Thanks, Diane Ravitch!

So, thanks, Diane Ravitch, for reading BusinessWeek's coverage of Bill Gates and his mixed result of success in educational endeavors and summarizing it for us in the L.A. Times a month and a half later! Wow, what would we have done without you? Not, perhaps, read Nicole's brilliant summary written right after the appearance of the story on the web. See, it just goes to show you that the Hoover Foundation should make me a fellow.

In any case, I love Ravitch's "scary" final statement to her piece: "In light of the size of the foundation's endowment, Bill Gates is now the nation's superintendent of schools. He can support whatever he wants, based on any theory or philosophy that appeals to him. We must all watch for signs and portents to decipher what lies in store for American education." Oooooooh. Scaaarrryy. They're actually going to make a horror film and call it "The Superintendent."

"Bill Gates, The Nation's Superintendent of Schools." (Ravitch, D. The L.A. Times. July 30th, 2006.) Free subscription required.

Losers.

I told you this existed. Remember my privileged white boy tirade? I love the idea that work is "beneath" people. You're not the aristocracy. Get over yourselves and get a job.

By the way, I would think just as poorly of this phenomenon if it said "women with no jobs or ambition." It's not like they're dedicating their lives to charity. They're sleeping until 11am and playing piano.

"It's a trend: Men with no jobs or ambition." (Uchitelle, L. and Leonhardt, D. The New York Times (by way of The International Herald Tribune.) July 31st, 2006.)

English Only Arguments

Against, of course. Don't think I've changed my tune!

TESOL has a nice write-up dispelling the "myths" behind English-first and English only legislation. I particularly liked this:

Myth 3: English-only will promote efficiency and fairness in government by conducting all official business in a single language. Offering multilingual government services is costly and inefficient, according to proponents of English-only. Supposedly, thousands of dollars spent on multilingual services would be saved if government business were to be conducted only in English. Furthermore, if government services cannot be provided in all languages, they claim that it would be fairer to provide them only in a single language.

Reality: Very little money is spent federally on translation of documents and multilingual services... In the case of the Internal Revenue Service, the primary reason multilingual services are provided is for cost-effectiveness: The amount of taxes collected as a result of such services far exceeds the cost. (TESOL. "Position Paper on English-Only Legislation in the United States." June 2005.)

I had a friend who worked for a division of the New York City education department that translated communication with parents into something like 8 different languages. It would be interesting to do a case study of how much money they spent versus the benefits it provided - basically something like a "cost-benefit analysis." This is why I need to take business classes. This is also why I don't quite fit into the education school.

Gonna take a freight train, all the way to Georgia...

Well, maybe not THAT far South. We all know what evil lurks in Georgia. (Exboyfriends, KKK, 3 million roads named "Peachtree"...)

I was wishing that Sewanee had a higher profile in this article, when I remembered that in the last article about Sewanee in the New York Times, some dimwit alumnus said something to the effect of, "We don't want them Northerners in our school anyhow."

Sigh. Of all the Southern places Northerners are going, Sewanee might just be a tad too Southern for any of 'em. Heck, it was a tad too Southern from this girl from Florida. When I introduced myself and said I was from Florida, most of my classmates immediately piped up, "Florda's not thuh South." Got it. Thanks. Funny, because as I recall, we fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War. I guess the influx of New Yorkers changed all that.

"Southbound." (Moore, A. S. NYT, July 30th, 2006.)

Ugh

I think people know they should learn English when they move here. I would only support an "English Only" policy if it means we're going to go out in force and teach it in the communities. Which we're not going to do, because the real reason they want to pass this law is so that they never have to pay for a translator to help any non-English speaking person again. What idiots. And yet Americans go around the world and speak their dorky English loud and proud and refuse to learn a word of any other language.

"House Panel Examines The Future of English." (Lakshmi, R. The Washington Post. Thursday, July 27th, 2006.)

Blog War!

Somehow I can never find my friend D.'s comments when she posts them. In any case, she took offence to some comments I made in my public vs. private debate. You can see her thoughts here.

I'm not sure why, but I have felt particularly uncreative of late. Hmmm. I do have some funny events that happened in my office yesterday, but I'm occupied with practical matters today, like how to pay the rent for August (oops - hope I can!) and filling out my student loan paperwork for the upcoming school year. Rent needs to be paid, books need to be bought, and a girl needs to have a little fun here and there. So I'm off to do that, and I'll comment on D.'s post and other things when I have a little more down time.

Busy busy!

Lots of items to report.

