by Sametta Taylor

COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Celebrity Chef Marvin Woods will “whip up some delicious and nutritious meals” with Richland One students on Oct. 22, Superintendent Percy A. Mack said at last week’s school board meeting.

Woods is an Emmy-nominated TV host, chef and author. He will give the keynote speech at Richland One’s 2009 Lights On Afterschool Celebration.

The event is one of the district’s efforts to combat childhood obesity. The celebration will be held on Oct. 22 at 7:30 a.m. at the Drew Wellness Center, 2101 Walker Solomon Way.

At 3 p.m., Woods will meet 300 Richland One students at the district’s Central Kitchen, 1224 Whitney, to prepare healthy snacks. The participating students are enrolled in afterschool programs at the following schools:

• Burton-Pack Elementary
• John P. Thomas Elementary
• Sandel Elementary and
• Carver-Lyon Elementary.

Awards

In other business, the board issued awards and announced several of the district’s achievements.

Board member Barbara Scott issued Diane Harlin Awards for Excellence in Bookkeeping for the 2008-09 fiscal year to the following recipients:

• Bridget Bookert, of Olympia Learning Center;
• Frances Burns, of Hand Middle;
• Sandra Reep, of H.B. Rhame Elementary;
• Demetrius Williams, of Hyatt Park Elementary and
• Irma Richardson of E.E. Taylor Elementary.

Dwayne Smiling, board secretary-treasurer, announced that Alcorn Middle School was designated a “promised place” by America’s Promise Alliance (APA).

Promotions

The board approved two promotions:

• Andress Carter-Sims was a coordinator in the Office of Accountability, Assessment, Research and Evaluation. Carter-Sims was promoted to director of school improvement in the Office of Curriculum and Instruction.

• Deborah Green-Wilson was an English language arts consultant in the Title I office. Green-Wilson was promoted to coordinator of English/language arts and parent and family literacy.

Student Recognition

Superintendent Mack announced that three seniors were named semifinalists in the 2010 National Achievement Scholarship competition. Those semifinalists and the National Merit scholars will be recognized at the next board meeting on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at Dreher High School, 3319 Millwood Ave.

For More Information

For more information about Richland One schools and events, click here.

When an advocacy group works together with a corporation to come up with commendable policy, great things can happen—socially, environmentally and economically—for both organizations. 

Although corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often seem ethically opposed, now more than ever, successful businesses are realizing that social, environmental and economic responsibility can help their bottom line by boosting brand reputation, lowering waste & energy costs, and tapping the socially responsible investing market, among other things.  Businesses can gain quite a lot from employing the expertise of NGOs to become more socially and environmentally responsible.

Alternatively, NGOs have come to the understanding that it is easier to create change in alignment with their mission if they work with corporations instead of fighting against them.  In addition, by helping business, NGOs can sustain themselves economically with the money they receive for their services… which also helps them to continue their mission.

Here are some examples of Win-Win partnerships between advocacy groups and corporations:

• Kimberly-Clark & Greenpeace International

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle brands, is working with Greenpeace International to reach their goal within two years of sourcing 40% of the fiber in their North American division from either recycled sources, or stock certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (an industry group promoting responsible forest management).

Greenpeace, which helped design the company’s new sourcing rules, said the results from the company’s commitment would be dramatic. “To be blunt, Kimberly-Clark uses a great deal of forest fiber,” Scott Paul, director of Greenpeace’s Forest Campaign, said in a statement at a press briefing. He continued, “It is the largest tissue company in the world. The steps committed to today, and the impact these steps will have on forests, should not be underestimated.”

The two groups said they planned to continue working together in the future.

• Clorox & Sierra Club

The Sierra Club has partnered with Clorox’s newly-launched line of “Green Works” cleaners, a line of natural cleaning products that are as effective as conventional cleaners but made from plant-based ingredients.

Green Works is 99% natural and made from ingredients derived from coconuts and lemon oil, and contains no phosphorus or bleach. The products are formulated to be biodegradable, non-allergenic, packaged in bottles that can be recycled and not tested on animals.  In lab and blind consumer in-home testing, all Green Works products performed as well as—or better than—leading conventional cleaners.

Starting in April, the product packaging will contain the Sierra Club’s name and logo and a statement about Green Works’ support for Sierra Club’s efforts to preserve and protect the environment.

Carl Pope, the Sierra Club’s Executive Director, said, “The bottom line is that these products are environmentally safe, affordable, work well, will be available to millions of people, alter consumer behavior overall and support the good work of the Sierra Club.  This is a win-win-win for consumers, business, and the environment.”

• CVS/pharmacy & America’s Promise Alliance

CVS/pharmacy has worked with America’s Promise Alliance, community groups and schools to develop its “Pathways to Pharmacy” program.  CVS/pharmacy started this nationwide internship program in 2002 to help disadvantaged youth take a first step toward a pharmacy career.

The “Pathways to Pharmacy” program offers participants training, mentoring and support, including financial assistance for pharmacy school. Ultimately, the program creates opportunities for future employment with CVS Caremark.

Since the program’s creation, it has expanded to nearly 40 cities and serves an estimated 1,800 high school students a year.  Plans are now underway to introduce one million students to pharmacy careers through the partnership with America’s Promise Alliance.

• World Wildlife Fund & …

 The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has fostered many successful relationships with leading corporations, including:

• The Coca-Cola Company

In partnership with WWF, The Coca-Cola Company has set ambitious new global targets to improve water efficiency and reduce carbon emissions within its operations. They have agreed to extend their work two years through 2012.

The partnership also is promoting sustainable agricultural practices and helping to conserve seven of the world’s most important freshwater river basins, which include the Yangtze, Mekong, Danube, Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Lakes Niassa and Chiuta, Mesoamerican Reef catchments, and the rivers and streams in the southeastern region of the U.S.

• Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson’s “Healthy Communities, Healthy Ecosystems” partnership with WWF links healthy environments with the health of local people.  The partnership promotes environmental conservation by improving human health in remote areas around the world.

For example, a dispensary clinic for communities in Kenya’s Kiunga Marine National Reserve was constructed to help improve community health and encourage local participation in natural resource management. The dispensary also provides safe drinking water in the reserve’s main villages. Additionally, residents are learning about family planning options from newly trained health care workers from the Ministry of Health and Family Health International. Mobile clinics are reaching villages that have no access to quality health care, and people are receiving prenatal and postnatal care, immunizations, nutritional counseling and education about environmental health and conservation efforts.

“Supporting the health of local communities enables these communities to sustainably manage the natural resources base on which they depend,” said Katarina Trojnar, corporate relations officer at WWF.  Since 2003, Johnson & Johnson has supported “Healthy Communities, Healthy Ecosystems” projects in eco-regions of the East Africa, the Congo Basin, and the Eastern Himalayas.

• IKEA

In 2002, WWF and IKEA began a three-year co-operation to jointly promote responsible forestry in priority regions around the world. The 5 years of technical co-operation has seen the two organizations worked together on a series of forest, cotton and climate projects in many countries e.g. China, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, India, Pakistan and Poland.

• HSBC

In February 2002, WWF joined forces with HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations, to launch a five-year partnership that focuses on protecting global freshwater systems, which they are calling Investing in Nature. WWF and HSBC are currently working together on reversing the decline of freshwater habitats in Brazil, China, Mexico, UK and the US.

Investing in Nature is a US$50 million partnership over five years to fund conservation projects around the world and brings together HSBC, WWF, Earthwatch and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).  HSBC has also committed to developing its own environmental management and sustainability systems, and to advancing sustainability principles and guidelines for the financial sector as a whole.

