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OPINIONS/tE;iie Cliarlotte ^oet
Thursday, August 16, 2007
West Meek High
accepts challenge
By Shando C. Ross
SPEC/AL TO THE POST
West Mecklenburg High School does not look at the begin
ning of the 2007-2008 school year as a challenge. It is more
like an opportunity to make changes.
It is a year for reform. West Mecklenburg High School and
AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), an inter
national program serving 2300 schools, are embarking on a
journey focused on raising the level of expectations for our
students while empowering them to be more accountable
for themselves and to each other. We want to equip our stu
dents with the strategies and tools to be successful in the
classroom and in life.
Why would West Mecklenburg High School choose a pro
gram like AVID as a reform? The answer is simple. We
believe that by providing the high academic expectations,
support and structure of the AVID program to all students,
all students will achieve at the highest level. If we prepare
every child as a college bound student, we are setting the
highest academic standards. Once they are equipped with
the tools, students will have more options and choices open
to them once they graduate. The purpose of education is to
enhance opportunities for the future of all students.
AVID ch^ges the way a student looks at education. It
helps them to see their potential no matter what their level
of academic achievement is. The program meets them
where they are, supports them in where they want to go.
School and learning become personalized when a child is a
part of the AVID program.
At the core of the AVID philosophy is a strong emphasis
on writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading. All four are
essential skills that are interwoven into the daily coursework
of each student.
• Writing skills are the foundation for the other compo
nents. As students become better writers, they can com
municate ideas, clarify experiences, organize their thoughts,
and become better students.
• Inquiry touches on the teacher’s approach to classroom
instruction. By placing more emphasis on questioning tech
niques and engaging students to clarify, generalize, and
ev^uate answers, students must really think for themselves
and not just want to give a right or wrong answer.
• Collaborative learning groups bring students together to
become a part of each other’s educational process. They are
responsible for working as a group, Ustening to each other,
challenging each other, and finding solutions as a group.
• Reading is the final key to any successful student. They
learn strategies to connect material to prior knowledge, con
sider the structure of the text, and process text so that they
can increase comprehension in reading a range of material.
Beginning this fall, all incoming students to West
Mecklenburg will take a course exposing them to the ideas
of AVID and give them practice implementing it in their
freshman courses. A team of teachers attended a weeklong
AVID Summer Institute to help mesh their teaching strate
gies within the AVID framework. Throughout the course of
the year, all teachers at West Meek will receive training on
AVID strategies specific to their content area.
Students will have the preparation and confidence to
achieve success in the classroom and enable them to pursue
more educational options. Nationally, 95 percent of stu
dents enrolled in AVID go to college. By Implementing an
AVID program school-wide at West Mecklenburg High
School, we strive to replicate this success with our students.
Interested in joining our journey? You could offer support
by volunteering as a tutor, or share your college and pro
fessional stories as a guest speaker in one of our AVID class
rooms. Contact me at (980) 343-6080.
SHANDA C. ROSS is AVE) coordinator at West Mecklenburg
High School.
OUR VOICES
The blame game: It’s
blaek folks’ fault
By Kely Harris
SPeC/AL 7D THE POST
It seems that Bill Cosby,
Juan WOliams, and others
have emboldened non
blacks and some blacks to
hammer the message of
personal responsibility.
Mayor Pat McCrory is the
latest to exploit that line and
place the blame squarely on
African-American’s shoul
ders. The assumption being
made by McCrory and oth
ers is that the system works
and its flaws are transpar
ent. Furthermore, if you
work hard you can prosper
in this system.
While true for some peo
ple from all backgrounds,
this assumption is still
severely flawed.
Theoretically if people
were perfect and the free-
market capitalist system
worked to perfection there
would still be an underclass.
With that in mind, it is odd
to contribute the failures or
the reality of the underclass
and the black community to
low levels of work ethic,
criminal behavior, drug use,
poor parenting, single par
ent households, and a lack
of education.
Black folk have been dis-
{Droportionately singled out
for a failure to take “respon
sibility" of their communi
ties. While the aforemen
tioned shortcomings/weak
nesses certainly constitutes
real and significant chal
lenges for the black com
munity (and America at
large), the other side of the
ledger is suspiciously miss
ing-
If the system does not
work perfectly, which all but
a few are willing to admit,
then what are the failures of
the system and how can
they be rectified?
One would think that
above all else a mayor, gov
ernor, senator, representa
tive, and councilman/coun- .
cilwoman, would try to be
descriptive about the ways
the system fail's its citizens
and seek ways to alleviate
these failures of the system.
This can and should be
done in tandem with the
message of personal
responsibility - for all citi
zens and not just African-
Americans.
To be sure however, not
many parents and not many
people in the black commu
nity argue against taking
responsibility. Yet personal
responsibility seems to be
the only message being
proffered.
The question is why is this
the fashionable argument to
put forth now? People read
ily admit that racism exists
but fail to say where and
how. They are more com
fortable believing that it
resides in the hearts and
minds of select individuals
and not institutions.
The sad fact is that eco
nomic and political disfran
chisement, poor education,
and the values that under
gird this city, state, and
nation remains a challenge
and obstacle for millions of
citizens.
