I believe and appreciate that your busy schedule generally doesn’t allow you sufficient to time analyze contributor content. It is therefore understandable how you could wrongly conclude that someone was “comparing this (MLK) writing exercise to those practiced during the Third Reich, or that that there is a determination “to spot fatal flaws in a lesson plan — or in a school, a population of students, or a school district — (and) will find a way to do so.” (Although, should someone happen to “spot a fatal flaw” I believe he/she should take the time to point it out, even if the response is ridicule.)

It was wrong of me to say that you ignored my response (#34) to some of your (above) comments (#5) when it’s now apparent that you likely didn’t have time to properly analyze comments before responding to them. I will factor this into my contemplation of your future responses. Thanks for the clarification.

By the way, I agree with you that “Blog Master” could look good on your business card!

If you have a specific question for me, feel free to ask it. Then, if I have the time and inclination, I’ll try to answer it.

Perhaps delivery of education services by internet…

What Martin Luther King preached and what is generally preached today in the Afro American community are two different things. Dr. King celebrations can largely be likened to colorful Easter eggs with little if any regard for egg content. His words hang in the air like antique ornaments on a celebration tree. The dream of King is not the dream of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other longer recognized leaders of Afro America. Martin Luther King spoke of a desegregated society not one of Afro American separatism and intolerance that relies on victimization as the means to an end. Katy, you state you are “surprised that some would compare this writing exercise to those practiced during the Third Reich….” I commented that, “As observed in the Third Reich, ignorance isn’t so cute when it’s all grown up.” I also stated that, “If the Afro American community more commonly practiced what Dr. King preached the racial divide would be much narrower than it is today.” Again, the words and sentiments of a Dr. King Oratorical fest is one thing. The words and actions of many contemporary (so called) Afro American leaders is another. You can recite the talk, but what good is it if you’re taught a different walk my child? Where’s the indigent outrage of the Afro American community with those who invoke Dr. King’s name but dishonor what he stood for? The children of the Third Reich were taught to look up to and honor Adolph Hitler, a demagogue who taught separatism and intolerance. Sound familiar? Are the children of Afro America growing up to be as wise as the King or as ignorant as someone else? I believe the evidence points to the latter, giving substance to my comment that “ignorance isn’t so cute when it’s all grown up.”

I also suggested a “balanced curriculum (K-12) on the comparative philosophies of martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Luis Farakan?” (for starters). Doing cute recitations and writings about Dr. King is one thing. Separating popular historical rhetoric from belief and practice is another.

In response to Crank Teacher’s observation that “John and Nextset, may well be the same person,” I say thanks for the compliment Crank Teacher! I quite frankly prefer Nextset’s communication skills over my own. However, I can see why some would think we are one and the same because it largely appears we are the only one’s not singing in tune with the ‘tolerance’ gospel choir. Shame on us! A regular contributor to this blog commented that I (John) don’t “share the common goals” of other blog contributors (of the Oakland community). Off with his head is the essence of what she said. My head’s in the guillotine pull the lever anytime Katy my dear. Being a blog master is like being the dictator of your own country. Enjoy!

How come “my teachers” are OUSD, and yours aren’t? We’re both posting on the same blog about the same school district. Seems to me that OUSD teachers belong to both of us – or neither of us – equally.

Oh, wait, just a minute…

There we go.

Now if I just had a mailing address, I could send you your very own National Nonsequitur Society membership, including a button with the official motto: “We don’t make sense, but we like pizza”.

That’s one of the many places we differ.

This thread started with various comments on 3rd graders being asked to write what they’d do if they were dictator for a day. How about teaching them the actual duties of the president and other constitutional officers – which is what I was taught in 3rd grade. Something about signing bills or vetoing them. Something about appointing staff and ambassadors, something about Commander In Chief duties with the military.

My teachers had no problem teaching – expressing – the difference between right and wrong, as in your English grammar is wrong and you need to use proper grammar in class. Sue, do you believe the OUSD should correct “black english” in class and require standard language be used? Or do you think that’s “rude” also?

Is this sort of thing why OUSD has such poor verbal/reading scores?

What I am getting to is running classes so that the students have a workout not a play session. Even at 3rd grade.

I do want to note that I didn’t call you anything. Instead I suggested that it would be rude to do so.

I think it would be lovely if the school system could fix kids with messy personal lives, but I’m afraid that it’s completely unrealistic to expect it.

I had a pretty messy childhood. (The phrase is taken from some of your earlier comments, and at the time you weren’t advocating that the school district was responsible for cleaning up the mess. Instead, you felt the responsibility for my mess belonged to me.) My school didn’t help me – luckily, my teachers liked me and encouraged me – but that wouldn’t have been enough by itself.

What saved me from sitting in the locked-room-with-padded-walls next to my mother’s, was my extended family. Someone, in my case, my paternal grandmother, stepped in and filled the role of my absent parent. And I do mean filled that role, as in teaching ethics and morals, supervising my dress and behavior, handling puberty and all that girl-stuff that my dad just couldn’t do, and just being there for me and my sisters and brother. And we were also very lucky that our dad didn’t do what a lot of men did with a crazy wife and four small kids back in the 60′s. After she went into the hospital, he stayed. He didn’t get a divorce and dump us in foster care.

I think it’s completely unreasonable to think that a school system can compensate for a child’s home that’s falling apart. And I know that I had a lot of good breaks that made up for the bad stuff, and I know people who had it worse than I did as a child. My husband is one of them – he became a ward of the state (Missouri) when he was 10. He has some pretty grim stories, but he also has known people who had it worse than him. They’re dead, or in jail, or in other forms of institutional care. And what saved him was an incredible, incredible foster mother. Our children met her the last time we visited St. Louis, and refer to her as their “other grandmother”. She’s family, and when she finally passes, she’s going to be missed a lot more than some of our biological family.

It takes an individual who is willing and able to step in and be the missing parent/adult/role model. It’s simply not reasonable to expect that a school system can do that for a kid in trouble. It would take an individual teacher essentially adopting a kid – which does happen once in a blue moon, and NPR gets a nice story out of it – but to expect it, and say that it’s the responsibility of the school district, well, I think that’s asking much more than our teachers can deliver.