The overall aims of the Investing in Nature partnership are to:

1. Restore three of the world’s major rivers (benefiting 50 million people who depend upon them)
2. Help save 20,000 rare plant species from extinction
3. Train 200 scientists
4. Send 2,000 HSBC staff to work on vital conservation research projects worldwide

HSBC and WWF will work together with other members of the financial community to develop an international protocol for the financing of projects that may have an impact on freshwater systems, to ensure they are sustainable.

• Allianz

WWF worked with the European insurance giant, Allianz, to publish “Climate Change and Insurance: An Agenda for Action in the U.S.”  Allianz also invested $500,000 in a WWF project that brought together climate experts and victims of hurricane Katrina to investigate the climate-related vulnerabilities of the southeastern United States and promote adaptation solutions.

Other WWF partnerships include:

• Toyota
• Wal-Mart
• HP
• Nike
• IBM

The World Wildlife Fund has developed its “Climate Savers” program to help corporations lower their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  According to the WWF website,

By 2010, the Climate Savers companies will collectively cut carbon emissions by some 14 million tons annually – the equivalent of taking more than 3 million cars off the road every year. By increasing efficiency, Climate Savers companies are saving hundreds of millions of dollars, proving again that protecting the environment makes good business sense.

Craig Althof over at In Pursuit of Excellence emailed me the other day with an article from CNN about “dropout prevention programs” in the United States, including the America’s Promise Alliance’s program, which is chaired by Gen. Colin Powell.

The introduction to the article focuses on dropout prevention “foot soldiers” (a coordinator and a police officer) who knock on truants’ doors and insist that they show up to school.

Craig posted about this initiative (see link above) and I left him the following comment:

I have great respect for Gen. Powell’s effort and the mission America’s Promise is trying to accomplish. However, as a teacher and otherwise, I’ve seen the effect of trying to coerce students to stay in school when school is making them miserable.

I feel it would be more effective to diversify the school system and provide more options for students who have trouble within our traditional school structure. Our one-size-fits-all classrooms are usually only suitable for students who would do fine no matter what environment they were learning in. A variety of alternative public schools with different methodologies and programs, especially in low-income or troubled areas, might go some way toward solving this problem.

I also think there needs to be a shift in social attitudes supported by a change in the system, so that it is easier and more acceptable for students to leave school if they are unhappy and not learning, spend some time in the work force, and return to school whenever they are ready.

If disadvantaged students had a wider array of options when it came to their educational trajectory, I think many more of them would complete school.

My response to this subject is a personal one, and is not supported by any research or expertise in education policy. It stems in large part from intimate experience. My younger brother wanted very much to leave high school – he was desperately unhappy and not achieving. My parents, understandably, refused to allow it.

Would he have been better off if they had? It’s impossible to know, but it’s hard to imagine that things could have been much worse for him. He was depressed and reactive throughout his adolescence, his grades never improved no matter what efforts were made, and he managed to get into a lot of trouble, with both school authorities and the police. He eventually left school without my parents’ blessing, and spent many years floundering – his girlfriend got pregnant, he took a lot of drugs, and he hopped from one dead-end job to another, occasionally bilking our parents of large sums of money until they cut him off entirely.

What could he have done if he had left school earlier? When I think back to his teenage self, I like to imagine him up to his elbows in grease, apprenticing with an auto mechanic. If the world were different, maybe he could have begun training as an electrician right away – he eventually did just that, after completing his GED. He now seems to be living happily, with a wonderful family, and works contract jobs that, if not entirely stable, pay the bills and afford him satisfaction.

I am suspicious of “stay in school” dogma. I know it is well-intentioned, and I’ve no doubt that some young people benefit. But I wish more attention were paid to avenues other than traditional “school” that could be opened up to young people; I think a lot of suffering could be avoided if teenagers were supported in less conventional choices.

I have no doubt that others have strong opinions about this. I’d love to hear them.

When our eldest was our only, our parents told us it was time to leave the city. One of the reasons they used was that all of the “good schools” were in the suburbs. Our parents are not alone in this belief. We also have friends who moved away because of the same belief.

