Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: YESTERDAY'S CLASS -- Malcolm London, Schuette, Rocketship...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: YESTERDAY'S CLASS -- Malcolm London, Schuette, Rocketship...:



YESTERDAY'S CLASS -- Malcolm London, Schuette, Rocketship...


THANKS MALCOLM...Thanks to brilliant, young Chicago poet/activist/educator Malcolm X London from Young Chicago Authors for his guest lecture in my class yesterday. My students, all aspiring teachers, were bowled over as Malcolm recounted his experiences as a Chicago high school student and then read two of his latest epic poems. If you're not familiar with his work, High School Training Groundperformed here at his TED talk, is a good place to start.

SCHUETTE...The students have all expressed righteous revulsion and indignation at the racist spews of Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. But only a couple were aware enough of the biggest blow against racial equality, the one that will likely impact the lives of millions of students and their families, to recognize the name, Schuette. The Supreme Court's decision, which has pretty much flown under the media radar -- both mainstream and social media -- has opened the door for states, both red and blue, to end affirmative action programs in hiring and college admissions. It's being called this court's Plessy v. Ferguson.

A comment or two from the President and his education chief would certainly help bring some awareness to the Schuette decision and not leave his own Court appointee, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, hanging in the wind. But  don't expect a peep out of either of them.

ROCKETSHIP... "The fact that what's considered the gold standard for poor students in Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: YESTERDAY'S CLASS -- Malcolm London, Schuette, Rocketship...: