"600 words by Esther J. Cepeda": kids/teens

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January 25, 2010

How will kids be healthy if their parents eat junk?

How will kids be healthy if their parents eat junk?

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/2009208,CST-EDT-esther25.article

January 25, 2010

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA

In the early-morning hours before Michelle Obama addressed the Conference of Mayors in Washington to make her pitch about the importance of curbing childhood obesity last week, I was sitting in a crowded elementary school gymnasium with kids and their parents, fearing for the heart attack victims of tomorrow.

The occasion was a salute to the school's honor roll students, which certainly called for an extra dose of celebratory sugar, sure. But it wasn't the kids' liberal dose of syrup for the French toast sticks that concerned me; it was parents' obvious lack of any nutritional cognizance that sounded the alarms.

Children mimic their parents' behaviors and habits, and if a child sees his mom or dad bypass the freshly cut fruit and whole-grain bagels in order to load up a plate with greasy muffins, iced sweet rolls and French toast sticks drenched in syrup destined to be downed with a handful of juice boxes, what, exactly, will they understand about healthy eating habits?

Though, who can blame anyone for looking for some sweetness in life these days? I'm sad to say there were tons of parents at this breakfast because so many are out of work. I heard their stories myself: One dad was telling an acquaintance he had been laid off months ago and his wife was working two jobs. Another lady was worried about making it to an upcoming Parent Teacher Organization meeting because her scant hours at work are all over the map and she's never really sure where she's going to be. Who could begrudge these people a couple of extra free cheese danishes?

During her speech, Obama rattled off facts: Nearly one-third of children in America are overweight or obese, and one-third of all children today will eventually suffer from diabetes -- in African-American and Latino communities it goes up to almost half. She cited recently published studies stating that obesity could now be an even greater threat to Americans' health than smoking, that medical experts are predicting the next generation is on track to have a shorter life-span than their parents, that budget cuts are decimating school gym time, and that crime makes it impossible for most parents to tell their kids to go out and play until dark.

I'd add that we are also burdened by school systems that pump our children full of sugar and fat-laden breakfast and lunches -- the poorest among them for a low cost or for free -- and then wonder why they get labeled by frustrated teachers as behavior-issue problem kids. Also add that parents don't understand the consequences of what their kids eat because they never learned what healthy eating means.

The first lady closed her speech by praising creative ideas some cities are trying in order to manage the problem, but she also soberly stated the obvious: Efforts to curb childhood obesity won't be cheap, easy or quick. I agree with her and add that it's doable. At the very least, it's the worthiest goal I can think of.

We may have tragically lost a generation to killer eating habits, but if the statistics horrify enough leaders and role models into action, helping others understand good nutrition, then in about 40 years we'll have a whole crop of young parents -- and enlightened grandparents -- who'll know that "fruit punch" is not fruit juice, and certainly not preferable to fresh, frozen or dried fruit.

They'll get it that a "special treat" is not something that occurs hourly or even daily. They'll know that if you have time to surf the Web, you can also make time to box your best friend on the Wii. And they'll understand that -- repeat after me -- chocolate-chip bagels, banana split-flavored yogurt and blueberry jam granola bars are not "health food."

2050 here we come!

Posted at 07:30 AM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Food and Drink, Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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January 07, 2010

Three cheers for shop class

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Auto shop, wood shop, metal shop – all horrors of a certain segment of the high school population. Let’s face it, shop class never got much respect.

So, when I read Rosalind Rossi’s story "Shop Class shake-up" in Tuesday’s Chicago Sun-Times I was near giddy. In it, Rossi details a new Chicago Public Schools push to elevate shop classes from the second-tier electives most people recall to high-tech, certified vocational education programs that will put kids into decent-paying 21st century careers the day they walk out of high school.

It’s about time.

We live in a world where the corridors of the educational industrial complex are clogged with academics and starry-eyed teachers who truly believe that every single student in the United States must be prepared and routed straight to a four-year college. They believe that to expect anything less is to doom a child to a life of destitution.

I’m not making this stuff up. You need only spend about 15 minutes with the average teacher or teaching professor at any educational facility in this country; if you were to opine that hey, maybe not every Susie and Tommie should be encouraged to strive for Harvard or Princeton, you’d get looked at like you were a monster. A bad one. The kind of monster that did not, in fact, believe that every single human in the world must study Jane Austen – sans zombies – or Greek philosophy to experience a happy, productive or healthy life.

(I dare you to try this next time you come across a professional educator, sucker! Dare you not to roll your eyes when the words "I believe the children are our future…" come rolling out.)