Last year my wife and I got into an argument over a NY1 report about an America’s Promise Alliance study that concluded suburban schools have a higher rate of graduation than city schools. We came to an impasse in our conversation about the study.

The comment that caused the impasse: “So suburban schools ARE better than city schools.”

We argued the point until we realized we weren’t arguing about suburban versus city schools at all! We were arguing the qualities of a “good” school.

In some cases, a school is oversubscribed (meaning more students than available seats) because parents believe it to be the “good” school in the district/zone. The school has gained a positive reputation among parents.  However, I have to wonder how deeply parents are actually looking into the schools? Do they have firsthand experience with the school or were they told by peers that the school is a good school?

There’s this great comedy routine I saw once. I think it was in an Abbott and Costello movie. Costello walks in front of a skyscraper and just starts staring up. Shortly a whole crowd has formed. Everyone is staring up. As they are doing this, Abbott fleeces them and they are totally unaware. The skit ends when Costello looks away and goes back about his business. One member asks another member in the dispersing crowd, “What were you looking at?” The other member shrugs and walks away. This is what I think of when I think of parents and “good schools.”

I am afraid sometimes it just takes that right parent saying the right word in the right ears to determine the success or failure of a school. I am not denying that graduation rates and test scores also play a role. But a school – an education – is so much more – needs to be so much more especially in a democratic society where the voices of the many drive the actions of the few. In addition to academic success, students need to be trained as responsible civic participants.

I agree with the opening statement of the UCLA National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) report, What Makes a Good School?

For all the changes implemented in the American classroom, parents and the community in general are ill-prepared to measure the quality of the schools that serve them. As consumers of education, parents and other taxpayers have a right to know if their schools are doing a good job.

Their report identifies the following characteristics as being those of a good school:

1. Strong and professional administrators and teachers.
2. A broad curriculum available to all students.
3. A philosophy that says all children can learn if taught, coupled with high expectations for all students.
4. A school climate that is conducive to learning. A good school is safe, clean, caring, and well-organized.
5. An ongoing assessment system that supports good instruction.
6. A high level of parent and community involvement and support.

The word “Good” itself is problematic. One parent’s good is not necessarily another’s. And then there is the wordplay between “good” and “good enough,” where the latter refers to acceptable performance due the dislike the student’s parents and teachers may have towards the activity or subject. For example, a parent accepting his or her child’s mediocre math scores and saying, “that’s OK. I wasn’t good at that either.”

As parents, we want what’s best for our children. Our understanding of “what’s best” is determined by our own successes and failures as well as our social values and what we value. Our definition of a good school follows the same rationale.

In the case of my wife and me, it is not so much the characteristics of a good school we disagree on. It is the priority they are given. Academic rigor and good test scores are important but are they more important than social interaction and hands on experiences?

Before we judge schools as good or bad, we must first determine what we want for our children and then determine which institutions best promote our agenda. We must also prioritize the characteristics of a good school to determine which are most essential and which we can live without or compensate for on our own.

When our eldest was our only, our parents told us it was time to leave the city. One of the reasons they used was that all of the “good schools” were in the suburbs. Our parents are not alone in this belief. We also have friends who moved away because of the same belief.

Last year my wife and I got into an argument over a NY1 report about an America’s Promise Alliance study that concluded suburban schools have a higher rate of graduation than city schools. We came to an impasse in our conversation about the study.

The comment that caused the impasse: “So suburban schools ARE better than city schools.”

We argued the point until we realized we weren’t arguing about suburban versus city schools at all! We were arguing the qualities of a “good” school.

In some cases, a school is oversubscribed (meaning more students than available seats) because parents believe it to be the “good” school in the district/zone. The school has gained a positive reputation among parents.  However, I have to wonder how deeply parents are actually looking into the schools? Do they have firsthand experience with the school or were they told by peers that the school is a good school?

