MINORITY EDUCATION NEWS ABOUT ELITE HIGH SCHOOLS.
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
People sing New York, New York and My Kind of Town Chicago Is, and When the Saints Go Marching In, but if you are going to digest this article you should know the song we need to sing is "Wake Up Everybody." New Orleans has not been restored properly. Crime seems to be a big problem there. See what is going on in New York and Chicago.
Minorities accepted at "elite public high schools" has dropped from 14 percent to 13 percent. At Stuyvesant High School the numbers fell from 12 to 7 percent for African Americans and from 24 to 17 for Hispanics. Yoav Gonen reported this in the New York Post today. He cites a former PTA president who called this news "shocking." Since the numbers are quite small to begin with, it is not "shocking" to me. Out of 5,000 students in the city, it may be "shocking" to many people or should be shocking. It is probable that other minorities in New York City have children that are highly qualified and they can compete more effectively. I have been writing lately about checking out what is going on in colleges, but is might also be clear that African-Americans and Hispanics are not getting enough education to qualify for Stuyvesant. Let us find out just how well prepared the high school graduates are overall and for minorities also and compare those anecdotal records and data with how well students did before the Department of Education replaced the Board of Education. Teaching to the test may have resulted in more students graduating from high school and this whole concept may be a kind of social promotion when compared to the kind of teaching that makes a student more rounded.
"MINORITY EDUCATION NEWS ABOUT ELITE HIGH SCHOOLS."
Profesor Martin Danenberg 01:23 PM
CLOSING BAD SCHOOLS...CIVIL RIGHT OR CIVIL WRONG?
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
Education is the civil rights issue of our time, Dennis Walcott wrote in the New York Post, repeating what we heard from John Mc Cain in his run for president. But the rights of students in GED programs go uncontested by the Deputy Mayor. The rights of Spanish and French speaking adults fighting to make progress during the worst recession in our recent history, actually a depression for Hispanics and African-Americans, go unmentioned. I have been fighting since my teaching days and my ideas have been ignored in favor of No Child Left Behind and limited access to the GED. This problem continues as Walcott promotes the closing of nineteen schools by the Department of Education. I seem to recall that there were twenty schools on the list, but Alfred E. Smith remains open. Why? We were told it has an automotive program and it is unique. I, now, strongly suggest the following. Convert space in all nineteen schools designated to be closed and set up automotive programs and keep them open, too. Expand opportunities in New York City. We need automotive and aviation technicians and a dozen other things to provide good jobs to minorities. The real problem may not be the schools themselves, but the people in charge of the city administration. Think of what the mayor could have done all these years by expanding these services. Alfred E. Smith was almost closed and it seems there was really very little parental involvement in the school. This led to a bad report card for the school. If I had a choice between closing the schools and closing out the Bloomberg administration, it would be the latter.
"CLOSING BAD SCHOOLS...CIVIL RIGHT OR CIVIL WRONG?"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 09:33 AM
THE GLOBAL GED INITIATIVE
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
The schools of Haiti, like the schools of Europe after World War II, will not operate the way schools should. The nation is physically, financially, emotionally, and even spiritually exhausted by the events of the earthquake. I want to develop the GED and other educational initiatives in Haiti and I am asking people across the United States and around the world to quickly join with me in the Global GED Initiative. It is imperative to begin this initiative in Haiti.
Profesor Martin Danenberg 07:32 PM
HAITI: NO PERSON LEFT BEHIND AND THE GLOBAL GED INITIATIVE
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
Education, we are told, is the key to ending poverty in the world. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The GED is education and a great solution that has helped people worldwide. In fact 17 million people have earned the GED, most of them in the United States (about 500,000 graduates in 2008). All over Haiti, disconnected youth, men, and women will be told by the Global GED Initiative what they need to know to pass the GED in French. People will say, yes I have that knowledge already and I want to take the test. In a few days or weeks they will be mobilized to take the test as their fears subside and their hopes escalate knowing that their knowledge is the power that moves them and their nation. They will earn their diplomas within weeks and progress through education and hard work. Haiti will no longer be the Haiti that it was because No Person Will Be Left Behind. The March on Washington of Dr. King and his dream to educate African-Americans and people around the world will be advanced exponentially by Haitians and others who join the Global GED Initiative.
"HAITI: NO PERSON LEFT BEHIND AND THE GLOBAL GED INITIATIVE"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 07:30 PM
HIGHGATE YOUTH LEADERSHIP AND MUSIC ACADEMY
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
I want to thank Angel Martinez and his wife for attending the Highgate Youth Leadership and Music Academy event in Brooklyn on Saturday, January 23, 2010. They came from the middle of Suffolk County to attend the event in Brooklyn on Fulton Street. It was special to hear Roz Shepard, founder of The Highgate Youth Leadership & Music Academy, sing two songs and hear Ahmad "Armando" Quazi, William and Valerie Bell, and Madeline Smith share their thoughts with the attendees and the men and women who work in the lounge. William and Valerie Bell and I want to network with Madeline who lost her son in Harlem, shot down by a young man at the age of twenty-two.
For those of you who did not know this, not only was Sean Bell being sought after by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but also he planning to study to be an electrician. He was gunned down the day before his wedding. Sean Bell Way was named for Sean Bell.
"HIGHGATE YOUTH LEADERSHIP AND MUSIC ACADEMY"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 10:57 AM
YELE HAITI HAITIANS AND JEWS
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
Yelé Haiti needs water for the Haitian people now. The Jewish people celebrated the discovery of water in Palestine in 1937 by writing a song and creating a dance. Less than ten years later, Jewish survivors of the Holocaust were given a new lease on life and water by their rescuers. Those rescuers were Americans of most national origins, people whose families came from all parts of the globe. They were given new shelter and new lives. They healed and they survived. All men and women, who deserve to live in peace, deserve that gift. It is a gift we give to each other. Our families have suffered unbelievable losses of life! The Holocaust and the Earthquake! Let us unite!
"YELE HAITI HAITIANS AND JEWS"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 10:24 AM
TPS FOR HAITIANS IN BRENTWOOD, NEW YORK
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
Salvadorans have gotten the TPS status for almost three decades and now Haitians have the opportunity to be legalized for an eighteen month period and then renewal of the process should follow. While I was the dozens of lawyers, paralegals, and volunteers were helping Haitians fill out the required information so that Haitians on Long Island can obtain this protection status. The earthquake in Haiti caused the Obama administration to grant this status to 200,000 Haitians and while I was present almost thirty people filled out the papers and got other free advice from the people assisting them. There is no reason to fear applying for the TPS. If a loved one is fearful, continue to tell that person to change his or her mind and get the application filled out well before the deadline.
"TPS FOR HAITIANS IN BRENTWOOD, NEW YORK"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 10:01 AM
HIP HOP-NYPD GUN AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION SUMMIT
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
Here was a group of high school students that refused to accept the status quo that adults wanted them to acknowledge. One of the key points made, corroborated by a woman who spoke out , was that the police are not as actively policing their neighborhood after 6 P.M as they do during the day. The woman said the police seem to arrive on Linden Boulevard when someone gets shot. A police officer answered, telling the audience that some work shifts are lighter than others. People kept trying, in their own way, to teach the youth that the city was safer than it was in the 1980's during the crack epidemic, but the youth were not convinced. We do have 30,000 police and I think 10,000 people policing the schools these days. The truth is that all of the adult panelists have done things, including some amazing things I am sure, to turn their communities around, but they add up to moderate results. That is why the conference is really badly needed. I offered a hundred solutions. Okay that could be a slight exaggeration, but my work speaks for itself and if I do not have exactly one hundred solutions it does not even matter. The GED initiative for gang members that I mentioned is one thing that must be done now across the United States. I am thankful that Mario Van Peebles showed GED Test Preparation in his video. Yes, GED is where people who decide to leave school should end up fast and Chris Rock earned his diploma that way. Many others in the video did, too.