1. I am going to be a reader for the FLAP grants - FLAP is the Foreign Language Assistance Program, funded through Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. I'm not sure how that's abbreviated. In any case, I might be extremely busy between my two jobs, classes, and being a reader between Aug. 9-18. Just a warning. However, once I return I will share whatever knowledge I can about how to apply for your hunk of government cheese - for your school of course.

2. Because I'm in a quantitative methods class right now (which basically means I'm learning how to apply statistical analysis methods to education research), I found this editorial really interesting. Normally the WSJ editorial page makes me angry, but I found this refreshing. No, really, No Child Left Behind does lie about progress schools make. And it is criminal.

"Acid Tests." (Murray, C. WSJ, Tuesday, July 25th.)

3. I can't believe the attitude of some of my fellow graduate students. As some of you know, I taught middle school for 3 years. Part of teaching middle school - in fact, a very large part - involves giving students "life lessons" - how to behave in school, how to study, how to take tests. I spent time going over how to take a test and how to study, but never would I give them the exact material the test covered. Or tell them how many questions there are. (Except on the final, because I thought it was ridiculous that 7th and 8th graders had a "final" anyway).

Once you reach graduate school, these sorts of lessons should be learned. And if you have not learned them, well, you need to get a job where you don't need to worry about them. Apparently I am alone in my thinking, however. Yesterday in my EDMS 645 (this is how everyone refers to the class; I tend to call it "Statistics," but no one ever knows what I am talking about), graduate students demonstrated that middle school tendencies are alive and well in COLLEGE GRADUATES.

On Tuesday, one young man (who continually asks questions in class that demonstrate he has not yet cracked his textbook) asked a question during lecture to the effect of "Will this be on the quiz?" My teacher, K., really cares about our learning, unlike the other EDMS 645 professor whose nickname is "Speedy." She's from Minnesota, has one of those cute accents, and enjoys teaching us and making us laugh at her truly awful jokes. In any case, K. answers by saying, "We'll talk about that tomorrow," since, well, the quiz is Thursday.

He asked the same type of question again yesterday, and she replied that we would talk about the quiz later in the class. At this point, my response would have been, "The quiz is on everything we learned in class. That's what you should study." K, because of her kindness, did a brief review of everything we needed to know, not just for the quiz, but for the midterm and final as well. She did it to "jog our memories" and help us recall everything we had learned. We've covered a lot of material, but it is a summer class.

Anyway. I'm blathering on. One student in the class raises her hand during the review and says, "Um, like, I don't mean to be rude, but can you just tell us exactly what is going to be on the quiz?" When she didn't get her desired answer, she tried again,"Well, how many questions are there going to be? Like, 20?" When she still didn't get an answer, she proceeded to mumble nasty things about the teacher for the rest of the class under her breath.

Sigh. These are graduate students. And our future teachers. And, apparently, incapable of acting like adults.

More Public V. Private Hoop-la

The National Review Online would like to comment on the public versus private school debate, but first they would like to get in a jab at the New York Times for placing this story on the front page, above the fold. (If you don't know what that means, just think literally about the newspaper that you get on your doorstep - oh wait, maybe you don't get those, since newspapers are single-handedly destroying the environment and are the secret weapon behind Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" for eating Irish babies).

Ok. Now that we're done knocking the Jew York Times - oops, did I just verbalize NRO's real problem with the NYT? - we can get on to talking about what's wrong with public schools. Or private schools. Or... wait, what?

I like this article because Chester E. Finn Jr, Hoover Research Fellow, admits many of the truths that people don't often talk about when they discuss private schools. Such as, of course private school kids are going to score better on tests, 'cause they be rich. And that part of the reason parents send their kids to private schools is to self-select their peer group - I always thought of this as "I want my kids to go to school with white kids." I guess at some schools, like the school I worked at here in DC, it was, "I want my kids to go to school with liberal white kids are the 'right' minorities." Whatever. It's basically the way that people complain about the DMV. Public school, to many upper middle class whites, is like going to the DMV. We only go there because we have to, and if we can avoid it, we will at all costs.

At least Chuck admits this. (I know, "Chuck" is a nickname for Charles, but I think it works for Chester, too. We could call him Chester the Molester. I bet he got called that as a kid. In any case "Chuckyfinn" is hilarious.) He also says that "they a’re free to hire the best teachers available, certified or not, their instructional staff is often knowledgeable as well as caring." While in my last post about this, I disparaged private school teachers for not being certified, I have to say I completely agree with this assertion. Even though I have a master's degree in the subject area I taught for three years, I am not good enough to teach in public schools anywhere in the country without jumping through a few flaming hoops first. I would be in a Prince George's county school right now if they would let me, but I'll be damned if I'm going to take a bunch of loser-ish education classes where they A. insult my intelligence and B. treat me as if I'm not a real teacher. I'd rather not waste my time, thank you. If I miss teaching so much that I need to do it again, I'll go back to a private school where they value my degrees, my high grades, and my creative approach toward lesson planning.

