What is Red4EdNC? Red4EdNC is a movement started for teachers by teachers in our state. Teachers have created a movement to shape future legislation and future classrooms in order to better education future generations by fighting for their owns rights to be protected in the process of seeking a better education system. As of July, 2018 the Red4EdNC advisory Board and Board of Directors have released a Declaration in defense of North Carolina’s Schoolchildren in order to bring to light what teachers have to go through and how it affects the children they teach. “Over the course of seven years a hostility to the premise, the constitutional promise, and the provision of a high-quality public education for all, a decent respect to the citizens of that state requires a comprehensive list of the injustices that supermajority has inflicted upon its children and its teacher corps, as well as coherent vision for restoring that state to its former prominence as a leader in public education.” In other words teachers have decided that the State has no upheld its promises to the students to provide high-quality education for all while having respect for those teaching. This is from the introduction to the Declaration. The first paragraph ends with something profound: “We take as our standard, North Carolina’s proud motto: ‘Esse quam videri —To be rather than to seem.’” To be rather than to seem, meaning that teachers want to state to not just look good statistically or be praised for its education system, but they want the praise and statistics to be backed by fact. They want their education system to mean something not just look like its doing okay. A (not so) Brief History of Public Schools in NCPublic Schools have been around in one form or another since the settlers first came to America. In the beginning education came from the churches and private tutors. If your parent was rich, mainly plantation owners, you could be sent to England to be educated. If you could not go to a church run school or pay to be educated then you remained uneducated until the State’s Constitution was adopted in 1776. The State was now required to provide education (which people still had to pay for). By 1800 around 40 academies had been created for white males in NC. In 1817, Archibald Murphey began a campaign for a State funded public education system. His campaigns lead the state to pay one-third of the expenses for 10 academies. Through his campaign, the State established a Literary Fund. This later became part of the State Board of Education, which passed The Education Act of 1839. The Act established the idea of financial support coming from both State and local funds. Progress was slow at first but by 1852 Calvin Wiley was appointed Superintendent of Common Schools and the State rose to the top in terms of school system by the time the Civil War broke out. Fast forward to after the War and the Constitution of 1868. With the State in turmoil after the War, North Carolina adopted a new state constitution. This new constitution had a strong view on public education – a free public school from age six to twenty-one. It also allowed the Superintendent of Public Instruction to be elected by the people for a four-year term. As well as a four month (at least) school year, an education fund, and a State Board of Education. This went into effect in 1869. With the election of Charles B Aycock into the position of Governor in the early years of the 20th century, an educational renaissance occurred. High schools were built in rural areas, funding was rethought and more money was out in place for schools, and the Compulsory Attendance Act was passed meaning kids had to attend school during at least four months of the year from age 8-12. Everything was progressing nicely until the Great Depression hit and schools were forced to close for lack of funds. As the US entered the 1940’s, NC saw improvements in the schools. So much improvement that the 12th grade was added to high school and the school year was extended from 6 to 8 months. And with the Civil Rights movement came integration and better schooling/support for all students. Improvements to the education system continued through the 1970’s and into the end of the 20th century. With the start of a new century came new Presidents – each with their own plan as to what should be done with the education system across the nation. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s North Carolina set standards as to what should be taught across the State. They started making progress and bettering the education system by adding funding and creating Boards to direct how the education system was run. Then in 2008 the Economic Recession hit the nation, impacting education the most (in my opinion). Thus began the problems that Red4Ed is attempting to address. The ProblemIn the Declaration that Red4EdNC presented they list some of the issues that the education system has. Below are just a few from that list:
Restorative Actions suggested by Red4Ed:
I present all this information to show that the North Carolina Education System has seen its share of setbacks, but it has always risen back to a higher standing. So why are we dismissing teachers demands for a better education system? If we can fix our education system every time that it has faced a setback, why can’t we fix it now?  https://www.red4ednc.com/ For more information and other teachers thoughts click here. Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.red4ednc.com/blog
Excerpted declaration with signatures and districts. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/386962811/excerpted-declaration-with-signatures-and-districts?secret_password=ZvCk5DEskR3SwAxcDUEB#fullscreen&from_embed Red4EdNC. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.red4ednc.com/ The History of Education in North Carolina, Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED369713.pdf, Accessed on November 29, 2018.
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I recently listened to and read a podcast about desegregating our schools entitled The Problem We All Live With. The podcast caused me to stop and think about whether desegregation was actually successful or if our nation just swept the changes under the rug. Nikole Hannah-Jones looks into what will really help our nation’s education system become better. She believes that integration and desegregation is the key to improving our education system overall. This idea shocked me because I’ve always been under the assumption that we did a decent job desegregating during the Civil Rights Movement. Jones talks about how white students, the majority at my school, have better schools because they have better funding and usually come from a family above the poverty line. I enjoy the fact that first thing that you see as you start the podcast is the Norman Rockwell painting by the same name as the podcast. This painting is important to this podcast because it is a depiction of the Ruby Bridges going to a white school/desegregating schools. The painting is titled The Problem That We All Live With. This painting represents the segregation and separation of the different races during the Civil Rights movement, but it doesn’t just pertain to that era. The painting is relevant to today and the segregation that is seen in today’s school system. Now every time I think about the school system I’ll think of the painting and its importance.  https://www.thisamericanlife.org/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one This podcast was an eye opener when it comes to society and its treatment of the different types of people. Coming from a small town where there are only two high schools and is mainly made up of white families it’s hard to imagine a school with a lot of diversity, but going to school at Western, I feel like there is a lot of diversity. With that said, I could never imagine doing what Francis Howell did. The parents present some legitimate concerns such as class size, but it was all undermined by the fact that they were refusing to talk about race and confront the real issue. The parents are willing to stand there and shout into mics about how the issue has nothing to do with race when everyone knows that is the only real issue. Maybe I’m not worried about race and integration because my parents raised me to appreciate the differences that everyone brings and how they benefit society as a whole. Listening to Marea talk about the meeting makes me feel disgusting. I wish that Marea’s mother had gone to the mic to talk about how the students from Normandy “could be the doctor that saves one of their lives”. And then Marea went to school and the students and teachers accepted her, which is a great way to show how our school system contrasts/clashes within itself. Now that I know that race and integration is still a problem in today’s school system, the question becomes what do I do with this knowledge and the reality of this knowledge. When you are aware of what is happening in the school systems is when you can start making a difference. Coming from the kind of school system that I went through I know, now, how important it is for there to be a very diverse setting in schools. I hope that as a teacher I will be able to help my school system see the errors of their ways if we provide the kind of education system that Normandy has. I hope that if I find a job in a school system like what Francis Howell has become, that I can continue to help my school get better when it comes to segregation and failing students. After listening to the podcast, I'm willing to do almost anything to help our students integrate and become more diverse. I was wary about the topic of segregation and its role in the present time, but the more Nikole Hannah-Jones talked, the more what she was saying made sense. The idea that our schools are still segregated was a shock to me. I may not have come from a very diverse school but through this podcast and our discussion I now have a better understanding of what I need to do as a future educator to continue to diversify our education system. Here is the link to listen to the podcast and some links to read further into it desegregation and its impact on school systems:
https://hw3.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/styles/landscape/public/episodes/images/562.png?itok=vlgIRhDe http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2018/03/16/new-report-school-segregation-is-on-the-rise-in-nc-and-its-harming-our-kids/ https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article205580044.html |
SquiresA Performer with a passion for Percussion. Current News and Things I Find InterestingOn this Blog you will find 'not-so current' percussion topics that I think are important, as well as things that I find interesting and helpful. Maybe some education things will creep in?
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