"HIP HOP-NYPD GUN AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION SUMMIT"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 07:45 PM
GED PLUS IS A BIG MINUS
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
GED Plus has some good features, but it is just one big GED minus.
GED Access is GED Excess.
GED growth was about 200 diplomas in New York City's GED programs in a city that has a need of 1.6 million. This is unacceptable to me. How do you feel?
The GED practice test score used to taking the GED should not be 2,400 (450 on each part totals 2,500 so the people responsible for the report flunked math-wise). Are students that are 19 and over informed about their rights (to take the GED on their own)? Rights that they are giving up upon entering the program. What does the portfolio contain GED-wise? How many students do not attain 2,400 on the practice tests by the end of the final cycle? What percentage of the entry class is that?
Based on most of the information provided here, Access is a fool time program and not a full time program.
Profesor Martin Danenberg 12:15 PM
BONILLA WAKES UP HARLEM
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
Harlem found out about the prison ministry of Alphonso Bonilla yesterday in the Harlem 4 storefront on 133 Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard. You would think that people in government would have introduced him to the community, but he was there because I invited him. Groups of people want to work with him now in helping people who were incarcerated and people who want to know much more about the system and how it works. Bonilla had nine years of experience in Family Court and he worked in Rikers, retiring several years ago at the rank of captain. See www.mothersagainstpeerpressure.org to find out more and/or just read "GED in Rikers" by Martin Danenberg.
Profesor Martin Danenberg 07:13 PM
HARLEM 4 WAKES UP HARLEM
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
WHO SCORED 77 POINTS AGAINST DR. J IN NEW YORK CITY AND NEVER MADE IT TO THE NBA AND WHY?
It was so great to see the Apollo Theater on the business card of Harlem 4 Center for Change. My late friend, Mark Warren, was the director of many shows at the Apollo Theater and my GED students and I, over a decade ago, were given a tour by Mark as he prepared one of the "Amateur Night" shows. Mark has passed on, but I used to talk to him every week on the phone about filmmaking and key issues that were affecting the world. I met Mark Warren twice in my life and I can assure you that the same great joy that I get when I share my GED knowledge was there when we talked. Mark directed "Come Back Charleston Blue" and he got an Emmy (first one awarded to an African-American director) for "Laugh In." Wow! The Apollo Theater!
Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so
there is so much hatred war an' poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
when you teach the children teach em the very best you can.
Wow! The Apollo Theater! See my article "Wake Up Everybody" on the internet.
Profesor Martin Danenberg 07:02 PM
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR, CELEBRATION AT CITY HALL
By Profesor Martin Danenberg
"El Quijote del GED"
At a certain point in this article, you are going to be asked to read something over. Why? Because it is that important.
There were prayers (including a lot of gospel music) and protests at City Hall during the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration. The prayers were for everyone and for everyone in Haiti. There were calls for action. City council members of different races and others spoke about the neglect of Haiti for two hundred years and decades. The speakers cited gaps in justice, labor rights, economic benefits, education, and perhaps most of all, the gap between people who really care and those who just show up for an event and do nothing. Very few people know that after being published in various Spanish newspapers, I had an important GED article about the French GED in the Haitian Times. Very few people know that I was brought into the Konbit Neg Lakay in Spring Valley to bring French GED practice test programming and to make changes in the BOCES GED class there. Graduates soon began to rain out of that program, where there were none before. Very few know that before I became known in New York City and in most of New York state, I was making trips to Dorchester and Boston's City Hall to promote the education of Haitians, invited by my friend Dr. Eno Mondesir. Very few people know that I have directed Haitians to my friend Herman Mendoza who has a "One Voice" Campaign to unite Haitians and Dominicans in ending the violence that afflicts those people in the Dominican Republic. Very few people know my work Yele Haiti, which I wrote after meeting with Wyclef and his family. Councilman Robert Jackson told people they can send cash donations through their cell phones to help in the relief effort. The collection of water and other medications will find its way to Haiti, but much of it will be stockpiled in New York City for a long, long time. It may take a lot of time to distribute all of it, but Robert Jackson told the audience that the solution is make cash donations to reliable organizations. Very few people know that I have been on Radio Nouveauté. Solutions that were once easier have been made incredibly more difficult by the destruction caused by the earthquake. Education is an important solution, but life matters more and that is why I attended the meeting with William Bell, the father of Sean Bell; however, I cannot drop my GED campaign. Thank you for reading this.