Don’t get me wrong: we are indeed operating in a 21st century knowledge economy and every single student who wants to go to college should get every bit of assistance humanly possible to do so, but college prep shouldn’t be the sole focus of schools as it currently stands. When my washing machine spewed soapy water all over my basement a few weeks back I did not consult a mechanical engineer. I also didn’t call one of my many brilliant PhD friends. Nope, I called up my local appliance repairman, thanked him with a nearly unnatural ferocity after he showed up at my house on a Sunday morning. Then, with a great big smile, I happily paid him a lot of money when my machine was working again.

It takes all kinds to make this world go ‘round: doctors and car mechanics, lawyers and magnificent sous chefs, accountants and creative, talented construction workers. Starting next year, CPS’ new "College and Career Academy" programs will be a living testament to that by training kids to walk out of senior year with the expertise to begin work in so-called "middle-skill" careers such as electricians, medical technicians, welders, and computer support services. And don’t worry, this is not some fairy-tale CPS lark, many many school districts across the country and in Illinois already have similar, and successful programs (Lake County, IL’s High School Technology Campus is one notable example).

So three cheers to the CPS shop rats of tomorrow from someone who knows she’ll soon be shelling out major dollars to the furnace repair woman – they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank as I make my thousand-dollar student loan payment every month.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Posted at 08:11 PM in Chicago, education, kids/teens | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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December 07, 2009

How to deal with violent DVDs, games for kids

Say no to violent DVDs, games for kids

http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1924559,CST-EDT-esther07.article

December 7, 2009

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Sun-Times Columnist

Just in time for the biggest gift-buying, extended-family-all-shoved-into-one-house holiday extravaganza of the year, the Federal Trade Commission has again wagged its finger at Hollywood for peddling violent and inappropriate fare to kiddies.

For the seventh time since 2000, their report, titled "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children," points out that even though the pushing of violent images by the film, music and gaming industries has become more restricted, they're basically still explicitly and pervasively targeting young children. No surprises there.

The FTC bemoans the entertainment conglomerates that put out unrated DVDs with more materials more explicit than what originally was released in theaters and calls out retailers that, more often than not when they get the chance, sell the stuff to children who don't meet the minimum age requirements. The FTC says Hollywood advertises PG-13 and R-rated movies during TV shows and on Internet sites where they'll be seen by too-young kids. The FTC also criticizes the music industry for not appropriately displaying their Tipper Gore-ian warning labels prominently enough in ads, but it gives an approving nod to the gaming industry for imposing strong self-regulatory codes.

What the FTC really ought to do -- though it's clearly out of its purview -- is create a rating system for parents. It could run the gamut from a gold star for the enlightened soul who engages in a thoughtful dialogue with his young 'un when something uncomfortably violent and sexual penetrates the cocoon of familial safety, down to a big fat dummy sticker on the forehead for the idiot who shows up to an 8 p.m. Saturday night screening of "Zombieland" with his 5-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy. The kids cried quietly the whole time.

What I'm illustrating here is that, yes, the FTC should absolutely continue to monitor the entertainment industry so that advertisements for "Grand Theft Auto" aren't stamped onto our 6-year-old's fruit roll-ups. But those really to blame for the pervasive exposure of kids to violent and sexually inappropriate entertainment are the families that either encourage it or do nothing to deal with it.

Take, for instance, a 2002 study by the Albert Einstein Children's Hospital in New York.

Researchers, who were testing the wisdom of the American Academy of Pediatrics' television viewing recommendations, observed 199 child patients and their parents when the kids were alert and awake. They found a "consistent exposure to inappropriate programming" -- with the number of instances going up when an adult was in the room.

Which brings me back to the gift-giving and movie-going season. If you're buying presents for pre-teen-wannabes, tweens or young teens, there are a couple of reasonable approaches you can take.

One: Have some spine and say "no." Don't go being the "cool" mom, dad, aunt or uncle by slipping your favorite 10-year-old that video game or DVD that makes you squirm. Accepting the role of hated villain now is good practice. If your kids are young, you'll be putting your foot down on 7 million other things, so get over it now.

Two: Bond over it. If you're going to buy that killing video game, go to that bloody movie or just out and get a dose of environmental sexually-charged violent make- believe, acknowledge it. Talk about it.

It sounds stupid, I know, but if you keep it real with the kids in your life -- "You know in real life you'd go to jail if you cut your neighbor in half with a sword, don't you?" or "Do you know how much money computer animation artists make!?" -- you can turn a negative into a not-as-negative that you can live with.

Posted at 08:00 AM in advertising/marketing/media/merchandising, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, Film, Games, Health/Medicine/nutrition, kids/teens, Music, responsibility, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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November 30, 2009

The city's hungry need help after Thanksgiving, too

Thanksgiving alone doesn't fill bellies of the city's hungry

Chicago Sun Times November 30, 2009 http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1910709,CST-EDT-esther30.article

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA

'Tis the season to be jolly! You're stuffed from the turkey and trimmings, all the relatives have been placated for the time being, and the Christmas carols haven't gotten on your nerves yet.

