The Entreaty of Melissa McCoy
by
Gary Marvin Davison
Note:
Melissa McCoy is a composite, fictional character whose lament and entreaty is drawn from the experiences of the many young people with whom I have worked and whom I have loved in the course of a more than 40-year journey.
.........................................................................................................................
I’m just wantin’ y’all to know
that I’m hurtin’ so bad
hurtin’ so bad
hurtin’ so bad
hurtin’ so bad
'cause I’m beginnin’ to understand
how long it’s been
long it’s been
long it’s been.
Four hunn’ed years ago
years ago
years ago
you ripped my
great-great-great-great granny
mine
mine
mine
my
my
my
great-great-great-great-granny
from the depths of the
Bight of Benin
you took her
and
you locked her
in a cage
until the ship came
and
took her away
‘cross that
long, lonely ocean
lonely ocean
lonely ocean
lonely ocean
and then took joy that she survived
the
sweat
stench
urine
feces
chains
fever
blood.
You took joy
‘cause you could
set her on the block
and
open her mouth
to show that her teeth
had somehow not rotted.
You pointed to her skin
and
put her naked young body
on display
in evidence
that she likely could
produce
more free labor
to get your
cotton
tobacco
rice
whatever
you needed
you needed
you needed.
And ' course
you had no regard
at all
for
her needs
her needs
her needs.
And you kept her there
and
millions with her
millions with her
millions with her
unda the hot sun
hot sun
hot sun
but took care to place her
in the evenin’
where she could
have mo’ babies,
mo’ babies
mo’ babies
and
give you pleasure
you pleasure
you pleasure
not
her
pleasure
not
her
pleasure
your pleasure
‘cause
that’s all that ev’a matt’ed
was your
pleasure
what you
needed
you needed
you needed.
That’s all that ev’a matt’ed
to you.
And you kept her there,
us there
her there
us there
until war broke out
for yo’ own purposes
own purposes
own purposes
but promisin’
us
freedom
that was supposed to be
as simple
as
13, 14, 15.
But then you
Compromised in 1877.
And you separated us
in unequal equality
in 1896,
Till we scrambled
Northward on a Migration
to freedom
but
found none.
‘Cause y’all said,
“No, not here,
you can’t live
here
here
here.
But you can live
there
there
there
'cause you got lots in common
with
da
Jews
Polacks
Wops
and all."
So we waited
waited
waited
and worked
hard
hard
hard
‘til just as things seemed to be
getting’ betta
betta
betta
the many
still-frustrated
still-frustrated
still-frustrated
didn’t wanna
wait no more
wait no more
wait no mo’
no mo’
no mo’
no mo’.
So there went the
stones
bricks
bats
clubs
anything
handy
and the
glass cracked
store owners
departed
and
mostly just us
poorest
poorest
poorest
stayed behind.
So you put us here,
And we have stayed
here
stayed here
stayed here
stayed here
and
even though
you never understood us
and
never believed in us
you promised us an
education
that never came.
But
now
now
now
the time has come.
Bernadeia
Richard, Kim, Jenny, Rebecca, Alberto, Tracine, Carla, Josh, Mohamud,
the time has
come,
come,
come.
The time came a long time ago,
but the education didn’t,
so now is the time
that it’s
got to
come
gotta come
got to come
gotta come.
‘Cause you know that they still don’t care,
those folks who came up from the
plantation
to live on
Lowry Hill
and
in
Linden Hills
‘cause they got Blake and Breck and all those,
for what good they are,
or aren’t,
but that’s where
their kids go now
while we wait for ya’ll to
do the right thing.
Bernadeia, I hear good things about you.
They say that we’re gonna learn new things
about our
great-great-great-great-grannies
and about the
Great Wall
Iroquois
Laws of Motion
Relativity
Operant conditioning
Cognitive dissonance
Id
Ego
Superego
Oedipus
Electra
Troy Maxson
Hamlet
Ma Rainey
King Lear
Joe Turner
Macbeth
Achilles
Hector
Beowolf
Caged Birds
Dreams Deferred.
So, please, Bernadeia,
you gotta
keep your word,
‘cause we want
our
dreams deferred
no more
deferred no more
deferred no more
no more
no more
no more,
deferred
no more,
no mo’,
no mo’
no mo’.
We want to know about
Hindus
Muslims
Black Muslims
Nation of Islam
Jains
Buddhists
Confucians
Shintoists
Daoists
Animists
‘cause alla these is people,
all of these are people,
alla these is people,
all of these are people.
