The Tragedy in Boston

I will start off my saying that my thoughts and prayers, like many of those from thousands of people in the world, go out to the City of Boston, the runners, and all the spectators-both injured, killed, their families, and those who will forever live with the events of Monday on their minds. This senseless act serves as a reminder how fragile life is and how there are sick people in our world who seek nothing but to harm others. It is a shameful act of terrorism regardless if it is domestic or foreign.

It was heartening to hear the reports, though, of Bostonians who reached out to help. The runners who went to donate blood to help the victims. The people who were willing to house strangers who were left without housing due to the tragedy. This goes to show how wonderful people really are when faced with a crisis. We will go out to help one another. That gives one some hope in humanity in the face of inhumanity.

However, the posts from people who wish to place the tragic events of Monday 15 April 2013 as being some type of government plan to install martial law and even a dictatorship, are reprehensible. These people from the fringes of reality wish to court discord amid the acts of generosity and harmony witness in the selfless acts of those who volunteered to assist in any way they could. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Unfortunately, there are those who will listen to those deranged people as they spew out their anti-government diatribes. It is my hope that saner minds will prevail and speak out against these forces of darkness in our world.

It is also my hope that the law enforcement agencies investigating this tragedy will discover those who perpetrated this heinous crime against humanity and bring him, her, or them to justice. It does not matter whether those who committed this crime are domestic or foreign because, either way, they are sick mentally and spiritually for doing this to innocent people.

In the interim while the investigation continues, let us remain prayerful to the Creator that we trust in the goodness of humanity rather than succumb to the urges to pass blame without facts to back it up. The Creator will judge all people in time. Let us love in all times.

Standardized testing is NOT the answer

Jay B. Snyder, Author's avatarJay B Snyder, Writer

I have been thinking a great deal about education in our country lately. Much of this comes from my own experience teaching at both the middle school and high school levels, although even my experience teaching at the community college level lends itself to some of this as it is there that the results of the K-12 education comes to light. Simply put, high-stakes, standardized testing is not the answer to the problems facing education. I am not saying that standardized testing is not a valuable tool, just that it is being used in the inappropriate manner. It was never meant to be used to prevent students from graduating, nor was it meant to be used to evaluate the ability of the teacher to do their job. It was meant to be used with student grades from their classes to help teachers plan and meet the academic needs of their…

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Standardized testing is NOT the answer

I have been thinking a great deal about education in our country lately. Much of this comes from my own experience teaching at both the middle school and high school levels, although even my experience teaching at the community college level lends itself to some of this as it is there that the results of the K-12 education comes to light. Simply put, high-stakes, standardized testing is not the answer to the problems facing education. I am not saying that standardized testing is not a valuable tool, just that it is being used in the inappropriate manner. It was never meant to be used to prevent students from graduating, nor was it meant to be used to evaluate the ability of the teacher to do their job. It was meant to be used with student grades from their classes to help teachers plan and meet the academic needs of their students for the coming year. For example, a second grade student would take a standardized test in the Spring of their second grade year. When the results arrived, their current teacher would evaluate it in conjunction with the grades the student was earning in the class to determine if the student was on track with the curriculum. That information would then be sent to the teacher the student would have for their third grade year for their use in planning the curriculum for the following year.

All of this sounds pretty logical, right?

However, certain groups started thinking that standardized tests measured the overall student achievement aside from grades. Those groups then convinced politicians that standardized tests could be used instead of teacher assessments and observations to determine if students were learning. This somehow snowballed into believing that all students could learn at the same level if certain pedagogical methods were used. What this fails to take into account is that students are not the same, that is to say that they are not clones of the ideal student. Like every other human being, our students are individuals and their differences in genetics, socioeconomic backgrounds, nutrition, and meeting of other basic needs will affect their ability and motivation to learn. While the threat of being retained in a grade if they fail to pass a standardized test may work to motivate some students to learn, it will not work for all students. Based on my observations in the classroom, many students who have failed a number of times on standardized tests simply give up trying to pass them at all. When faced with the threat of not graduating, they simply stop caring and are either aged out of the educational system or quit on their own. This is a travesty in our educational system. No student is incapable of learning. They just need the right approach to learning in order to learn.

