalism, Critical Pedagogy, Radical Education...that is education which is antiracist, antisexist, and anticapitalist. 

I will try my best to flesh out some of these concepts as I myself struggle through them...their ideology, their theory, and that ever elusive praxis....the taking of theory and putting it into action. 

Of course, there is also the practical side. Bills gotta get paid folks...Getting certified to teach, taking tests, licenses, states, finding a job, interviewing, etc... All that wonderful career-ey stuff will be here.

Because I am an idealistic college senior who wants to teach English literature in a subversive way, join the movement to reform education in our country in a JUST and RADICAL way, but of course have enough dough for challah and hummus. 

That's all for now, but expect more throughout the week.

Love and Solidarity, 

Marc Nathan Engel 

Education and the Future

Thank You Experience.com
I have had the pleasure to blog for experience.com for the past summer and fall semester. I would like to thank them for the opportunity to share my thoughts about education and life. Blogging has definitely been an educational experience in its own right, and I hope, as I have learned from it, others have learned or at least thought about the words I put forth.

Education: the Past and the Future
There are a few ideas that seem to permeate many of my posts. First, appreciate education in its own right. Find a topic, an idea and pursue it; not because of its payoff, not because others tell you you should do it, not because somehow you feel like you have to do it. Find something that gives you joy, where you need no motivation, an idea that occupies your mind no matter what you're doing. If you follow your heart, because that is really what you're doing, you will find a way to make use of your love, you will be happy, and the world will be a better place; because when you are passionate that passion grows. Lead by example and lead with your heart.

Second, pursue education inside and outside of the classroom. From early education through college and beyond. I often feel a strict curriculum can be detrimental to real learning. Sure, by the end of the year students can regurgitate facts and figures, but what have they really learned? We must teach students how to think about and approach different issues and problems. Take the environmental problem for example, what good is a student who knows how severe the problem is, without being able to propose a solution?

I have gone to public school, parochial school, and an all boys private school. My K-12 education happened in 4 states. I have had a pretty ranging experience and I must say that when I really felt I was learning was when I was challenged to think about issues, not just remember facts that I forget as soon as I turned in the test. I knew I was learning when I found myself applying what I had already learned to a new task. We must focus on fostering this type of growth in our students.

On the college level, I feel it is very easy to get into the rhythm of classes and feel like we are learning so much. We are learning a lot, but let us not forget that people are writing about our various topics of study for a purpose; to teach us about something about life, to convey to us a thought or feeling that will affect how we view the world. So, instead of being satisfied with what we learn in the classroom, we must apply that to our lives. I urge every student to become involved in a group or cause through which you can apply what you've learned. The two forms of learning will grow upon one another, until you see no difference between learning for in college and learning for life. You will know when you reach this point, it will be a feeling of warmth and invigoration. A happiness about life and what it can offer. The following quote from a Zen Buddhist Text:

"The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play,
his labor and his leisure,
his mind and his body,
his education and his recreation,
his love and his religion.
He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does,
leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him he is always doing both."




Education for all
The opportunity to learn and grow intellectually and morally should be available to all. With the current financial situation it is becoming more and more difficult to afford higher education. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer discusses that it is not a lack of motivation, but a lack of opportunity that prevent people from pursuing higher education.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081212_Helping_more_students_afford_higher_education.html

At Swarthmore, there have been discussions of affordability and opportunity wound deeply within issues of class, and race. There is not an easy solution to the cost issue, but that doesn't mean nothing can be done. We must do everything we can to provide opportunity to those who may see it slipping away day by day as tuition increases. I urge you to read the the discussion of the issue by students themselves in Swarthmore newspaper "The Phoenix." (Debate over financial aid policy intensifies)

The question we must ask ourselves:

Is education a RIGHT or a PRIVILEGE?

I believe education is a right, and just because someone's parents happen to have more more than another's shouldn't prevent someone form going to college. After all, did any of us choose to be born? We had no part in the matter, so by shear luck we are alive and were born. And we did not choose to be born anymore than we chose into what situation to be born. So why let arbitrary chance decide who gets what in education?

