Chalk One Up for Big Business

Chalk one up to propaganda!  Union workers voted for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in Tuesday's recall election.  The only conceivable reason someone would vote directly against their own interests is the result of misinformation.  I know full well that one can be frustrated with their union for its miss-steps and sometimes questionable practices, but taking away collective-bargaining will only hurt all working class people in the long run.  Our entry into the middle class income bracket is a result of the long fought battle for worker rights, fair wages, affordable health insurance, and livable pensions.  This happened through the collective action of groups that could stand toe-to-toe with their bosses.  Ignorance in a population is a beautiful thing to preserve to keep the money flowing up.

10 Years (now 11!)

It has been my hope from then until now, that we as a society begin to live, not out of fear and revenge, but with compassion, knowledge, and empathy of the other in our evermore interconnected world.  Whether we think in terms of world, country, community, or family, we need to reflect on how our actions affect others and how others actions affect us.

This has not happened, and therefore, ten years later, we are involved in four wars (two official) and are deep in a financial crisis.  The environment continues to be destroyed for our short term benefit.  We seek the shelter of religion, yet conveniently forget that compassion and forgiveness are key tenants of all the world's religions.  More people are living in fear and seeking revenge, thus fundamentalism is growing throughout the world.  Military and humanitarian efforts are odds with each other, but need not be.  The differences are stark and both efforts are mired in financial and political obligations, unmovable religious tension, resource degradation and exploitation, and the monstrous imbalance of access to money.

Take heart.  There is some beauty in movements and awareness.  There are more individuals and groups feeling empowered to question, to write, to speak, to demonstrate, and to occupy their space.  The organic, biodynamic farming, farmers markets, community-supported agriculture, and fair trade movements are pushing against big agriculture.  More countries are embracing renewable energy through innovation and incentives.  Builders are encouraged to reach goals of reduced consumption through third party certification programs.  Bike lanes are replacing car lanes in some cities.  High speed rail infrastructure is being built in many western and eastern countries.  Some big movies stars are using their fame to inform people of atrocities in far corners of the world.  A huge trove of secret information was released via the internet shedding light on indecencies perpetrated by governments throughout the world.  The World Social Forum is a counter to the World Economic Forum.  A few countries rejected structural adjustment programs pushed by the IMF.  The Arab Spring overthrew various long reigning dictators, inspiring an Occupy Movement.  Whether it's food, education, media, energy, religion, environment, human rights, conflict resolution, or whatever makes your heart beat faster and keeps you up at night pondering, we each can make a difference.

Speaking of Dreams

I had my recurring nightmare last night.  I am teaching in a completely different and destroyed classroom with every pain-in-the-butt, disruptive, academically complacent (lazy), and disrespectful student that I have had in my seven plus year tenure in Brooklyn public schools.  Most, if not all, are from my middle school teaching years; the same place that my wife still works!  My supervisor moved my classroom moments before the class began.  I now have no materials, seating plan, chalk/board markers, and, of course, not enough seat for every child.  Everyone is just coming back from lunch recess.  They are sweaty and highly energized because there was some sort of fight in the hallway.  Moments after the period starts a parade of supervisors, advisors of those supervisors, and kiss-ass teachers parades into my room to observe my lesson.  I am in a complete fog.  I can't think or see straight.  I am stumbling.  There are children throwing paper balls in the back of the classroom.  In another corner, a fight starts and, as I attempt to break-up the fight, others light up cigarettes.  Each moment I look up at the clock and time is standing still.  I can't leave until the bell rings.  Some kids just storm out, the observers are furiously writing in their logs, scowling above the rims of their glasses, whispering to each other.  Time stands still,  and I can't wake up.

This is a reoccurring dream.  In my second month of teaching, seven years ago, everything but the cigarette smoking happened.  Why I stayed, I have no idea!

PR

 Early morning runs, beach, nap, and sunsets off the balcony of a great last minute place we found in Rincon, Puerto Rico.

