I know I'm behind in my project, especially in talking with folks about suggestions. I got 0 comments on my last post, leading me to think I've either a hidden-setting blocking comments, or this blog is read even less than I thought (hard to conceive as I can see the single-digit stats).
Still, as much as this blog records process, I should note that I've been reading both poverty and digital history works lately. Bejamin Levin has perhaps the best quote of the week in his article an "Educational Responses to Poverty" from the Spring '95 Canadian Journal of Education. He wrote "Schools cannot solve problems of poverty, and should say so publicly." Writing about K-12 education, Levin nonetheless reminds me that any attempt to address poverty in education is a question of percentages, not totalities. For Normandale, I'd like to see our Pell-eligible students succeed at the same rate as our non-Pell-eligible students. That's not a cure, more of a palliative measure, but way better than a placebo.
Better than a medical reference, I think a better symbolic representation of an anti-poverty pedagogy is what's called small ball in baseball. Small ball in baseballs trying to get runners on base, and then driving them in with base hits. Small ball is not swinging-for-the-fences heroics. It is knowing that a ball hit between 1st and 2nd has a better chance of scoring a runner on third base. Small ball isn't sexy and it can make the game slow, but it works for many situations. Community College is one of those situations. We aren't looking to place as many students as possible at an Ivy League school (while then neglecting everyone else). We aren't looking for glory, MVP awards, or titles. What we want is for the students to score, to get their degrees, transfer, and get "home." So, what I'm looking for are little things that advance my students, consistently. The Gates Foundation is the epitome of a home-run education philosophy, one big idea that can reform higher ed. My aims are much smaller, but also with less risk for my students.
Safe home