Well, some may say as a society we have limited resources, and unfortunately these resources cost money; so those who can pay will, and those who can't---we will either help through aid, or they will not get the chance at a higher education. But why must we choose who gets what in education?

The Iraq War costs billions and billions of dollars. Why send so much on destruction, when we can construct an unparalleled education infrastructure here in the US. The website www.nationalpriorities.org has a place where you can see the trade offs between the war in Iraq and other more productive uses of our tax dollars. (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs)

National Priorities
"Taxpayers in the United States will pay $656.1 billion for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

193,370,980 People with Health Care for One Year OR

679,232,570 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR

14,170,626 Public Safety Officers for One year OR

11,251,447 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR

101,437,848 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR

5,103,740 Affordable Housing Units OR

289,177,337 Children with Health Care for One Year OR

90,037,052 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR

10,777,823 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR

9,479,502 Port Container Inspectors for One year"

So let us live life with the purpose to learn and foster learning in others. Learning is progress, learning is change. There is so much we can offer to the world let us realize our potential as we help others realize their's. I repeat one of my favorite quotes:

"If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel together"

-African Proverb

Change.gov

Participation and Change.gov
The November 11th Democracy Now episode emphasized the importance of the people's, the masses', participation in government. We must show Barack Obama and Joe Biden what we value what we care about, and we must realize that even though the election is over, our task if far from completion. Obama and Biden were elected because of the strength, effort, and will of the people. We must now help them enact the change we hoped for by selecting them. It is not over it is just beginning.

There are many ways to show Obama and Biden what vision we, as Americans, have for our country and our people. But I want to alert people's attention to the website Change.gov. It is the website of Obama, Biden and their tranistion team. Here you can submit ideas, view policies in action, with video. This is groundbreaking and the transparency is like never before. But efforts like this from Obama and Biden mean nothing if we as citizens don't use them. So I encourage all to go to the site, submit ideas, and participate in your future. This is an opportunity not many others have in the world, it is a priviledge. Let us make the best of it.

Lastly, for those of us in education this is a chance for us to starting changing the education system for the better. I hope that teachers who see the possibility for change, will use this opportunity to share their ideas and opinions. For the teachers who day in and day out see education in America become more standardized and less thought provoking. More rote memory and less thinking. Change is now. Get your message to the President-elect, and get your message to others. Furthermore, ask your students to get on the website. Get them thinking critcally about the issues and get them to take action. This is how we will build the America we all dream of, through active and constructive participation of many. Because we must work as one to get where we hope to go. I will end with and African Proverb: "If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to far, travel together."

"A house built by slaves"

The White House
"A house built by slaves"
It was extremely moving to see the Obama's visiting their future home, The White House, a house built by slaves. Yesterday on the independent radio/tv news program Democracy Now, Alice Walker read her open letter to Barack Obama. Alice Walker was the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize. She won the award for her work The Color Purple. Walker exudes a calming wisdom as she reads her eloquent and powerful prose.

I suggest that everybody take a few minutes and listen to Walker's words. They are profound and capture some of the magnitude and hope of this historic moment.

Click the link below for the entire show from Tuesday November 11th. I reccommend watching the entire episode, however for just the Walker portion, go to minute 9:56 and watch from there.

Enjoy!
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2008/11/11

And please leave your thoughts and comments about the clip, the election in general, or any other thoughts you may be inspired to leave.

"Work Hard. Be Nice."

As a senior at Swarthmore, I have to decide on my future. What to do, where to go? Right now it's all up in the air. My friend, Chris, who is thinking about applying for Teach For America sent me this video about KIPP Schools.

