pedanticwunderkabinett-blog

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Betsy Devos really doesn’t give a s*** about education or what people have given up to attain it. 

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What kind of education blog would this be without addressing the recent college scandal (the one where Lori Laughlin (Aunt Becky) and Felicity Huffman (actor from Desperate Housewives and TransAmerica) essentially paid for their children to get into the colleges of their choice)? 

There are a number of different perspectives here, and thanks to platforms like twitter, we’ve gotten quite a flood of them. 

One corner of the internet says that there were/are more socially acceptable approaches to this bribery: donate, buy a building, build a wing or a library. Then there are those who say these students already have a leg up with parents capable and willing to pay for their children to receive extra instruction to do well on tests. Or even send their children to “better” schools that gear them up for college applications, tests, and interviews. 

While I agree with these takes on the problems with this scandal, I think there’s a larger issue that needs to be addressed here, and that’s what we associate with college. Olivia Jade clearly has no intention of learning anything in school, but what she does want are the experiences (re: Paying for the Party) and the name of the school. She’s already successful in her chosen career path, yet she wants the party and the prestige without the work. She even goes so far, in this video, to state that she’ll go talk to the deans in order to be able to miss class for these party opportunities. The fact that she’s under the impression that these are acceptable reasons for not attending class indicate the power of money and celebrity in the academic system. 

Similarly with the names of schools in terms of money and celebrity. While I don’t necessarily believe in a higher power, it’s hard to think it’s just a coincidence that less than a month ago that Kevin Gannon, the Tattooed Prof, explained to D’Souza that it doesn’t mean shit that he comes from not Harvard or Yale. 

In short, we, at least in America, have this idea that just because someone went to a “better” school that they are more intelligent and will come out more capable. This idea simply isn’t true. Students with different talents, abilities, backgrounds, abilities, and financial means attend every school. This view that one name is better than another is predicated on a system of elitism and defeats the purpose of getting an education, but that begs the question: Is that what college is for any more?  

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The image here is of The Little Rock 9. Although Brown v. Board was determined in 1954, this tremendous first day didn’t happen until Sept. of 1957. Selected for their academic excellence and willingness to serve as racial pioneers, the nine young students endured hostility and even violence throughout the year. In September of 1958, Little Rock closed the public schools entirely. White students attended private schools or schools outside the city, while black students were left with no school to attend. By ‘59 the Supreme Court ruled that LR must re-open public schools and continue efforts for de-segregation. 

When I teach, especially when we’re talking about style and considering vernaculars, I don’t think about Hazel Bryan’s gritted teeth...I don’t even notice her when this picture comes up. I always just see Elizabeth Eckford. What was she thinking? How did she feel? On some level, I’m sure she knew she was making history, on another, she’s a human with feelings. Was she scared? Angry? Above it? 

When I do notice Bryan, I wonder if this is how I look to my students sometimes. Of course, without meaning to. Are there moments when I discourage them and I don’t even know it (heaven knows I would never intend to), but should I hope that, if I do, if I am, that my students are angry? Should I hope that they’re above it? I do hope that they’d say something, but I can’t have them feel like they’re answering to me either. The classroom is a strange place.

What is the world my students are growing up in?  

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Journalistic Here: 

What do we owe each other? 

According to Esposito in Communitas  we owe each other and that’s why we have community. We all have this hole in us that’s capable of murder driven by our own self interests. I see his point. I think he’s right. But I don’t think his explanation is the only right one. I agree that there’s some huge gap about our purpose and meandering around in this existence that challenges us, even dares us, not to hate the Jones’s because they have nicer things, or good jobs, or can even feed their kids. (Don’t even get me started on capitalism here.) 

But maybe I’ve just given an answer to my own struggle: Community challenges us...Should we accept the challenge. 

Part of my struggle is wondering how do I create a space for my students that is outside of class struggles and beyond their own private pasts and strongly held, little understood beliefs, where they are free to ask questions and reach answers as a group, as a community? Reading Esposito says a lot about guilt (he also talks about those who are immunized from community) and potential hijacking of free-will, huh? 

But today I met this amazing woman who told me about one of her (many) projects called Humanities Amped. And the people who work on this have accepted that challenge. I asked, “How do I create a space where my students can learn but still critique the space in which they learn in a way that causes change?” And she told me about this research conference. 

This may seem like a simple artifact, and maybe it isn’t that widely known, but as educators we need these things, and, more importantly, we need these people. So, here’s your zen for the day: My struggle with one of I’m sure many truths, followed by a little ray of sunshine. 

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When we think of education we often do like to think of it as a community, a community with the potential for a vibrant, caring culture in which students (and faculty) feel safe and secure in pursuing knowledge and critically thinking together. 

The Obama Administration strengthened laws to protect victims of sexual assault on school campuses, but since Devos’s instatement as Secretary of Education their erasure has been on the table. While a number of Americans claim protecting the accused is important and is in favor of loosening these victim rights, a resounding number of citizens oppose these changes (as evidenced by this link). 

