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HB2281 and the Arizona Politics of Fear

Posted on March 16, 2012March 19, 2012 by Alyssa Rodriguez

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

–John Steinbeck

What seems like a staunchly anti-Mexican, anti-immigrant saturated Arizona agenda has now irrevocably seeped into the state’s education system, risking the success of its many Mexican students.

The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) was denied reinstatement of its Mexican American Studies (MAS) Program last week after the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed the request over a month ago.

Since January, the MAS Program has been closed down on the grounds that it violates one of Governor Brewer’s approved laws, HB2281.

In Arizona, following Brewer’s signing of HB2281, school curriculums “[can]not:

Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
Promote resentment toward a race or class or people.
[Be] designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”[1]

The MAS Program’s vision is as follows:

“The Mexican American Studies Department is dedicated to the empowerment and strengthening of our community of learners. Students will attain an understanding and appreciation of historic and contemporary Mexican American contributions. Students will be prepared for dynamic, confident leadership in the 21st Century.”[2]

This hardly sounds like something to be so fearful of that one is led to dismantle it. The benefits of the MAS Program (i.e. a 93% graduation rate of MAS students; improved grades and attendance) can easily be seen upon viewing the trailer to a new documentary, “Precious Knowledge,” wherein MAS student profiles, classroom conversations, etc. are featured.

Another reason behind the cancellation of this program has been twisted into being a financial one. In what the New York Times called a blackmail tactic [3], $14 million would have been withheld from the district per TUSD Superintendent Huppenthal, if the program was not shut down. But, how costly is it to empower students with their cultural; and yes, American history—at minimum to simply ensure them they have a place in it, too?

Why must education reform conversations often resort to focusing on the technical?

Failing to look further allows us to be in the dark about how beneficial a tailored, more relevant curriculum can be for students. I would argue that empowerment through the MAS program has led to a better school climate and a more positive socio-emotional experience for its students; which in my mind, is priceless.

Stripping students of the opportunity to acquire “precious knowledge” about their cultura is a detriment to not only the students themselves but to Jan Brewer’s entire constituency. When the Program was stripped away, so was a chance to achieve the Program’s goal of preparing “dynamic, confident leadership in the 21^st century.”

With the growth of Latinos continuing to be a hot conversation topic, I have seen fears arise in many different forms. One being a fear of Latinos holding power that they are not prepared for – what with their young demographic and their drop-out rates being the highest among all other minority groups.

We’ve seen this argument aplenty in the National conversation on the importance of Latino educational success in our classrooms. The future of our country will soon depend upon it.[4]

But from HB2281 comes another fear. An undeniable assertion and simultaneous attempt to deny the fact Latinos will take away [our] power, whether they are ready or not. Whether [we] want them to or not.

Or, as one blogger put it, “It (the closure of the MAS Program) happened because the state’s Latino population has nearly doubled in the past 20 years and the right wing is angry and afraid that it is helpless to stop it. In one generation, Latinos will be 50 percent of the state’s population and, short of declaring martial law and deporting everyone with brown skin, there’s nothing anyone can do to prevent that.”[5]

Clearly, Arizona is not ready to accept the outcomes of its ever-changing demographic. Underlying this fear of losing power is a long-held belief that is being threatened—one of white as unarguably dominant and deserving of power over any other group of people.

Through this situation in Arizona, we see that much of what James Baldwin asserted in his “Talk to Teachers” decades ago is still true today:

Without a robust understanding of one’s identity both personal and cultural, less will be achieved—for individuals and for society as a whole. When we embrace diversity, we all reap the benefits. Forcing instead a common knowledge that does exactly what it forbids (pitting the contributions of one ethnic group above another) will lead to an “ideal” society—a society that may perish because of its refusal to embrace changes that are inevitably forthcoming.

Arizona is just one example of the inability of a system to look at things in a whole new way. The MAS Program was a counterexample to this and the 93% graduation rate of students within the program is proof of its success[6]. Without continuing to approach things differently, those dismal outcomes that my fellow Latinos typically experience in school are bound to remain the same, and that makes me afraid.