The schools are inspirational, and utilize alternative instruction methods to empower youth with a solid education. Watch the profile of KIPP schools on Oprah below. It will make you understand how essential education is to an individual, because of how it makes the child feel. Hopefully with the new Presidency education can help all. (The only link to the video is through facebook, so you must have an account to see the video).

http://www.kipp.org

The video:
http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/video/video.php?v=1049580592849

The Benefits and Burden of Academia- The Writer-Professor

The past two posts have focused on how there may be too much catering to the current view and understanding and not enough exploration into new areas of study, utilizing the New York Times Magazine "It's all about Teaching." Also, as Barry Schwartz points out, it may be that in our market crazed society, the Universities have no choice but to meet the demands of the students. But as discussed previously, when the market encroaches into non-market sectors we lose. Though universities may be making an honest effort to accommodate students, it may not serve them as well as we intend.

Today's post discusses another article in the NY Times Magazine. The article is entitled "Those who write, Teach," by David Gessner.

The Writer-Professor
Gessner discusses his transition from a full-time writer to life as a professor. The benefits are measurable. A steady income and the benefits of health care, the chance to teach eager students, and on the whole a more stable life. But Gessner points out that a question about this transition is often left unanswered. "What exactly does all this teaching do to our writing? And what, if anything, does it mean for a country to have tenured literature?"

Gessner eloquently describes what may be lost for the person in this dual position. "There was an essential fanaticism in all their efforts (Thoreau, Dickinson, Melville), then sense of an entire life thrown into the great project of creating works of art. Even if we grant that you can be as original within the university as up in your garret, we must concede the possibility that something is lost by living a divided life. Intensity perhaps...the creation of literature requires a certain degree of monomania, and that is, at least in part, an irrational enterprise. It's hard to through your whole self into something when that self has another job."

I believe that Gessner is not alone in feeling that he lives a divided life. I feel that many of us may feel drawn towards one area of work, only to be tethered by our "obligations" to another area. Those in all levels of education may feel this tug-of-war. This dual between passion and pragmatics. How do we rectify the two?

For Gessner, as for many I believe, compromise is difficult to reach. He worries that his "own words may have grown tame along with [his] life." Later he writes, "I don't know how long I can survive in captivity...I do love teaching and recognize how lucky I am to be living for at least part of each day in the real world, but while I try to be commonsensical, lately I have begun to feel something rising up inside me."

The answer?
This internal battle is not new and the question is not an easy one to solve. I do have an answer, but it's more of a suggestion and one's own path can only come from within.

What we must realize is that we all can contribute to society, and an individual must find the area of work, where he or she contributes best. Some of us are called to teach, some of us are call to write. But we must understand that "Those who Write, Teach" as the title says. Meaning that if an individual feels he/she can educate, challenge, probe the minds best through literature they must write literature. If an individual feels they are best suited to teach in a more formal way, it is their duty to teach. After all someone must teach students the literature that is out there. If a teacher or writer decides to cross over and eventually comes back, his/her students (or readers) will be better off, because of the gained experience.

It's a dilemma, how to use our time. But all we can do is go for it for who know how long we've got.

Too much input? Part 2: An encroaching market

The following is an excerpt from the book The Costs of Living: How Market Freedom erodes the best things in Life (1994), by Swarthmore Psychology Professor Barry Schwartz.

"As this economic imperialism continues to occur, each of these domains of activity [i.e. professions such as lawyer, doctor and professional athlete] is eroded as a distinct practice; its goods are replaced by economic goods.

"Another example of this process...is education. The goal of education is to impart knowledge and develop in people the ability to think critically. Education at its best creates well-informed, responsible, concerned citizens. Education at its best is essential both for the well-being of our economy and for the well-being of our democracy. What happens to the practice of education as increasing competition among member of society for material resources leads to increasing competition for good (that is, high-paying) jobs? In response to this competition, employers keep creating new educational hurdles that must be jumped before job entry in possible. These hurdles have a profound effect on the way people view education. With education closely tied to job entry, job training, and material success, it becomes an 'investment' (literally, not metaphorically) in your future. The money spent on school is expected to be returned, with interest, later on. You start putting a dollar value on a college degree by surveying the salaries paid on the jobs to which it gives access.