The focus on Dr. King was to review all of the key components of his own civil rights' campaign. These components included the rights of African-Americans and other minorities, battling for the poor, working alongside labor movements, and speaking about the war that was going on (Vietnam). These monumental objectives have not been realized yet, but there have been great improvements. Speakers made this last point well, but...but...but as I sat there watching and listening, I was thinking again and again and again that people speaking out have to bring more solutions to the forefront. Moses, you will recall, had a big solution and the forty year waiting period, I can assure, has come to an end. Yes this period of our lives must be devoted to Education and Economic Empowerment. Haiti needs it. Will Haiti achieve it? I do not know. I feel New Yorkers can achieve it and we can spread this word to New Orleans and to former residents of New Orleans. We can spread this word to victims all over our nation and to people victimized by their own antisocial behavior. We can do things that the Rush Limbaughs and Pat Robertsons never thought could take place. We will silence them though. This battle is not about people involved in voodoo or people sucking other people's money and growing the role of government. It is about our commitment to each American and citizen of the world who want to live in peace and harmony with his neighbor. It is about the "Good Samaritan" and "Love Thy Neighbor As Thy Love Thyself."
"MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR, CELEBRATION AT CITY HALL"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 10:35 AM
NEW YORK VS TEXAS GED STUDY
If there is a existing, strong relationship between the GED and poverty (education and poverty), we have to see what has happened in New York over the years where information is available. Things got really bad for New York State after 2001 and the city has been in shock for a long time.
New York in 1991 32,668 Texas in 1991 39,994 United States in 1991 471,040.
New York in 2001 39,692 Texas in 2001 53,582 United States in 2001 655,515.
New York in 2002 35,302 Texas in 2002 46,148 United States in 2002 500,520.
Now you can compare New York State to a large state. Now you can see how Texas has been able to mobilize more people to take and pass the GED. Now you can see how over a ten year period, New York State lost the opportunity to help tens of thousands more people. When New York State was helping only 0.06 percent of the people, Texas was helping 0.08 percent of the people. The biggest jumps were in 1997 and 1998. Then it slowed down a bit and went down before the historic year of 2001 (the year before the new harder test and the rush to take the easier test). New York State has had much lower figures from 2002 to today and there is not much relief in sight.
Profesor Martin Danenberg 10:19 AM
THE SUFFOLK COUNTY LIBERTY REPORT AND STEVE LEVY
By Profesor Martin Danenberg "El Quijote del GED"
A message from the Suffolk County Liberty Report
The bottom line: Steve Levy should be thanked by the people of Suffolk County for his strong opposition to illegal immigration.
Illegal Immigration has nothing to do with race.
It has everything to do with the rule of law, housing violations, income tax evasion, immigration violations, loitering, and quality of life for law abiding taxpayers.
THIS MESSAGE IS NOT FROM THE SUFFOLK COUNTY LIBERTY REPORT
The rule of law is important to me and that is why I explain to my readers how undocumented immigrants are protected by all kinds of rights based on the rule of law. Undocumented immigrants are allowed to participate in the Census of the 2010 and they can get a GED and go to New York City and New York State college and even get financing. They have lots of other rights.
"THE SUFFOLK COUNTY LIBERTY REPORT AND STEVE LEVY"
Profesor Martin Danenberg 10:06 AM
