The Big Sleep

Yesterday I did something I said I would never do. I went to a Toyota dealership and seriously checked out a foreign car - the Prius. Consumer Reports recently gave it red stars in every category. Plus it gets nearly 50 miles to the gallon. That sure beats my PT Cruiser.
Why does it? The Big Three provides excuse after excuse about why the Asian companies outperform American companies.
Somehow I think we are doing the same thing in education. We make excuses.
The Converge article talked about Global competiveness. Asian students are "on fire" to learn. Much of their learning requires learning English first. Both India and China are using eLearning to reach students in areas that don't have the best schools and teachers.
Why aren't we?
DPS has nearly a 50% high school drop out rate. That figure depends on who is doing the calculating. I teach a 7th grade Reading class and in my class I have a young man, Marcus, who just turned 16. Marcus comes to school every day, is polite, and hard working. He works with me every Tuesday and Thursday after school. His reasons for being behind in school are the usual ones - changing schools, family upheavel, transience. I checked with my principal about moving Marcus into high school and she said he had to be in 8th grade to be moved. When he does move it will be to one of Detroit's alternative schools. These are frequently a challenge to get to and educationally not very challenging. I am sure Marcus will some day soon get discouraged and drop out. I probably would.
Yet this week when I was in E. Tawas, I met a young man who was getting his diploma on-line. His mother didn't want him in the local school system so she enrolled him in a virtual high school. He graduates in June and has already been accepted into Alpena Community College.
I teach in a new Detroit school that has three computer labs (35 computers in each) but no computer teacher. Each classroom has five computers for student use. They are rarely used.
We are getting ready in a few weeks to have another workshop day for teachers. The agenda includes nothing about technology. We will be reviewing MEAP scores. Same old.
Marcus deserves a future. It shouldn't involve being 6 feet tall in the 7th grade and eyeing my parking spot. There are thousands of students just like him. We need to wake up from our deep educational slumber.

I am willing to bet - and I might lose- that I am the only member of this class who is also a member of AARP. You might think free coffee at McDonalds. Or wonder why Jamie Lee Curtis is posing topless on the front cover of the April edition of AARP magazine. You may be breathing a sigh of relief that "Thank God, I'm not as old as HER".
Old age is an adventure of its own with many perils along the way. I have to admit my biggest fear is not cancer, heart disease, or death itself. It is Alzheimers. Scientists predict that 1 in 8 baby boomers will have it. We have been given the same advice that I give my own students. Learn something everyday. Learning keeps the brain alive. That is homework I am willing to do.
I have to admit that my own attitudes toward virtual schooling were very uninformed. It seemed to be a perfect way to cheat (my mom could do my homework). Who would know? I smugly assumed that online classes were easy. Brick and mortar classes were hard. I figured lazy people would take online classes. It takes toughness to tackle I-94 in a snowstorm heading down to Wayne State. Besides who would I talk to? Myself?
But after last weeks class, after those films and readings, I had what Oprah likes to call her "ah, ha" moment. I finally got it.
I thought about David, a young man I know who recently graduated from Osborn High School, who had complained to me about how few AP classes were available for him.
I thought about Mackinac Island School, 100 students in grades k-12, on a tiny island that is frozen in for four months a year. The kids walk, ride bikes, ride horseback, or snowmobile to school.
Then there is my sister Nancy who has MS and is imprisoned in her wheelchair. Her mind is still free.
Talk about prisoners - educated they are less likely to return to prison.
I looked up the word "ghetto" in the dictionary. It says "quarter of a city where a minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure."
Wouldn't a virtual school represent freedom? It wouldn't matter if our own personal ghetto trapped us by bars on a window, ice barriers, disease, old age, poor schools, or isolation. A virtual school would set us free.
I learned a lot this week. That's a good thing.
I also put my cell phone in the refrigerator. That is NOT a good thing.

No Child left Inside

On November 22, 1963 a lone photographer recorded history on an 8 mm camera. Actually I read that 32 people filmed the assasination of President Kennedy but none with the detail of Zapruder. What would have been different today? EVERYONE in the crowd would have filmed.
I loved the section on Grassroots Video in the Horizon Report . Film is an incredible expression of creativity. And everyone can paricipate. It's cheap. It's easy. It's fun.
Websites like You Tube make it easy to share. Although You Tube doesn't come thru the computers at my school. The censors stop it. I hope that changes soon.
With students being able to produce video from simple devices such as phones and cameras it becomes an easy tool to use in research and interviews.
This morning I read something interesting in the Detroit Free Press. An article said that participation in outdoor activities has declined nearly 25%. It blamed "videophilia" - doing stuff indoors in front of a screen, watching television, sitting at computers, playing videos. Then on the radio on the way to church I heard that 30% of our children are overweight.
I don't live in the past. I do like to visit there sometimes. It is a warm and fuzzy place filled with long gone people. We hear that life was simpler than. I don't believe that. I wouldn't like to give up my safe car, good medical science, or the computer.
But I sort of agree with this article. I have mentored a 13 year old girl for several years. I took her to a beach on Lake Huron. She had never made a sand castle, walked along a lake, climbed a lighthouse, or had a bonfire. She lives at 7 Mile and Gratiot and had never been to Belle Isle or downtown Detroit. But she is very good at finding her way around the internet.
I think that life is about balance. We need to encourage our children to go outside and discover nature. Plant a garden, watch the birds, learn about bugs. They need to know that Mother Nature is important and enjoyable. Taking a long hike in the woods is calming.
We can't always just watch the film.