Chuckyfinn also comments rightly that private schools can teach character in a way public schools can't. Sometimes this "character" is a bit hypocritical (ahem, Quaker schools, anyone?) but most of the time even if not done perfectly, private school students are more likely to say please and thank you and have the ostensible trappings of civilization. This doesn't mean they're not posting naked pictures of themselves on the internet or sniffing glue, but at least on the outside they're well-behaved and well-dressed. Hahaha.

My big problem with this article is that he insists on criticizing the New York Times, and I think it clouds his point. Because what is he really trying to talk about, schools or how much he (and all conservatives) hate the New York Times?

"Private Performance: The New York Times gets excited." (Finn, C.E. NRO, July 17th)

Some related articles...

...to the previous post.

"Private Schools on Par With, Outperform Private Schools in Some Areas, Federal Study Says." (Zehr, M.A. EdWeek. July 18, 2006). (registration required; you can register for free and view two articles per week!)

"Public vs. Private Schools" (NYT, July 19th, 2006)

"Long-Delayed Education Study Casts Doubt on Value of Vouchers." (Steward, Z. WSJ. July 15th, 2006, Page A5) (subscription required; if I love you I'll let you use mine!)

"But There are Internal Validity Threats!"

Don't you love learning? Before Monday, I would have had no idea what this meant. However, now I am fully aware due to my wonderful statistics class. Recently, a survey appeared touting the benefits of public school, since when factors like race, socioeconomics, gender, etc are "controlled for" (i.e. evident in the same proportions) in public schools and private schools, public school students perform better on tests.

This appears to underscore the same point as the Education Sector's "Truth about Girls and Boys" report - really, the problems go back to issues of race and class. I wouldn't be shocked if private school students don't perform better than public school; private school teachers often have little to no formal education training (although many actually majored in the subjects they teach.) People are shocked when I tell them this, but in many areas, private schools pay their teachers less than public schools. Benefits aren't as good. Turnover is high; those same young teachers who leave public schools within the first 5 years also leave private schools, and the numbers may be higher because many good, dedicated teachers will go to public schools where the pay and benefits are better.

In case you don't know, I was a private school teacher for 3 years. I loved my kids and my school, and was too lazy to go back and take a year and a half of "how to write a lesson plan" classes, as I saw them. Besides, when I did take that class at Long Island University, they treated me as if I were not a "real" teacher since I taught in an independent school. Jerks. I stayed because I knew I wouldn't be there forever, and I liked the rapport I had with my small classes of (relatively) motivated students.

So what is an internal validity threat and what does it have to do with public vs. private school students? Basically, according to EdWeek, private schools do not survey students for their ethnicity, class, social status, peanut allergy, whatever, in the same way that public schools do. Therefore there's an "internal validity threat" (i.e. the survey data cannot be seen as valid). Paul Peterson, a Harvard government professor, says "Public schools must by law classify people according to whether they are English-language learners, need an individualized education program, are eligible for a free lunch, and whether they are disadvantaged under Title I" of the No Child Left Behind Act... Private school managers have no legal obligation to do any of that, and many object to that' so the students may not in fact be labeled the same way, thus skewing the comparison" (Zehr, M.A. EdWeek July 18, 2006). There ya have it.

Apparently Dr. Peterson is going to run a new survey where the students "self-report," i.e. tell him what their background is. I don't know if it's more accurate or not. I know when I "self-report" on the silly course evaluations we're given at the end of our classes here, I always say I'm a fabulous student. Like, I work so much harder than other students, I'm generally smarter, better dressed, more wonderful, cooler, etc. I think I actually just fill in "5s" down the row. Call it lazy. I am lazy. I've got too much else to do, like gossip with DS about celebrities and her husband. ;)

In any case, I wouldn't be surprised that if you do control for socio-economic status, free lunch, or other such factors, public school students probably do about the same as private school students. Why? People are so shocked when you say that SCHOOL CAN'T DO IT ALONE. School cannot do anything without a home life in which parents encourage their children's intellectual and emotional development. My family was solidly middle class, and I think my mom read to me in the womb. And now I'm a PhD student (wait, I don't know if that proves that I'm smart. If I were smart, I'd be in business school. Anyway). But it does demonstrate that a love of learning can transform the way a child looks at the world. And school can help, but we get there too late. Turn off the tv. Invent a bedtime story with your children. Go for a walk and look at the plants and animals and try to count how many you can name. All of this begins to pave your child's way to a better future.