There’s this great comedy routine I saw once. I think it was in an Abbott and Costello movie. Costello walks in front of a skyscraper and just starts staring up. Shortly a whole crowd has formed. Everyone is staring up. As they are doing this, Abbott fleeces them and they are totally unaware. The skit ends when Costello looks away and goes back about his business. One member asks another member in the dispersing crowd, “What were you looking at?” The other member shrugs and walks away. This is what I think of when I think of parents and “good schools.”

I am afraid sometimes it just takes that right parent saying the right word in the right ears to determine the success or failure of a school. I am not denying that graduation rates and test scores also play a role. But a school – an education – is so much more – needs to be so much more especially in a democratic society where the voices of the many drive the actions of the few. In addition to academic success, students need to be trained as responsible civic participants.

I agree with the opening statement of the UCLA National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) report, What Makes a Good School?

For all the changes implemented in the American classroom, parents and the community in general are ill-prepared to measure the quality of the schools that serve them. As consumers of education, parents and other taxpayers have a right to know if their schools are doing a good job.

Their report identifies the following characteristics as being those of a good school:

1. Strong and professional administrators and teachers.
2. A broad curriculum available to all students.
3. A philosophy that says all children can learn if taught, coupled with high expectations for all students.
4. A school climate that is conducive to learning. A good school is safe, clean, caring, and well-organized.
5. An ongoing assessment system that supports good instruction.
6. A high level of parent and community involvement and support.

The word “Good” itself is problematic. One parent’s good is not necessarily another’s. And then there is the wordplay between “good” and “good enough,” where the latter refers to acceptable performance due the dislike the student’s parents and teachers may have towards the activity or subject. For example, a parent accepting his or her child’s mediocre math scores and saying, “that’s OK. I wasn’t good at that either.”

As parents, we want what’s best for our children. Our understanding of “what’s best” is determined by our own successes and failures as well as our social values and what we value. Our definition of a good school follows the same rationale.

In the case of my wife and me, it is not so much the characteristics of a good school we disagree on. It is the priority they are given. Academic rigor and good test scores are important but are they more important than social interaction and hands on experiences?

Before we judge schools as good or bad, we must first determine what we want for our children and then determine which institutions best promote our agenda. We must also prioritize the characteristics of a good school to determine which are most essential and which we can live without or compensate for on our own.

Here is an excerpt from an interesting story recently published in the New York Times by Winnie Hu: 

Governor Jon S. Corzine and state officials announced a yearlong multiagency initiative to boost the state’s graduation rates.  Called the New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign, it will be led not by the state’s Department of Education, but by the state attorney general’s office, with funds from businesses like Verizon and Prudential, among others . . . .

Wow!  Businesses getting involved in children’s educations!

. . . As Governor Corzine put it in a news release, “the aim is to ensure that kids are headed in the right direction and not falling into the trap of a life of crime. Staying in school is one of our best crime prevention tools, and it requires the collaborative efforts of all of us to make it happen.” . . .

A collaborative effort from everyone!

. . . New Jersey’s campaign is part of a national effort to reduce dropout rates by America’s Promise Alliance, a Washington-based children’s advocacy group founded by Colin L. Powell in 1997. Since April, the group has awarded grants of $25,000 to 14 states, including New Jersey and New York, to hold summits to develop communitywide plans for reducing dropout rates. The group’s goal is to have summits in all 50 states by 2010.

Communitywide plans!  Let me say it again: COMMUNITY!

Colleen Wilber, a spokeswoman for the alliance, said that dropouts are more than just a problem for schools, because those students are more likely to become a burden to society — ending up in jail, on welfare rolls or without any health insurance. According to the group’s research, dropouts from the class of 2007 will cost the nation more than $320 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetime.

“We think that solving the dropout crisis is going to take the entire community,” she said. “Not only is it important to have the schools and the parents, but it’s also critically important for the business community, the faith community and the nonprofit groups to be there.”

