BiddiesInMyBrain

What Should College Courses Teach?

I just finished reading Stanley Fish's most recent blog post, "What Should Colleges Teach?" and am pondering his response; I find that, while I have some areas of convergence, I disagree with much of what he says.

Yes, I agree that the level of writing skills in the average college freshman or sophomore sometimes seems to be at best, abysmal, and at worst, incomprehensible. I cannot tell you the number of papers through which I have muddled in which mangled syntax, assumed predicates, dangling participles, or simply bad grammar (not to mention anything in LOLCat) is the order of the day. 

But I think Fish is missing something core here.

Simply look at the Condition of Education - Special Analysis 2009 from the IES and you can see how woefully we are falling behind as a nation in all areas of education... not just history. But the purpose of a liberal arts education - a fully-rounded education in the humanities - is to hone these basic skills in every classroom. YES, the writing courses should absolutely be working on the fundamentals. But, I know in my classroom, every writing assignment brings with it additional opportunity for me to interact with each student at his or her level on that student's own skillset. We hone. We shape. We struggle. And we learn together not just about history, but how to put it into context, how to bring it out of our own minds and bring it forth into the world as fully formed ideas and actions which are not only part of the past, but impacts on the future.

Now, this brings up another issue with which I take some umbrage with Mr. Fish; incoming students cannot and do not, as a general rule, have the abilities to comp out of basic American History survey classes. Especially now, with No Child Left Behind and its reprehensible lack of mandated history education. And then there is the State of Tennessee and its woefully short-sighted passage of Public Chapter 204 sponsored by State Representative Joe Pitts and State Senator Tim Barnes, which lowered the requirements for history education for Tennessee Board of Regents students - and only for history education. We are doing our younger generations such disservices by saying "oh, only a class or two, here or there... and only one on the French Revolution, or the American Civil War is needed." No!! How is that going to help a student become a better civic leader? A person with a better understanding of her or his responsibilities to the past the present AND the future? If the only requirement to understanding our country's past in its totality is something learned with a C average as a freshman in high school, well... where is that going to leave us? I am perpetually stunned when I encounter students who are flummoxed by the idea that yes, there really were separate black and white entrances to restaurants at one point in our nation's blighted past. We *need* these courses if only to help witness to our own past and to see our way clear to a new and brighter future.

So Mr. Fish, while I think you are correct in your assessment that students are woefully unprepared in many ways for college - oh, so unprepared - I think you are doing them a disservice by your solution. We need more rigors in humanities education, not less (and yes I *do* think there is something vivid and alive to be said for the comprehensive literature course, especially in a multicultural world! Milton? Not just!).

We as educators must simply be prepared - and supported - to meet that challenge.

Laura Perry

Memphis, TN

Goodness!!

It's been a terribly, terribly long time... and I had just vowed with my last post to be so much better about posting!

Things got very, very busy after my last post! VERY busy!

• After working up to nearly 5 miles every Tuesday and Thursday at PT, they released me! :( I am... both happy and sad... glad because I have progressed this far and sad because... well, I have lost much of my support mechanism for going and motivating. It's hard.
• Speaking of health stuff, the numbness is subsiding and I am getting around better - the changes in the meds seem to be doing the job and it does seem to definitely be the migraine aura issue. Good to know and to have something to finally fight against. Not only that, but the migraines themselves aren't as bad for the first time in... decades. ::knock on wood::
• I managed to finally produce a partial chapter of my dissertation a couple of weeks ago - something which has been plaguing me for months and months - almost two semesters now. It's still got a lot of work to be done on it, but it is really, really moving along. On top of that, there are two papers to be pulled out of it, one we are hoping to push for Fall '09, and one for Spring '10.
• Yesterday brought the news of a possible paper presentation opportunity in Belgium in Spring '10. Will be following up on that pronto - it's been receiving very favorable pushes from some folks here in the University, so I think that may be something to strongly explore.
• Had some really nice family interactions in the past couple of weeks - some very unexpected. Very, very nice. ::smile:: I was so glad for them!
• Then there are the bragging things:
  • I am being inducted next Saturday into an honor society ;)
  • I am being inducted next Sunday into Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities
  • and there is one other thing I will tell you about at another time.
• I plan to spend part of the summer attending a workshop in Quantitative Historical Analysis; in history geek terms, this is learning a whole lot about how to statistically quantify the numbers I am pulling from the various sources down here in Memphis for my dissertation. I am applying for a full scholarship, travel funds - everything I can find. I *need* this course. Anyone have any extra money for a needy scholar? I need room and board!!
• Once again, I will also be grading AP US History exams this summer as well. ::chuckle:: Yes! Back to it!
• Applying for and working on a couple other things, but they are so early in the working stages that it's silly to talk about them. Will catch you up on them when they are further down the pike.