[1] huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/mexican-american-studies-banned-_n_1324755.html [2] tusd1.org/contents/depart/mexicanam/index.asp

[3] In his 2011 Townhall with Latino students, President Obama stressed that one of the major ways to regaining dominant status on an international education spectrum was through Latinos: “The only way we can achieve these goals is to clearly understand that the future of America is inextricably linked to the future of the Latino community”

[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/opinion/sunday/rejected-in-tucson.html?_r=2

[5] littlegreenfootballs.com/article/39775_Tucsons_Mexican-American_Studies_Program-_Why_It_Was_Started_Why_Republicans_Killed_It

[6] preciousknowledgefilm.com/

High School Civil Rights Trip

Posted on March 14, 2012March 14, 2012 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Our friends at the FasTrac program are spending their Spring Break on a trip that them from Iowa City, IA to Memphis, TN, Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, AL, and Atlanta, GA.

They started a blog so they can share their experiences as they progress through their Civil Rights Tour. It’s been great to keep up with them as they explore, learn, and no doubt have a some fun along the way.

Check out the FasTrac blog here: fastracprogram.wordpress.com/

Power Struggle

Posted on February 21, 2012February 22, 2012 by Alyssa Rodriguez

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
-Mark Twain

I recently went to Ecuador on a “Fellowship and Learning Tour” via The Ecuador Partnership where we were able to learn about some churches and schools that [our] U.S. Mennonite congregations have helped to sustain over a period of 10 years.

The problem with being able to provide (mainly financial) sustenance to these congregations is the sense of dependency that is evident during our visits with each other.

As an American, we are held in high regard, even revered, but it’s not a comfortable feeling.

The Ecuador representative confided in me that because of this dependency, true growth in these congregations is stunted. Autonomy is still a far-off goal.

In our visits with each other, we recognize the great need of the congregations. But, instead of speaking financially with the Ecuadorian congregations, our American leaders simply refer back to the importance of relationships and how this 10-year-long relationship is helping to show whether financially supporting Ecuador will be “worth it” or not. In other words, [we] want to support something that can be self-sufficient and sustainable.

My hands, as an American with a fondness for fellow Latin@s and a passion for helping those who need, remain tied. I tagged along to learn and kept an open mind as to what I would learn, even though I do not carry much weight when it comes to deciding whether/how to support our Ecuadorian partners. The Ecuador Partnership has existed for over 10 years and consists of 3 Mennonite organizations: Central Plains Mennonite Conference, Mennonite Mission Network and the Colombia Mennonite Church. Every other year or so, this partnership tries to set-up travel groups from the U.S. to Ecuador and vice-versa. Anybody affiliated with the Central Plains Mennonite Conference and who is interested in learning and seeing the partnership in action is invited to travel to Ecuador. Members of the two Ecuadorian congregations travel to the U.S. as well.

Living for a few days in the circumstances these Ecuadorians find themselves in makes it impossible not to embrace such lifestyles, because the people unquestionably embrace you. As the trip went on, I reminded myself to refrain from taking too many exploitative photos and keep my potentially harmful observations as an outsider to myself.

On the 12-day tour, I started to understand how polar our lives are – struggling to access daily transportation, living off of about $5-10 per day and raising three growing teenagers on your own like my host mother; living as a Colombian refugee, in fear for the safety of yourself and your family; uncertain about how well the water will run on any given day; but, I still had a return flight scheduled back to America a few days later, where customs are hardly the same.

Being an outsider American is one thing. But, almost immediately, upon being picked up from the Quito Airport, I was aware that being a Latina American outsider may alter how I was seen in comparison to my fellow travelers.

In Ecuador, straddling the line that distinguishes two hemispheres simultaneously took on a new meaning.

I am Latina. But I am still (and probably more so) American, in Latin America.

Our hosts respectfully question why I don’t (really) know Spanish and leave it at that, after I give the response I have been primed to give (it’s hardly the first time I’ve been questioned about this).

I learned Spanish in High School after my father refused to make any real effort to teach me and my sisters, fearing discrimination similar to what he experienced growing up, only speaking the minority language.

