Artistic Vision
Art Education. Straight Up.Archive for Pop Culture
Chicago’s military academies raise education debate
I found the article, Chicago’s Military Academies Raise Education Debate, while on Digg and thought it extremely interesting since I presently work in an urban school and many I talk to in my own school as well as those in other urban districts think a military-like structure would be a beneficial.
Do I say this because I like to see African-American and Latino kids under stricter discipline than their Caucasian suburban counterparts? Actually, it has nothing to do with ethnicity at all. Frankly, I have been joking from last year that I think my school (and the surrounding district) should be taken over by the military. My school doesn’t deal with violence thankfully but disrespect and other discipline-related issues rank as number 1 on the list of why new teachers leave. Frankly, if a suburban school had the discipline issues my school struggles with then I’d recommend this type of solution-if you want to call it that-for those schools as well.
It makes me wonder why the discipline issues in urban schools are so different than (most) suburban schools. I know in my school we have a lot of professional development days dealing with culture and such things. Namely, the thought that whites don’t get black culture and don’t see how this divergence manifests itself in the classroom. I can appreciate that up to a point, of course. Yet, many black friends I speak with don’t get it either. They roll their eyes when I recount some of the things the professionals come in to speak with us about concerning urban culture and the differences of urban students in the classroom. Like I said, I can embrace their points somewhat but there remains a good chunk of their argument that I find untenable.
I’ll talk more about this, but I wonder if anyone else had anything to contribute to this discussion (about the issue, in general, and the article, in particular).
Traditions
My wife and I just finished watching White Christmas. It’s a tradition of ours this time of the year. What a great movie! We also watched this brief retrospective with Rosemary Clooney. I have to admit that there was something sad about watching it. Maybe it was the fact that all of the main players have died, or perhaps it was the fact that Danny Kaye wanted to be closer to Bing Crosby but Crosby just wasn’t the type of man to allow many to get close to him. Vera Ellen was just an incredible dancer.
I highly recommend the DVD which was also packaged with It’s a Wonderful Life. We haven’t watched It’s a Wonderful Life yet. I’ll let you know about the version that came in this package.
Dancing Finale
Ok, well Helio won. Congrats to he and Julianne. I have to say I wished both Mel and Helio could have won. Mel did an awesome job. She and Helio were consistently the two couples I split my votes between the past few weeks. What’s rather humorous is what people are posting on the boards at abc.com. I guess some things never change. LOL!
Huge Disappointment
Ok, what was going through the minds of the professional dancers of Dancing with the Stars? Just because you aren’t allowed to do lifts the whole season, does that mean you have to throw in EVERY lift imaginable?
This had to be the WORST freestyle (and last show prior to the finale) in the series’ history. I say “worst” because of the extremely high quality we’ve seen—for those who watch the show regularly—all season. Talk about a complete toss up! Sabrina did a better job in the “freestyle” performance that she did the other week compared to tonight’s episode.
Again, huge disappointment.
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