"It is easy to imagine deciding whether or where to go to college by engaging in the following kind of calculations: A degree from the state university will cost $40,000. If you took that money and invested it, and entered the job market four years earlier than you otherwise would, would the interest on the investment coupled with the four extra years of earning power compensate for the higher-paying jobs forgone? If the answer to this question is yes, you don't go to college. Or perhaps the calculations might go like this: Harvard will cost $100,000, while the state university will cost $40,000. Will the job opportunities provided by a Harvard degree pay back the extra $60,000 invested? If the answer to this question is no, then you might go to college, but you won't go to Harvard.

"Once people start thinking about education in these terms--as an economic investment--it affects what they want out of education, and thus how they evaluate what they get. Suppose people stop valuing knowledge as an end to itself, or as an essential ingredient in the making of mature, responsible citizens, and start valuing it only as a means to material ends. If enough people assess their education in this way, what actually goes on in the college classroom will change. Colleges and universities will have to be sensitive to market demand; they will have to provide what students want, or the students will go elsewhere. The goal of education will shift from creating well-informed, responsible citizens to creating skilled, high-income workers. And in pursuit of that goal, the institution will change what it does. The very practice of education defined as are all practices, byt he goals that direct it, will lose its disticitiveness. It will simply become a part of the economy, an input, a cost to be factored in when the economic consequences of various possible life decisions are evaluated. To the extent that this 'economization' of education occurs (and it already has at many if not most of our universities--even the 'elite' ones), the practice of education will cease to be a counterforce to the pursuit of self-interest that governs behavior int he marketplace."

I feel this excerpt dictates what we will lose if education becomes a means to an end; if education is simply about getting a job. To take it furter--if a job is a means to an end; a job is simply about getting paid in order to by things, what are we really after in our society. It seems all our actions are a means to achieve money and the ability to buy things. Is that what we want? Are the best things in lufe those you can purchase?

Think about what you value most in life and if it can be purchased? For me things education is about the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake and we must appreciate learning for learning not just because it's going to buy is things we think we need.

Further this passage relates to the case of Annemarie Bean discussed last week. Whereas she may have contributed to the overall culture and character of her college, some students were not getting what they thought they should be getting so she was let go. Colleges and universities must be careful especially in this consumer culture, where we (mslef included) often tend to believe that we can have everything. It's not true and we must understand that our preconceived notions of what a college or a particular class is supposed to be like may not be correct. And instead of finding fault with the institution we must take a look at ourselves and ask what we are really trying to get out of college: Is it a path towards more money? Or is it about the experience of learning in an institution with others who are also there to learn and grow intellectually.

I understand that change is part of the process and colleges must change as knowledge changes but we must fully assess ourselves and the goals of our institution before we mold our higher education system as a mirror of the economic system.

Too much input?

The September 21st issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine is entitled: Teaching. The articles discuss everything from tenure, to academics at the Naval Academy, and to the dual-life as a novelist and professor.

The benefits and burden of Academia
I will first summarize the articles and then discuss how life in academia can be too comfortable for students and professors alike. What are the drawbacks to the increased freedom and stability that come from life on a college campus? On the opposite end of the spectrum, what is life like without enough choice at college?

For this post I will discuss tenure. Next, the dual life of the writer-professor. And the thrid post in this series will discuss the academic life at the Naval Academy.

Tenure: Decided by students?
This past week I received a memo requesting a written evaluation of one of my professors. The letter reads (I will refer to the Professor as DR. P):

"Dear Evan,
During the present academic year, Dr. P is being considered for reappointment and promotion to Associate Professor. Your comments on Professor P as a teacher and as a faculty member outside the classroom will be of great help to those involved in making the reappointment and promotion decisions."

Wow! My comments, my thoughts on my professor decide whether or not he/she will have a job. Tenure decisions are extremely serious. At Swarthmore, when a professor is up for reappointment, a wide range of students receive a letter just like mine. Students with high grades, medium grades, low grades; majors, minors, non-majors and non-minors. Class evaluations are also give out, but these letters are the serious ammo to be used in favor for or against a certain professor. For the most part I feel the letter request at Swarthmore is pretty good. There is a wide range of input and the content of the letter is left up to the writer, and not predermined by a stock set of questions. However, Swarthmore tenure decisions are not perfect. Just last year, after a professor was denied tenure, students started a campaign to reevaluate the tenure decision. This was a professor they loved. It just goes to show how complicated the tenure process is. And though Swarthmore's process is not perfect, I do feel it is more just than the tenure process at Wesleyan College, as dicussed in the NY Times magazine.

Author of the article "Judgment Day," Mark Oppenhiemer details the tenure process of Annemarie Bean. She was hired at her almamater Wesleyan, and was told that on her course evaluations 85% of her students must rate her course as Outstading or Good, for her to cotinue as an member of the college. Dr. Bean teaches unique classes, such as the history of minstrelsy, and is rather quirky person. But as Oppenheimer describes, Bean only receive 76% Outstanding or Good and her job was in trouble, and she was ultimately denied reappointment. She was also denied reappointment at Williams. But, what Oppenheimer finds, by looking through her course evaluations, is that most students really loved or hated her. Some found the quirks endearing, others grating. Some liked the loose structure of the class, others despised it.

(Digression: there is much research on whether studets evaluations are accurate or not. It seems to be largely dependent on the context, (marks may not be as high if given out before the final exam, or may be high if studets are given a treat while they rate the courses. For more see NY Times: Judgment Day, by Mark Oppeheimer.)

So I ask, are we losing some of the character at our colleges because some students don't rate the course outstanding, but others do?. Don't many of us choose colleges where we can learn for the sake of learning? Aren't professors like Dr. Bean the ones we go to college for?; the ones who open our minds to think about a topic in a way we didn't think could be possible.

My good friend took a course on the band the Beatles, which he loved. He did all the reading knows the stories behind the songs, some might say useless others might say fascinating. Currently, Swarthmore has a class called "Battling Against Voldemort," that was recetly featured on MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1595623/story.jhtml

Read the article and watch the video. Should quirky classes such as these be cut out fo colleges.

One must remember that college is a business, no matter how lowly of lofty the institution, colleges must make money. And who are the college catering to? The students.

Some might say this is great. The students must have more say, after all it is they who must take the course and they (and or their parents) who are paying for it. But college should be about more than what a student wants. After all, I am sure when I am 50 years old I will have a different perspective on my college experience that I do now. After all how much do 18 and 20 year old college students know? Quite a bit, I am one of them. But I haven't finished college yet, so I am not going to pretend like I know how I will remember the impact of my various courses. The President and Deans of the college must seek to mke colleges uique. They must provide niches of thought and understanding that cannot be found elsewhere.

Do we really want all our youth learning the same things in college, having the same experiences, and getting the same jobs? We are close enough to that if not there already. I hope to meet college graduates who can teach me something, I want to find people from whom I can learn. Let it be the role of the institutions, the institutions must take responsibility to provide the world with diversity of thought, creativity in ideas, and an overall way more fascinating existence.

Troy Davis and the death penalty

I want to make people aware of Troy Davis' case. Troy Davis is a death-row inmate who was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection today. Only two hours before he was scheduled to die, the US Supreme Court placed a stay on the execution. The Supreme Court is scheduled to meet on September 29th about the case.

For those unaware of Troy Davis' story, it is one that seems as if it was ripped from Hollywood. Troy Davis, an African-American, was convicted of killing white police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989. Since 1989, 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony. There is large doubt surrounding the initial conviction. People ranging from the Pope to Jimmy Carter to Susan Sarandan have pleaded with the state of Georgia to stay the execution and grant a retrial. There is no direct evidence such as DNA linking Davis to the crime. Everyone except those in power seemed to want to stay and retrial. Though all this information is out there it took the Supreme Court too long to intervene. They have know for weeks that they (The Supreme Court) were to hear the case on the 29th but Davis was to be executed on the 23rd. What took so long? I hope that those in charge of this debacle don't believe that the public will just forget the murder of an innocent man. After all would the murder of one innocent man in Troy Davis really recitfy the initial murder of police officer MacPhail? Though cliche, this is a matter of life and death and life is too precious to be rushed through an extremely fallible and often prejudice criminal justice system.

