Forty years ago today, racist bullies thought they would silence the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. Since that time, there have certainly been gains in the civil rights movement, but there has also been stagnation.
Today, we still have classrooms that are segregated, by "ability" although those "slow learning" classrooms in many cities are predominantly students of color. These students are denied full access to a curriculum that competently teaches basic reading and math skills as well as critical thinking. If the school fails to provide a curriculum from which a student can derive reasonable benefit, the student is punished by being held back to suffer through the same failed curriculum a second time. Almost half of all students EVER held back will never graduate from high school.
- To read a blog about the difference between resource and segregated classrooms, please see http://www.dimsapproach.com/2007/08/self-contained-versus-resource-classes.html or http://tinyurl.com/4nhczm
Without having been taught these basic and critical thinking skills, students grow up and cannot read the diverse information and opinions available on the Internet that would help them to fully participate in the political process. We still have voter intimidation and caging (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkSc6xUs92I&feature=related to silence the voices of those who would dare question the policies of current political officeholders.
Stand against the bullies, Dare to ask why, Dare to ask why not.
JB
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