But things are moving quickly. There are greeting cards to mail, people to visit, electronic gadgets to hunt down and parties to get to. You're busy. Verrrrry busy. And stressed out, and even a little overwhelmed . . . ummmm, maybe this is not the time to ask for a favor?

Well, here I go anyway, but I'll make it as simple as possible: Please feed me.

And when I say "me," well, OK, so not me, per se . . . but all the other "me's" I live and work with: young neighbors, old friends, co-workers and kids. Yours, too. They're all still hungry after the Thanksgiving holiday.

"I can't tell you how many times I've wished there was as much attention paid to the hunger problem in this city after Thanksgiving as before," Kate Maehr, executive director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Cook County's main food bank, told me last week.

"It really is incredible how generous people are leading up to Thanksgiving, but hunger in Chicago is a 365-day-a-year challenge," she said.

Maehr had gotten my attention by appealing to my insatiable devouring of delicious statistics via this delectable e-mail:

"Between now and the end of December the Food Depository will distribute:

• 241,920 pounds of turkey

• 67,500 pounds of yams

• 43,200 pounds of ham

• 36,960 pounds of cranberry sauce

• 33,516 pounds of corn

• 19,440 pounds of stuffing

• 18,000 pounds of chicken

• 4,375 pounds of gravy . . ."

I called her to really sink my teeth into the logistics of slinging all those goodies to almost half a million Chicagoans every year when I was distracted by the phrase, ". . . but the need continues."

"What do you mean the need continues?" I asked her incredulously. "Aren't there like 7 gazillion food drives at the holidays. Isn't this your easiest time of the year to raise food and funds? Holiday spirit? Good will toward men?"

Kate was kind enough to not bite my head off.

"We have almost 600 member agencies struggling to keep food on shelves; there is such a dramatic increase in people turning to these agencies that we're shattering records," she said. "For instance, September tends to be a really slow month for us, but this September, we were already 26 percent ahead of last year's pace in pantry visits, and 70 percent ahead of the pace of two years ago."

"But what about the spirit of the season, Zuzu's petals and all that -- don't you rake it in at this time of year?" I asked.

"Well, that's certainly the case leading up to Thanksgiving, but December is a whole different story. We all get preoccupied with our lists -- gifts to buy, things to pack for vacation, resolutions to start -- and along the way, people start to think that one can of food or a small donation doesn't do much," she said. "That couldn't be farther from the truth -- that one can of food, the $5 donation, it means everything to us. And we need you every day."

So there it is.

And here I am, asking on behalf of me, and Maehr, and the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and on behalf of the half-million Chicagoans -- a third of them children -- who are hungry, even when we're tight on cash and time: Feed young neighbors, old friends, co-workers and kids.

Take a moment this December to feed Chicago.

Posted at 07:31 AM in Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Food and Drink, Health/Medicine/nutrition, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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November 11, 2009

Economic tier scheme for CPS selective enrollment schools: go back to the drawing board

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Looking back on it, I just don’t know how I made it in.

Growing up at Addison and Lincoln there was no question where I wanted to go to high school: the gorgeous, ivy-covered walls of Albert G. Lane Technical High School up the street at Addison and Western.

The place where, every time I mentioned it, older folks would say "that place, yeah, my brother went there…before they let girls in."

I remember the first time I ever graced Lane’s halls as a knock-kneed 8th grader back around February of 1988. There, on that stunning campus, I took something called an "entrance exam." When the bell rung, out flooded big girls and boys of every color, style, and age imaginable and I remember I just could not wait to join them and be totally cool with a new-wave hair-do and black and white tights in thick black clod-hopping combat boots.

Also I remember being told to not hold my breath. "I hope you noticed all the other boys and girls in that auditorium taking the same test you did, Esther," Mr. Nutley, the St. Andrew’s school principal warned me and the three other kids who had braved the elements to take the test. "They’re all really bright, too, I hope your family applied to other schools just in case."

Fast forward to November 2009.

I absolutely cannot begin to imagine what sort of Dickensian horror city parents today go through to get their kids into decent schools. Even the schools in the "good" neighborhoods have spotty teaching quality and the rest – well, their achievement and standardized test scores speak for themselves. That leaves selective-enrollment schools like Lane Tech and Payton College Preps, and magnets like Whitney Young and Chicago Metropolitan High schools.

Now, in the wake of the "clout scandal" and the recent tossing of the 1980 desegregation consent decree that had given schools leeway in admissions based on race, the Chief Mathemagician at CPS, Ron Huberman, has come up with a plan to select enrollment to these schools based on family income.