The NY Post

This tabloid rag is bundled and dropped at the doorstep of every school in New York City.  So generous of the company to give a "free" copy for each classroom.  The paper is full of concise and catchy headings that playfully distorts the English language, chopping words and phrases into understandable jargon that any person of a 2nd grade English language education can understand.  This clearly portrays the standard of education they really want our students to achieve.  They are always considerate enough to have a near naked woman on a full page spread just a few pages deep despite the fact that a teacher showing the same alluring picture to his/her students would result in disciplinary action.  Holding true to their conservative ideals, the writers are directed to sparingly use accurate descriptions, thought provoking and balanced commentary, or any real depth in a topic, so that none of the content can be used as a learning tool in the classroom.  And, despite the fact that 100% of adults employed in each school dedicates their working lives toward the education of the city's unimaginably diverse 1.2 million students, the Post is sure to rail against the pensions they work 30 years to receive, the middle class wages they earn, and the dwindling (but still coveted) health care coverage that so many families depend upon.  Thanks for whole heartedly supporting the political and corporate cynicism toward any public sector job and doing your part in ensuring the vast difficulties and hurdles in educating our youth are just a tad bit more difficult each day!

Fire them all!

There is no doubt the education system is in need of a profound change.  It was designed for the industrial age with bells along an assembly line (1st grade - stamp, 2nd grade- stamp).  Though it is ridiculous to blame one stakeholder in the system, but politically this is so much easier.  Obviously, parents are a huge voting block (can't go there) and administrators (now without tenure) are the "yes men" of the system happily delivering the latest fad in education, like inventive spelling.  That worked great for everyone!  My third week of public school teaching, a teacher across the hall stated that in this country education is a right, but rather should be a right and a PRIVILEGE.  This keeps parents on the hook, kids on the hook, and teachers/schools can spend much less time and money on remediation, toothless discipline, and dumbed down testing to push passing percentages.  The concept of classroom may change in this age, but no change matters if families don't need to uphold their right to what has been a wonderful opportunity for tens of millions of citizens - tax dollars used to help educate our children.

Roaring Plains

 In this newly designated wilderness region just south of Dolly Sods in West Virginia, the trails are not blazed with the colored squares bolted on selected trees or well trodden "highways".  To the untrained eye, there were no trails aside from some random ribbon tied to branches.  We became adept at looking for scuff marks on roots, broken branches, and grooves in the topsoil.  At first frustrating, then quite intriguing to think how quickly we could adapt our focus to those subtleties in just a few days, and to think that trackers or foragers of yesteryear had years to learn and study the lay of the land.  Is it a lost art form?

Shaking the City Off

We had two nights of camping.  The first was in Olympic National Park at the Sul Duc River site and the second was near Lancaster, PA.  We now have the big cabin tent for future trips.  Zachary wedges himself in the coolest corner of the tent each night worrying his always chilly mother.

Northwest Roadtrip

"Never heard of it!"

Leave no trace.  Unbelievably they still have never heard of it!  New Yorkers throw garbage in the streets; they throw it right out their car windows.  They leave garbage in their parks, like each group of people had a dire and immediate emergency giving them no time to gather the trash that they accumulated during their time enjoying the park.  Go to Coney Island on a Sunday evening of a big summer weekend.  Disgusting.  I am fairly certain that they would not have chosen the spot if it was only marginally as filthy as they left it.  Somehow, those driving their Mercedes and discarding cups out their windows enrages me more than someone in a jalopy doing the same.  I still have a false impression that having money also means having a developed social conscious.  There is no correlation.