(Side note from psychology research this summer: criminal justice system was first used by a review board bake in the late 1960s. The name is similar to that of an eco-system. However, unlike an ecosystem; however, the different layers of the justice system do not seem to be self-correcting. It's more of a criminal justice assembly line: arrest--trial--jail. The different levels of departments involved with justice must look critically at the other levels, if we really want to look at the set up of justice in America as a system.)

The link below is a list of articles from ajc.com about the Troy Davis case.
http://www.ajc.com/search/search/search/UnifiedSearch?query=troy+davis&collection=site

You can also go to:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/23/race_is_everything_in_this_case
Here you can read or listen about the Troy Davis case from the program Democracy Now.

All I can ask for people to do is educate themselves on the issue. If you feel compelled to act on behalf of Troy Davis you can visit Amnesty International at:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/troy-davis-finality-over-fairness/page.do?id=1011343&n1=3&n2=28&n3=1412
or
http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

Higher Education outside of the Lecture Hall

Senior Year
This is my last year at Swarthmore. It is sad in a way, because I wish I knew as a freshman what I know now. But one cannot dwell on that for too long. It is important to understand that certain events must happen before the importance of others becomes known. My experience with extracurricular activities at Swarthmore is a prime example.

The Beginning
When I entered Swarthmore in the Fall of 2005, I came knowing that I was going to get a top-notch education in a liberal atmosphere, and that I came to play soccer. Let's just say aside from soccer, I was not really sure what my future would hold. I was unsure of my major or minor, and career ideas were all over the place.

For my first two years I like to think that I was gaining experience. It was a transitional period. A period where my experiences slowly and gradually built upon one another so that I could arrive at my present understanding of who I am and where I want to go.

During this time, I was unsure of where I was headed, but knew where I was. I was a student and an athlete, so I solidified myself academically and physically. Importantly I learned what it took to succeed in both aspects of my life. It was difficult for me to spread myself across both academics and athletics. Throughout high school and early in college I often found myself placing all my effort in one area, leaving the other wonting. My freshman and sophomore years allowed me to understand what it takes to succeed in multiple disciplines at the same time.

Little things about my life also began to change. I watched too much TV and realized it's definitely not worth the time. I realized that it is perfectly fine if I do not know all the football or soccer scores. I realized that knowing the lines from the latest "Office" was really not as important as I once thought. One of my favorite textbook quotes helped me push towards this change. "In the average home, the [television] set is on seven hours a day, with individual household members averaging three to four hours which means that someone living to age 80 would have spent a decade watching television" (Myers, 2005). I look back now and want to say, wow I watched way too much TV, I wish I had read more. But one cannot think that way. One must understand that the experience was necessary and learn from that experience.

Junior Year
Junior year was the first year when I had my academics and athletics under control and I was able to look to new opportunities. I decided to join Earthlust, the environmental group on Swarthmore's Campus. Luckily my friend Ladule was involved, which gave me the push I needed.

I eagerly, but nervously tagged along to the first meeting. This was uncharted waters for me. I was not an expert in environmental causes and I definitely felt out of place for the first few meetings. But I stuck with it. The cause was worthy (working for environmental justice in exploited parts of Philadelphia) and I felt invigorated. It was a sensation different from the soccer field or the classroom. I sensations which I now better understand after my experience this year.