As ace education reporter Rosalind Rossi outlined in Wednesday’s Sun-Times story "College Preps to admit by income" there will be four economic tiers ranging from $22,959 to $61,862, which is estimated to cover about 600,000 students – the neediest in the city. But it leaves the "middle class" kids whose family’s household income is above that top number. The kids of Frank the fireman and Darla the nurse who are doing alright, but probably not alright enough to send their kids to private schools if they can’t get them into the "good" CPS schools.

I have consistently clanged the bell of educational equality based on socio-economic status over race for years, and I’m really glad Huberman has taken his statistical analysis skills out of the same tired old race box, but I worry that there will still be kids unfairly left behind.

Depending on whether the plan gets voted in by the CPS School Board December 16th and then on a "principal pick" situation, the admission status of a sibling, scores on entrance tests, and/or proximity to schools, there’s still ample opportunity for families to be left out in the cold.

What, exactly, is so wrong with putting ALL eligible kids – ignoring race and income –

in a locally televised lottery for all to see?

Why are we contriving to ensure the proper mix of students by segregating them whether it is by race or income? In either case you exclude city residents because they aren’t the right color or because they’ve been fortunate enough to make a decent living for themselves. It just doesn’t feel fair.

My parents, thank goodness, were professionals who came to this country with some serious skills. They lived out an American Dream that included a private elementary school that enabled me to make the cut and live my life-long desire to attend Lane Technical High School.

If I were trying to get in today – under this new plan, if it is passed – I would have lost a leg-up on the ethnicity aspect (which would have been perfectly fine by me), might have still shined based on my academic prowess, but might have gotten passed over because my parents made too much money. I don’t like those odds.

All parents want to believe that if they work hard, they can get a decent education for their kids. City parents know it’s a gamble between a bad or so-so school; short of leaving town, all Chicago parents just want an equal chance at some of the better schools regardless of their income or race.

The CPS School Board – which was appointed to represent all parents, not just the financially neediest ones – must ensure they get their fair shot.

Posted at 08:31 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

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November 02, 2009

Day of the Dead goes mainstream

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA

Chicago Sun-Times November 2, 2009

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1859076,CST-EDT-esther02.article

Death is all around us. Well, that much is always true, but it has been especially so around my house, where, since Sunday, my living room has been graced by the yearly addition of a candled, flowered, candied altar to my dead.

Yep, it's that time of the year: Saturday was Halloween, followed immediately on Sunday by the first day of the Mexican, Central and South American celebration Dia de los Muertos, a festival-like tradition honoring departed loved ones.

Today, Nov. 2, is when the whiskey, tequila, heavy food and cigarettes are usually brought out because that's the day deceased adults are honored. But I go to town with candy, toys, flowers and light-hearted trinkets on Nov. 1, which is the day infants and children are remembered -- and the day my own departed young one is celebrated in my home.

The coolest thing about this year's Day of the Dead celebrations is that this -- I proclaim -- is the year it went mainstream. It's no surprise every year when the Mexican supermarkets and bakeries put out the annual sugar skulls, pan de muerto -- "bread of the dead" -- and skeleton pinatas. But this year I've seen Mexican muerto skull sugar cookies in very mainstream bakeries, and I've seen feature stories all over the Internet, in mainstream newspapers, magazines and on TV about how to make the vibrant and fun accoutrements of this Latin American holiday.

I love that for two reasons. First, non-Latinos are learning about Hispanic culture and naturally integrating bits and parts into their own Halloween affairs -- melting pot, I think they call it.

Second, it's a great education for that segment of the Hispanic population who didn't grow up with this tradition. Culture is funny that way, some touchstones ignored by one generation only to be taken up by the next.

Take me, for instance. You might be imagining a young me flanked by black lace-garbed Mama Cepeda and Abuelita Cepeda in a great big sun-drenched kitchen decorated with colorful clay cooking pots, learning with tiny hands how to roll out the masa -- dough -- for the pan de muerto. Perhaps you imagine us decorating the graves of our loved ones. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

A family trip from the bosom of the North Side all the way to Pilsen's National Museum of Mexican Art to see dressed up little skeletons? Not once.

And there's nothing wrong with that. Culture can be so very strong that it need not be drilled in via field trip or workshop. Think chocolate bunnies at Easter.

No, I grew up in this city living whatever the "typical American life" means. Since Mayor Daley never dyed the Chicago river black on Dia de los Muertos, my family never made a fuss about it, reserving their loving attention to ensuring year after year of picture-perfect Halloweens for me.

Like I said, culture is a funny thing. It can skip generations, yet it is so strong that it can leave a homeland, travel thousands of miles and settle into new interpretations. This is only my sixth year of setting up a Day of the Dead altar.

When I started, I felt the need to connect to something symbolic in my heritage, but I didn't want to share my new personal tradition with anyone. I didn't want to deal with explaining that it's not some Satanic hoodoo voodoo thing.