But as the trip goes on, they compliment how much of the language I do know and can understand. Still, I wish I could relate more to them. To be in the company of fellow Latin@s is something I generally appreciate because it does not happen all of the time. It also lent a sense of guilt that I wasn’t prepared for. Nothing, not even double-checking the contents of your suitcase and making sure you have your passport can prepare you for that guilt.

When we had to say goodbye to each other, I was tongue-tied. I could not fully articulate how grateful I was for their hospitality, but I hope my hugs translated some of it.

I learned that one of the challenges of being privileged/having power is knowing how to use it for good and how to respectfully involve the less privileged in deciding what will help most. What will lead to the greatest level of autonomy so true fellowship can take place?

I’ve witnessed these lifestyles while trying not to exploit them, now what?

In my very spacious office room to which I arrive via guaranteed transportation; a room complete with heat and the assurance of running water, I will continue pondering this.

Attendance as a Reform Agenda

Posted on February 9, 2012February 22, 2012 by Deb Hansen

Reading Time: 5 minutes

In the recent State of the Union address, President Obama challenged states to address the required age of school attendance. The President stated, “… when students don’t walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma. When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state — every state — requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.“

For the eighteen states that use sixteen years of age as the attendance requirement and the eleven states that require attendance until seventeen years of age, Obama’s expectation that they raise the age requirement is probably causing some lively discussions among school reformers.[1] The Education Week blog Obama Rekindles State Debates on Dropout Age by Lesli A. Maxwell sheds some light on this highly relevant topic. According to Maxwell, experts on this issue contend that changing attendance laws will do little by itself to decrease national dropout rates and that without comprehensive strategies for making school engaging and relevant and for identifying and addressing early signs of dropping out, states and districts are not likely to have much success with increasing graduation rates.

The blog goes on to cite national statistics on dropout rates, stating that nationally 8.1 percent of people between 16 and 24 years of age are considered dropouts. The blog fails to report on the graduation rates of students of color. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that in 2007-2008 dropout rate for white students was 2.8 percent, with the Hispanic dropout rate at 6.0 percent, the Black dropout rate at 6.7 percent, and the American Indian/Alaska Native dropout rates at 7.3 percent.[2]

A study by the Schott Foundation for Public Education points out that only 47 percent of Black males graduate, while 78 percent of white male students graduate.[3]

President Obama’s advocacy to raise the required graduation rates and the points offered in the Education Week blog cause me to wonder about the students’ experiences on day-in and day-out basis. I contend that if what the student experiences everyday isn’t dramatically changed, having more of the same thing is not likely to improve the outcomes for students, even if they do stay in school longer. The Education Week piece does make the case that other strategies are needed beyond mandates for required years in school to make a difference in graduation rates. As an example of efforts underway to increase school attendance and improve graduation rates, New Hampshire reforms are presented as a case study. Paul Leather, New Hampshire’s Deputy Education Commissioner, stressed the importance of tackling the dropout problem by providing extended learning opportunities, creating multiple pathways to graduation, and making the state’s programs in career and technical education and adult education more accessible. New Hampshire’s data suggests that their approach is making head-way — the cohort rate for students who had dropped out of school (and did not earn a GED) was 3.3% in 2010-11 – down from 4.4% the previous year. Interestingly, Maxwell cites a 2010 report by the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins that suggests that of the six states that increased the compulsory-attendance age between 2002 and 2008, only Nevada accomplished a decrease in graduation rates. Illinois and South Dakota saw an increase in their high school graduation rates.

I am reminded of the comments made by Richard Elmore of Harvard University. In various presentations, I have heard Dr. Elmore comment on his observations of classrooms that he believes are “excruciatingly boring”. He goes further by stating that educators have a moral responsibility to save students from being bored and disenfranchised by ensuring they are given engaging and challenging tasks. Anecdotally, I have personally visited many classrooms where students are politely engaged in lessons and tasks that are designed to address the expected standards and curriculum. The noteworthy commonality across these observations was that the students seemed bored and that the lessons and tasks were not particularly relevant or student focused.

