Thursday thoughts

Daddy is White Indian

Al tells everybody who has asked him that he is Indian and African American. That’s his reality. I always thought that it was great that during his childhood (so far), he has been encouraged to embrace all of his ancestry. All of the people who love him and have had a part in who he is. Suzanne Vega wrote a really good article on her observations of race in America and New York in particular(she’s half Puerto Rican and half Irish/Scottish). Since she’s a musician, she talks about her experience with different genres that demonstrate how much more people are alike than we are different. I really like that she did all of this while not glossing over the fact that there is a lot of work to be done in the area of race relations in the United States.

Katrina Kids

Praying people, please keep the youngest victims of the storm in your prayers. So many of them are falling through the cracks of education and treatment because their parents are struggling to provide the essentials and dealing with their own mental health issues.

More Educational News

No Child Left Behind has not been the end all be all that its proponents have attempted to fawn off on the rest of us hoped. That’s not news, but according to this , minority students are twice as likely to have teachers who are not qualified in their fields. I’m sorry, but have you seen what teachers make lately?  Money is where the rubber meets the road. Residencies and mentorships are nice, but if a person can make more money (with less education) as a secretary/project manager/software consultant/ than a principal, then guess which field is going to have a dearth of available quality candidates? America needs to get serious about the lip service it pays to valuing education.