One of these days I'll tell you about this fun activity I did with kids I babysat that involved inventing stories and going outside to explore. If I don't make a book of it first!

Women Who Talk Too Much

Or, for those of you who love acronyms like me, WWTTM.

One reason I've heard (and observed) men frequently interrupt women is that women blather on A LOT. We talk a lot. I try not too, because I listen to classmates and colleagues do it and I hate how it sounds. Many women don't demonstrate much confidence when they speak, and so to reassure themselves they are making a clear point (or something - I'm not actually sure of the reason), they tend to repeat themselves and then trail off in the middle of a sentence. In fact, it's almost as if many women have been interrupted so often that they speak expecting to be interrupted.

I think women should practice making concise statements that express their point, practice delivering them confidently, and practice ENDING a statement. Time yourself. Talk to yourself in the car. My radio was stolen and I'm an impoverished grad student, so instead of listening to NPR I talk to myself. Once you've established yourself in a certain forum as a straightforward speaker, you can then elaborate more. At least in theory.

Thinking back to the Rice/Lavrov incident, however, Condi was not, as some women do "going on and on." Lavrov really interrupted her. Partly nature, partly nurture? I don't know, but I'm sick and tired of listening to my classmates speak in a way that does not demonstrate confidence and that continues to reinforce the "Blathering Woman" stereotype. We can be pity, witty, and incisive - all it takes is practice. Don't set yourself up to be interrupted - that way if someone does, you'll have the confidence to say, "Excuse me," and keep talking.

Just try to interrupt me. ;)

Good Morning, O World on Fire

This morning during a very special treat for myself at Starbucks, I happened to look at the front page of the New York Times. There was a photo of, basically, Lebanon on fire. Now, last night I ate at Lebanese Taverna (with two random people I met who were from out of town - they convinced me to eat with them rather than do takeout!) and I kept thinking, how do the people who own this restaurant feel about what's happening in their country? I mean, there's a reason they're not there, but still - ties to your native land can be strong.

I'm terrified, honestly, about what's happening. It seems as if there is no forethought, merely knee-jerk reactions.

In any case, I was late to work this morning (this morning? no, wait, every morning) because I was listening to a story on NPR about how the Department of Defense is paying for students as young as kindergarten to take "critical language" classes. You can listen to it here.

Oh, and there was an interesting story in the WSJ yesterday about a scientist (did you immediately think man? bet you did!) who used to be a woman and then had a sex-change and became a man. He has some interesting observations on how different it is to be a woman in science; my favorite came at the end: "People who do not know I am transgendered treat me with much more respect," he says. "I can even complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man."

I thought about his quote this morning, when I was listening to a "tiff" during the G8 meeting of foreign ministers between Condoleeza Rice and Sergei Lavrov. At one point he completely cuts her off and starts talking. It's interesting that in this Washington Post article, they don't mention that but DO mention when Condi cuts Lavrov off. Because, I guess, it's inappropriate for women to interrupt, but completely acceptable for men.

Which leads me to that "checklist" I talked about but never had a link to. It mentions the fact that women are more likely to be interrupted than men. There's also a white privilege checklist, but as it was in Comic Sans font which I hate, I chose to not have a link to it. Google it yourself, you lazy so-and-so!

"Pentagon Pays for Students to Learn Foreign Langauges." (NPR, Morning Edition, July 14th, 2006)

"He, Once a She, Offers Own View On Science Spat" (Wall Street Journal, by Sharon Begley, July 13th, 2006; Page B1)

"A Spat Over Iraq Revealed on Tape" (Washington Post, by Glenn Kessler, June 30th, 2006; Page A20)

Henry is also the son of a terrorist prostitute

But because my cat doesn't speak English (or really, Human), he did not head butt me for saying so. Zizou, however, did. Those racist Italians, I tell ya. Spittin' and cussin' all over the place. (I can't remember who it was that said that "cussing" was an uneducated Southern term, so to please them I stopped using it. Obviously, I have changed my mind. I mean, you didn't grow up talking about people "Cussin' each other out"?)

Zizou said that he apologizes to all the fans and the children watching, but that he doesn't regret his action because that would mean "he who said it was right to say it." You can listen to something once, twice, but if the person keeps repeating it...

It shows you can never ignore who you are and where you came from. Those roots, that little child will always resurface at the most inopportune time.

