politics

Short Notes: What Is The Political Future for Teachers?

by Jose Vilson on March 17, 2013

The Rock Says, "Do You Like Pi?"

The Rock Says, “Do You Like Pi?”

A few notes:

Quote of the Week:

Two things helped me break through. The first, being vouched for by someone in a position of power who had a relationship with someone else in a position of power. I met that person when costs of investment were low: I worked for David Carr at a rate of $100 dollars a week and ten cents a word for anything I published. The first summer I worked for him, I made $1,700. I did not consider myself underpaid. This was 1996. The New Republic had just told the world that black people had evolved to be stupid, and it seemed like every week they were saying something just as racist. I was at Howard University, surrounded by a community of brilliant black people, cut off from the Ivies. None of them had the contacts or the resources to reply. They just had to take it. I can’t tell you how much that angered me. I was made in that moment. And when I got my first break in writing, I didn’t think about being ripped off. I thought about whipping ass. I haven’t changed.

- Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, on writing “for free”. Worth the full read.

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Why Learning Math Is Political

by Jose Vilson on October 23, 2012

Paul Ryan Cartoon

For my own professional development, I picked up the book Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights by Robert Moses. The book equates the struggles Moses had with developing voter representations amongst the most underrepresented in the South with developing math knowledge / pedagogy into the curriculum in America’s classrooms. Observe:

So algebra, once solely in place as the gatekeeper for higher math and the priesthood who gained access to it, now is the gatekeeper for citizenship; and people who don’t have it are like the people who couldn’t read and write int he industrial age. But because of how access to – the learning of – algebra was organized in the industrial era, its place in society under the old jurisdiction, it has become not a barrier to college entrance, but a barrier to citizenship.

When people tell me that they weren’t born to do math, a small part of me wonders about the ramifications of any student who consistently tells themselves that they don’t have either the capacity or the potential to do any of the maths we learn in schools. Because of the changing economy, the entire way our communities view math needs to change.

Equally as important, we have to tell our communities that we can and will learn math.

See, the most dangerous thing about education is that it has the potential to dispense knowledge to others. When people actually learn about their histories, their legacies, and their worth on the planet, they become critical thinkers and agents for change.

It’s a small part of the reason why those of us who think critically seriously wonder if the confusion, bureaucracy and diminishing budgets in education serve to assure inequity rather than relieve it.

This is also why math is the answer. Governments, media, and corporations cloak their most important operations in advanced mathematics. We can no longer settle for our communities only getting the four operations. Unlike literacy, people generally consider math a subject that no one needs to master unless they’re a specialist of some nature. Yet, without a solid foundation of math, our most impoverished students have less options for their futures economically and politically.

We will do better.

Jose, who thanks each and every one of you for voting this as the best Latin@ Education Blog in all the land …

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Why Teachers Are Political [A Rant]

by Jose Vilson on March 5, 2012

I think it’s time for new political parties, and I mean it. After the debacle that was the release of teacher data reports, we saw a well-rated teacher say it’s crap, and a badly-rated teacher say it’s crap. Yet, the people chosen to represent “us” have yet to outright dismiss the multimillion dollar monster they created and unleashed upon our villages. NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and others implicitly think it’s Frankenstein’s monster: misunderstood and unintended for the public. The rest of us see this as the original Godzilla, crushing buildings and breathing fire into our public edifices at the taxpayer’s expense. (Joel Klein, in fact, wanted the monster to be released upon the villages, even when he knew it wasn’t safe. Mad scientist, indeed.)

Unfortunately, we can’t reopen all the closed schools and undo the damage to the thousands of kids affected.

Because of this, teachers don’t have much of a choice when it comes to their political identity. Our current education system is a function of our government, and our views about education is a piece of our core beliefs. For instance, saying that we want a free, public, equitable education for all children irrespective of background or classification is a political statement. Even our pedagogy and how we approach teaching children our subjects all makes up an educational ideology, and that’s just a sliver of the composite we call our political beliefs.

Some people might mistake this for me saying that our political ideologies fall under the duality of what we consider “Democrat” or “Republican.” To the contrary, I’m saying that, because of the nuance in these edu-political discussions, we ought to re-consider our actual politics. Look no further than the almost unilateral support of the release of the reports from “both” sides of the aisle. All the while, teachers and allies of like minds have banded together against the idea that educators shouldn’t be humiliated.