Businesses!  The church!  Nonprofits!

Creighton Drury, an assistant attorney general who is overseeing the campaign, said that at least four regional meetings would be convened for school, community and business leaders to brainstorm about specific strategies for keeping students in school. For instance, he said, they will focus on reducing truancy by tapping into community resources to provide mentors or support programs, among other things.

Mr. Drury said the campaign would culminate in a statewide summit next October to promote the most effective practices, and to recommend educational policies to raise graduation rates. “We want to make sure that we’re getting input and ideas from everyone so that this can be a true community and comprehensive effort,” he said. “Raising awareness is the first step to addressing the problem.”

Raising awareness! A comprehensive effort!

William Firestone, an education professor at Rutgers University, said that community leaders could bring more financial resources to a school, run after-school programs that provide tutoring and develop skills, and promote stronger family ties. “There’s a lot of evidence that family support is critical to success in schools,” he said.

Evidence that family support is critical to success in schools!

No wonder New Jersey has one of the lowest drop-out rates in the nation (only 2 percent of the high school population dropped out in 2007 according to the NJ Dept. of Ed.).   Maybe Governor Corzine can give Margaret Spellings a call, and show her how it’s really done.

Sounds to me like Corzine and the state of NJ have their heads screwed on straight.  This is a breath of fresh air–a nice break from the typical teacher bashing that goes on so often in America.  Maybe Barack Obama will appoint Colin Powell as his Secretary of Education, and Powell can expand his Promise Alliance and continue to get communities more involved in children’s educations.

Last week, the state launched the New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign, part of a commitment made to former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s organization, America’s Promise Alliance. APA is focused on dropout prevention, and has targeted Camden as one of 50 U.S. cities where dropout prevention is most needed.

On Tuesday, Jon Corzine penned the following editorial for The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Too many young people in New Jersey and the nation are dropping out of school. As former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma, have pointed out through the America’s Promise Alliance, the organization they founded, the dropout crisis is a “silent epidemic.”

Every 26 seconds, an American student drops out. That’s about 1.1 million young people per year. While estimates vary in New Jersey, one respected organization puts the number at 19,000 dropouts in 2007.

Students who do not graduate are twice as likely to live in poverty, three times as likely to be unemployed, and eight times as likely to end up in prison. At a time of economic uncertainty, one fact remains constant: If we help our young people stay in school, graduate, and prepare for college and a career, we will help them succeed.

Earlier this year, I was proud to sign an America’s Promise Alliance pledge and commit to convening a statewide dropout-prevention campaign here in New Jersey.

Camden, Newark and Jersey City are among the 50 U.S. cities that America’s Promise has targeted in its campaign to stem the tide of dropouts.

Last week in Newark, we launched a yearlong New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign. We were joined by close to 500 education, business, civic, nonprofit and faith leaders for a kickoff symposium. This was the first of several forums planned to identify promising dropout-prevention practices.

The campaign will culminate in a major summit next fall, during which we expect to discuss policy recommendations, highlight best practices, and develop action plans.

There are several important goals in this campaign to increase graduation rates, but perhaps none more important than signaling that we all must play a part. I am particularly pleased that so many community and civic organizations have already signed on. A business coalition is being formed, too.

This campaign builds on important work that we have already begun in New Jersey. For example, a core component of the public safety plan I unveiled a year ago is organized around keeping young people in school and engaged. It centers on reducing truancy, expanding and improving job training and after-school programs, and helping schools and communities better coordinate the services they offer.

Another state initiative is already moving to redesign middle schools and high schools to more effectively prepare students for the demands of life and work.

New Jersey has plenty to be proud of in its education system. It often ranks among the top states on important indicators of educational success.

But we cannot rest until we know that no one is being left behind, that all children are graduating, and that they graduate with the skills and education they need. That’s why we are convening the New Jersey High School Graduation Campaign and addressing this silent epidemic.