The right approach to learning is complicated to explain. In essence, it is that each student needs to be taught in a way that fits their way of learning the material. In addition to this, students need to be challenged in their learning without being intimidated by what they are learning. An example of this comes from my own experience in the classroom. I want to preface this with the caveat that it is not intended to work in every classroom because every class, even of matched ability students, does not function the same. I even needed to change the approach of what was taught to fit the needs of the class as a whole as well as each student as an individual.

I taught Advanced Placement (AP) English Language and Composition as well as an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) English III class. What I did, though, was teach the same material to both classes. I can hear the gasps from the pedagogical gurus already. How dare I take college-level work and try to teach it to “special education” students? I counter with how dare I not challenge all of my students?!? What I did was present the material to the ESE class in such a way that never told them they were learning at the college-level. More simply put, I did not tell them they were working on material that was meant for those students who were supposedly smarter than they were. I also gave them the safety net of more time to grasp the material and spent more time, in some cases, explaining the material to them more than I did with the students in the AP class. A funny thing happened, the ESE students mastered the material faster than the AP students. In some cases, the ESE students exceeded the AP students in effort and mastery of the material. It was only at the end of the year that I told the ESE students that they learned the same thing that was taught in the AP class. The look of pride on their faces, some of whom had not been proud of what they accomplished in school for years, was priceless. For many of these students, it served as their motivation to work through their senior year and graduate. Many of them also went off to college after graduation, a feat that they never thought was possible when they started their junior year with me.

Now, I will admit there was another component that these students and I had that some teachers either refuse to do or do not have the ability to master. We had a rapport with one another. I set certain ground rules with them when the year started and they followed them. I shared my thoughts and feelings with them and they with me. If a student was having a bad day, they agreed to talk about it rather than act out in my class. If they acted out, we talked about it after class. I did not, or at least tried not, to take on the role of dictator in the classroom, but rather a mentor and teacher for my students. Did I connect with all of them? No. There will always be personality conflicts between people and there were just some students who did not care or wanted to do what they thought was cool rather than learn. They were not ready to learn for a myriad of reasons and were unwilling to confront those reasons in order to prepare themselves for learning.

This leads to a related key in the education of our students, especially at the middle and high school levels. They need to learn not just the material, but about who they are in this world. Students at these levels are trying to find out who they are outside of being their parent’s child. Teachers need to help them with that as well as teach them the subject material. If you can connect the two, then so much the better. Many of our students have parents who either over-direct their lives, try to be their child’s best friend, or are absent from their lives. As teachers, we have the ability to be the authority figure they need, but also the mentor they need to navigate life. It is an awesome responsibility for teachers and some just cannot meet it.

I am not saying we need to be parents to our students, but mentors. There is a difference. We cannot push our personal, moral, or political agendas on them. What we can do is give them the freedom to express their opinions in a safe environment and help them think through why they have those opinions while exposing them to opinions opposite theirs and helping them to understand and respect why others believe differently than they.

But more about that later, I have written enough for today. Peace to all.

