Doing Right - Coming Full Circle?

I watched King (Tom Brokaw's documentary on MLK) on the History Channel. I'm watching it again as I write this.

I am also reading through my feeder. Serendipity, it's called. David Warlick is returning to the basics, and Vicki Davis reminds us too. Here are their quotes:

Warlick - In response to "What is the purpose of education?"

Today, I have a new answer. My old one is still good. I’ll continue to use it. But if you ask me, “What is the purpose of education?” today, I’ll say,

The purpose of education is to make the world a better place!"

Davis - In a personal "crisis" is inspired by a quote from Tom Brokaw (yep, same one in King) on a Starbuck's cup.

It will do us little good to wire the world if we short-circuit our souls.
There is no delete button for racism, poverty or sectarian violence.
No keystroke can ever clear the air, save a river, preserve a forest.
This transformational new technology must be an extension of our hearts as well as of our minds.
The old rules still apply..."
-Tom Brokaw, American Journalist

Vicki won't mind, not sure about David, positive that King would agree...But what education needs is a revival of religious proportion.

I'm not saying teach the Bible in the schools, although I'm not saying don't. To quote King in his Letter From A Birmingham Jail:

As T. S. Eliot has said: "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

Traditionally, revivals are about encouraging people to get back to the basics, the "first love," the foundational reason for existing. Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing.

We (meaning tech-savvy teachers) have had so many distractions since the Internet entered the conversation, and especially Web 2.0 tools. We have said, "It's not about the tools; it's what the tools allow you to do." But, really, what do they truly allow us to do? We haven't answered that question except to say that we can publish, collaborate, and have others respond to our work to make us "feel good."

But what difference are we really making with these tools?

Have we influenced the minds of the Palestinians and Israelis that their 4000-year hatred of each other is affecting the world in ways that are no longer acceptable?

Have we really changed the underlying racism, poverty, and discrimination still infecting our own nation? Yes, we have an African-American inaugurated tomorrow, and statistically it is now true that a Black man is nearly as likely to become President (1 in 44 - 2.2%) than to become a Head Coach in college football (3.3%). My point, there is still a systemic discrimination.

In my own school, I have students whose families live on less than $15,000 a year with students whose families make $15,000 a month. Will these kids grow up understanding that people in our community really want it to stay that way?

Global Warming, rainforest destruction, desertification, and the like do not really concern me in the face of "Man's inhumanity to Man." It seems to me that to focus on these "environmental" issues are a way to deflect attention from the real problem of the human condition.

In order to "make the world a better place" it must be done by changing the hearts of people, and how they treat each other. Remember, we do not teach subjects - we teach children.

From MLK's speech after the "Mississippi Burning" deaths of three young men trying to register Blacks to vote:

It is not WHO killed them, but WHAT. And in a strange sense, when we discover that, we find that it affects all of us in a deep way.

It still does affect us all. It is not who is killing whom. It is not who is keeping opportunities from our students (by "standardizing," "testing," and "dictating" curriculum), but WHAT is it behind the decisions made to require this standardization. Is it to maintain a permanent underclass by taking away the dreams of the young and making everyone who goes through public education "equally" unprepared?

Sir Ken Robinson has said that public education systematically removes the creativity of the children.

I say public schools are in the business of stealing dreams.

Until we have enough teachers (the overwhelming majority of whom were educated in the public schools and colleges) who realize that they have been duped into becoming dream-stealers we may not truly Overcome.

I have a Dream - that we shall Overcome - That we shall overcome the tyranny of public education - That we shall overcome the hesitancy to do right for the right reason - That we shall overcome the fear that we could be dismissed for low test scores - that we develop the courage it takes to be a real teacher for our students. Yes, I have a Dream today.

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The Math & Science Masters Golf Tournament

It was a slow day...a very slow day for me. Spring Break is this week, so I didn't really choose to do anything this afternoon. I watched The Masters.

It must have been sponsored by the Math & Science Departments. Phil Mickelson and his wife, Amy, have partnered with ExxonMobil to help elementary school teachers inspire their students to become scientists and engineers...presumably to help his swing and provide him with equipment to improve his game.

Anyway, as I watched the nearly 30 commercial spots, I was reminded how we compartmentalize our lives. It's always this OR that rather than this AND that. I can tell I am about to go back to the Social Studies classroom because I am beginning to filter things through social studies eyes again.

You see, I am cautious about any scientific and mathematical advances in the 21st century. Why? Because without the foundation of treating people right, scientists and mathematicians will create something that some will use to take advantage of others. Invent TNT to blow holes through mountains, and someone without a social conscience will use it to blow up people. Discover how to split the atom, and someone will use it to blow up a city or two. Invent the internet, and someone will write a virus to annihilate someone's PC.

I jest only slightly. We teach things in compartments, and social responsibility to mankind appears to me to be missing. We will protect birds, whales, reptiles, icebergs, and air. But when it comes to "an ecology of the human spirit" (Sir Ken Robinson, TEDTalk, 2006 - minutes 18-20) we do not give enough attention to the genocide that occurs around the world (Darfur, Rwanda, Cambodia, Nanking, etc. click here). Science has surely discovered ways to feed the world, but people hoard the food or distribute it only as a means to control the lives of people.

It is much like the argument of filtering the internet at schools vs. teaching responsible use of the tool. Until adults demonstrate ethical use of the tool, students are left to their own devices to learn them independently...which will lead to bad judgment and poor decisions.

Am I against the Mickelson Foundation? Absolutely not. But we have to include the human condition in the equation at some point. Don't we?

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