30
Jan 14

Educational Disparity

One of the first steps in tackling the disparity within education is acknowledging that is a severe problem affecting our nation. This week we were encouraged to start big and acknowledge the varying dimensions of the issues we are trying to tackle. For example when trying to understand educational disparity we generally asked, “How do we level the playing field for attaining a quality education?”. Also, “What are the external forces outside of a classroom that impact a child’s education?” For example, “How does family involvement /characterisitcs impact education disparity?”

This topic is hitting hard because the more sources I read the more I realize how lucky I am to be in my circumstances. Yes, I work hard, but my parents prioritized my education and sacrificed to send me to expensive competitive educational institutions. This is not the case for every student. There are students out there working just as hard as me, but are not given the resources to step outside their circumstances. How can we build a bridge and ensure that disadvantaged students have a successful future?

 

I realize this is a national question,”How do rise out of the circumstances we were born into?”. How exactly do we awaken the American dream? These are the question President Obama addressed this week in the State of the Union,

“They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams. That’s what drew our forebears here. It’s how the daughter of a factory worker is CEO of America’s largest automaker — (applause) — how the son of a barkeep is speaker of the House — (cheers, applause) — how the son of a single mom can be president of the greatest nation on Earth. (Cheers, applause.)”

Obama’s anecdotal references captures the beauty of the opportunity that should come with hard work. There needs to be a hope that if we work hard, we can get out of unwanted circumstances. However, it seems for certain children in the U.S. their circumstances are so brutal that they cannot imagine that life may one day cut them a break. We want to make a stronger path to get students out of disadvantaging circumstances.

There is debate on how exactly we go about this whether it be more government involvement or less or what policies to put in place, etc.  Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, explained the fact that Obama chose to use his first words acknowledging teachers “highlighted the importance of educators and our schools in helping our children achieve their dreams.” (http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/29/obama-reaffirms-old-education-promises-in-state-of-the-union-address)

Weingarten further explained, “A vibrant economy and a high-quality public education system have been and always will be intertwined. It starts with investing in early childhood education, making college affordable, making public schools the center of communities, and, equipping students with essential life skills and offering multiple paths to graduation and the world of work through rigorous career and technical education programs.”(http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/29/obama-reaffirms-old-education-promises-in-state-of-the-union-address)  I thought Weingarten’s explaination was imperative for those who fear that a more equal educational playing field may impact the economy negatively. We can find ways to improve our system without harming our economy, we just have to search and Weingarten made strong suggestions on what path needs to be paved.

 


22
Jan 14

Leadership Recovery: Think for yourself.

“I can’t let anyone do my thinking for me”- Dean Christian Brady

 

I’ve admittedly been having trouble coming up with ideas for our projects this semester. My mind gets bogged down in immediately expecting solutions to the problems I propose. If you simply asked, “what global issues should be of primary focus?”, I would have no hesitance in listing them with evidence to back them up (global female education, water distribution, vaccinations, etc). I feel passion within me to make a difference, but sitting in class, I sometimes get overwhelmed because I do not yet have the exact path laid out on how to solve these issues. Who am I to expect I have all the answers to our global water crisis when I do not yet know all the facts?

I feel confident in advocating for many of these issues, but I feel, right in this moment, uninformed on how to fix these problems. Mulling over this in class, I had a mini epiphany when Dean Brady explained, “I can’t let anyone do my thinking for me”. While he was describing biases in the media, it resonated with me in a different manner. I started to realize that while advocating for issues/problem is important, by only advocating for these issues, I am leaving it up to someone else to actually solve the problems. This class I believe will provide me a solid transition from advocacy to policy. Specifically this semester,  I am given the opportunity to delve deep into these problems with a team and present answers.

Creating policy requires knowledge, research and then a solution. I have been hindering my own brainstorming process by expecting a solution to magically pop out of my head. I don’t need to have all of the answers immediately, but if I have a passion for an issue I think I can easily muster up the motivation to research the topic all semester in hopes of finding a solution.

On the flip side of this, while I recognize I do not need to have all of the answer up front, I do question, “How do we spark a movement when we don’t have enough knowledge?” I do not feel confident standing up and asking people to stand with me if I have not yet put time and effort into figuring out exactly what I want to stand up for. Does this make sense? It is a tricky line in leadership because if you narrow your platform to early you might oversimplify, miss something and be percieved as ignorant or unreliable, but also if you leave your stance too vague, then you risk not having a clear mission and confusing potential followers.

Overall, at least for me, what it comes down to is that I need to dedicate time into researching starting now. In order for me to move forward in our initiative to reform education I need to ironically educate myself.  My leadership style is that I will not stand up for something unless I have researched it thoroughly.  Because I have not yet fully dedicated myself into researching, I am currently in a strange limbo. Dean Brady warned us of this over break and recommended that we start reading up but I did not have the clarity then that I do now.  I guess recognizing this is the first step to leadership recovery.


16
Jan 14

The Face of the Institution

During Tuesday’s class, Dean Brady challenged us with the question, “Who is the more important hire for Penn state, our new president or new football coach?”

To answer this question we must first question what we want to prioritize as an institution. I personally want to prioritize academics, and innovation. I want to prioritize making Penn State an even stronger leading force in education. My belief is that in order to become this,  we need an innovative leader to push our University there. James Franklin is not our leader for this movement.

However, if someone is instead prioritizing school spirit, community, media image, or the obvious, good football, he or she might consider our football coach a more important hire. 

For many universities across the nation, considering a football coach of higher importance than a president is absurd, yet at Penn State football seems innate within our culture. The absurdity remains unquestioned because the importance of football is drenched in tradition. Alumni and students have a hard time imagining what Penn State would be without our athletics. Throughout history, we have been known for our football team. I question, how about we change that history?

Students in class made solid cases explaining that for Penn State, Franklin was the more important higher, given the role it has played throughout Penn State’s history. Furthermore, peers explained that perhaps a football coach hire now is even more important that ever before given our recent history  and our efforts to overturn the Penn State football image. Our football coach is the one the media will cling onto over our President. Classmates made points that our Coach will represent our University, whether we like it or not,  far more often in the media than our new President. Our football coach will be the face outsiders will see.

While this may all be true, a certain point I want to build our University from the inwards out. Is the media face of our University going to make strides towards innovative education? Our previous presidents may not have made headlines for the manners in which they improves this university, but that doesn’t mean it is less important nor does it mean that our new president cannot make headlines in the future.

Some people remark, Penn State will always be a football school, but I try to remind myself that it will only be that way as long as we students want it to be that way. We sometimes get stuck in our history. While tradition is important, I believe it is more important to question our tradition critically before fully embracing it.

To me it seems our current football culture is steeped in conformity. To an extent, this is necessary for unity and spirit. However I want us to question not only what would make us an even “happier valley” but also a more “thoughtful valley”.  I hope we begin to take it upon ourselves to question  how to make Penn State an even better place, and who would make a better leader for this mission than our new president?

 

 


Skip to toolbar