EDU Trending: What If They Were Your Children?
We start the new year where the last year ended. Antisemitism is rampant and violent, spreading unchecked through college campuses and the country at large. By now, we know the story of Elizabeth Magill, Claudine Gay, and Sally Kornbluth – three university presidents who testified before Congress on December 5, 2023. When asked whether "calling for the genocide of Jews" violated their schools' codes of conduct, all three mealy-mouthed a version of “It depends on the context.” In what context would violence and threats of murder against Jewish students or anyone else be acceptable? Magill (UPenn) and Gay (Harvard) resigned. That they return to their lucrative jobs as tenured professors, and that M.I.T. continues to support Sally Kornbluth as its President speaks volumes about their institutions: Moral and ethical cowards, derelict in protecting their students and in condemning the language and actions of bad actors. But this is not just about three former presidents and their universities. Nor about the Israel-Hamas war. This is about American citizens. What threatens one of us threatens all of us.
This is about us.
Our refusal to hear.
Our refusal to see.
Our refusal to speak.
And, by example, we teach our children to follow suit.
The hate in this country against Jews, and Jewish students, in particular, roars unchecked. Pervasive. What if these students were your children? What would youfeel? What would you say? What would you do? Before you answer, please watch and listen to four courageous university students who tell us what it means to be fearful, angry, hurt, and disillusioned because their universities and leadership have abandoned them to mobs of haters who want to kill them simply because they are Jewish.
Now please answer the questions. What if they were your children? What would you feel? What would you say? What would you do? They belong to all of us. What should we all do?
This video was recorded at a press conference immediately prior to the Congressional hearing noted above. It was bookended by a lot of political rhetoric, so I chose an edited version which focuses on the students and their views.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, 12/10/1964.
It is emblematic that I am writing this two days before we celebrate the life of Dr. Matin Luther King, Jr. What follows are three of his messages which, I believe, are especially relevant here:
“We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.” (1963 from “I Have a Dream” in Washington, D.C.)
“Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts.” (1964 accepting the Nobel Peace Prize)
“I have decided to stick with love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.” (1967 from a speech at Stanford)
News and Views: Florida Again - Books or Guns?
Once again, Florida reminds us of the critical choices we adults must make to safeguard our children’s emotional, physical, and intellectual well-being.
This time, Pensacola’s Escambia Countyis in the headlines, the latest of Florida’s school districts to strip or shroud its library and classroom bookshelves.
Since December 2022, triggered by an art teacher’s challenge of more than 100 titles, hundreds of books have been removed from school libraries and teachers’ personal classroom collections. If students want to check out any of these books or read them as part of classroom activities, educators must get written permission from a ‘media specialist.’
Educators feel demeaned, their professionalism questioned. As one teacher said, “I feel handcuffed.”
In the fallout, one veteran librarian took an early retirement, an equally experienced teacher resigned, the superintendent was fired, and a parent sued the district “to get the books back.”
She has since joined a federal lawsuit that alleges violation of teachers’ and students’ rights and calls for the return of all censored or restricted books to school shelves.
Students are confused and angry. One spoke for many when she noted:
“Nobody thinks, when they walk into school, ‘I really hope I don’t read a book about a gay couple today.’ If anything…I’ll have the worry, ‘What if today’s the day that somebody shoots up the school?’ It’s pitiful that people are deciding to focus on something like books instead of a real problem like guns.”
Question of the Day: For the Fun of It.
It’s time for a little levity compliments of an article in www.Inc.com Many who had to work remotely during COVID are now happy to continue the arrangement. The primary reason is flexibility and control of time. The second reason is:
a) no more commute time
b) more time for kids
c) better coffee breaks at home
d) a private bathroom
e) more time for pets
For the correct answer, please go to www.merleschell.com/blog/out-of-the-ashes/
From Me to You: Humanities Is Making a Comeback
If there is a saving grace for education in these times, it is this: At some U.S. universities, Humanities are making a comeback because they have proven to be excellent career boosters.
Over the last twenty years, as technology became embedded in our
personal and professional lives, we supported the rising prominence of STEM
and later Career and Technical Education (CTE) in both K-12 and post-secondary schools.
At the same time, so did we casually dismiss the value and allow the decline of Humanities
and its hold on pride of place.
The former decision was to prepare students with the practical knowledge and skills to
meet the demands and opportunities of a tech driven world. The latter was a
mistake. There was never a need to choose between the two.
In a recent article, administrators at Arizona State University (ASU); University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Missouri, St. Louis spoke of rising numbers of Humanities majors on their campuses. They credit student interest to the growing recognition among prospective employers that Humanities skills and training are highly desirable in today’s demanding and mercurial marketplace. Jeffrey Cohen - ASU’s dean of humanities - noted that 90% of students who participate in the English Department’s local internship program, have jobs upon graduation.
What are these skills? Strong research and writing; analytical, creative, and innovative thinking; appreciation of multiple perspectives; civilized discussion and debate; persuasive and convincing arguments (both written and oral). Humanities clear the path to a multiplicity of careers from law to public policy, business to filmmaking, insurance to computer science.
Academic scholars have been saying exactly this for decades. To quote Martha C. Nussbaum “Business leaders love the humanities because they know that to innovate you need more than rote knowledge. You need a trained imagination.”
Why wait for college? With so much at stake, including the importance of taming AI, the humanities should be reinstated as a centerpiece of K-12 education. As James Engell states: “There is peril in letting the arts and humanities become an endangered species. Such a diminishment would be a loss for every citizen, and a danger to the nation.”
Martha C. Nussbaum, American philosopher and current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago where she is appointed in both the law school and the philosophy department. She has long championed the economic, civic, and social values of a strong humanities foundation. Her seminal book on the subject is Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (2016, updated).
James Engell, Gurney Professor of English Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Check out his article: Humanists All – What is lost in the precipitous decline of the arts and humanities. Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money (2005), Engell’s book with co-author Anthony Dangerfield, is ever more relevant today.