Treasonous Tea

We the People of the United States…. Those words that form the beginning of our Constitution almost no longer seem relevant in the governing of our country. We have, as a whole, turned our backs on self-governing and become complacent in our duty to hold our elected officials accountable to us. Instead, we have allowed them to bastardize our rights and, rather than representing us the people, they represent special interest groups and those who hold the most wealth in our county. This is a travesty and an insult to our founders and their ideal of a country governed of the people, by the people, and for the people.
For all practical purposes, the opening words of the Constitution should read something like: We the Wealthy or We the mega-corporations, or even, we the special interest groups rather than We the People. We have allowed ourselves to follow blindly the rhetorical fecal matter propounded by special interests through their purchased politicians. We have bought into the idea that the wealthy and corporate leaders have our best interests in mind as they feed their purchased politicians and media outlets with rhetoric designed to play well with the less informed or simply apathetic minds within our society. The reality of it is that those same special interests and wealthy persons have only one thing in mind—their own self-preservation and the attainment of more wealth. They tell us the dare not pay their fair share of taxes because it will stunt the economy and job growth. If the wealthy, who pay less percentagewise in taxes than the average worker, truly were in the business of job creation, then there should be no unemployment. Instead, we hear and witness their taking in record profits while there are a record number of workers who are unemployed. This is not job creation; it is the creation of more wealth for the wealthy on the backs of the poor, working, and middle classes.
What is more is that those people who we have elected to represent us rake in billions of dollars from these corporations and wealthy individuals to support their campaigns for re-election while still drawing a salary that is paid out of taxpayer dollars. So, why do we continue to allow them to draw this salary if they are not representing the people who elected them? Apathy? Ignorance? Either way, it is not right.
We the People need to organize a new revolution against the tyranny of special interest driven politicians! If our elected officials are not representing our interests and only wish to further the agenda of corporate giants and the wealthy, then we need to recall them from their offices and replace them with those who will do the will of the people. Otherwise, we are a pathetic bunch of sheep simply following the wolves to our slaughter.
The dictionary defines the word treason in three principle ways:
1. The offense of acting to overthrow one’s government or harm or kill its sovereign.
2. A violation of allegiance to one’s sovereign or to one’s state.
3. The betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.
Given the current circumstances and these definitions, then there are plenty of officials who are kowtowing to special interests and they are guilty of treason against the American people who are the foundation of our representative government. They must be impeached and replaced by people who will represent ALL people rather than a select few. We have heard news reports of these same purchased politicians make threatening references toward our President and We the People with their goals of making certain that nothing good is accomplished within our government unless their demands—that is the demands of their special interests—are met. They are holding our country hostage!
Why have they not been removed from office? The simple answer to that is that We the People have not the courage to act further than to verbally complain about their treasonous actions.
The time for words is over!
It is time for We the People to take non-violent, constitutionally sound action to remove these treasonous politicians from office! I am not calling for armed revolt, but intend for us to truly take our government back to being of the People, by the People, and for the People rather than for only a select few or for the corporate greed monsters.
It is time for We the People to hold our elected officials accountable to us rather than their corporate handlers!
It is time for We the People to stand up and stand together in solidarity to force those elected to represent us rather than allow them to continue their haughty mistreatment of our right to fair and equitable representation!
It is time for We the People to demand action from our elected officials that is in line with the betterment of our country and citizenry as a whole!
The Time is now for We the People who love our country and its freedoms to take a stand or else continue to suffer the consequences of our apathy for our generations and the generations to come!