Novel concept.

This also means that teachers can’t consider themselves apolitical, because their function in schools has a purpose past the esoteric feelings teachers have about the classroom. We have to understand policy and debate, and respond accordingly. We have to read up daily from different sources and become aware of the latest research on everything that happens in our classroom. In no way am I saying we ought to be activists (:: ahem ::). I’m merely arguing that, in order to move the profession along, we have to dig deeper on all these pieces, and can’t rely on our representatives to represent us.

We can do better.

Mr. Vilson, who welcomes being challenged on this …

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This Writing Is Less of a Run, More Like a Dance

by Jose Vilson on February 7, 2011

Spongebob Dance

Someone recently asked me (and I’m omitting the person’s name because it wasn’t a public question):

A quick question? Do you feel like you have to be “politically” correct when you write your posts?

This type of writing? It’s less like a straight run or a drive down a road, and more like a dance. I have these steadfast rules I’ve engraved into the inside of my forehead and have been pretty good about it:

  1. Don’t discuss my principal.
  2. Don’t discuss my love life.
  3. Don’t discuss people who ask to be explicitly discussed about on my blog.

These rules sound innocuous, but, because of the rancor I’ve withstood whenever I kept it too real, I decided to bury a few posts here and there because they violate these rules. Having said that, I think I’ve pushed myself to become more transparent about what I believe in other areas, especially with race, politics, and education. Sometimes, I recognize that I present ideas in a fashion that seems to exclude others. Yet, believe it or not, I rarely delete comments. Even the offensive ones stay; it’s important to get a pulse of dissenting views, even when they’re completely wrong.

As I’ve matured, I’ve sought to communicate a message that says, “I’m really thinking about these things, and I’ll wait until I’m settled on an answer before blurting it out.” Thought is the key. Every time I see a post that I absolutely have to write about, I approach it the way I approach a dance: begin delicately, build up somewhere in the middle, pay attention to the moods and intricacies, end gracefully, and engage your partner.

Especially that last one. Then, and only then, can we dance.

Jose, who can dance if he wants to …

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Unless They Don’t Want To Give Kids an Education [This Means War]

May 31, 2010 Jose

A few months ago, I was privy to a conversation my fellow colleagues were having about the state of education, and how the government doesn’t evenly distribute funds to ensure a proper, equitable education for all. One of the colleagues then reasons, “Well, they may not really want to give certain kids an education. Someone [...]

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The Education Boogey-Men

April 14, 2010 Jose

Over the last few years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting educational innovators and thought leaders from throughout the country, people who I either admire for their awesomeness or have pushed my thinking in ways I hadn’t thought of. People like the Teacher Leaders Network and my folks on Facebook and Twitter offer conversations I [...]

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Tearing The House Down pt. 2: Hands Up For Haiti

January 12, 2010 Jose

For many of us in the United States, independence means a ton. Even for the most marginalized of groups, we scream and kick for it because of the hypocritical nature of this hollow pursuit of happiness. For most of us in this country, we enjoy freedoms that we often take for granted. From the computers [...]

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At The End of the Day [The Letters Series]

November 18, 2009 Jose

This week, I’m writing a few more letters to different people, whose names shall be removed from the post, but who nonetheless are amalgamations of real characters. I won’t be mincing words this week, and in these letters, I hope to address some issues I find in education as a whole through these letters. If [...]

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Dennis Kucinich on Why He Voted No to Health Care Pt. 2

November 8, 2009 Jose

After reading this beautiful piece of work by Dennis Kucinich on why he voted ‘no’ to the House Bill on Health Care Reform, I went to his website and caught this little statement on his website as well: Following a statement on the Floor of the House of Representative, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made [...]

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King Bloomberg and My Unrepentant Contradictions

November 3, 2009 Jose

I’m living in a weird spot right now. I’m a die-hard Yankees fan who has a hard time supporting the construction of a stadium that, from within and without, stratified the rich and the poor and is supported by the one man who embraces that stratification like the millions of dollars he’s gained indirectly through [...]

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