Riding the Bike with One Pedal.

“Political” advertising we both finally agree on….

The Wo and I are often diametrically opposed when it comes to voting. Oddly enough, we agree on some major issues, yet we still diverge when the time to align with Blue or Red waves its flag.

However, this commercial caught my eye this weekend, and we both were impressed. Could we finally have the lynchpin to unite this country? Because something has to change. All the videos on the Edin08 site are thought-provoking, if not downright horrifying. Just try to watch “Future of America” and not shake your head.

Say what you want about Kanye West, and how he’s seen as outspoken, brash, arrogant – but he’s put himself into this campaign, and for that, I am grateful. Would that more like him join – he’s a role model for so many of James’ students, who whole-heartedly believe they’ll be a rapper (or basketball star) when they grow up, when in fact they have a greater chance of being hit by lightning.  And while the children themselves can be motivated to succeed and learn while they’re in the classroom, it’s the home environment that has to sustain it, foster it, nay, demand it.

8 Comments

  1. meesha.v

    but whose fault is that the education here sucks? outside of the stupid evolution fiasco it’s the democrats who are taking it down a notch every time. why no school vouchers? also if you actually went into one of the schools in the countries where the education is better you’d notice that the teacher is allowed to discipline the kids and there are actual grades, not like pluses and stars here. who is allowing petty parent complaints and political correctness to influence the education process?

  2. PlazaJen

    I don’t think you can handily lay all the blame at the feet of one political party. That’s the whole point here. (I cannot resist a counterpoint, though, because you did come out swinging – I’ll also note you’ve turned a blind eye to Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” act, something that has crippled classrooms with the notion of parity.) The whole point is that this is a bipartisan issue – it wasn’t created by the democrats, and it sure as hell won’t get solved by the republicans. The whole point of the consortium I linked to is to UNITE for change, not divide, and to rise above party lines.

  3. Kat with a k

    Excuse me? School Vouchers? Ummm, no. How about taking Charter Schools off the books and giving the money to Public Education, where it should go!! I know teachers who teach for little money and even less respect from parents for doing so. How on earth do we expect our children to succeed if we view education as “daycare” for irresponsible parents. What we all need to do is to be united behind teachers, encourage young people to go to college to become teachers and foster an America where education is respected. Jen is correct, this should not be a partisan issue! It is an issue for all of us!!

    I will get off my soapbox now and return you to your regularly scheduled blog….

  4. meesha.v

    I am not in any way partisan, I equally don’t like both parties. I work for a union company where I am one of 5 or 10 people in my building (more than a 1000 people) who quit the union, so I don’t care for teachers’ union either. I also have in mind a post about how ridiculous “No Child” is. Note that democrats and republicans “united” on it and the result is not that great. Realistically, there won’t be effective unity between the sides where huge amounts of money and political interests are involved. This has nothing to do with teachers who work for less and have no respect. There can be no respect if the school administration doesn’t stand behind the teacher. There are many issues that I don’t pretend to understand and have no idea how to fix. However, I know which ideas failed and chose not support them with more money.
    On the unrelated note, would you mind adding a plug-in that allows people to subscribe to comments.

  5. J-Wo

    As I enter my 13th year as a classroom teacher, I realize there is one thing that rises above all others to improve student achievement…that’s a motivated teacher who demands, encourages, and get the best from their students. No one outside of the classroom is telling these kids and showing these kids that education is the ONLY sure way to overcome their obstacles in life. I had years where I believed that if I taught a certain board approved curriculum that I would get improved student achievement…that definitely wasn’t the case. The years when I shoved the curriculum to the side and focused on motivating students to want to learn, showing them how all things learned in the classroom apply to real life and the global economy…student achievement soared. I teach in an urban district with a high dropout rate, high poverty level, high drug and violence in the neighborhood…you name the strike, these kids have it against them. However, my students soar above and beyond other students in the district consistently year after year in both math and science. If society would consistently reinforce the positive aspects of education the way they do with fame and sports, things will change. It’s all about attitude…mine, yours, the kids, everyone needs to wake up and make some changes…real changes.

  6. Lance

    Props to you Jen! For anyone to stand there and say any one specific part of the government or any governmental party is to blame for the education is ignorance. The old saying, “it takes a village to raise a child” rings even more true in today’s education system. It takes more than our president or the Democrats or Republicans to “fix” this. It takes everyone to stand up and respect those teachers who take more than a third less pay than they deserve while giving to them what we can to teach and empower the youth of our nation. And for you, Meesha, to blame the Democrats for our current mess IS ignorance. Blame the parents. Blame the ENTIRE government. And more importantly, blame ourselves for allowing this to get to where it is. And once we realize who is to blame, we need to get off our asses and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! I am sick to death of hearing how bad things are in this country when NO ONE will do anything. My parents and teachers have taught me that my education is the single thing that can never be taken from me. If we encourage that attitude in the youth of today and empower them with the tools necessary to achieve that goal, we can change the future of our country. Who wants change?

    Good teachers are in support supply in this country.

  7. meesha.v

    I am sorry for failing to see anything in the previous comment but a bunch of the same “we need” or “stand up” or “change” mantras. First of all, I don’t want a village to raise my child, other people in the village may be morons (and many are), why would I want these people to have anything to do with raising my child. Then we get to the part when we should “encourage”. I encourage my own child, and a Mexican kid who once in a while shows up at my doorstep to play with my daughter. Nowadays, you’ll be hauled away and locked for even trying to speak to a kid, unless you are brought in by a school for that purpose.Even if you are trying to talk to a kid you know, his parents may call you and complain about you giving their child wrong ideas. I am not even talking about “we need to get off our asses and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!”. What exactly is the plan of action here? Where do I show up? I want change!All I hear is the same old BS in a form of a slogan. You don’t like me blaming democrats, fine, the whole government is at fault. I am not retarded, I know that more than democrats have to vote for these things and the president signs it. I’ll stick with my own,albeit ignorant, opinion.

  8. Lance

    If you are aware more than Democrats are at fault for our mess of an education system, why single them out? And the reason people get hauled away for speaking to children is because we, the people of this country, have allowed it and things like it to happen. It didn’t happen overnight. It has slowed changed over decades. Any change for the better will not be quickly gained either. And if you really want change, start with you. Do it right by teaching your children the important lessons in life–respect, courage, decency, trust and obedience. Then once you have that in line, go to your local school. Be the squeaky wheel and demand change. Remind the school system they work for you and your tax dollars. Push them to set higher standards, provide more programs for any needed areas, and to put learning above state mandated curriculum. Recruit other parents and soon-to-be parents to join your cause. And while you’re doing this, talk to your state representatives. Again, remind them they work for you, not the other way around. Push them to lead our government to evaluate the current education system and start from the ground up to get it right. If we all did something, anything, things would be different. Instead, we wallow in the attitude of “can someone else do something to fix this?” Be different.

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