And if we understood each other
maybe we wouldn’t kill each other,
maybe my little brotha wouldn’t a taken
that bullet,
my big brotha wouldn’t be in prison,
and
my big sista wouldn'ta
gotten pregnant
with a baby
while she was still a baby,
and
there wouldn’t be all that fightin’
any more---
no mo’
no mo’
no mo’.
We want to know all there is to know.
I gotta a mighty fine brain.
I’m ready for you to teach me.
So show me that you can,
now---
This school year, in 2014 and 2015, too.
Now.
We have waited a long time
for the
education
that you promised
and
we ain’t gonna wait no more.
We aren’t going to wait any more.
We ain’t gonna wait no mo’.
We aren’t going to wait any more.
We ain’t gonna wait no mo’.
We aren’t going to wait any more.
Give us our education,
so I can face my
great-great-great-great-granny
and
tell her what you won’t tell her
what you won’t tell her:
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I am so, so, sorry.”
But now you and I both
can sweep away all that
stench
urine
feces
chains
fever
blood.
‘Cause we’re gonna look at that
hot sun
in a whole
new way.
My future is gonna be bright,
And I ain't gonna be no
baby havin' a baby.
I'm waitin' to be woman
with a real family of my own,
and then my family will have that
education.
just like I’m gonna have mine,
now,
now,
now.
‘Cause there’s so much I
wanna know
want to know
wanna know
want to know,
and
will know
will know
will know.
I will be what I want to be
what I wanna be
what Melissa want to be
wanna be
want to be
and
will be
because
at long last
I will have my,
Melissa will have
her.
we will have our
EDUCATION.
Aug 25, 2014
Aug 19, 2014
The K-12 Education Revolution Will Come at the Central School District Level (So Disregard the Ideas of Ted Kolderie)
For those of you truly interested in K-12 education, understand that we need revolution (not reform), that this transformation will occur at the level of the central school district, and that you should reject all of the major points made by Ted Kolderie in his “The Big Idea? Lots of Little Ones” (Star Tribune , Opinion Exchange, Sunday, August 10, 2014).
Kolderie first of all asserts that the chief question when seeking change should always be, “How?” The real problem, though, is that we never ask, “What?”
So let me answer that question:
What is an excellent education?
An excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting a rich liberal arts curriculum in grade-by-grade sequence to all students throughout the K-12 years.
And what is an excellent teacher?
An excellent teacher is a professional of deep and broad knowledge, possessing the pedagogical ability to impart rich liberal arts content to all students.
Kolderie’s main point is that meaningful change toward reaching the goal of educational excellence must come with innovations outside centralized systems. This is nonsense. The best educational systems of the world are located in East and Southeast Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) and the social democracies of Europe (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France). All of these nations centralize education at the national level and implement a standard curriculum in all schools of the nation.
This is the correct approach, ensuring a common knowledge base for all students, regardless of demographic descriptors. It is consistent with Thomas Jefferson’s vision for the creation of an informed electorate, and with the ideas of Horace Mann concerning education for all as delivered through “common schools.”
In the United States, though, we labor under the pretense of local control. Professors who train teachers in university departments, colleges, and schools of education throughout the nation impart a harmful “constructivist” creed that takes student experiences, and current student and teacher interests, as the driving forces for curriculum. This seems appealing until one realizes that such a creed devalues knowledge as common cultural inheritance to which all students should have access.
The pretense of local control extends to school boards, which tend to rubber-stamp superintendent initiatives until some offending behavior moves board members to action, or until (typically after a three to five year tenure) the superintendent abandons the district with a careerist move to another position. Sometimes there are board members who are so bought and sold by teachers unions that they do obstruct superintendent initiatives.
Either way, the same sort of attitudes and political struggles tend to occur for school boards throughout the United States. Meanwhile, teachers and administrators are almost all trained according to the same “constructivist” ideology, so that the approach to K-12 education tends to be the same from central school district to central school district. Local control is chimeric.
We can dispense with Kolderie’s other misguided notions, as follows:
1) With regard to Kolderie’s unfavorable view of whole class instruction, we should remember that the whole class approach dominates in East Asia and is generously used in the European social democracies. It is very efficient, very conducive to teacher story-telling and to discussions, and it in no way precludes technological and individualized approaches.
2) As to age grading, ensuring that all students at grade level are reaching an absolute standard is critical; maintaining conventional grade level designations in no way prevents teachers from making more advanced material available to students who have attained grade level performance.
3) Kolderie implies that reliance on standardized tests is too one dimensional. But standardized tests are the fairest, most objective measures of student performance, and they prepare students for a format that will also pertain to ACT and SAT exams used to assess college readiness. Teachers may always use such adjunct assessment instruments as portfolios, demonstrations, and presentations for their own classroom purposes.