Zinedine s'excuse mais ne regrette rien. (Le Monde, 12 juillet 2006)

ChinaKids

In the WSJ this morning I read an article about a blog called Chinakids, where Chinese youngsters, under the pressure of being the perfect only child and the weight of 20-lb backpacks, can "get back" at their parents. Rather than go with the "give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile" philosophy (do they use inches and miles in China? or for that matter, pounds?), China thinks, if we let them think they're free to express themselves in small ways, maybe they will be satisfied and not go further. Besides, "my mom makes me study too much" does not a political statement make.

I love the WSJ's subhead for this one - "Tale of the 20 Pound Backpack." DS, don't you carry one of those? ;)

I would send you the link to the blog, but it's in Chinese. And if you do speak Chinese, you are perfectly capable of Googling "Chinakids" your darn selves.

"In China, Griping About Mom and Dad Gets an Official OK." (WSJ, July 12th)

By the way, if I really love you, I'll give you my log in so you can access the WSJ online.

Entitlement

My dad told me once that the problem with liberals is their sense of entitlement. "Give me something for showing up" - at least that's how he characterizes it.

I see this infestation in Democrats in Congress right now. I may be a registered Dem, but I'm having a hard time getting excited about voting for them right now. At least when the Republicans took over Congress in 1994, they had a "Contract with America." Maybe it was just lip service, but those guys aren't entitled to anything. They owe us their service, and if we don't like it, then too bad for them. We're the ones entitled to representation, and if they're not representing us well, we have the right to kick them out. But instead of any sort of even... lip service to the power of the people, I'm hearing crickets from the Dems. Like the idea that winning back Congress in 2006 might hurt our chances of the presidency in 2008. Sigh. Power of NOW people - let's focus.

The entitlement debate grows especially sticky because of the racial implications. Programs supported by liberals such as affirmative action aim to "even out" the injustices in society perpetuated by a long history of racism. Conservatives think that no one is entitled to anything; they're big fans of what I call the "bootstrap narrative." It's awfully easy to pull yourself up by your bootstraps if your parents have steady jobs, they've paid for you to attend college, and the "disability" you're struggling with is, like, low self esteem. Imagine "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" when you haven't seen your mom in two days because she's pulling a double shift at the hospital and hasn't been around to cook dinner. Or breakfast. Or lunch. Hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when they keep breaking.

On the other hand, some conservatives charge there is a deep racism inherent in entitlement programs. Yes, they may make up for a history of injustice, but they also suggest "You wouldn't make it without me helping you." And so I will help you, I will give you the boots, and the bootstraps and a hand. Aren't I great? You couldn't have done it without me. And because I keep helping you, you'll never learn how to make your own boots. Or that maybe, your bootstrap narrative consists of something different, like linking arms with others in your community to create strength. That "pulling yourself up" is not so important as making where you are better.

There's also a racism in disliking affirmative action - privileged white folk who think, well, if I were Black I could have gone to Harvard. People who feel that they deserve the slots "taken" by minority students, or workers, or whatever. I know this because I've been there - I wasn't kidding about being a privileged white girl. Maybe not as privileged as some, but privileged enough to think that I "deserved" to get into an Ivy League school because I had perfect grades. Perfect grades are a whole lot easier to get when you've got a peaceful home to study in, good food to eat, and the opportunity to travel around the world.

Ultimately, though, I think we all know, liberal and conservative, that "entitlement" programs are not the answer to the deep questions of racism and inequality in our society. We need to heal our communities, create safe homes for children, and work for all people to give them a sense of self and accomplishment. And not hand-out work - but real work, the kind that inspires us to be better people, the kind that you and I do every day because by the grace of our birth and/or our "bootstraps," we are where we are today.

Maybe guys should, um, try?

So here we go some more with this. It's really hard for me to feel sorry for them, it really is. How many guys did I date at Sewanee who, well, just expected good grades to be handed to them? It's not like I was born smarter. I worked my tush off to graduate summa cum laude.

"I have a penis. Give me good grades."

SHUT UP! Get your ass out of the bar and do some work, for chrissakes. Stop trying to land tail and head to the library. Try GETTING A JOB. That usually builds that character you lack.

By the way, our PWBs are still attending college in higher numbers than women in the same socio-economic group. So they're given a leg up, and what do they do? Drink beer and complain about gender bias.

And I love how they're always citing the lack of dating options for women. It's back to that "No women over 30 will ever get married." First of all, they were wrong about that. And second of all, why would I want to date/marry any of these losers anyway? If they try taking a shower and cracking a book, then maybe I would eat dinner with them. But if you run around whining when the system has been "against" you for, like, 5 minutes (as opposed to the CENTURIES of oppression, not being able to own anything, or vote, or, like, breathe AIR, that we women endured), I don't really see how you're going to get anywhere.