Ethan Yazzie-Mintz, a scientist at the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy at Indiana University and director of the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) reports findings from the HSSSE annual survey of students’ perceptions about their school experience, the learning environment , and their interactions with the school community. According to the 2009 analysis of this survey, students report that boredom is a major factor in deciding to drop out. The report lists these findings: “Two out of three respondents (66%) in 2009 are bored at least every day in class in high school; nearly half of the students (49%) are bored every day and approximately one out of every six students (17%) are bored in every class. Only 2% report never being bored, and 4% report being bored “once or twice.”[4]

Education policy makers may hope that, with the stroke of a pen, they can make a significant difference in the graduation rates by changing the policies that set the age of mandatory attendance. Keeping students in school longer does have some face validity, but as suggested by the states that have changed the mandatory age without results, it may not yield the quick- fix that is desired. If students anticipate being bored and disappointed by what they are asked to learns as they walk through the school doors each day, just requiring more days may not be the best strategy. Providing learning experiences that are relevant, challenging, and connected to the real world beyond the classroom should be high priority for school reformers. Particular attention must be paid to designing authentic learning experiences for all students of color and for black males, to make schools an engaging place where students choose to stay. These improvements will require changes to the curriculum and intensive professional growth for teachers and school leaders to learn new practices. Additionally, working conditions in schools will need to be established to provide teachers with the time to plan and collaborate with each other as they develop dynamic and more personalized learning opportunities for students.

The Obama Administration provided this graphic on the costs of dropping out as part of the State of the Union presentation.[5] Considering the statistics on dropouts, along with the costs of dropping out, creates a sense of urgency to do something. Taking action to transform instructional practices and the learning students engage will accomplish far more than just extending the mandatory age of attendance. Improved teaching and learning will not just keep students in school; it will also prepare them for the world they will face when their K-12 years are over. Funding the more comprehensive reforms will be expensive, but the considering the cost of dropping out, the investment should be indisputable.

[1] Education Commission of States. (2010). Compulsory school age requirements. Retrieved from http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/86/62/8662.pdf

[2] National Center for Education Statistics. (2007-08). Public school graduates and dropouts from the common core of data: School year 2007-2008. IES Institute of Educational Sciences. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/graduates/findings.asp

[3] The Schott Foundation for Public Education. (2010). Yes we can: The Schott 50 state report on public education and black males 2010. Retrieved from http://blackboysreport.org/?page_id=14

[4] Yazzie-Mintz. E. (2009) Charting the path from engagement to achievement: A report on the 2009 high school survey of student engagement. Retrieved from http://ceep.indiana.edu/hssse/images/HSSSE_2010_Report.pdf

[5] The White House. (2012). State of the union enhanced graphics. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/25/state-union-deep-dive

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on January 16, 2012January 17, 2012 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Access to Learning

Posted on January 6, 2012January 6, 2012 by Deb Hansen

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This fall I had the opportunity to attend the annual Des Moines Branch of the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet in Des Moines, Iowa. The featured dinner speaker was Dr. Linda Lane, Superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public School District. Prior to becoming Superintendent in December of 2010, Dr. Lane was the deputy superintendent of the Des Moines Independent Community School District and she was the first female and person of color to hold the position of chief operating officer. From 2006 to 2010 Linda served as the deputy superintendent of the Pittsburgh Public School District. During her time as Deputy Superintendent, Pittsburgh achieved adequate early progress (AYP) for the first time in the district’s history. The district was able to achieve AYP again for the second time in three years with Dr. Lane in the superintendency.

Dr. Lane’s keynote began with her reflections about the impact of the economic crisis on students and families in her district, as well as how funding cuts have had some devastating effects on the Pittsburgh school system. She stressed that educators and community members must be clear about the purposes of education and that it is paramount that students have access to a high quality education to prepare them to pursue college or work force certification – not just vocational opportunities.

Dr. Lane recommended the book, Pinched: How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures and What We Can Do About It by Don Peck (2011) to the audience. Peck’s book asserts that the current recession is creating a white male underclass and that unskilled workers are being pushed out of low paying jobs. Unfortunate economic conditions caused by this recession will make it even harder for students of color to find opportunities in the work place. According to Lane, these patterns create an even greater urgency for communities to push for better schooling and clearer paths into careers for students who don’t immediately go to colleges or universities. Lack of education fuels what has been described as the 1% and the 99% wealth-gap. Dr. Lane went on to make the argument that education is power and that history reveals how racial inequities are created and maintained by limiting access to education. For example, laws were established to make teaching slaves to read and write illegal for the purpose of diminishing their power. Sadly, the current laws to prevent Latino/a students from qualifying for in-state tuition because they are undocumented, suggests that denying educational equity continues to this day.

