« THE GLOBAL GED INITIATIVE | GED Programs | MINORITY EDUCATION NEWS ABOUT ELITE HIGH SCHOOLS. »
February 03, 2010
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.
The figures below are for all of New York State and New York City had huge drops every year since 2001. This has made it hard for adults and immigrants because they need the diploma to get better jobs to support their children. I strongly suggest that the role of the Commissioner of Immigrants be changed immediately. I strongly suggest a new initiative to promote the GED in minority communities to obtain more minorities on the police force and fire department. Look at the figures below and I assure you that the English language test takers did not go up and they went down, too. Here was another, different civil wrong that need not have taken place. The Department of Education is going in its own direction and that direction is a wrong direction.
GED in 2001 in Spanish in New York State 5,065
GED in 2001 in French in New York State 1,245
GED in 2008 in Spanish in New York State 2,863
GED in 2008 in French in New York State 352
Teachers tell us that the world is round and a teacher, Diana Senechal, told us she passed the promotional exam in New York City merely by guessing each answer. An Hispanic parent told her the test could be passed merely by guessing C for each question and it turned out to be true. If the world is round and the exam could be passed by guessing and not reading the questions, are the schools really doing better than a decade ago? I call upon Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott to provide an explanation for all of my points.
I really enjoyed Dennis Walcott's article and I am sure it was very convincing, but ...but..but although he cites Secretary Arne Duncan, President Obama, and the Supreme Court, the Obama administration is talking about ending No Child Left Behind and the way schools are evaluated (school closings even schools making progress). The federal government does not require New York City to improve its GED figures and that is critical to the success of minority youth and their parents who need jobs and access to higher education. That is so important to the success of the schools. This is where Walcott and the city have really failed New York and the three million New Yorkers affected by the GED.
MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
New:
www.mygedhotline.com
www.geocities.com/gedhotline
www.ahorre.com/ged
www.ahorre.com
www.aspira.org
Profesor Martin Danenberg February 3, 2010 09:33 AM