Unique Ed Techie

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Gentleman's Agreement - Does your administration have one?

The local school board met to elect the President and Vice President of the board on Saturday 1/3/2009. The local newpaper article is titled, "Barnes elected President" and subtitled "Members protest role of race in vote".

The Augusta Chronicle article, written by Mr. Greg Gelpi, states, "Since the early 1990s, the board has alternated between electing a black president and a white president. The "gentleman's agreement" also dictates the board select a vice president of a different race than the president.
Joe Scott proposed ending the agreement Saturday".

Does your school board, local administration, or any other group have a "gentleman's agreement" that the people are not aware of? What message does this send to our students?

Gentleman's agreement issues came up in July 2005 when the Mayor of Augusta resigned to take a position with the Housing and Urban Development.

So how many of you are aware that your local school boards, city and/or county commissions have "gentleman's agreements"?

If other people are aware, does it prevent them from moving to Augusta, GA unless you are a part of the "gentleman's agreement? Do these agreements factor into the community apathy?

Not growing up here and not being aware of the "Who's Who" except during Masters Week , I can see why Augusta, GA continues to have issues, has a nickname like "Disgusta", and a school system that continues to teach with Passive Acceptance as a guideline.

Some of the above questions are rhetorical, but I cannot put into words how this issue irritates me on many levels. I was raised to believe that we are all part of the human race. If we are cut open, we all bleed red. As a female veteran, as a successful single parent of a multiracial child, and as a nontraditional student I have battled "good old boy" systems and a variety of biases and stereotypes.

So now what?

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Were you taught Passive Acceptance?

One of the many reading assignments I have this week opens a chapter with this quote from Bertrand Russel (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970):

Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more than the pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man. Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one later in life. It causes man to seek and accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position.

Some students never overcome their learned passive acceptance, whether the environment was a brick and mortar classroom or part of a lifelong learning journey. How did you overcome your teacher / parent / mentor / influencer taught passive acceptance?

Did you have an influencer in your life that taught you to question authority, research a topic until the topic is dissected, or is passive acceptance an accepted norm?

How do you help others overcome their passive acceptance? How do parent / community involvement projects and programs help others empower themselves? How do we teach others to question sources of information and seek the variety of perceptions?

As we enter 2009, how will you overcome any personal passive acceptances you may have acquired over the years?

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Books for Next Online Course

These are the textbooks for my next online class - ELT 7008. If you have read them, have an opinion, or have used them in a class before please share your comment.

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2007) Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.