Dr. Lane admonished the audience, “For our kids to do better, we have to do better.” She described efforts to increase student access to education such as the Pittsburgh Promise program that offers scholarships to students who meet grade point and attendance requirements, as well as Promise Net, a network of communities investing in education and economic development by establishing place-based scholarship programs. Dr. Lane wrapped up her remarks by challenging the audience with some difficult questions. What is Des Moines doing to establish scholarship programs? What else can be done to help students to grab opportunities? What more can your community do to increase students’ access to quality education?

To suit the occasion of a banquet, Dr. Lane’s remarks had to be compelling and motivational, but brief. I found them to be thought-provoking, but I left feeling more worried than motivated. The two themes, that access to education is power and that the negative effects of the current recession will make it harder for students to succeed, caused me to wonder about the ongoing struggle to pass federal education policies to improve student learning. Will the policymakers support and fund actions that increase student access to the robust and meaningful education needed to move large numbers of struggling students to levels of success needed to be successful in college and the workplace? Will the policy platforms being crafted now result in better outcomes for students of color or will they exacerbate the economic and social pressures that are contributing to the current gaps in student performance and graduation rates? Dr. Lane’s reforms are getting traction in Pittsburgh. Work underway there is closing the gap. In another venue, with more time, I am sure that she could elaborate on policies and strategies that work. Perhaps, legislators should be taking a look at her ideas for increasing access to quality education.

Cheers to health & happiness in 2012

Posted on January 4, 2012January 5, 2012 by Circe Stumbo

Reading Time: < 1 minute

New Year’s resolutions are all about better living which is something we work to have as part of our culture here at West Wind. We strive to create a healthy and joyful workplace that promotes balance between work and life.

We recently decided to experiment with the concept of standing more during our work days for the sake of our health. We purchased some standing work stations to try out and we are finding they keep us on our feet with our muscles activated. So far, so good! Here’s an article that explains the health benefits of getting up and keeping our bodies in more full motion during long days at the office: http://tinyurl.com/42cx4eu.

Movement is great, and so is laughter. We’ve all heard laughter is the best medicine, right? Well, here’s an interesting article that explains the potential emotional and physiological benefits of laughter: http://tinyurl.com/aq2nc9.

And, to tie it all together, here’s a short clip from the t.v. show, The Office, about office-dwellers standing at work. This entertained us and might make you laugh too: http://tinyurl.com/88yrgm6.

Best wishes for good health, laughter, and happiness in the New Year!

Creating Risk

Posted on December 23, 2011January 5, 2012 by Valerie Nyberg

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Minnesota state officials recently released the Minnesota Readiness Study showing that children of color and children who live in poverty are “less likely to be considered ready for kindergarten”[1] than their White and middle class counterparts. As we try to understand, I want to focus attention on the notion of what it means to be “ready” for kindergarten.

According to a 2010 report[2] summary, the Minnesota Department of Education defines readiness as:

The skills, knowledge, behaviors, and accomplishments that children should know and be able to do as they enter kindergarten in the following areas of child development: personal and social development; language and literacy; mathematical thinking; physical development; the arts.[3]

Although I understand given the pressure to produce a highly educated and qualified citizenry that there is such emphasis of skill and knowledge development for five year olds; I do believe that these indicators, don’t tell the full story. Not only that, but I am even more alarmed when last year’s summary goes on to “[c]onclud[e] that the result of the School Readiness Study are predictive of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) proficiency outcomes at grade three, especially in reading and math…”[4]

Essentially this report, like so many others like it, indicates that poor children and children of color not only enter school behind, but are more likely not to catch up to their White and middle class peers even by third grade. To go further, many education reports like these and the subsequent media coverage contribute to a narrative and mental model that lead people to believe that it is the fault of the parents, the home environment, the culture, or circumstances that no one can control that leads to such disparate outcomes. This is implied due to the emphasis that these kids are behind even before they enter school. However, for a moment, let’s suppose we take this at face value and agree children enter into kindergarten at different levels of “readiness” in terms of their skills and knowledge. So what? To me, the obvious solution is to teach them the skills they need to be “ready” for kindergarten. Is that such a radical notion? It is true that learning accumulates with some skills building from others, but does that mean that once behind, always behind? I would guess that in a country like our own that prides itself on upward mobility and the self-making of each citizen, the rather obvious conclusion should be no. Yet, that’s exactly what happens. Why?