For more information about the Campaign, email rowena.madden@sos.state.nj.us or jeremy.lackey@lps.state.nj.us.

How many Americans can correctly spell “ignorance”? How many teachers and bureaucrats?

Two excellent columns by Bob Herbert and George Will came out this week bemoaning the declining state of American education.

At least three root causes account for the sad decline in education in this country.

First, parents have abdicated responsibility for their children’s education to cold, monolithic government institutions that facilitate mediocrity and stifle innovation. Take President “childrens do learn” Bush’s failed No Child Left Behind program. Administered by the pathetically underqualified Secretary of Education, Bush croney Margaret Spellings, NCLB imposes an asinine amount of testing on schools without addressing the underlying problems—as if measuring academic failure enough will turn it into academic success. Heckuva job, Spellie.

Second, the erosion of the nuclear family has left more and more of our children adrift without adequate supervision or an understanding of the value of education. The best predictor of academic performance isn’t social class or school quality; it’s the presence of a solid family structure that inculcates the right values and enforces their pursuit. No amount of government intervention can fix the decline of the American family, though government intervention has surely been a major factor in causing it.

Third, we’re increasingly mesmerized by electronic media, which force us into the role of passive, isolated consumers of what nowadays passes for culture. Today’s American child is lost in an amoral popular culture that priviliges physical beauty over mental acuity and appetite over intellect. Reading is becoming a lost art, one that requires thoughtful deliberation as opposed to passive consumption. Market considerations have all but replaced moral ones, and all too often, mind-numbing gadgets take the place of parenting.

Education is ultimately and essentially the responsibility of each individual citizen, and that requires citizens raised in strong families that value knowledge and wisdom. No teacher, school or government program can provide that.

Henry David Thoreau, America’s philosopher laureate, wrote, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” Two organizations hacking at the root of our education woes are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the America’s Promise Alliance, run by Colin and Alma Powell (not coincidentally, two devoted couples presiding over strong nuclear families.)

The gravest threat to American democracy isn’t terrorism or global warming. It’s ignorance.

And ignorance can only be cured from within.

Newsprism

By John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom

In the average American big city among 17 assessed, only about 34% of the high school students graduate. About 60% of those same young people have a sexually transmitted disease (STD).What does this say about America’s future? And why aren’t we hearing solutions to these glaring social ills from our candidates for President of the United States?

“The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837.

Wouldn’t he be proud of today’s teenagers, their parents and teachers?

In the most recent study of high school graduation trends, seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released April 1, 2008.

The study was conducted by America’s Promise Alliance, an organization founded by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Colin Powell. His wife Alma chaired the assessment group.
Colin Powell while serving as Secretary of State.  We at Peace
and Freedom have the utmost respect for Colin and Alma Powell for their work.

“When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe,” said Powell. “This has to stop. We, as a nation, must correct this problem.”

“We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community,” said Alma Powell.

While more than one million boys and girls drop out of high school, more than 3 million girls nationwide have a sexually transmitted disease (STD).

“This is pretty shocking,” said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital in New York.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored the STD study.

“Those numbers are certainly alarming,” said sex education expert Nora Gelperin, who works with a teen-written Web site called sexetc.org. She said they reflect “the sad state of sex education in our country.”

“Sexuality is still a very taboo subject in our society,” she said. “Teens tell us that they can’t make decisions in the dark and that adults aren’t properly preparing them to make responsible decisions.”

The Associated Press reported that the teens were tested for four infections: human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer and affected 18 percent of girls studied; chlamydia, which affected 4 percent; trichomoniasis, 2.5 percent; and genital herpes, 2 percent.

Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC’s division of STD prevention, said the results are the first to examine the combined national prevalence of common sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent girls.

He said the data, now a few years old, likely reflect current prevalence rates.

Disease rates were significantly higher among black girls — nearly half had at least one STD, versus 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-Americans.