But how scary can Latin American traditions really be to anyone -- even those who fear the melting pot has become an unwieldy and distasteful chunky stew -- when grocery chains sell Day of the Dead greeting cards and delightful pictures, and recipes for traditional sugar skulls, sweet bread, and hot chocolate seem newly omnipresent?

To my great happy surprise, I've "come out" of the Dia del Muerto coffin only to find a pre-Colombian, all-American tradition rising in the U. S. of A.

Posted at 06:40 PM in advertising/marketing/media/merchandising, Chicago, culture, Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, Religion | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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October 27, 2009

What can you do to stop teen violence?

What can you do to stop violence?

By ESTHER J. CEPEDA

Chicago Sun Times http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1845558,CST-EDT-esther26.article

October 26, 2009

Let's talk. Let's really talk about this problem of youth violence that is tearing us -- not just certain families and classrooms, but all of us -- apart.

Last Thursday, yet another unthinkable heartbreak occurred. A 17-year-old Chicago boy was killed in the middle of a drizzly afternoon, walking home from school. Police said some guy just walked up to him and shot him.

A few weeks ago, the White House had to send in the U.S. secretary of education and the U.S. attorney general because, seemingly, Chicago is ground zero in an escalating catastrophe involving poor kids in tough neighborhoods that's beyond local help.

But it's not. The helplessness you and I feel when we hear about the latest tragedy -- whether a shooting or an unspeakably brutal beating -- is an illusion that serves only to keep us from even contemplating the thought that insistently wakes me up some mornings: "What can I, personally, do to keep Chicago kids from getting killed on our streets?"

No one would fault you for coming to the conclusion that volunteering to serve as a cafeteria monitor at Fenger High School's lunchroom is out of the question.

But it's so much simpler than that: Just ask the question -- "What can I do?" -- out loud.

And I don't mean by posting a frustrated message on a news story comment board or kvetching to your seatmate on the bus that poor teens might simply be a lost cause.

I mean ask a teen.

"If you want to help, talk to young people," said Hilda Franco, a youth organizer at the Chicago Freedom School, a center for youth-led social change that works to get adults and teens to build understanding of current social problems and create coalitions. She teaches a monthly class there on how to think respectfully about, and act respectfully toward, young people.

"There isn't enough space for young people or adults to think and talk about violence in their own life, of how it exists and whether they choose that part of themselves, and no one is asking," Franco said.

If gearing up for a deeply philosophical inquiry with a teen is too much to tackle at first, Franco told me, it's critical to start by simply seeking and listening.

"We've had to do a lot of work to teach teens how to create their own media and document their own stories because the media does not talk to young people," she said. "It's always adults writing the news articles and telling the stories."

Faults of the media aside, what's important is to turn our respectful attention to the experiences of young people -- whether they're "at-risk" or not.

It's the only way to create a space where understanding can begin.

I find people really undervalue just talking openly and honestly about fears and concerns, and that's doubly true when it comes to talking to teenagers -- about anything, really. Popular culture, TV sitcoms and slapstick movies have reduced adults' ideas of the teenage temperament to a small handful of stereotypes.

How could anyone over 21 hope to meaningfully contribute to solving the puzzle of how to secure the passage of the city's future to the actual future through that sort of lens?

"People just don't want to talk about it or think about it, and that's going to continue the cycle," Franco said. "If we keep ignoring teens and this issue, we're ignoring a really, really big thing. We need this city's adults to step up and become allies to the young."

Give it some thought.

Open your mouth.

And if you can't find a young person who trusts you enough to talk honestly about how teen violence makes him (or her) feel and what he would do about it, start by searching for the answer within yourself.

Posted at 07:16 AM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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October 21, 2009

College from Pennsylvania to Chicago’s Southside to the Future, with Fish.

"Way more than 600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Let’s celebrate! And let’s celebrate fish! And fishing!

Yes, you heard me right.

Between the shootings that happen steps from school boundaries and the domestic violence that splatters on the very kids who are supposed to grow up and lead us to a brighter, better tomorrow, it seems like there’s just not a whole lot of good news to celebrate on the teen front.

I have some. Good news – not fish, that is. But more about fish later.

This weekend while you and I relax Friday after work, then sleep late, overindulge Saturday night, and finally veg in front of the Bears game Sunday afternoon, there’ll be about 160 Chicago high school students gathering at Daley College Arturo Velasquez Institute and Little Village Lawndale High School to think deep, intellectual thoughts about the heady topic of food.

The occasion is the "New Frontiers of Knowledge" program a new collaboration between Bucknell University and nine Chicago public and charter schools. The program, starting Friday morning, is bringing together twenty-six Bucknell University students and faculty members to spend three full days helping our kids think critically, scientifically, economically, and artistically about food.

That’s right: our group of college-kid-wannabes aren’t going to train for some sort of academic competition or prepare themselves to do well on standardized tests, they’ll be talking, questioning, analyzing, defining problems, drawing conclusions, and reflecting.