They just can't take it that we might be better than them. I think they should go back to their disgusting frat houses and kill themselves. Please, spare me your sob story.

Gender Divide article in NYT

Zizou, how could you?

Ok, so my beloved Zinedine Zidane behaved badly in the World Cup final. That's not why France lost... we lost because the Italians are dirty cheaters. But really, who can blame Zizou for headbutting a guy who called him a "dirty terrorist"?

So, no, I'm not making it up

My brain is fried from posting grades. And I still have 10 more to do before my work is done!

However, I am going to take a very quick break and reveal to you the "checklist" I discovered for male privilege. Now, don't get me wrong - I love the male. Gotta love the male. Love dads, guy friends, boyfriends, etc. But how many of the guys I love have a. been paid less for doing the same job; b. been sexually harassed by a work collegue; c. been followed and harassed by men on the street since the age of 13; or d. paid ridiculous prices for dry-cleaned clothes? Because all of this has happened to me. I'm not saying I don't benefit from the occasional eyelash-bat to get a free drink (or, one time, a free train ticket into NYC from Long Island) but all-in-all I'd rather have the higher salary.

I don't agree with everything on this list, but some of the items are pretty good. And shush - y'all don't get drafted anymore, and you know it.

Oh, and this one happens to me all the time. I think I'm going to start saying "I'll smile when you go away." Of course, sometimes it's these nice old grandfather type men, and I always smile for them because I feel bad and what could it hurt anyway?

44. Complete strangers generally do not walk up to me on the street and tell me to “smile.”

Some of the items on the list are ridiculous and over-sensitive in my opinion, so don't write me about how you don't agree with #32 or whatever.

Mistress of the B School

BTW, one of the advisors told us today that as grad assistants, we're kind of like "kept women." Grin.

Don't click if you're easily frightened

Jesus, Mary and Joseph - can someone get this woman a peanut butter sandwich?


And she is, apparently, a plagiarizer, according to the uber-reputable New York Post. But wait... doesn't Rupert Murdoch own that? So... apparently attacking Ann Coulter can sell some newsprint. Which, I remind you, is a horrible, horrendous waste of resources and is destroying the environment as we speak. Newspapers kill babies, too. Can you believe it? How horrible.

In the article they write than Ann Coulter is trying to look like an academic, but fails. You're just a shrill, Annie, and you know it. Only we doctoral students are the real experts. Or not, depending on your epistemology. This came up in class yesterday - I'm like, wait, so I've gotten all this education and I would have been smarter if I'd stayed in Orlando and worked at Disney? Can't we at least use "expert" as a relative term? Like, ok, I know more about this that at least 20 other people? I'm off topic. You have no idea what I'm saying. Let's go back to Annie. Annie, you're a sad, sad woman.

But true to form, how someone looks is so much more important to me. I think I'd dislike Ann Coulter much less if she weren't so frightening to look at.

"White Guilt"

Is that like Privileged White Boy syndrome?

Shelby Steele has come out with a new book, and you can read excerpts of it here. I'm going to check it out as soon as it's in the library (not being one to afford the luxury of my own books these days! Unless their statistics textbooks. Sigh.)

Steele is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank based at Stanford. I have to say that I learn so much more from my Hoover Institute daily report than anything from the stupid American Progress report I get all the time. Basically they tell me where I can go drink free beer in DC with a bunch of interns and how dumb Republicans are. Um, that's not helpful. I'll have to see if Brookings or one of the "liberal" think tanks has a daily report. Wait, is Brookings liberal? I can't keep it all straight anymore.

Hello to any new readers from my summer class - thanks for stopping by!

Wait... Immigrants can learn English?

Who knew? Good teaching techniques actually work!

I am desperate to start a program like this in DC, but terrified at the same time - I don't want to go it alone, and I'm afraid of committing myself where there is an obvious need and feeling overwhelmed. What this guy does, though, is great, and wouldn't take that many resources. I've always felt that successful language teaching is more about giving students the confidence to speak. They're going to make mistakes, but it's not the end of the world as long as you're communicating.

Unless, of course, you're in a higher level French university course where your professor will take about 20 minutes of class time ridiculing your accent. That would be the opposite of inspiring confidence. Thankfully, I already spoke French well enough to be able to call him a "connard."

"Breaking the Language Barrier in Six Months." (Winter, E. The Capital Times from Madison, WI. If you happen to live in Madison and are interested in teaching, there's some contact information available.)

Allez! Allez! Allez!

Oh yeah! GOOOAAAAL!

