This semester I posed the following question to my college students: Do you believe a college education should be a privilege to those who can afford it or be a shared societal responsibility to support anyone who wants to earn a college degree? There were many intriguing responses, but none more than the following:...
Whew, that is one long title. We are switching gears and moving from the Literature of Slavery. Once again there is not enough time in one semester to take on the authors that you have heard of, let alone the authors you haven’t been introduced to. One of the primary elements of studying African...
Disintegration written by Eugene Robinson (Washington Post) is a carefully drawn discussion on Black America in the 21st century. Actually, the book is an analysis of all Black people in the post civil rights era. While race in America remains an unapproachable subject that is often balanced on the razor’s edge, Robinson’s definition of...
Okay, I have hesitated to comment on this homeschool athletics situation on the CA(Commercial Appeal) that has led to a lot of misconceptions/perceptions based on the opinion of people who haven’t homeschooled their children and have probably never been involved in the educational system. I think my voice is a good measuring stick for the...
When I coached high school basketball, I always looked around for the tallest kids on campus. Working at an inner city school in San Diego, that also happened to be the most multi-cultural/racial school in the city, presented problems. Our school, Crawford High School, had incredible soccer, wrestling, and badmiton teams because of the abundance...
After teaching and working in schools for 16 years, I had an epiphany yesterday. Everything that is wrong with Memphis (insert your school system here) City Schools can be found in Bambara’s highly anthologized short story, The Lesson. I’ve assigned and discussed this work of fiction a number of times over my last six years...
While most people interested in education saw Waiting For Superman during its theatrical release, I often fail to catch any new release. I often wait for Netflix or the DVD release. I have made it a point to watch any film that deals with the shortcomings of, or the success of schools at the...
Redefining the Labyrinth was a project I began while teaching at a local Memphis High School. With the current uproar about all that is wrong in the Memphis City Schools, I thought it would be interesting to post the work generated by four high school seniors, who are products of a system that everyone...