Today
After a semester abroad, I came back to Swarthmore and rejoined the Earthlust and became a part of the Swarthmore Labor Action Project, who work for labor rights in various industries. One of the first meetings for the Labor group was with Swarthmore Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies Aurora Camacho de Schmidt. She discussed a project to help immigrant farm-workers in nearby Kennett Square. The farm pickers work in poor conditions, for low pay, and have an extremely difficult time organizing into a solid and cohesive labor union. Not to mention the language barrier and deportation issues that many of the immigrant workers face on a daily basis. For more info visit http://www.cata-farmworkers.org/


She said something that puts words to the feeling I get when I attend these Labor group and Earthlust meetings. She said that helping these immigrants is a chance to put one's education to the test. It is real world learning. I now realize that all the hours and all the cups of coffee that it took to finish that political science, history, psychology, or sociology readings aren't just for the sake of a grade, a simple letter on a piece of paper.

The readings we do in college are assigned to teach, invigorate and inspire. We cannot sit by and let our education be simply one of papers, problem sets, and lectures. The world has its own set of problems and because of the time we have spent studying we have the opportunity and the responsibly to put that knowledge to the test in the real world. We cannot sit idly by and let our education be passive, let us be active and utilize the education we have been so fortunate to receive.

If only I would have understood all this as a freshman... I could have been involved in so much. ...This is a dangerous line of thought.

As I alluded to earlier, I like to believe that I could not be where I am today, without the specific experiences I had in the past. In other words, I believe that the change is gradual and builds up over time. As one amasses various experiences, we find things out about ourselves and the world. After many experiences, we can better decide what is important and what we as individuals must do with our lives.

I am glad to have the opportunity to put my three years of education to the test outside of the lecture hall this year. I want to tell others that at college or at anytime, anywhere you have the opportunity to learn not only in the classroom, but out of it as well. Do not be afraid. Get involved! If there is no organization, create one! "Be the change you see in the world." -Mahatma Ghandi. You will undoubtedly have an experience that will stay with you long after your lectures notes have faded and been lost.

Back at Swarthmore

Summer is Over
Well, the summer has finally come to an end. For me, the end of summer is marked by an alarm at 515am followed by the Cooper Test, 2 miles in 12 minutes at 6am. Yes, it is preseason for the men's soccer team at Swarthmore. With 2-a-day practices, meals, and naps there is not time for much else, but I finally have a chance to reflect on my summer experience.

In California
The summer was amazing. For the first part of the summer I returned from England and started as a research assistant at Stanford. It was a time for me to experience graduate school first hand. Overall, I really enjoyed my time at Stanford. I was able to participate in experiments, run subjects through experiments I helped develop, and share interesting ideas with all the other RAs and grad students. The atmosphere was one of progress and production. There people are always thinking, driving forth with new ideas. There is also loads of pressure, but it is good pressure. It is the kind of pressure you place on yourself when you want to excel at something you love. Once I again I want to emphasize the power of the situation. Chose, drive for, apply for, and actively seek situations where you will be challenged and you will learn. There is no better place to do than than in education. Check out this article from experience.com. It outlines many ways education can help put you in a situation where you can grow and learn as you impact others. Even if you didn't graduate with an education degree, the education industry is a great place to find fresh air and fresh ideas. Experience.com: Jobs for the non-ceritified

On top of the research at Stanford, I had the opportunity to live in California with new people. I was able to explore California with them: hiking, biking, and kayaking to name a few. It was an added bonus to the internship and my time in California, and one I won't soon forget.

Christina, Shiho, and me at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

South America
After a few days driving from California to Philadelphia, I set off with my soccer team to Brasil and Argentina. Another experience to remember. From painting the day care to watching the professional matches; climbing up to Corcavado to toruing Pele's old locker room. It was an education in soccer, and South American culture. We tried yerba mate, a tea popular in Argentina and southern Brasil. We partied hard in a Sao Paolo night club. All my experience in California and especially more recently in South America has indicated to me that I have not seen or experienced enough of the world to settle down yet. I may choose to volunteer, or travel. But who knows. I have one year left at Swarthmore and a lot can change in a year.

The future
One thing I know for sure is that learning and expanding you boundaries is invaluable. Whatever you do make an conscious effort to learn something new, and connect with people. It may be hard to find in some careers, but in the education industry those two traits describe much of the careers and opportunities out there. I wish everyone luck on their paths in life and hope learning and the education industry are never too far away.