In short the all-volunteer Bucknell crew – fresh in from a ten-hour road trip from their Lewisburg, PA campus – will be teaching our kids what it really takes to succeed after high school graduation.

"For twenty years we’ve worked with populations of students from average to the best and the first thing we discovered is that the number one determinant of success in college is not academic ability, rather it’s the ability to be self directed and to be able to do critical processing," said Rolando Arroyo-Sucre, the chief officer for diversity and equity at Bucknell University, who is spearheading this extremely ambitious project.

Triggered in part by the 2008 report by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, From High School to the Future: Potholes on the Road to College, and Bucknell University’s strategic plan to increase diversity on its campus, the collaboration wants to help prepare talented underrepresented inner city Chicago high school students for admission and academic achievement at private, selective, liberal arts colleges.

Translation: this weekend, while small groups are busily looking at food-wonderful-food through the lenses of the key components of liberal arts education, our high-schoolers will be gleaning from the Bucknellians what the demands are at highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities, what the transition from high school to college means, and, frankly, how to deal with being a kid from the other side of the tracks attending a predominantly white institution of higher education.

During the training of the Bucknell volunteers, Arroyo-Sucre said he emphasized that despite the fact that the high school participants will be underprivileged, the bigger lessons to impart should revolve around familiarity with the higher education culture. "Hispanics, blacks, poor whites, the challenge for them is not a color one, it’s actually socio-economical and the lack of familiarity with the system," Arroyo-Sucre said.

"These kids will have fun working in teams, making presentations, having side conversations about college life, and gain valuable peer-to-peer relationships, but the really exciting thing is this idea of the 160 of the best and brightest realizing they are not alone," Arroyo-Sucre gushed. "I’ve seen it before, I’ve seen the students realize it is OK to be what they are – to be smart. They see it’s OK because there is a critical mass of people who feel the way they do, people who enjoy learning."

When I caught up with Abraham Ramirez, 15, and Martina Camacho, 16, both from Hubbard High School on the city’s far-southwest side, believe me, they were ready to squeeze every drop of opportunity from the experience.

"I’m looking at it like a way to figure out how I’m going to get there," Abraham, a sophomore, told me, referring to "college" as a not a place but almost as another world. "I want a good career when I grow up, and spending the weekend with my friends and college people sounds interesting."

Martina, a junior who has had a life-long dream of becoming a pediatrician, is especially looking forward to finding out what this whole "thinking out of the box" business is and how she can use it to get to where she’s going. "I want this [experience] to be something I can use outside of school, like, to really improve my life."

She won’t be disappointed: this weekend is just the beginning of a years-long collaborative process between students and the Bucknell crew. They’ll be keeping in touch through web-based communication tools, working on a long-distance group project that will last a full year, and prepare for a conference next fall, all while maintaining the very relationships that will de-mystify college not only for themselves, but for their friends and families as well.

Arroyo-Sucre has the highest of hopes, not only for this "class" but for the ripple effect it could have. "As we get the student portion of this program set, in the future we’d like to include teachers and counselors to teach them how the college professors approach the work. Then there are the parents – the idea is to find professional mentors for parents and creating small groups where the parents can ask questions, have brag time, and get to feel comfortable with learning and enabling their students to learn," Arroyo-Sucre said. "Teaching parents how to help develop skills and instill motivation in their students is key."

Of course this out-of-town, fresh-faced, idealistic team has their work cut out for them but they’re dreaming big for Chicago students – thank goodness – even as we residents wallow in self-pity for how enormous their challenges are.

Arroyo-Sucre sees it as a simple thing, really, "We’re talking about these high-level theories for college admission and success, but we’re not giving away fish, we’ll be teaching these students how to catch their own."

Posted at 10:21 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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October 07, 2009

Marilyn Stewart's idea: CPS schools for disruptive students might work

CPS Schools for disruptive students might work

Chicago Sun-Times October 5, 2009 http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1806304,CST-EDT-esther05.article

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA

Outspoken Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart gave me pause last Thursday.

In a speech to the City Club of Chicago, she suggested that chronically disruptive students be cast off to special schools so they could get an appropriate education there and leave the non-disruptive kids in peace to learn as best they can.

I am not a Stewart fan, but even through that filter I had to stop and consider. On a normal day, I might have automatically dismissed such a -- on the face of it, at least -- potentially life-ruining placement for any student who doesn't fall neatly into the special-education category or who hasn't already started down a path of criminal behavior.

Wouldn't putting all these kids together make for one big powder keg -- or create a failure factory?

But last Thursday wasn't a normal day.

That morning, I had cracked open the Lake County News-Sun only to look into the eyes of one of my former high school algebra students, now making his first media appearance for alleged acts of burglary, theft and forgery, and finally being nabbed for it.