I guess it’s a cultural thing rather than a wealth thing.  We traveled in the northwest last month.  There was very little garbage in the streets and the city parks seemed spotless.  You could lie on the grass without the worry that a broken shard of glass will slice you.  My 16-month old son could explore more freely.  We have the same mediocre public education as in Seattle, so it is not just lack of education.  The culture here in Brooklyn is basically, “Fuck you, I will get and take care of my own, someone else will clean it up,” while not realizing that they depend heavily on the city infrastructure, namely the parks and sanitation departments.  There are great playgrounds nearby, with big, new green signs saying to “pick up your trash” and broken glass and used fast food rappers at the landing of the slides in the morning.  It is the “third world” in the full context of the misnomer propped up by the media - filthy, backward, ignorant, closed-minded, and dependent. 

Upon arrival home from a trip, I often wonder why I let this be my home!

Vouchers or Communism

The other day, I happened upon a UFT rally in front of the local Senator's office a few blocks from my house.  I was headed to a bike shop to fix a busted crank, and saw a few teachers from my high school.  I stopped by to say hello.  Being insular in my classrooms throughout the school day, I only know them by face.  I asked what the rally was specifically about?  The guy (There was a man and a woman.) said something to the effect that he was attending the communist rally.  He was standing to the side making fun of it.

This struck me as odd.  For one, the ability to openly question a sitting state senator probably would not have been tolerated in any communist regime.  How does advocating for upholding the integrity of anyone's profession have anything to do with a totalitarian system that owns and controls every facet of life?  This guy is a teacher and clearly doesn't know what communism is.  I find too many people lumping communism with socialism, or really anything the government spends money on other than military and oil subsidies.

Asking further, he was all for moving to government vouchers.  I do need to do more homework on this, but initially I think defunding public education in the form of subsidies to private schools would break the unions, thus greatly decrease the protections, salaries, and benefits of all teachers.  And, because schools would need to convince parents to send kids to their schools, they would spend too much of that government money on marketing rather than education.  In addition, since the money is coming from the government, wouldn't they keep asking for more, since profit is the motive of any private company.  Where else would the money come from?  The people with the vouchers couldn't afford a private school education in the first place.  They won't pony up more cash they don't have.  Seems like the guy wants to sabotage his own profession and advocate more government spending, while further degrading our education system.  Higher tax rates taken from his lower paying teaching job could very well be an outcome.  Hopefully he doesn't get sick!

The Storm

We got snowed in the day after Christmas.  Our cars couldn't move for three days.  We spent time with the neighbors, the people we hadn't seen since the block party three months before.  We had no time deadlines.  Thankfully, we still had 4G service while shoveling!

School Daze

After a few years, public education almost numbed me into retirement.  I stopped playing guitar, journaling, skiing, surfing and studying.  With every hoop that the Board of Education threw at me, I went in cold, striving for the minimum.  They never had a bearing on being in front of a classroom, only designed by someone who never taught or was looking for a promotion.  I always felt an outsider in the system but grew comfortable with the increasing paycheck and summer vacations.  In coasting, bureaucracy (I always have to look up the spelling) finally caught up and spit me out of the system.  The manner was underhanded and disheartening.  It should and will be challenged, but it awakened me and I can now venture outside again: explore, learn, and find new experiences.



Then it took me back!  I arrived at the hearing to a preemptive deal that would restore my position with a reevaluation after one year with some questionable stipulations.  With fresh perspective and a clear set of goals, I can be an effective teacher for the time I will be working.  The job is a means to an end with the perks of a solid department to work within, and continued access to the pool and basketball courts. 

Local Economies

I am reading a fascinating investigative story, "The Snakehead" by Patrick Radden Keefe, on the Fujienese human smuggling and gang enterprises in Chinatown from the 1980's and 90's and just realized something.  We are known as a nation of immigrants and each person I have ever met in the states (except one Navajo student I had out in Utah years ago) can trace just a few generations back to ancestors from some distant land.  We expanded west.  We built the railroads.  We produced a myriad of products in factories throughout the country.  We cultivated our Great Plains.  All using the near limitless supply of cheap, immigrant labor.  We all know this.