Besides high school graduation rates and rates of sexually transmitted diseases, how else might we seek information on American teenagers?

One area already assessed is the rate that our nation reads and “self-educates.”

We’ve written about and commented about reading trends several times in multiple publications.

But a Washington Times editorial published November 21, 2007 said it best: when it comes to reading many Americans have decidd not to.

Bombarded with media, computers and video games, their reading habits are declining measurably. Nor is it simply the young.

In an unprecedented research synthesis released this week, the National Endowment for the Arts shows how reading habits have declined in recent years with a grim picture of what could only be called the nation’s nonreading public.

Here are some of the troubling highlights of “To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence.”

From 1982 to 2002, the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who read literature dropped from 60 percent to 43 percent. Fifty-two percent of the same age demographic said they read a book voluntarily in 2002, which is down from 59 percent a decade earlier.

The percentage of 17-year-olds who read for pleasure almost every day dropped from 31 percent to 22 percent over the period 1984-2004. It also seems that a college education is ever less a guarantee of good reading skills. The sole bright spot occurs among 9-year-olds, whose reading comprehension has improved over the last decade.

Barring this exception, the results are remarkably and troublingly consistent in study after study. Money spent on books in the United States dropped 14 percent during the period 1985-2005 when accounting for inflation. Seventy-two percent of employers report finding high-school graduates “deficient” in reading comprehension.

And the number of adults with bachelor’s degrees who score “proficient in reading prose” fell from 40 percent in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003.

With the rise of the Internet and online news consumption, some might argue that queries about “reading” fail to capture the entire picture if they do not account for online activities. But all modes of reading are not equal.

We might take this argument more seriously when teenagers are found reading Shakespeare or Herman Melville online. Far likelier they are surfing MySpace or Facebook.

Our increasing failure to read constitutes a kind of creeping national illiteracy which should concern everyone, not simply librarians and booksellers.

Literacy is an integral aspect of civil society. Substance, culture and literature should not be the ironic casualties of the “Information Age.”

All we’ve discussed here still leaves out the disabling impact of drugs, alcohol and teen pregnancy on our younger generation.

The only conclusion one can possibly draw from reading the reports on high school graduation rates, sexually transmitted disease rates and reading trends among American youth is this: unless action is taken we are a nation with a future at risk.

There are about 300 million Americans just now. There are about 1.3 billion Chinese.

And China has a world recognized machine for turning out the educated young people it needs.

One has to draw his or her own conclusions.
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Compiled from the official reports cited in the text, AFP, AP, UPI, Fox News, ABC News The Washington Times and CNN.

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U.S. High Schools Graduate “About Half” in Cities

Study finds 1 in 4 US teens has a STD

Teen Prescription Drug Abuse: Alarming Facts

Harry Potter: More Worthless Pop Culture

Kids reading fewer books despite Harry Potter hoopla

The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading.

The Dumbing Of America; Nation of Dunces?

Government study: Americans reading less

High Prescription Drug Use and Abuse in Colleges

American High Schools: Abysmally Few Graduates

WASHINGTON – Seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.

Michelle Rhee heads Washington DC
public schools and has promised reform. 

The report, issued by America’s Promise Alliance, found that about half of the students served by public school systems in the nation’s largest cities receive diplomas. Students in suburban and rural public high schools were more likely to graduate than their counterparts in urban public high schools, the researchers said.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.

“When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe,” said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance.

Colin Powell while serving as Secretary of State.  We at Peace
and Freedom have the utmost respect for Colin and Alma Powell
for their work.

His wife, Alma Powell, the chair of the alliance, said students need to graduate with skills that will help them in higher education and beyond. “We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community.” The Powell’s organization was beginning a national campaign to cut high school dropout rates.

The group, joining Education Secretary Margaret Spellings at a Tuesday news conference, was announcing plans to hold summits in every state during the next two years on ways to better prepare students for college and the work force.

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080401/ap_on_re_us/
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