Well, there's not much else happening other than teaching and the ever-present grading. ::grin:: Hope all my dear friends are doing well; I need to make the rounds again and see how all my blogging friends are! I miss you! Heck... I miss me!!

Will catch up with you soon again - I hope.

Much love,
Laura

::amused:: Ice Storm In the Forecast

Memphis is in a dither (and you've never seen anything like a dither until you've seen a Southern city facing an ice storm forecast - especially a dingbat city like Memphis.). City schools let out early (1:30 pm) even though the weather isn't forecast to hit until midnight. (yeah. ::giggling::) They are warning people off the streets. They are threatening dire consequences to life and limb if you even venture out to look up in the sky in your backyard later tonight. Heavens to Betsy, the sky will be falling soon. Literally, it appears.

So where did Crash go? 

The liquor store.

Duh.

Melissa also needed to go by Target on the way back from the doc's office, so I picked up some frozen dinners, two things of eggnog, a tin of Poppycock, two bags of Tostidos with accompanying queso... and some of my favorite movies off the $5 racks.

We're set for days.

And I might even sit on my front porch and watch the cars pile up at the intersection. Just because.

That's *if* the dire warnings actually come to fruition, that is. Because 99% of the time, Fried Chicken Little is just plumb wrong.

My Memphis is My Voice

I am so thrilled! One of my students and his colleague put this together for a Memphis tourism contest... I helped him *a little* pointing him in the direction for some background material and research... and this is the result of their combined efforts.

I am just... thrilled! Go! Watch! It's only 3 minutes long!

Two Hours, Twenty-One Minutes, Thirty-Five Seconds

But I did it. It's done. I've voted. On the last day of early voting here.

I feel so much better.

But when I left the building? The line went down the building, around one corner, down the long end of the building and out of sight around another corner (at least a 4 1/2 hour wait). They were talking about being there until past 2 a.m. tonight at that voting station alone since the polls don't close until 7:00 and they expected even longer lines by then. I believe it; when I pulled out of the drive I could barely see to turn because the number of cars waiting went down the street half a block.

It's a HUGE church... not a mega church, but an in-town really big church with a huge parking lot.... and people were making up spaces in the grass. There is nowhere left to park.

I can't imagine what Tuesday will be like.

Gently Parsing the Frustration

The anger which came out yesterday is at a slow simmer. We Unitarian Universalists think of ourselves as a "gentle, angry people" as the hymn goes, and that definitely describes how I feel today over the issue of white privilege. I am still angry - don't get me wrong - but I have a cooler, more thoughtful head about things today.

I am looking toward the things I *can* do. I can - and do - make tolerance an central principle in the classroom; I do not allow hazing, nor do I allow any form of speech that denigrates another human being. I consciously do not allow myself to fall into the mentality here - it would be so easy to do since the predominant identity around me is that of white privilege - and I push back against it when I see it. I take a stand.

However, I also admit that I *am* tired. Maybe it's that I am older and that I somehow expected that after 15 years things would have progressed... but instead, the same lines are drawn - and in fact, I think I see them even more clearly now. Then I think of the older people around me - black and white alike - who have fought this their *entire* lives and how they haven't given up hope... and it makes me feel like a heel for bitching about being tired. It's just that I have lived elsewhere and seen where it can and does work ... and this city just doesn't seem to *get* it. It's a very small, narrow-minded town in many ways. Yes, it is getting more cosmopolitan in many ways, but I think Nashville has beaten us on that account. It's no wonder that Nashville is outshining us in nearly every appreciable and measurable area of quality of life. They seem to be more effective at working out their problems - and are looking forward, not backward.

I just don't know how to approach it on any larger level. I tackle it personally... but in the larger milieu of things, is it really making a difference? I have no idea if I will ever be able to measure that - and that is perhaps the biggest frustration I have. I work best with feedback and encouragement... and to see no appreciable difference in the city... and to have to start over again every semester with the same lessons... well, I just don't know if I am doing anything but spinning my wheels.

White people around me know to curb their speech when it comes to these issues... but do they do it sincerely in their everyday lives? Do they think racially-motivated jokes are funny? Do they still flinch and lock their car doors whenever they see a black man at a stoplight? I don't know. And I will never know. And is it really my business to influence them to change their lives? If it isn't, then how else are we ever going to enact change... real, lasting change? I believe in personal responsibility for one's actions. Do these people believe they are being responsible, or is there at least an element of shame in their subconscious? If there *is* shame, there is hope... but if there isn't, I don't know that we will *ever* reach them... or the next generation.