We have such a vast country in terms of geography and ethnicity with some very lenient immigration laws, that people can come in, licitly or illicitly, and be absorbed and protected by their communities and the law. This may not be the case anymore.  There is a major shift in the last twenty to thirty years.  Many of the low paying factory jobs that abundantly hired the new arrivals have been closed down and outsourced. "Free Trade" economics is catching up to us.  Countries that have adopted the mantra are often de-stablized and atrocious working conditions force more people to leave.  Look at the Mexican border!  We do not know what to do with the extras.  Our incarceration rate and number has sky-rocketed.  Our health care system, via emergency room care (the defacto insurance plan of the poor), is an economic drain.

There are times in our history when we do not welcome immigrants all that much.  They are usually times of economic recession.  The echo chamber resonates, "if we do not have jobs, than why should someone else come to America and take them?"  One argument that I always used was to try to find a 17-year old, middle class suburbanite to work 12 hours a day doing dishes in the back of a restaurant.  Years ago, I lost a gas station job because the new owner got rid of all the high school kids and hired a group of Indian guys for half the wage and three times the hours.  Home run for the owner.  Right now, with a deep recession, we are not too fond of newcomers and kids still can not (and are not willing to) get those simple wage jobs.  They seem to say, it's alright, my mom will use her credit card with the terrible interest rate to buy me the new iphone.

The beacon light is still on.  People are still coming and I do not blame them.  Our world image is still showing that we are the place of opportunity.  This is still true, though statistically less and less a reality.  People see where their resources and goods are shipped to. If they are in a war torn region, it is better to be on the side of the bomber then be bombed.  They have communities here that can ease the transition.

We are in a bind.  The way I see it, we have some options.  We can continue with the Israeli approach, which is to build big fences along the Mexican border and continue  what we are doing and we all can buy cheap goods at the big box stores.  Or..we can create jobs here in the states and use our massive PR machine to convince people to buy local.  Communities can build out local economies.  It will not happen quickly and it may not be pleasant.  Big business will not be happy.  We depend too much on things from too far away.  The most interesting part of the tale of the Chinese community is how successful they have been at building a parallel economy right smack in the middle of New York City - legal and illegal.  How many have taken the Fung Wa bus to Washington DC?


In reference to the Israel comment, I read an interesting take on the Israel/Palestine conflict.  During the seventies and eighties, they had a lull in their conflict because the cheap labor that Palestine provided Israel, it gave a sense of normalcy.  Supply and demand.  When the Soviet Union collapsed,  there was huge influx of Russian Jews that entered Israel and took the low wage jobs.  Israel did not need the Palestine work force anymore, but did not know what to do with them.  The people from Gaza and the West Bank became restless because they lost their jobs and did not have the ability to look elsewhere.  Since then, Israel built huge walls around them and they continue to lob bombs in each direction.  The situation just worsens.  I say, "two states", so Palestine can create their own economy.

The Powerlines

My childhood neighborhood is surrounded by woods thanks to large powerlines that pass along the north and a golf course through some wooded property to the west. As has always been true, if I had free time, I would be outside rather than in. After school I would race out the front door with no intentions of returning until the streetlights turned on. At that moment, I would sprint, bike, or, for a brief time, skate back to the house for dinner dropping what ever I was doing until the next day.

There were two groups that I hung out with throughout gradeschool. The regular neighborhood crew played sports depending on the professional sports season. Basketball was on my driveway; football was generally played across the street at Billy's; hockey was played on the cul-de-sac in front of Lou's; and wiffleball eventually ended up in the Liotti's back yard with the outfield measurements posted on the far fence. When picking teams, I was always in the middle of the order never having the grit or swagger needed to be the star on the field, but never left out either, with the unfortunate exception of baseball. Byron and Chris composed of the other group. They never joined the regular games and periodically would get into fights with the neighborhood guys who were trying to display that swagger.

