Professor J's Place

This morning at Upward Bound, we were doing revision workshops on the personal statements my students are writing. One of the young women began to read her essay. I stopped her. You need to speak louder and read slower. Your words are gold. She looked at me quizzically. You need to read as though what you have to say is important, precious--not "this is just some shit I wrote." And then I remembered. High School.  These kids are in high school and I'm talking like a sailor. Of course, R--, the boy who wants to become a writer, giggled and said, "I love you Miss Jensen." But I should behave. Back to the girl. Her words were gold. Her story inspiring. And she could barely read for the fear and the shame. Gah! The return of the fear! I don't know how to teach against the fear. Except to keep saying, "your words are gold, they are precious; you have something to say." Lucy Calkins is talking to children in this video . Let's...

I am sitting here while my Composition I students struggle over an in class essay on the wonderful " Everyday Use ," by the glorious Alice Walker . They are having such a hard time. I know they will do their best. I know they will come to an understanding of the different values of the sisters. I know they will love Maggie and her mother. I have yet to have a student really identify with Dee. This surprises me, because I did. I don't mean that I totally disrespected my mother and my sister(s), although the sisters might tell a different tale, but there were times when we spoke a different language. There were also times when I was so full of myself and my grand ideas--so full of my feminist struggle--that I did not give credit to the woman who raised three girls by herself--to the women my sisters had become. I certainly gave them lip service, just as Dee has appreciation for the "folk art" her grandmother had quilted. But I neglected to accept what they we...

Okay, so he was wrong about the war (at first, anyway). Friedman does address some of the questions I have about my students. Many of them care about issues, but they suffer from thinking that nothing they do will have any affect on politicians or policies. I don't know if I agree with Friedman entirely, though. I think that apathy is still a major problem. Idealism is there, but you really have to hunt for it sometimes. Nevertheless, his call for activism would be well heeded by my students and their peers. Somebody needs to do something .

While we're at it, let's reform the K-12 system!

On my way to work this morning, there was an article on Morning Edition about the original GI bill and the changes it made in America and in individual lives. I was stunned by the sheer numbers of Nobel and Pulitzer winners--not to mention the other great contributions made to our culture by veterans who would not necessarily have gone to college without the bill. I think that is interesting. Susan and I were talking yesterday about college tuition in exchange for national service (not just the military). Of course, these days we're not even willing to spend the tax dollars on a GI bill of the scope of the old one. We still give money for school, but it is spare, indeed. Here I go again, willing to spend our tax dollars in yet another way. Ah well. What do you expect?

Personally, I favor the idea of two years of college free at state institutions for anyone with a "B" average in High School. But then, I always was a bleeding heart liberal. NYTimes proposal