Schools Out

Classes have ended for me and it is finally time to start enjoying my summer, textbook-free. I took two summer classes that really tested my self discipline. It’s been a challenge to stay focused but I can honestly say that I am saddened to see one of my classes end.

Maybe you’ve never had a class like the one I’ve just finished. It’s the kind of class where the teacher is exceptional and the humor and expertise brought to the class by him rubbed off onto all of the students. We all became fast friends and took a difficult assignment from drab to extraordinary. In fact, we’ve even all formed a post-semester discussion board so that we can stay in touch. These types of relationships are long-lasting ones that will improve not only my classroom experience but my future career. I hope that everyone out there gets the chance to connect in a class like this at least once in their academic adventures.

We’ve all made a pact to stay in touch and now we are seeking a venue for our continued relationship. It seems that the easiest way to keep tabs on one other is to talk online, which led me to search for free message boards.

If you have had a class that you never want to see end, or just need to stay in touch with colleagues or classmates, you can follow our lead and check out one of these great friendship-assisting boards:

-www.proboards.com
-www.suddenlaunch.com
-www.aimoo.com
-www.boards2go.com

Also make sure you check out the Education Channel on Experience.com for great articles and advice!

To Argentina and Brazil

A day of painting

These past two weeks I had the opportunity to travel to Argentina and Brazil with my soccer team from Swarthmore College. It was a chance to experience the sport in places where it is more than a just a game, it is a way of life. On top of an education in soccer (and believe me we were definitely taught some things by the South America teams we played), the trip gave my team and I the chance to learn two different languages, and immerse ourselves in the culture of the various places we traveled.

One experience I especially want to highlight was our trip to an Argentinian Day Care for children who come from difficult homes. We woke up bright and early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and then drove about 45 minutes to the outskirts of Buenos Aires. We turned into a pretty impoverished residential area, and as we navigated our way in a giant charter bus through the narrow dirt streets, residents definitely sent some inquisitive looks. We arrived at the Day Care, Hogar de Dia, Jesus de Belen. We we greeted by the mom and daughter team, ages 65 and 45 respectively. They explained that about 13 years ago they had saved up enough money to buy an apartment in Beunos Aires, but had decided instead to come to the outside of town to start up the day care. The prupose of the Day Care is to provide a safe place for children, for ages up to 13, who come from homes that may have problems with violence or alcohol abuse. They provide two meals a day. They also provide education for the parents, on how to raise their children.

The surrounding neighborhood around the day care.



The Day Care center "Hogar de Dia, Jesus de Belen" with our soccer team and the children.

We painted the Dare Care center, the playground equipment, and the outside fence. Half way through the production the children who attend the center arrived and scurried around as we painted. I tried to speak some Spanish, and a few of the guys who are more fluent than me were talking to the children for ages. They joked and learned about Argentina and the children learned about the US. We ate a traditional Argentinean lunch with them, chorizo sausage, black sausage, and steak all cooked on an outdoor brick grill behind the center. After that some of the guys played soccer with the children there and it was an all around wild and fun time. The kids were asking for our autographs and made us feel like celebrities. Also, a few of the guys on the team asked for one of the children's autograph. His name was Pablo and he was a sensational soccer player. Hopefully the day care can provide him with more of a chance to excel at the sport in the future.


Some of the playground.


Andrew Hoot (far right) was in charge of the detailed painting.


Jeff Kushner and Adreas Lagos using some interesting painting techniques.


The children asking sophomore Morgan Langley for his autograph.

This trip represents how education and sport can team up to help and a community. Swarthmore College and the Men's soccer team provided me with this great opportunity to travel to another country and learn about another culture. It was an education lesson outside of the classroom and and off the soccer field. It was a time to immerse ourselves in their lives and understand even for a little while, how they lived, how they spoke, and realize how fortunate we are in the US. A person can be told a million times the conditions in which others live, but experiencing the place first hand really effects one deeply. It was an experience I will never forget.