Byron, Chris and I would head further and further into the woods creating challenges depending on what was offered. We would collect tadpoles and attempt to raise them in an aquarium in one of the back yards. We would choose trees in close proximity with enough sway to climb one and transfer to the other at the top. Sometimes we would find one that bent enough so we could climb to the top and parachute down to the ground. We would build campfires. Once, we found a large piece of styrofoam floating in one of the ponds and sculpted it into a canoe to traverse the cold waters of late autumn. We would shimmy along the banks of the chilly water using what we could grab to keep from falling in. Sometimes one of us would fall and that would start the trek back to the bright manicured lawns of our homes. In those expanding woods, each trip would reveal something new.

Drinks and the fumbling pursuit of girls supplanted those adventures in high school and in through college. With the exception of my winter season passes at Sunday River, I remained in that fog.  Now, periodic ventures into the woods are a psychological necessity.

Avatar

I am late to this one.  We just watched the movie.  We both separately realized why it did not win the Academy Award for Best Picture.  It was a wonderful movie and deserved all of the acclaim.  It made a clear stand against the misguided foreign policy of war for resources regardless of the indigenous culture and ecosystem, its empty diplomacy, and the impatience and disbelief of genuine scientific research.  Where as, The Hurt Locker only addressed and sympathized with the plight of the soldier without commenting on the question or motives of war.  The latter is extremely important and crosses through political boundaries.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Nigeria, Iran, Ecuador and many more are all subject to a super-power's need for more resources than it has.  Until we address the power of the corporation over the people it doesn't matter which country is the superpower.

Dolly Sods

There really isn't much to a camping trip. I wake up to the first sunlight, eat a hearty breakfast cooked on the little camp stove, go for a fabulous walk along plateaus or down into plush river valleys, and relax with some friends around a campfire. We tell stories in between long quiet trances within our own thoughts as we pass along this preserved countryside. City time ceases to exist. For a moment, I can retune to nature.

West Virginia!!

Oprah Style School Reform

Last week I watched my first episode of Oprah from start to finish. The topic was education and the founder of Facebook was donating $100 million to the Newark public schools. The New Jersey Governor and Mayor of Newark were there speaking about education reform. The public system needs it. As always, in political rhetoric, the core of the problem is ignored and popular talking points are repeated. Yes, there are some horrible teachers protected by the unions. The vast majority of teachers are dedicated professionals and they deserve to have job security. Schools are often underfunded and lack important supplies. There is a lot of mismanagement of money in how schools are heated and cooled, unnecessary job positions created to manage the yearly trends in data, teaching techniques, and protocols that get discarded well before they can realistically be implemented. There is a huge amount of money spent on standardized tests and the companies that produce them and money spent on remedial programs for the same set of students each year. The Oprah show felt good, but missed the point.

I've taught in the NYC public schools for 6 years. While I think it is wonderful that this money is being put towards education. There is one HUGE aspect of education that is always avoided, ignored, or otherwise forgotten. The need for student accountability is omitted. The only criteria for a student to pass the 6th or 7th grade is if they score a 2 out of 4 on either the math or literacy standardized tests. They can fail every class, curse out teachers, skip classes, and get in regular fights without impunity. If they score above a 1, they move on. Students in high school can fail a class and can attend summer school. If they fail that, they can stay after school for a couple weeks and get the credit. If they skip that, there is a weekend school. Each step is less rigorous for passing so schools can move students along, because schools are graded largely on passing percentage. Education should be a right AND a privilege. Teacher should be protected but bad teachers need to be let go. Parents should be much more involved. Students should continue to earn their education NOT just receive it.

Waiting!

I know what is supposed to happen. I read some books. I asked my mom, my sisters, and some friends about pregnancy, birthing, and where I fit into that mix. I am a biology teacher for crying out loud. I got the science of the whole thing down. I know what hormones are supposed to get released at what time during labor. I can diagram how the baby usually moves down the birth canal. I can describe how the contractions prepare the uterus for delivery. I understand pretty well how the different interventions disrupt the miraculous natural flow and begin a cascade effect to a more medicalized birth. I also know that if used appropriately and conscientiously, interventions are life-saving discoveries of modern medicine. I even witnessed a home-birth while living in Utah. I know a lot. I feel confident, though I can't grasp this so common unknown: becoming a parent.

