East Lansing should keep the porch light on for school culture
Usually, I start my column with an experience from my teaching writing at Lansing Community College. This month I am thinking about me when I was an East Lansing Public Schools parent.
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Students create and enforce the dress code, always
Thanks to the City Pulse recent report on school dress codes, I was reminded of one of my students. She was maybe 23 in a sea of the 18-and-19-year-olds who usually enrolled for the daytime classes I taught.
Defund police to embrace all pieces of Lansing’s security puzzle
About mid-semester, this person showed up in my writing class at Lansing Community College. He was in 20’s, and he sat in the front row, the traditional place for smart students. But I did not know him. “Who are you?” I asked.
Can Andy Schor cram for his final and pass?
When I taught writing to college freshmen, I would remind students the key to success was steady work. “This isn’t a class you can cram for,” I warned students at the beginning of each semester.
Chauvin verdict is a teachable moment
Because George Floyd condemns the American image, white Americans — and indeed the whole world — are paying attention and wanting to learn about the lives Black Americans live. America is in a teachable moment.
Feds need to keep an eye on Michigan schools
An annual educational activity everyone hates — but is necessary particularly in the wake of the pandemic — will roll out at the end of this school year. It is assessment. That is the measurement of learning. The COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the school year 2020-’21.
Literacy extinguishes fiery life situations
Patricia Edwards, a new appointee to the Michigan Department of Education PreK-12 Literacy Commission, has written eight books about parents and schools. Her most recent book, “Partnering with Families for Student Success,” describes 24 scenarios where students are best served when teachers and parents work together.
College student loans: another injustice for the Black community
One trillion four hundred billion dollars. That’s how much students owe the federal government for college student loans. It’s a curse.
Joe Biden: Reward Black voters with a minimum wage raise
The next step for President-elect Joe Biden is to adopt the U.S. Postal Service slogan: Neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night will stop me from richly rewarding African American voters, for they flipped Michigan for Biden/Harris.
Female voters: Erase your blemish in November election
Nobody knows better than a woman how to look in the mirror, see beauty and still decide there is room for enhancement. So don’t doubt my patriotism when I, an African American woman, write there is room for improvement in the visage of Michigan female voters. Especially White female voters.