I'd had now-21-year-old Rafael Mendoza in not one, but two, algebra classes during the 2005-2006 school year because he hadn't been able to pass either level in order to graduate, so the school had put him in two separate levels at once to get him done and out.

Rafael wasn't a violent young man. He wasn't one of the ones peddling drugs and making a scene around my classroom doorway. And because he thought I was one of the few teachers who did not treat him like a criminal -- he had not, by all accounts, gotten caught up in anything yet -- he spent much of his time in the refuge of my classroom.

After the first few weeks of power struggles, the respect I paid him paid me back. In my room, Rafael was mostly a quiet, well-behaved pupil who clearly was really, really smart.

He could have passed those classes easily had he not been working outside of school to help support his family.

But that was my experience with Rafael. To other teachers, he was nothing short of a terror. He intimidated some teachers with sharp questions and attacked the boring ones with childish antics. Some of the faculty were actually physically afraid of him -- and fearful for my physical safety because he spent so much time in my classroom.

Rafael made administrators' blood boil, to say the least, but through it all, he wasn't the kind of kid who had really done anything to warrant being bounced out of a mainstream school setting -- a place rife with pregnancy, classroom and hallway violence, alcohol and drug problems and the fallout of absent parents.

I don't know if Rafael ever got his high school diploma, but I do know the destructive impact he had on classmates outside of my algebra lessons: mounds of lost instruction time; undermining of other students' respect for their teachers; some diluted bullying, annoying those who actually wanted to learn. In short, distractions galore.

Would a system of identifying students like Rafael and putting them in classrooms with top, specially trained teachers who could really "reach" them disintegrate into a holding cage for students who simply were not stamped out by someone else's version of a proper cookie-cutter?

That's a reasonable fear. But it's a fear that should be set aside to investigate the possibility that such a program could recoup thousands of hours of instruction time in mainstream classrooms.

And maybe Stewart's idea of a separate school for kids who aren't violent or don't qualify for special-education services -- but clearly need something other than what a regular school can offer -- would help keep those kids on the margins out of real trouble.

If only Rafael Mendoza could have had that opportunity.

Posted at 08:04 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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September 07, 2009

T'was the night before the First Day of School

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1756747,CST-EDT-esther07.article

Parents: Stay on top of your kids as school begins

ESTHER J. CEPEDA

September 7, 2009

Mama Cepeda likes to tell the story of my first day of school. There she was: a tearful heap of insecurity, worried about the consequences of unleashing me onto an unsuspecting world. And me? As the legend goes, I tore away from her so eager to burst into my classroom that I barely turned to half-heartedly wave goodbye.

Yep, the first day of school is really tough . . . on parents.

And tomorrow -- the first day of classes in the Chicago Public Schools -- is the big one for moms, dads, aunties and grandmas all over the city. It's the culmination of about a month's worth of whining about earlier bedtimes, battles about what clothes to buy and mad scrambles to get every item on a seemingly endless list of school supplies.

And that's the easy stuff.

For too many parents, it's tough enough to actually pay for all those school supplies and tangle with red tape to ensure their school's free lunch program has the paperwork necessary to get little Tanesa or little Eduardo fed every day. Then there are legitimate fears about whether their child will get grazed by gun violence at school or whether the H1N1 flu virus will strike, sending tenuous family schedules into the tizzy of finding adequate medical and child care.

When I was a teacher, it was never lost on me how that first week of school -- with its inevitable missed school bus connections, forgotten snacks and surprise missing textbook fees from the previous year -- caused more sleep-depriving angst for families than for kids.

Take heart, parents. It isn't always easy to be the beacon of positivity on the night before the dreaded first day of school, but it's a task well worth the effort. Here are some words of wisdom from folks in the trenches, so you can start the new year off right.

"Keep positive so they won't be that nervous," advised Esthela Jacquez, a second-grade teacher at Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez Elementary School in Little Village. "Talk to your kids and let them know everything's going to be OK."

Jacquez said the key is to maintain close contact with the teacher, no matter how busy or how many jobs you're juggling.

"Meeting your child's teacher is critical," she said. "Come out to open houses, and if you can't, call us and we'll do whatever it takes to meet you when you can talk. We have phones, e-mail, and we'll send notes back and forth."

The early grades are a bit different than high school -- the little ones are usually so eager to return. The upper grades are trickier -- what with the hormones, cliques, temperaments and hectic family lives that aren't conducive to sitting together at the kitchen table until all homework is done.

"Don't let them slip down a slippery slope -- it's easier to keep up than to catch up," said John Stowers, a business teacher at Mundelein High School.

Stowers, who teaches college preparedness classes, warned parents to be ultra vigilant.

"Do not let kids fall into a missed homework hole," he said. "Be on top of them from the very first day, don't let them take it easy those first weeks or they'll have to work twice as hard at digging out right off the bat."