Civil Rights Crisis being ignored

There is a civil rights crisis in America that remains unspoken. It has nothing to do with Blacks, Hispanics, or Asians. It concerns the indigenous people of America. The very people who settled here long before the first European landed on the shores of our land. The Native American people remain the most impoverished in our country and rarely do we ever hear about them. Rarely do we find campaigns waged on their behalf finding their way into mainstream media. It is almost as if they do not exist, except for old movies where they are depicted as savages or drunks. It is shameful that we allow these noble and great people to live in squalor that matches or rivals that of third world countries. They were here first. It was our ancestors who drove them from their lands, made treaties that we broke, and continue to keep them locked in a vicious cycle of poverty. They need and deserve to be heard. They need and deserve to be given the skills necessary to achieve a higher standard of living.
According to Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, 25.3 percent of Native Americans live in poverty and 29.9 percent do not have health insurance. They further state that most tribes do not have casinos or even much tourism due to their remote locations. They give a stark example of how bad it is through a reference to the Blackfoot Reservation located in Montana. Here the unemployment rate is a staggering 69 percent. That is unacceptable for a people who once lived prosperously across our country.
Aside from the location of many of the reservations that the United States Government forced upon the Native Americans being remote from urban areas where employment might be found, the problem of low high school graduation rates hinders a better life for Native Americans. According to an article from Diverse-Issues in Higher Education from 2010, “fewer than 50 percent of Native American and Alaska Native students from the Pacific and Northwest regions of the U.S. graduate from high school.” Graduation rates for Native Americans as a whole “average 46.6 percent” across our country while the graduation rate for other ethnicities in the U.S. range from a high of 77.9 percent for Asians to 50.8 percent for Hispanics (Diverse). Among the reasons given for the high dropout rate for Native Americans, according to the article, are “lack of student engagement, perceived lack of empathy among teachers, passive teaching methods, and lack of parent involvement.” These are problems that can be solved in the educational realm provided the funding exists and teachers are well trained for the needs of Native American students. This is not unlike the widespread efforts that continue to assist students who are speakers of other languages that exist in our schools. The article points out a list of strategies needed to “reduce dropout rates. These strategies include avoiding policies that demean, embarrass, harass, or alienate native students; providing opportunities for students’ involvement in their language and culture; and better preparation for educators who work with American Indians.”
Again, this is much like what educators in areas having large Hispanic or other immigrant populations already must learn and practice in order to reach their non-native students. In those situations, we have dual language classrooms in some areas and mandatory workshops on strategies needed to teach English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). In Florida where I taught, for example, all teachers need at least 60 hours of ESOL training and those teaching English/Language Arts need 300 hours in ESOL training or an ESOL endorsement on their teaching licenses. We also had many schools where the diversity of their students was celebrated through cultural activities highlighting all cultures.
Native American students should be encouraged to learn and share their native culture within their schools. There should be lessons where their cultural diversity should be integrated within the curriculum along with the diversity of the other cultures within their schools. For those Native Americans who are educated on schools located within reservations, they need teachers who are well trained in the culture of the tribe or tribes that are located within the reservation. Those teachers can then embrace that culture and utilize it to enhance the curriculum that will enhance student learning and understanding. Along with this, there needs to be more technology within Native American schools so that the students are able to master the skills necessary for them to bring jobs that are more prosperous to their communities. Native American parents need to be encouraged to get involved in their student’s education through volunteer opportunities. Native American schools need to encourage adults who lack job skills to gain them through classes geared toward their needs. The cycle of poverty that appears rampant on many reservations can be curtailed with education that is delivered in harmony with their cultural beliefs.
Along these lines, more needs to be done to address the severe poverty that grips many who live on the more remote reservations. While tribal laws can sometimes be complicated, surely there must be some way that tribal leaders and those outside the reservations can work together to come to some way to assist those living on reservations in gaining a better infrastructure both physically and technologically. In an ever-increasing global economy, being remote from urban areas should be a bridge that is easily crossed through better technology and technological skills.
Why are we as a country choosing to ignore the situation faced by many Native Americans? Part of their situation is due to our past practices in attempting to exterminate them from what were their lands in the first place; this includes forcing them onto reservation lands that were either far from their native lands or into portions of them that are distant from infrastructure that could assist them in bettering their situation. Therefore, it should fall in part onto us to help them change their circumstances for the better.
As with all of my posts to this blog, I know I do not have the all the answers to the problem. However, I do want to give some food for thought that will hopefully bring about a change for the better.

War against Christianity?

There are some people who continuously say there is a war waged by the “left” or “those liberals” against Christianity. I consider myself relatively liberal in thought and I am not at war with Christianity. Rather, I see Christianity as being probably more “liberal” than it is “conservative” when it comes down to the preaching that is attributed to Jesus. After all, he hung around with sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers and other unclean people. He preached to both Jew and Gentile. He even died, in at least the earthly part, due to the “conservative” element in both Judaism and the government wanting him dead. He told people to forgive one another and that His Father’s kingdom was accessible for all who believed in the Almighty.

Perhaps, really the “conservative” element is at war with the Almighty. Consider this, Jesus taught that we should clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and care for the widows and orphans. If this is the case, then why are there regular people and politicians in the “conservative” element who want to cut funding for welfare, head start and education, Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs that benefit everyone, especially the poor, the young, and the elderly? Would not increasing funding to those areas be more Christian in nature?

This weekend is the Christian church celebrates Palm Sunday. This is when Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowds shouting, “Hosanna.” By this time next week, those crowds were shouting to crucify Him. I think there is an element that is still shouting this. It is those who prefer to act as Christians in their words, but cannot do so in their deeds who are crucifying Jesus continually. We have elected officials who have chosen to represent the wealthy at the cost of helping the poor. These politicians have passed a budget proposal this is very unchristian in nature with its cuts to programs that help the poor, the young, and the old. It will likely not pass the Senate, which is a good thing. Now, do not get me wrong, I do not believe that one political party is more Christian than the other is. There are plenty of good Christians in every political party; however, if they truly are good Christians who have listened to the words of Jesus and actually heard them, then they should also be able to act upon those words over the din of those who offer them money to ignore the poor, the young, and the old.

Yes, it is time for the war against Christianity to end. It will end when those who profess to believe in Christ actually listen to His words and act accordingly on them rather than against them.