5A
OPINIONS/ Cliarlatte $o«t
Thursday May 13,2004
A step in right
direction for
teacher recruiting
r/
Becky
Carney
A debate over proposed
changes in how the state
licenses teachers has called
on the State Board of
Education to maintain its
current high Ucensing stan
dards.
Unfortunately, one side of
the debate erroneously
believes that the State Board
was proposing to lower stan
dards. Nothing could be fur
ther from the truth, as a clos
er look will make clear.
First, the Praxis II test,
ciurently being used, was
never intended to determine
effective teaching. Even the
Educational Thsting Service
- the designer of the test -
refuses to vahdate the test as
a predictor of effective teach
ing. Since the Praxis 11 was
adopted, North Carolina has
implemented a rigorous
accountability program.
Second, the Ucensing sys
tem being used today is not
serving the state well.
Currently, over 13,000 teach
ers on the state’s payroll are
not fully Ucensed. In many
cases young people are being
taught by substitute teach
ers who often have little
more than a high school
diploma. All together, teach
ers who have not met today’s
licensing standards are
teaching 325,000 students in
the state’s pubUc schools.
Third, at the root of the
problem are two factors that
the State Board is attempt
ing to address. The first of
those problems is that the
state’s colleges are not meet
ing the demand for new
teachers. On average,
schools need to hire 10,000
teachers per year and, in
recent years, fewer than
3,000 of those teachers are
coming from Schools of
Education across the state.
The second problem is that
the low pay offered to teach
ers makes it increasingly dif
ficult to attract and retain
high quaUty teachers.
In proposing changes to
todajfs system, the State
Board of Education is
attempting to make it easier
for schools to recruit quali
fied, experienced teachers
from other states. Tbachers
from other states have
become one of the most reU-
able sources of qualified
teachers for North Carolina
schools.
'What the State Board
changes would mean is that
either a new teacher or expe
rienced teacher from anoth
er state who had met that
state’s licensing require
ments would not have to
reprove themselves by tak
ing a test. Additionally, new
middle school and high
school teachers shall pass a
test or hold an academic
major or the equivalent of a
master’s degree in their con
tent area.
That is hardly a backward
step - especially for experi
enced out-of-state teachers.
One can only imagine what
would happen to college fac
ulty recruitment if UNC
Chapel HUl or N.C. State
required tenured faculty
from other states to pass an
examination before being
hired by a North Carolina
college.
Democratic and
Republican members of the
General Assembly — includ
ing my fellow House Bill 805
co-sponsors. Representatives
Linda Johnson, Jean
Preston and Douglas Yongue
— have been urging the State
Board to make changes that
■wiU make it easier for North
Carolina schools to recruit
experienced, proven teach
ers from other states.
We support the changes
being made and strongly
believe that these changes
will bring to an end the time
when nearly one-third of a
million young North
Carolinians are being taught
by men and women who may
or may not be qualified to
teach. That is not a step
backward. It is a step in the
right direction.
BECKY CARNEY of Charlotte
represents N.C. House Di.strict
102.
POSTSCRIPTS
Black is back, and
that’s so beautiful
American culture is
digging our flavor,
but do we benefit?
Angela Lindsay
It seems America has taken note of and
completely embraced what most African
Americans have always known - black is
beautiful.
We all know that black folk have had a
tremendous impact on this nation’s growth
from the cotton fields to combread. But in
recent years, our essence has totally tran
scended all things popular and has even
seeped into conservative corporate
America. This trend is leaving many black
folk with the impression that white
America is once again stealing om culture
and making a profit off of it. Is this a harm
less trend, or is it the slavery of the new
milleimium?
Our physical bodies may not be up on the
auction block, but our culture, language
and style is being sold off to the highest
bidder at advertising firms eager to make
a buck off of “us”. Never has it been more
marketable, more commercial, or just
plain “cool” to be ethnic. Urban culture is
being exploited in everything from to
sports to soda.
Mainstream companies such as Ebay, an
online auction and marketplace, have
incorporated urban vernacular into their
television commercials, I was shocked to
hear a conservative-looking, Caucasian
reporter on the Cable News Network use
the hip hop slang phrase “bling bling” with
a straight face in a recent telecast. And,
lest we forget, today’s laundry list of blue
eyed celebrities, such as singer Justin
Timberlake, who curiously develop a “bla-
cent” in mixed crowds.
Unfortunately, many incidental trendset
ters of color are not reaping the benefits of
their influential image. For instance, sev
eral hip hop music stars have incorporated
popular name brands into their hits songs,
many of whom received naiy a dime of
compensation from the very companies
they promote.
• Sales of the Nike Air Force One sneakers
have continually skyrocketed since rapper
Nelly recited their praises in his hit song
blatantly entitled “Air Force Ones”. The
cognac Courvoisier couldn’t stay on liquor
store shelves after music mogul Sean “P.
Diddy” Combs, rapper Busta Rhymes and
music producers the Neptunes collaborat
ed on the ode to the alcoholic beverage
appropriately titled “Pass the Courvoisier”.