1 would think finding solu
tions to these ills are of con
cern to us all and they can
not and should not be sepa
rated from the problems of
violence and gangs in our
communities.
KELLY HARRIS is direaor of
international studies at
Johnson C. Smith University.
We need more
face time with
our children
I often write in this space about a national or global
challenge confronting our children and recommend how
readers might support a policy or initiative to address it.
In this week’s column, however, I’d like to talk about
how each of us can do more to personally develop our
own children. As you know, a lot of the things children
need to shape them into healthy adults come from those
who raise them - love, self-confidence, a set of values and
a generous spirit. To do a better job at conveying these
attributes, I want to encourage us all to invest
more ’’face time" in our children.
Many parents are doing a good job of rais
ing their children while balancing the
demands of careers and maintaining a
household. But too many children are spend
ing too many hours in counter-productive
pursuits, aimlessly watching television or
playing video games. I recommend we redis
cover how to spend more one-on-one time
with the young people in our own families -
something I'm afraid many of us have gotten
away from.
First, I want to emphasize the basics. Read
to your children - starting while they are still in diapers.
Sit down to dirmer as a family and talk. Get your children
off the couch and go on a family outing. Pack a lunch and
share the experience of a nature walk or a bike ride
through a local park.
A wide variety of family activities that can stimulate
intellectual curiosity and personal engagement require
little preparation or expense. Feeding times at the zoo are
both entertaining and educational. Make children feel at
home in museums, too. Show them what special places
they are, with all their rooms promising the excitement
of discovery - whether that means meteorites, carved
dolls from Ghana, the teeth of prehistoric sharks or
Impressionist paintings. Many museums offer free tours.
And don’t forget the planetariums.
There is a lot you can do close to home too. Share your
hobbies, personal interests and passions. Plant a garden
together - flowers in the front yard, vegetables in the
back. Help chiidren appreciate the work that goes into
growing something the famiiy can eat or decorate their
homes with. Plant a tree on their birthdays. It’s good for
the environment and will give children a sense of conti
nuity and connection with nature. Teach your children
how to cook five simple meals. Learning to cook is
empowering.
Have a family movie night with films that will fuel dis
cussion. Pop some popcorn and rent films like "Akeelah
and the Bee," "Whale Rider," "A Raisin in the Sun," "It's
a Wonderful Life," and "Once Upon a Time When We
Were Colored." These are the kinds of films that are both
excellent family entertainment and filled with valuable
lessons about integrity, courage, humanity, service, striv
ing for excellence and the will to overcome obstacles.
Take your children to live performances and story hours
at your local library. Plays and stories develop a child’s
imagination and introduce her or him to great literature.
Transform your car into a magic carpet, one that con
veys children to places where they will be surprised and
enlightened - some of those places might be just down
the street. Become tourists in your own town. Contact
your iocai visitors’ center or chamber of commerce for
the schedules of guided tours of historic homes in your
city, like the home of Frederick Douglass here in
Washington, D.C.
Some states are truly living history books. Virginia con
tains the homes of several U.S. presidents, including
George Washington's Mount Vernon and Thomas
Jefferson's Monticello. Your family can step back into the
18th century at Colonial Williamsburg, a restored village
where re-enactors demonstrate printing, shoemaking
and wig making as it was done in colonial times. Visit
Jamestown, settled 400 years ago, where enslaved
Africans were first introduced to the British colonies in
America.
There are wonderful history lessons in the Selma to
Montgomery National Voting Trail in Alabama. Trace the
birth of American independence on Boston’s "Freedom
Trail," or go to Ellis Island in New York, the port of entry
for millions of immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Sow the seeds of generosity by volimteering with your
children. Make a project of baking cookies and take them
to a nursing home - stay and visit for a while. Take your
children shopping for an elderly neighbor or clean up
their yard. Support a family food or clothing drive for the
homeless. If your children are 16 or older, take them to
build homes with your local Habitat for Humanity affili
ate or join a Christmas in April group to help a needy
family with home repairs.
These are just some of the many ways to help children
be their better selves. And I’ll share a little secret - you’ll
have the time of your life.
Bennetsville, S.C, native MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN is
president of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action
Council.
Bailey
An assault on
1st Amendment
and freedoms
John Mitchell Jr., editor/publisher of the Richmond
Planet during Reconstruction was mailed cow
manure along with death threats by White suprema
cists who tried to stop him from writing against
racism.
The stories have it that he answered the threats by
going to their community and riding through on a
horse wearing two six-shooters.
Ida B. Wells, amidst her heroic campaign against
lynching at the Memphis Free Speech in the 1880s,
was also threatened with death. But she
never iet up, continuing her written
protests even as a coiumnist for the
New York Age and then at her hus
band's Chicago Conservator.
Charles Tisdale’s Jackson Advocate
headquarters was firebombed at least
twice and was once assaulted with a
hail of more than 3,000 bullets. He sim-
Hazel Trice ply moved to new Mississippi head-
EdnEY quarters and kept right on publishing.
The late Tisdale's paper is stiU going
strong.
Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, was
killed by an assassin earlier this month, police say.
But just as historic threats of death, hideous attacks
and firebombs never stopped the truth, even the pel
lets of a shotgun - which felled our brother
Chauncey will not succeed.
Journalists around the world mourn
our colleague, a standard bearer for
the mission of the global media in
general and for the black press in par
ticular. But, even as we grieve, ene
mies of the First Amendment’s,
“Freedom of the Press" should be
forewarned of what Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. said best: “Truth crushed to
the ground shall rise again. No lie can
live forever."
Whether it is the truth of white supremacist
oppression that still erodes the fiber of America or
the truth associated with the self-destruction of
black on black crime, the N-word and self-hatred -
that truth will never cease to rise.
Whether it is the truth about raw racism in
America, the misguided war in Iraq, police brutality,
economic injustice or the conspiracy against the
education of black children, the noh-violent soldiers
of the black press assure you it will always rise.
Therefore, all potential haters, manipulators, ene
mies n and yes, prospective assassins - should be
hereby advised and put on notice. Regardless of your
weapon, the mission and call of the black press can
not be scared away, threatened away, shot away, or
bombed away. Nor can the death of its standard-
bearers cause it to die.
This is because the truth that rises against injustice
is not contained by any one of us alo^e. Ratheri' jiiis
truth lives in spirit. And that spirit of truth, wmch
drives the nussion, lives within a det^ilthined afiny
of us around the world.
Throughout history, we at the bla^^ress Mve
vowed to march boldly in spirit of that^ssipn asHve
"plead our own cause.” And even nowfin die'face of
perceived danger within our own beloved communi
ties, for which we have fought and protected more
than 180 years, we will not forsake our cause.
Though temporarily distracted with the pain of
grief for a soldier so stalwart and brave, we promise
that our pens will not rest until we have given our all.
As a people with a common cause we will not
weaken ourselves. Rather we will hold fast to the
integrity, courage, strength and moral fortitude for
which our foreparents stood.
The nature of this war may have changed, but the
cause of racial justice remains the same.
Therefore, it will not be physical armies or guns or
tanks that will ever win. It will be the integrity and
the morality of non-violent soldiers of social change
and it will be ardent defenders of justice who will
continue to stand - even in the face of death.
And if we are ever too weak to be that soldier and
to die for our First Amendment rights and for our
children’s, then our army - hence, our people - will
be doomed.
Now, get up, stand up, and speak up.
HAZEL TRICE EDNEY is editor in chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers Association News Service.
Throughout history, we at the
black press have vowed to
march boldly in spirit of that
mission as we “plead our own
cause."
There’s new interest in a unified AMea
The African Union, the
successor body to the
Organization of African
Unity, has moved forward
discussions regarding the
question of and possibility
for African continental
.. ,, ,, „ unity.
Clear differ
ences exist
among and
between the
leaders of
various
African
nation-states
as to whether
this is a posi-
tive objective
as well as how to approach
its completion. There is an
additional question as to
what this will mean, if any
thing, for those of us in the
African Diaspora.
The question of continen
tal unity is one that has been
the subject of discussions,
debates and struggles going
back at least to the 19th cen
tury. Modern Pan
Africanism, a development
from the early 20th century
through the work of various
individuals, such as W. E. B.
Dubois, Marcus Garvey and
Kwame Nkrumah, argued
for continental unity as well
as a close relationship
between those of us cap
tured from the continent
and those who remained.
In the aftermath-of the
successful independence
movements on the conti
nent in the 1950s and 1960s
a debate emerged as to
whether the borders created
by the colonial powers
should be THE borders of
the new African nation
states, or, in the alternative,
whether new borders
should be created that
matched the actual demo
graphics of the Continent.
Those favoring the existing
borders, fe^ng the possi
ble chaos of redesigning the
map of the Continent, won
out, but the dream of
Continental unity remained.
The Cold War, along with
major internal instability in
many African countries,
moved the issue of
Continental unity off the
table, except as an ideologi
cal statement. The post-
Cold War world, however,
has spawned discussions
once again among African
leaders, with Libya's Colonel
Ciaddafi and South Africais
Thabo Mbeki playing major
roles in pushing the ques
tion. Nevertheless, the
shape of such a unification
and what it will mean in the
real world is as yet unclear.
There is little doubt as to
the necessity for African
unity. The era of the small
nation developing on its
own is gone. Things that
were possible during the
Cold War when the two
superpowersothe USA and
the USSR - competed for the
support of various nations
are no longer possible.
The “advance" of global
ization has made it more
and more difficult for small
countries to exist on their
own other than as outposts
for this or that multi-nation
al corporation. The rise of
ethno-nationalism in the
post-Cold War world, other
words, is paradoxical. Small
countries have split off from
larger countries, only to find
that their political indepen
dence has been subverted
by economic dependence.
The late Kwame Nkrumah
warned against this circum
stance during the 1960s in
his book “Neo-Colonialism."
BILL FLETCHER is a labor
and international activist
and writer. He is a president
of TransAfhea Forum and
can be reached at
papaq54@hotmail.com.