To answer this, I go back to one of the first texts I read as a graduate student, Shirley Brice Heath’s Ways with Words (1983)[5]. She studied three communities, Roadville, a predominantly White working class community; Trackton, a predominantly Black working class community; and the Townspeople, a more racially mixed middle-class community. She examined the orientation and use of language that each community exhibited in their day-to-day interactions amongst each other, and especially with their young children and looked at how their relationship with literacy and language related to their children’s degrees of success in school. Heath found that each set of students entered with different relationships, understanding, skills, and knowledge of literacy and that school heavily favored the orientation and skills that the Townspeople’s children brought with them to the detriment to the other students. It wasn’t that children from Trackton and Roadville didn’t know, but that they had different ways with words. Specifically Heath (1983) says, “The school’s approach to reading and learning establishes decontextualized skills as foundational in the hierarchy of academic skills,” (p. 353) which indicates the need to reassess how school approaches such skills and knowledge and examines who is privileged in this process and who is marginalized. Without this understanding and without taking the time to examine the taken-for-granted knowledge and skills teachers bring from their own homes and then perpetuate in the classroom, the achievement gap will continue to exist. As she says,

The school is not a neutral objective arena; it is an institution which has the goal of changing people’s values, skills, and knowledge bases. Yet some portions of the population, such as the townspeople, bring with them to school linguistic and cultural capital accumulated through hundreds of thousands of occasions for practicing the skills and espousing the values the schools transmit…

In any case, unless the boundaries between classrooms and communities can be broken, and the flow of cultural patterns between them encouraged, the schools will continue to legitimate and reproduce communities of townspeople who control and limit the potential progress of other communities and who themselves remain untouched by other values and ways of life (p. 367-369).

My point is that such reports, while sounding the alarm are indicating all the wrong sources for the achievement gap. It is not that students enter kindergarten deficit of skills, it’s that kindergarten in its current form is not created to recognize and honor the skills children bring with them and utilize those skills as a means of learning others. It’s a lack of knowledge, interest, and skills built into the institution itself that fails to welcome all its citizenry with the same equitable embrace as those who best exhibit the institution’s own ideologies and ways of knowing and being. Until we change that, I believe we will continue to create risk where none actually exists.

[1] See Tom Weber, “Achievement gap exists for kids even before kindergarten” Minnesota Public Radio.

[2] Due to technical errors, the report from this year is inaccessible online; therefore, I used the summaries and results from last year’s report, which makes many of the same points.

[3] See School Readiness Study Summary found HERE.

[4] Also see the School Readiness Study Summary.

[5] Heath, Ways with Words Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Empowering Students through the Iowa Latino Conference

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Alyssa Rodriguez

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Note: Earlier this year, I wrote about the Iowa Latino Conference that I was participating in for the first time. More recently, I shared the highlights from the October event.

From participating in most of Youth Development Summit planning meetings last Spring, Summer and Fall to attending the two-day conference, I realized something was missing that could hugely impact the conference planning in the future: the students.

Reflecting back on my years as a student, there were few times when my opinion and preferences were directly called upon. In retrospect, such an opportunity would have strengthened my investment in such events, and it would have stretched my knowledge and abilities by allowing me to try something new.

To reflect on what were really highlights of the 2011 Iowa Latino Conference (Youth Development Summit), I asked the students.