I'm highly annoyed that I was answering some annoying girl's questions on the phone that are ALL AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE during that goal. Why are you on the phone during the World Cup semi-final? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

And my favorite person in the world is the French goalie Barthez. He's a smoker, yet somehow still a great goalie. Gotta love the French!

Allons enfants de la Patrie...

...le jour de gloire est arrivee! Contre nous de la tyrannie (et les Portugais!)

...Marchons, marchons (et gagnons La Coupe du Monde!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Education, schmeducation. Today it's all about soccer. I mean, the Yankees lost again, so really, soccer is the only game in town!

Plus I have a huge paper. If you see me posting, please make me stop. I've got twelve pages to write for tomorrow. About, like, something. Fabulous that I'm not really sure what.

Zizou! Zizou! Zizou! Zizou! Zizou! Zizou! Zizou! Zizou! Zizou!

Allez les Bleus!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAA-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL-
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um, yeah. I love soccer.

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!

Phenomenology

I woke up this morning to something my classmates (dorkily, I think) are always calling an "A-Ha Moment." (Take me on... take on me... take me on... I'll be gone... doo-doo-do-dooooo! Um. yeah. Sorry.)

I keep saying I'm going to presnt all the cool stuff I'm learning in my reserch methods class, and then never do. Well, I'm ready. One way to conduct research, to which I'm drawn, is called phenomenology. What this kind of research studies is "lived experience." So, for example, we did a mini-phenomenological study in my class on two common experiences, "Eating an Ice Cream Cone" and "Daydreaming." While these topics may seem inane, "serious" researchers often do more salient topics, such as "The Lived Experience of Being a Gang Member" or "The Lived Experience of Being a First-Generation College Student."

First, why do this type of research? In education, you have positivist/qualitative research, normally based on numbers and "regressions," some sort of statistics measurement, interpretive/qualitative research, usually conducted through observations, interviews, background cultural research, and critical research - think Marxist treatises on observing a societal phenomenon and breaking it down in terms of power, resources, etc. These are simplifications, but I think you get the idea.

Much in the way that history classes try to present the daily lives of the cultures they study as well as the dates, big names, and figures of numbers dead, GDP, whatever, qualitative research fleshes out the lives of participants behind the stats of a quantitative study. I think they work quite nicely together - it would be great if two teams of researchers got together to study a phenomenon, like... ok, the failure of boys in school (a subject in one of my recent posts). Then you would have both statistical data and the voices of boys to help give a full picture of the phenomenon. In our postmodern little way, it is of course impossible to convey the Truth, but we can get at some truths.

In phenomenological research, you choose a "phenomenon." Then you identify some participants, usually at one university or one school, and then interview them in an open-ended fashion. You can also observe them, but the real meat of the study is in speaking to them about their experiences. You write up their observations, identify themes, take it back and forth to have them read, edit, illuminate, dispel... whatever. It's almost a collaborative process between you and your participants, although in the end you focus the research through your own critical lens.

One of my odd but firmly held beliefs is in the Catholic (and other faiths) idea of "The Cloud of Unknowing." It's much like Plato's myth of the cave - and, being me, I do believe in Truth (Capital T!). So there is a Truth, out there, somewhere. However, on earth we are prevented from seeing it by a "cloud of unknowing." The shadows we see here on earth are reflections, distortions, and rudimentary versions of that Truth. The same way there is a spark of God in all humans, there is a spark of Truth in all text. I could take this to the postmodern extent, where the Phone Book and Hamlet have equal weight... I won't go quite that far.

I once wrote a paper on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to this effect, stating that Chaucer was attempting to mirror this cloud of unknowing idea through his choice of multi-narrator storytelling. Conducting a phenomenological study is much like interviewing Chaucer's pilgrims. Ask eight people for their versions of a particular event, and you're likely to get eight different answers.

You can see where this is leading - those of you who know me most likely know my love of literature and stories. In a way, I become God as a phenomenologist!!! Hahaha. No, but seriously, I take eight different stories that might have not otherwise been heard. I synthesize them into a narrative that weaves them into something that will (or well, will not, but whatever) be read by the academic community. It will at least be read by my dissertation committee! These unheard stories, existing only in eight people's minds, become part of the narratives... and I have this weird thought that if you were to synthesize all those narratives out there, you would find the Truth. That synthesis of all narrative ever created is... the mind of God.

;) It's still me in here, guys.

How does this relate to recent events? Well, even when I'm being a spiteful, bitter bitch (wink to JB), I always bring academia into the fore. Let's go back to my judgement (nay, let's call a spade a spade - envy) of Privileged White Boys and Girls everywhere. There was a report about first generation college students, of which I am one! Reading the findings of this report are so funny, because the "findings" are so contrary to what I know as a first generation college students. There's a book called Caucasia by Danzy Senna, and it's a great read. It's the story of two sisters, born to a white mom and an African-American dad who met and married during the civil rights era. When the parents divorce, the "blacker" daughter becomes part of the Black communtiy dad, while the "whiter" daughter begins to "pass" as Jewish with her white mother. They pick Jewish because the daughter's skin is a little darker and her hair is kinky.

There's this mythology of "passing" as white in the African-American community that I have always found intriguing. It never occurred to me that I identified with it before this morning. Where to start, where to start...

Suffice to say, that when I was reading the findings of the quantitative, statistical study of first generation college students, I did not see myself in the portrayal of a student who is in a 2-year school, non-traditional student, has to take remedial classes to "make it," but then generally achieves the same socio-economic status as his or her peers upon graduation. I did, however, get a feeling in my gut when I read this:

Even when controlling for many of the characteristics that distinguished them from their peers, such as socioeconomic status, institution type, and attendance status, first generation student status still had a negative effect on persistence and attainment.

Ouch. So we still suck... ok, I know, I have a chip on my shoulder.

I'm going to write my own piece of "The Lived Experience of a First Generation College Graduate," but some of it will come out as I write this. N. and I had dinner on Thursday, and she told me about this diversity seminar she attended at Wellesley after some racist graffiti was found in one of the dorms. The moderator asked a few questions about people's socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds and had them raise their hands if they "fit" into a certain category. The other Latina girls were surprised that light-skinned N. fit into their category. Apparently everyone was shocked when a girl who dressed in designer clothes raised her hand when he asked, "Who here is a first generation college student whose parents had manual jobs?"

I guess technically I'm a second generation college student, because my parents attended community college off and on, but could never finish because of the pressures of work, and, oh, getting drafted. They began at fairly low levels in the tech industry, but given the times, were able to take advantage of the educational resources available to them at work. Besides that, they're both smart people :) ! I've always admired what they were able to do, and I kind of thought their story was everybody's story - it's the American dream to grow up poor and make it through hard work and determination, right? Plus, I went to high school with tons of immigrant children who fell into a very similar category.

Then I went off to college. And I realized, not only do I not fit in to this culture of upper middle class wealth, but I'm terrified everyone will find out that I don't fit in. Unlike being from a different ethnic background, no one could tell from looking at me or speaking to me that my parents were not fifth generation college students who came over on the damn Mayflower. No, no, we came over on one of those coffin ships from Cobh. (B., by the way, is just one generation ahead of me. His Mick ancestors came over about 10-20 years ahead of mine, but we're all from the same drunk, potato-eating stock!). I looked the part. I sounded the part. And no one really knew, until they got to know me, that I spent a lot of my time at Sewanee terrified about how different I was.

This of course, didn't really hit me until I started dating at Sewanee. I had to keep my jaw from dropping as we'd pull up to his house in some rich suburb. "House." It made the house I grew up in look like some sort of shack. (Nobody ever had a pool though. Maybe that's a Florida thing.) And I never had the right manners, or the right clothes, or the right religion. I would whisper on the phone to my parents, "He's really rich." I found out that no, not everyone goes to public school. And then I realized that his parents were footing the entire bill for him to go to Sewanee, that he wouldn't have ended up at state school had he not worked his butt off to get the scholarship. This isn't any one guy I dated - this is all of them.

And the way that feels... hmmm. It's kind of hard to describe. I think I overcompensated a bit by being the best student, the best dressed, the most... well, as some of my sorority sisters used to say, I was "intimidating." Not being from genteel Southern wealth, I was out to prove that not only did I need to be, but I was better than all you jerks anyway. (Especially after a few Southern Gentlemen broke my heart. Especially that one who married his hometown girlfriend while dating me. Ouch.)

So, can those feelings come across in a quantitative study? Of course not. And that's not to say that statistics of first gen college students don't tell us some important information. But I think that my story of how I wandered into applying to certain colleges, not knowing the "right" way to go about it, and how I felt horribly out of place while at school (don't get me wrong - I loved Sewanee and still do) might provide some insight as well. I could not conduct such a study, because my feelings would color the results.

Perhaps I should do a phenomenological study of "The Lived Experience of Not Having to Work Your Ass Off to Get and Keep a Scholarship to a Private School Because If You Did Not, You Would Be at The University of Florida and Even So Hearing from Your Parents on Every Holiday How Damn Expensive College Is and How Hard They Work to Keep You There." No? Exposing that envious chip on my shoulder too much?