4) Kolderie also objects to what he calls the “boss/ worker model of school.” But central school district personnel and building principals have the responsibility for devising and implementing programs designed to reach certain standards. Teachers have the obligation to ensure that students reach standards. School systems work best when administrators and teachers perform their very demanding jobs with a keen sense of their particular roles.
We can hereby dispense with Ted Kolderie’s main argument and his supplementary assertions. Then we should insist, in Minneapolis, that Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson follow through on her very promising Focused Instruction (curriculum content and consistent delivery) and High Priority Schools (efforts to raise achievement levels for lowest performing students) initiatives--- and give her full support as she does so.
In doing this, we will be fomenting revolution at the central school district level, which in the United States is where such a transformation will have to occur.
Gary Marvin Davison is teacher and administrator for the New Salem Educational Initiative. He is the author of eight published books and the editor of Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Kolderie first of all asserts that the chief question when seeking change should always be, “How?” The real problem, though, is that we never ask, “What?”
So let me answer that question:
What is an excellent education?
An excellent education is a matter of excellent teachers imparting a rich liberal arts curriculum in grade-by-grade sequence to all students throughout the K-12 years.
And what is an excellent teacher?
An excellent teacher is a professional of deep and broad knowledge, possessing the pedagogical ability to impart rich liberal arts content to all students.
Kolderie’s main point is that meaningful change toward reaching the goal of educational excellence must come with innovations outside centralized systems. This is nonsense. The best educational systems of the world are located in East and Southeast Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore) and the social democracies of Europe (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France). All of these nations centralize education at the national level and implement a standard curriculum in all schools of the nation.
This is the correct approach, ensuring a common knowledge base for all students, regardless of demographic descriptors. It is consistent with Thomas Jefferson’s vision for the creation of an informed electorate, and with the ideas of Horace Mann concerning education for all as delivered through “common schools.”
In the United States, though, we labor under the pretense of local control. Professors who train teachers in university departments, colleges, and schools of education throughout the nation impart a harmful “constructivist” creed that takes student experiences, and current student and teacher interests, as the driving forces for curriculum. This seems appealing until one realizes that such a creed devalues knowledge as common cultural inheritance to which all students should have access.
The pretense of local control extends to school boards, which tend to rubber-stamp superintendent initiatives until some offending behavior moves board members to action, or until (typically after a three to five year tenure) the superintendent abandons the district with a careerist move to another position. Sometimes there are board members who are so bought and sold by teachers unions that they do obstruct superintendent initiatives.
Either way, the same sort of attitudes and political struggles tend to occur for school boards throughout the United States. Meanwhile, teachers and administrators are almost all trained according to the same “constructivist” ideology, so that the approach to K-12 education tends to be the same from central school district to central school district. Local control is chimeric.
We can dispense with Kolderie’s other misguided notions, as follows:
1) With regard to Kolderie’s unfavorable view of whole class instruction, we should remember that the whole class approach dominates in East Asia and is generously used in the European social democracies. It is very efficient, very conducive to teacher story-telling and to discussions, and it in no way precludes technological and individualized approaches.
2) As to age grading, ensuring that all students at grade level are reaching an absolute standard is critical; maintaining conventional grade level designations in no way prevents teachers from making more advanced material available to students who have attained grade level performance.
3) Kolderie implies that reliance on standardized tests is too one dimensional. But standardized tests are the fairest, most objective measures of student performance, and they prepare students for a format that will also pertain to ACT and SAT exams used to assess college readiness. Teachers may always use such adjunct assessment instruments as portfolios, demonstrations, and presentations for their own classroom purposes.
4) Kolderie also objects to what he calls the “boss/ worker model of school.” But central school district personnel and building principals have the responsibility for devising and implementing programs designed to reach certain standards. Teachers have the obligation to ensure that students reach standards. School systems work best when administrators and teachers perform their very demanding jobs with a keen sense of their particular roles.
We can hereby dispense with Ted Kolderie’s main argument and his supplementary assertions. Then we should insist, in Minneapolis, that Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson follow through on her very promising Focused Instruction (curriculum content and consistent delivery) and High Priority Schools (efforts to raise achievement levels for lowest performing students) initiatives--- and give her full support as she does so.
In doing this, we will be fomenting revolution at the central school district level, which in the United States is where such a transformation will have to occur.
Gary Marvin Davison is teacher and administrator for the New Salem Educational Initiative. He is the author of eight published books and the editor of Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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