Here is what they had to say:

I had a great time at the 2011 Latino Youth Leadership Summit. I learned a LOT from Michael Benitez. He taught me how it’s important to remember where you come from. Though we might learn something different living here (USA/Iowa), we must also remember our roots…It’s so true when he said that we may not be a fan of our history classes because we don’t feel we are a part of it, this is exactly how I feel. It was a great experience. (11th grader)

Mike (Benitez) talked about how you can change your life by forgiving people. (12th grader)

I learned that education can get you anywhere; that culture is very important; to listen to others; and to stay in school. (9th grader)

I learned that education is something very important for everyone, especially us Latinos and that we should be responsible. (9th grader)

I learned about Latino culture and where I actually come from. I really enjoyed the trip because it was very informational and interesting. I thought the speaker was very motivational and entertaining. (10th grader)

I really enjoyed the Latino Conference this year. The Aztec dance performed by the Omeyocan Dance Company was amazing and I liked being a part of the energy transfer, like they explained and how they prayed to each direction (i.e. North, South, East & West) with purpose…. As for Michael’s speech there are barely any words to describe the impact he had on me…I will reference his speech throughout my life; it made me question so many things I have done wrong and what I shouldn’t do just because people (i.e. peers) think it’s cool; and not to let any opportunities go by. Additionally, just because I think I can’t or other people say I won’t be able to, doesn’t mean I can’t; it means that I should try a little harder and I’ll be able to accomplish anything. (11th grader).

Planning has already begun for next year’s conference even though buzz from this year is still being heard. Evaluation forms collected student contact information for those who were fired up about helping out next year. This will be the first time that students are directly engaged with conference planning. Without this input from students themselves, issues most pertinent to them and most appealing to their communication-style may be lacking.

What seemed to work so well for this year’s keynote, Mike Benitez, was that although he is in higher education now, he has remembered the struggles he came from when he was [these students’] age. Doctoral candidacy isn’t something youth may relate to, but being 15 and trying to stay out of trouble more likely is. What’s more, his triumph over such troubled times is a great bit of inspiration for all students. An inspiration one chaperone[1] said students will “carry in their hearts and minds…”

Welcoming students at the planning table, I’m certain, will make for an even better conference next year. And, capitalizing on youth excitement about issues pertinent to them is something that can inspire us all.

[1] Names have been kept confidential at the request of the students and their chaperone. In her words, while students were inspired by the experience, “they are not ready to wear that inspiration on their sleeve but are willing to carry it in their hearts and minds…” Here is hoping that the continuation of the Iowa Latino Conference can encourage that inspiration to be seen on everyone’s sleeves.

Why Teacher Diversity Matters

Posted on November 23, 2011November 23, 2011 by Valerie Nyberg

Reading Time: 5 minutes

When I first became a teacher, honestly, I didn’t think race mattered. As a child who grew up in single-parent, low-income household, when I first graduated college, I felt I was the “model” of the American Dream. As a homeowner, mother, wife, college graduate, there were many reasons for why I didn’t challenge the paradigm that I was the exception.

Yet, as I entered into my first teaching jobs and even more importantly as I moved into graduate school and reflected more on my background and experiences, I learned to see the privileges I benefited from, including, coming from a family where my great-grandmother and her siblings were college educated, and that my mother, raised in a middle-class household taught me to see our poverty as an anomaly which I was duty-bound to overcome. How did this occur? First through personal experience.

In my first teaching job, I taught in a school in a small mostly rural area that was not too far from a large naval installation. As a result, our school had more diversity than most in the area. Among our demographics were Samoan students, who by-and-large were affiliated in one way or another with the Navy. In my third period class, of the 16 or so students (as a writing class, we had a classroom cap of 19 students), over a quarter of my students were Samoan, with a couple of African American students while the rest were White. As the year progressed, I was concerned because half of the students struggled, most of all my Samoan and Black students. They were disaffected, uninterested, and seemed to resist even the slightest amount of rigor. When I engaged my colleagues to inquire about ideas regarding the different approaches, insights into the kids and their backgrounds (I did not live in the community), and additional supports for my instruction, many times I was told things like: not every student will pass; they are failing themselves, you are not failing them; you’re doing everything that you can. For me, these were insufficient answers. Why were my students failing? Why was it such a struggle to help them find a way into the course and why were these efforts failing them?