Intellectually, I got it. Everything else is a complete mystery, and I loved it. I look in delight at my beautiful wife as she takes her long walks, struggles to turn from side to side during the night, pauses to smile at me, or transforms from her big belly nightgown garb into a stunning outfit upon leaving the house. I am in awe of how seamless this 9 month transition is toward her becoming a mother. She is anxious and ready. Her body somehow knows what to do.

I am the intimate, expecting bystander; a third-party advocate clearing a path and hoping to make her as secure and comfortable in their process. This dance that has been happening for millenniums. I can not feel the movement of baby inside her womb or her aches as he moves to find comfort. She regularly talks with baby because they already know each other; they have grown together. I am anxiously waiting to meet him, to see him, for him to become tangible. I want to feel whatever that feeling is when parents say, "We have a baby."

School Reform?

I heard an interesting, and frustratingly colossal blunder in the work to improve our schools. The NYC Board of Education was getting close to instituting a policy to block the use of cell phones (and other electronic devices) in schools. The cell phone companies blocked the policy because of potential lost revenue. Not, mind you, revenue for the schools, but revenue for the cell phone companies. The short term money interests of a few corporate entities trump the integrity of the already challenged learning environment of 1.2 million students. Thanks Bloomy. I'm late on this because it was a secret.

As if concentrating in class was hard enough before the onset of cellular technology. I am sure of the fact that my grades diminished when there was a hot girl in class. If I had constant text contact with all of my friends, I would not have heard a word of what was happening in class, because I would have been waiting for the next piece of important, useless, information about some girl or news of where we were going to get alcohol next. Think about it. How easy would it be to be coerced to skip out on the next class?

Parents should be outraged. The basic hope or premise of education is to provide a sanctuary for children to concentrate and develop a foundation of critical math, language, logistic skills so that when they do grow up they can better understand and analyze how to utilize the technology in constructive ways. To borrow Thomas Friedman's phase, students who are "continuously partially present" will not build those core skills. Don't worry. They'll have plenty of time to text, Facebook, chat, tweet, talk, or whatever else comes down the pipe next with there friends beyond school hours. Especially given that jobs for teenagers are a rarity. There is nothing worse than telling a kid to get off the phone and hearing the excuse, "I am talking with my mom." That's even worse. I can understand a child not getting it, but the parents. Then when I speak with the parents they are surprised that their child is on the phone!

If they only realized the many consequences of acquiescing to this short-sighted whim of corporate America. Teachers lose an element of control in the classroom due to many more distractions. Teachers and administers compromise the ability to triage during the event of an emergency, because while they are attending to issues in order of imminent importance and then making contacts with a clear message of what happened and what was being done, the kids called mom, who, with her partial story, called some other person, and now what was probably minor incident has potentially turned into a pr nightmare. In addition, students don't develop the ability to sustain in-depth conversations, to write in-depth analysis of learned material, because they missed a large portion of what was presented and then they can't shut out everything and focus on completing the task. More and more assignments that I received are half-assed at best. In order for politicians to appear to be improving the system, they lower the standards and further dumb down the tests. My SATs were already dumbed down from my parents!

Should the school system build in more technology into the curriculum? Absolutely. Instead, the ever reactive, rather than proactive, system says that teachers should use multiple learning styles and cooperative learning to entice students to learn. Sure. Those methodologies have there place in the classroom, but shouldn't the system try to eliminate as many obstacles as possible. This way, we are not reduced to trying to trick students as they sit through a mandated subject regents class with their sidekick, cell phone and mp3 players vibrating in their pockets.