Like I said, it's toxic... and it's eating me up inside. I want to live someplace where I can be unequivocally proud of my city - even through its problems - because I know that there is a real, strong and visibly active movement to enact positive and tangible change. I want to go back to living in a progressive city which passes legislation that actually helps people rather than so much self-interest and corruption. And I wish that city were Memphis.

But it's not. And more's the pity.

Still Pondering the Anger

Wow.

I've gotten a lot of e-mail tonight about my last post, and it's made me think a lot about what I said.

I'm not kidding about the racial issues - the white privilege issues - that exist in this city.

But I think I was a little harsh on the efforts that are being made on behalf of meeting halfway. There *are* some people who are working hard to make a difference. It's just that until that difference can be manifested in even a vocal minority, there isn't going to be change... and until more people in pulpits and congregations and board rooms and school rooms REALLY teach tolerance and love (not to say that they aren't there - there are some damn good efforts out there... but dang... there just aren't enough!!) - and disengage from this whole idea of privilege - there is no hope of that succeeding. NONE.

But nobody - at least *very* few whites in this town - seem to want to look inward to deal with those snap judgments ... the same ones that seal fates all over the South. Those that say separation is better, that private schools are better than public schools, that discomfort in mixed social and religious situations is ok. I want to see DELIBERATE action. Real, positive, assertive, gentle action - the same kind of direct action King and Gandhi talked about - to look inside and remake this city, this region and this nation.

I *do* see some of that happening - don't get me wrong - and I see it the best of it in higher education. Unfortunately, the people who graduate University.. black, white, Asian, African, Hispanic, European... are not as likely to stick around here - the atmosphere is just so toxic that people really want to leave once they have opportunity. The best and the brightest tend to be lured away... and those who stay get beaten down by the constant... well, the constant inability of good folks to stand up year after year, decade after decade, to the racism and the privilege.

I have lived here for 15 years ... and I am just... tired of it. The Gandhi/King conference is coming and I want so much to take part in it... but I am so discouraged. Maybe it's all the talk right now that Memphis is such a "progressive" or "liberal" city in such a conservative state. No, I am sorry. I have lived in progressive, liberal cities - and this one is not one of them.

I'll continue to try - don't get me wrong. But you can bet that I will seek other opportunities in other places if they come my way.

And the city wonders why the tax base is just... floating away.

Get real already.

Dealing with an Unexpected Burst of Anger

I've had this *wonderful* day today ... it's been rainy, yes, but I have been busy and accomplishing things all day long.

So, the burst of anger that erupted when a friend sent me an op-ed piece from the New York Times really surprised me.

Branson is not all that far from Memphis... and Memphis is definitely a little blue dot in a vast sea of red, so it would seem I should be happy to see this apparently like area in our geographic vicinity.

But, I'm not.

Memphis has a good history of being a liberal stronghold the past several decades - and even before desegregation was known as a relatively progressive city. However, don't let the facade fool you.

There are deep lines of demarcation here. And I'll bet they're in Branson, too - but the reporter was too white to see them.

You see, we are a town - and a region - of white privilege.

A man walks into a gun shop in Memphis... or Branson. If he's white... he's a gun enthusiast and a patriot. If he's black... he's someone to fear and has criminal intent.

A man drives a tricked-out SUV in Memphis... or Branson. If he's white, he's merely affluent and a representative of the American dream. If he's black, he's involved in the drug trade.

A white kid in a school uniform is walking down the street at 2:30 pm ... he's simply been dismissed from school. A black kid in a school uniform is walking down the street at 2:30 pm ... he's a truant and up to no good.

White men and women standing on a street corner holding up signs and shouting out their support for their chosen candidate in a presidential race are 'doing their part for democracy'. Black men and women standing on a street corner holding up signs and shouting out their support for their chosen candidate in a presidential race are misguided, uppity and inciting a riot.

Do you see where I am going with this?

There are deep, clear lines of demarcation in this city - and throughout the South - a vile vestige of segregation and a mindset of white privilege.

It's not just seen in the places of worship - very few black men and women go to certain Presbyterian churches, just as very few white men and women attend COGIC services, for example - but it is seen in the snap decisions people make on the street and around the town about racial difference. The above examples I gave barely scratch the surface.

However, most people are terribly, horribly apathetic about doing anything. They are attached to the television and unwilling to get out in the heat or cold and actually motivate to do something about these issues.