In contrast was my second period class, many of whom were in band and/or orchestra, many of whom were passing with high As and Bs, almost all of whom were White, with a few Asian (non-Samoan) students. When I asked others about students’ behaviors, because often I found students challenged my authority, or in some cases tried to make me “look” stupid, I was told to expect them to challenge and that as high achieving students, though annoying and at times not respectful, that was simply a characteristics these kids brought to school with them. My question always was what is the difference between these two sets of kids? Would they ever tolerate the same behaviors and approaches to the classroom from students in my third period class? How did the differences in the ways we interacted with the students, as well as our expectations for them impact their performance and overall interactions in school? Don’t all kids want to be successful? Didn’t they all have ambitions and dreams, even if they didn’t share them with me? If so, why would we see behaviors and interactions differently for one group and not another? Didn’t they all deserve the same opportunity to fulfill their dreams and ambitions, and wasn’t that indeed my job to help them try? I didn’t find the answers. Instead I found an ample amount of labels to describe students, most of whom are minority, some of whom grew up in poverty, some others of whom may be labeled with a behavioral disability, and many of whom are disciplined and suspended in school. To be clear, this is does not only apply to students of color. Any student who does not fit the mode of behavior and expectations, which differ at the different levels of school: elementary, middle school/junior high, and high school, are caught in a web of school marginalization that sometimes leads to failure and/or drop out.

As Arne Duncan said in the fall of 2010, it’s important to have a diverse workforce in the classroom that reflects the diversity of our nation. In many cases this is racial/ethnic and even language diversity. In many other cases this includes gender. My understanding of this came years after I stepped out of the classroom.

In 2001, at the end of my first year in my second teaching job, I left the K-12 classroom a few years after I entered. Essentially, I stopped teaching because not only were my students unable to handle the racial tension that having their first Black teacher presented, but my school and more importantly my school district had no idea how to support me in this transition. When I sought assistance, I received none. When I complained about my principal’s handling of the situation, first and foremost I was told it was not racial, though I was the only Black teacher in a teaching staff of over 100, and that he was simply a bad principal…allowed to keep his job while he threatened mine. My response, go to graduate school.

In the intervening years, I have learned that teaching and learning is profoundly a social event. At the base of this event are all of the assumptions, stereotypes, beliefs and values that we each, student and teacher, brings into the classroom and that this does not apply only to the subject of instruction, but to the nature of what is means to be “teacher” and “student” and how fluid these roles and definitions are as they interact with our understandings of what it means to “learn” and to “teach.”

When we have implicit or explicit lower expectations those are communicated. When we ignore the tensions of having someone “in charge” when people typically see them as “those who take orders,” that also makes a difference. What minority teachers can (because not all do) bring to the classroom is a better understanding of the social, psychological, and personal stakes that minority students are presented with when they enter the classroom. To learn is a risk. Not only must students trust that the teachers will guide them with the students’ own best interest at heart, but there is always the fear of losing or moving away from those who are familiar whether they include family, language, or culture, and in that, students also risk elements of their own identity in an education system that continues to maintain a colorblind paradigm. As a social event, we are all subtly and not, impacted by the relationships we develop and “teaching” and “learning” that occurs. To actively and implicitly learn that you are a member of a group that has historically occupied the bottom rungs of society, necessarily means that you learn that you are of lesser value. To overcome this, minority teachers can help to dispel the myths, stereotypes, and assumptions that White and middle class teachers bring into the classroom about those children who are not like themselves. They can also better explicitly teach students how to connect to a curriculum that often marginalizes if not entirely excludes them,[1] the contributions that minority groups have made to the founding and strengthening of this country and in turn the contributions that today’s students of color can make to us all. These are certainly not elements that appear on a standardized test, yet they are important, nonetheless. Lastly, as Sonia Nieto’s wide body of work on “multicultural education” points out, all children want to see our eyes light up when they enter the classroom. Isn’t that our responsibility to show all students?

[1] In this time of celebrating Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays, consider what we are celebrating. In the case of Thanksgiving, it’s important to recognize that is not a celebration for all. In the case of Native populations (whether they identify as Native American or American Indians) we are celebrating the impending demise, intentional and accidental, to entire populations of people in the service of building a country literally on the backs of enslaved and impoverished people of color, who for the most part, were not even considered citizens.

Photograph (cc)