But let’s consider the statistics:

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center 1/5 women (and 1/71 men) will be raped at some point in their lives, while 1/3 women and 1/6 men will experience some form of sexual violence in their lives. The majority of these assaults and rapes are aimed at women and women of color. 

According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network), college age adults, while attending college or not, are at a 3x more risk of sexual assault or rape than women as a whole. While they claim that though women who do not attend college are at a higher risk, they take care to explain that sexual violence is more prevalent than any other crime on campuses. They state that college women are 2x more likely to be sexually assaulted than robbed. 

The counter to these statistics, as well as any number of survivor stories, can be found in this NPR episode in which educators explain that falsely or not falsely accused (male) students attempt suicide or experience suicidal ideations. Whether these ideations stem from guilt or innocence remains unclear (hence my hesitant language in this paragraph).

At the base of any educational space should be the idea of safety for our students. Make sure they’re fed. Make sure they have somewhere to sleep at night. Make sure no one will hurt them or is hurting them. Only then they can focus on learning. What else is the point of our community? But what does it mean to make sure all of our students are safe? The issue seems to be painted that we must choose one group over the other: The Accused VS The Accuser or The Perpetrator VS The Victim. Yes, innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, but it’s important to remember that many of the accused/perpetrators will never see a courtroom. Many of these accusations, at least on college campuses, will be handled internally and “convictions” may result in something as simple as suspension or community service, meanwhile the victim/survivor/accuser may be traumatized and/or have to experience further harassment from other members of the college’s community for that accusation. 

Ultimately, community does make up culture, so what do these ramifications say about our culture at large, off campus? Even Brock Turner, who did go to jail only received six months for sexually assaulting and intending to rape a woman behind a dumpster in 2016. He was released after 3 months. Judge Persky was worried that prison would have a “severe impact on him.” This decision has many wondering what about the “severe impact” on the victim? While California voters removed Persky from the bench, his decisions speak volumes about how we see sexual assault in the US. As does a recording of the US’s president exists in which he casually discusses sexually assaulting women. It surfaced before the election and he was still voted into office. 

To bring it back to the purpose of this tumblr, the question is now more complex: How do we make educational community spaces safe while they exist within this larger culture? 

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In 2008 Sec of Ed, Arne Duncan, under President Obama instated the Race to the Top for American schools. The motive here, according to Duncan, provided a sharp contrast to the George W. Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind. As Duncan states in How Schools Work, the goal with this initiative was to  reward success instead of punishing failure in schools (namely teachers). 

Comparing the last words of 2002′s NCLB to 2008′s RTT:

NCLB: And now it’s up to you, the local citizens of our great land, the compassionate, decent citizens of America, to stand up and demand high standards, and to demand that no child — not one single child in America — is left behind.

RTT: That is what I'm talking about. As Sam Cooke used to sing, a change is gonna come. Today that change has begun. Thank you, all of you, for your hard work on behalf of our nation's schoolchildren

reveals quite a bit about how these two men viewed the effort of educators at the time. One a call for people to care, the second acknowledging the work already being done in schools. 

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Ever stay up past your bedtime to watch The Golden Girls or sneak an episode of South Park? Odds are good that if you did you ran into this commercial. 

This commercial peppered my late nights in high school. But what messages did the lyrics alone send? 

1. I need to go to college or I’ll be stuck in an hourly wage job.

2. College means education which means more money.

2. An association of college and connections or being connected

3. There are options - I should find “the right” college for me

4. I can take “classes online” and get “my degree on my own time”

Overall, a whole generation of kids who couldn’t sleep and people supposedly stuck in service industry jobs (getting home later than the average 9-5 grind) got this idea of college as upward mobility. 

While this commercial will probably never end up in any meaningful annals of education in the US, it did set up hearty expectations of college essentially being about money: A student spends the money for a degree and can be considered a consumer. In order to get ahead financially one would have to spend time and money. Notice there are no mentions of self-fulfillment beyond monetary gain. Nor are there any mentions of what educational options would be for someone who “went to high school, didn’t do great.” 

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The teacher’s strike in LA reminded me of the one that happened in West Virginia in early 2018. I choose this video because they sing “Take Me Home Country Roads,” John Denver’s ode to the place that “I belong.” This aspect is important because this song suggests that not only is there a commitment to students and education when one chooses to be a teacher, but there’s also a commitment to the places in which we teach. 

This strike lasted 9 days (one in WV in March 1990 lasted 11). LA’s school system is the second largest in the country, and currently over 600,000 students and 30,000 educators are affected. The Union is demanding smaller classes sizes and more support staff. The public schools are trying to support students so they don’t go to charter schools thereby depleting more funding from public.

Surprisingly enough, this strike is happening in a blue state (and not a red state like WV), which suggests that underfunded schools are not limited by their political affiliations. Rather this issue may be one facing the US at large. 

The strike in WV in 1990 lasted 9 days. The one in early 2018 in WV lasted 11. This strike began on Monday (Jan 14th, 2019). The protesters have claimed they will strike for as long as it takes. 

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The book spinner? The original Kindle? Were we always keeping this many tabs open? What did they use instead of Redbull? 

Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla, Mexico.