When rapper Jay-Z instructed: “Motorola
two-way me!” in his blockbuster hit “Give
it to Me,” Motorola’s sales fit up like the
screen of their two-way pagers as the
young, urban set flooded electronics stores
everywhere to purchase the technological
devices.
Read: free advertising for corporations.
Not to mention the subsequent appeal of
the product to a whole new group of con
sumers. And the ethnic effect is not just in
commerce.
Long gone are the days when waif-like
model Twiggy set the standard for beauty
in America. Her boniness has been
bumped by the voluptuous bodies of beau
ties hke singer Beyonce Knowles. Black
folk have traditionally reveled in the femi
ninity of wide hips, thick Ups, and round
buttocks. But, now that America has
caught on, the urgency on the part of less
endowed women to enhance themselves
has spread like an epidemic. I watch with
a mixture of humor and horror as more
and more women opt to mutilate their bod
ies via volrmtary plastic surgery to plump
their pouts and fatten their fannies all
because society says curvaceous body fea
tures are “in.”
Even ethnic hairstyles have become fash
ionable. It is not unusual to see people of
all races sporting comrows, braids and
dredlocks. Remember looking at the movie
screen sideways when a com-rowed Bo
Derek scampered down the beach in “Tbn?”
Celebrities like Philadelphia 76ers guard
Allen Iverson have oft been publicly criti
cized for their “thuggish” appearance. But
it is that veiy image that draws spectators
to his basketball games just like rapper
Fifty Cent’s “gangsta” image draws con
sumers to record stores. It seems that
while the powers-that-be may scoff at
these popular images, let alone the idea of
their own children emulating them, they
can tolerate them just long enough to cap
italize off them.
CHtics may fail to realize that much of
the urban culture witnessed today has
come about as a natural progression from
and reflection of the environments in
which many African Americans and their
ancestors were raised. So, it becomes not
something we do - it’s who we are.
As a result, many African Americans are
protective of our culture because it is so
inextricably linked to our identity. Many
may feel that our persona has been stolen
from us once and become defensive if they
feel it happening again. As such, we may
raise an eyebrow when a non-black person
sits down to eat at a soul food restaurant or
bristle at the sound of urban slang coming
finm the mouth of someone from another
race. And we’ve all done it.
We are a creative and resourceful people,
partially, at least, because throughout his
tory we have had to be. Though it seems
our uniqueness has been subjugated by
today’s society, I do not propose that we
draw a fine in the sand to cordon off what
is “ours.” Our innate ability to make some
thing^ from nothing has only enriched our
world. But it is unwarranted for our “some
things” to render us nothing in return.
ANGELA LINDSAY is a Charlotte attorney. E-
mail her at lindsaylaw00@yafu)o.com.
Blackness is en vogue, including the
standard of beauty offered by the likes
of singer Beyonce Knowrles.
OUR VOICES
‘Under
God’ not
national
enterprise
The article by Angela
Lindsay (April 22 Post) on
the “under God” controversy
was exceedingly interesting
reading - interesting for its
indication of the writer’s
youth.
And ironic for the manner
in which Ms. Lindsay, her
self an attorney, seems to
unwittingly downplay the
importance and historical
value of the legal profession.
It is on this attribute of irony
that I disagree respectfully
with this writer and offer my
rebuttal.
Being older, I recall the dis
cussion from the early post-
World War II public debate
on inserting “under God” in
the Pledge of Allegiance.
Some of the same points of
debate from that era are the
same pros and cons being
offered now. It is, therefore
understandable that some to
the present opposition to the
insertion of the phrase is
now coming from us older
persons who are in a deja vu
been there done that, and
who sadly recall that the
conservatives obviously won
and the “under God” phrase
was placed in the pledge in
the early 1950s.
The bottom line in my
opposition to the use of “one
nation under God” is that
the phrase implies a link to
some divine authority as the
top layer of a multi-lithic
bureaucracy. The fallacy in
this thinking is that theocra
cies do not work; theocracies
have never worked in
Western societies or many in
any society.
I am not an atheist; neither
am I a lawyer, but as an old
school preacher/seminar>'
dropout, I remember one les
son that I think speaks well
to our present 21st century
debate. The very last verse
in the last chapter of the
Book of Judges states the
case for the use of lawyers
(and other human adminis
trators) to preside over
human affairs, and against a
god-figure being placed in
the constitutional frame
work.
Paul H. Hailey
Huntersville
Iraq regime
change one
year later
The writer is president of
Charlotte Chapter Islamic
Political Party of America.
With the recent mistreat
ment of Iraqi prisoners
(some of whom where forced
to pose in sexually humiliat
ing positions) and the hiring
of >ex-generals from
Saddam’s Republican guard-
What good has come from
the so-called “regime
change”?
It appears that over a year
later the Iraqi people have
simply been forced to
exchange Saddam and .his
Republican guard for Bush
has his Republican guard.
Jihril Hough
Charlotte >
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