The only people who are forced to get out and interact on a regular basis are our public schoolkids - and you see how well that works. Constant disruptions, guns in schools, racial slurs and epithets... and kids segregate themselves in the lunchroom and between classes.

There is no culture of oneness, no hope of understanding until the larger culture changes. And I see no hope of that happening right now. Until the larger racial divides are breached within the larger society, until the ideas of white privilege - and you can't tell me that a majority of this problem ISN'T that of white privilege - are eradicated there will never be any form of true progress.

Memphis and Branson may claim to be progressive, liberal cities... but just live here a while and really, truly look. Just as in the Op-Ed piece, there is an assumption of white privilege on which that progressive liberalism is based... and you need to ask yourself if that is really progress after all.

I Was Asked About 9/11

I don't normally respond to questions about 9/11. You'll understand why in a moment. But one of my friends asked this in such a kind, gentle way, that I though I would respond. In places it's a little curt - but that's because of the difficulty of the memories. Please treat them kindly.

The question was, very simply, "Where were you on 9/11?"

I was in bed when the first plane hit, but I got a call from a shaken, frantic friend saying, "A plane has crashed into the tower... A plane has crashed into the tower!" Living in Memphis, I though it was Clark Tower, and started to turn on local news and she said "NO NO NO... national news."

We were talking on the phone and watching in tandem when the second plane hit live. She and I screamed, and she came over here while still on her cell phone.

We sat on my sofa, glued to the television, watching the Pentagon attack, following along in Pennsylvania, and witnessing the horror and inflated numbers and the extra reports of bombs at the State Department (whatever was THAT about?) and other terrorist attacks around the country... and the reports of attacks against Arabic people, Muslims and Jews.

I called my husband to let them know what had happened - they had no idea - and finally got through to the headmistress. She made a choice to move the kids out of the old JCC building into the newer building and play games the rest of the afternoon - or until parents came to pick up their kids.

Anyway, I was sitting on the sofa with Sasa, hands wrapped together, head-to-head, and in utter disbelief. Then the first tower started splitting and I said.... Melissa - the tower is crashing down... and she and I sat there and watched the unreal happen. Then WTC1 fell and it was just beyond disbelief.

I couldn't sleep properly for months afterword, and would curl up on the sofa after Crash fell asleep, and I would watch the ticker on the tv all night and listen and watch all day, 24/7, recording in a diary the things I saw and heard. I got on the computer and printed out political cartoons and photos to put in the diary. I was clinically depressed and completely obsessed... I just couldn't get the horror out of my mind.

I still have the diary, but as with most things 9/11, I can't bear to watch, read, or peruse. It's just too... raw... yet. I don't like talking about it (though I will on occasion blog about it), and I REALLY hate when politicians use it and bastardize it as a means to try and reach voters.

I wonder when (if) it will *ever* be less raw - enough less raw - that I can talk about it without terror creeping up my back and into my fingers. It shook me and changed me... and I turn off the television on 9/11 for that reason. I just don't deal with the commercialization of the whole thing - the cable-newsification of it. The only thing I *did* catch last night was something on MSNBC where they were running raw footage from '01... and with the commentary FROM THAT DAY... now THAT I could watch - a little bit. The slightly grainy, paper-flying-everywhere, fiery, smoky, dusty morning. Not that cleaned up heroic smudge-on-the-face made-for-tv-movie crap we have been left with to rework our minds and memories.

That's it in a nutshell today. I don't know if I have it in me to write any more than that right now... There's only so much I can take of it, you know? My therapy for that took 5 months following the attacks and consisted of stream-of-consciousness writing and clipping of pictures and political cartoons. I am patriotic, I love my country. However, it seems that as a country, we must still mark that day.

Please forgive me if, for now, I can't.

MPD 0, MPD Enforcer 1. SCORE!!!

The City of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department have withdrawn their lawsuit against the anonymous blogger best known as Dirk Diggler on the MPD Enforcer 2.0 website. In the suit, unsealed today, they had claimed that "Diggler" had both infringed on copyright of the "Blue Crush" initiative of the city, and shown pics of an undercover cop. BOTH allegations were determined to be spurious and a waste of time and money. The undercover officer's pics had already been shown ON THE MPD WEBSITE AND IN THE NEWS and the Blue Crush stuff was parody, not the swiping of copyright. Duh.

Just goes to show that Police Chief Larry Godwin can get his panties in a wad over words, not deeds. At this point, if I were "Diggler" I would be going after the City and Godwin himself in civil court for the stupidity and cost they have put him/her through.

What an asinine was of time and money.

And what a great victory for the internet!