Finally, for a benediction for all parents struggling with this back-to-school season, I called upon the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina on the South Side to put it all into perspective.

"Show all the students in your life how important this new school year is to you," Pfleger said. "Just as you mark physical growth in a doorway, a new academic year is an important mark of another step in the road on the journey of life."

Posted at 02:59 PM in crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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August 24, 2009

ACT prep a step towards college

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1730856,CST-EDT-esther24.article

ACT prep a step towards college

August 24, 2009

ESTHER J. CEPEDA

Let me give you the silver lining first: In 2009, an unprecedented 134,000 Hispanic high school students across the United States took the ACT college admissions and placement exam -- a 16 percent increase over last year and a whopping 60 percent increase since 2005.

The ACT's College Readiness Report, released last week, calculates that this year's average composite score for Hispanics was 18.7 -- matching a high first reached in 2007 -- out of a perfect 36. And while scores in English and reading held steady, math and science were a tenth of a point higher than last year.

But now the cloud:

Despite that record growth in the number of Hispanics taking the test, their actually college readiness skills (meaning they scored high enough on the ACT to indicate they are sufficiently equipped to earn grades of C or better as college freshmen) have been flat -- and unspectacular -- for the last three years.

If you compare that 18.7 average by Hispanic students to the average of 21.1 by all students who took the ACT, the Hispanic students' scores are not that heart-stoppingly bad. But while 23 percent of all students who took the ACT met the test's college-readiness benchmarks in English, math, reading and science (not that such a paltry number shouldn't give you nightmares), only a scant 10 percent of Hispanics did so.

Yes, for the third year in a row, only one in 10 Latino students who took the ACT have a good shot at success in college.

But let's stop right there for a minute -- because just the fact that they're taking the test at all is darned good news.

It's little-known that every single 11th-grader in Illinois takes the ACT each spring as part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. For free. During class time.

And though some players in this country's education-industrial complex decry standardized testing as patently wrong, culturally biased, unfair, irrelevant, etc., just administering the ACT to every student in Illinois is a gain.

According to the ACT, Illinois' universal testing requirement has made it -- along with Colorado, Michigan, Kentucky and Wyoming -- a major driver in getting Hispanic high school students on the map of college success. Taking this standardized, curriculum-based test, which compares students' scores to each other, ensures that Latino students are considered.

But even more important, our state's every-spring ritual instills in Latino students the idea of "college preparedness" as a staple of Hispanic life for generations to come.

It is well-documented that students who meet or surpass the test's benchmarks in English, math, reading and science are more likely to go to college, stay in school and -- most importantly -- graduate with a degree.

If more Hispanic families understood how critical it is for their children to not only know what the ACT is, but to prepare to take it in their junior year of high school (and that it is vitally important to fill out the form completely, including college preference selections, so colleges will receive the results and can offer scholarships), we might start shoring up this gap.

Awareness alone isn't going to overcome the hurdles of poverty, low-quality schools, language barriers and close-to-zero familiarity with basic tenets of college preparedness that many Hispanic families struggle against.

But just getting that spring ACT test on every family's radar -- families that often are predisposed to understand the high-stakes 11th- and 12th-grade testing because that's the norm in many Latin American countries -- might help get more Latino high school students into free, but elective, school-provided prep classes and prep test sessions.

At a bare minimum, a little ACT knowledge, combined with some extra sleep the night before the test and a healthy morning snack, could put our Hispanic -- and black, white, native-born or immigrant kids -- on track to push Illinois' 2010 ACT test scores onward and upward.

Esther J. Cepeda blogs at 600words.com.

Posted at 07:58 PM in crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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August 17, 2009

Hispanics quickly gain digital skills

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/1719142,CST-EDT-esther17.article

August 17, 2009

Hispanics quickly gain digital skills

by ESTHER J. CEPEDA

A few weeks ago, the City of Chicago released a report titled "Digital Excellence in Chicago: A City-Wide View." It enumerated -- among other sky-is-falling statistics -- that African Americans in Chicago were 6 percent less likely to use the Internet than whites, called out Spanish-speaking residents as being the rarest users, and topped the entire thing off with: "Latinos as a whole stand out as the least-connected residents."

My immediate thought -- after hitting the roof -- was this: That report may well be true, as far as it goes, but it leaves a dangerous impression that Hispanics in Chicago -- and by implication all across the country -- are digitally clueless. But, in fact, also true is that though they lag behind whites, a big percentage of Hispanics are online -- and more wade into the Web every day, at a faster rate than any other group.

Plus, when Hispanics go online, surf's up.

In a recent report called "The Power of the Hispanic Consumer On-line," Scarborough Research says that a majority -- 54 percent -- of Hispanic adults were online way back in 2007 and that number was growing by about 13 percent a year -- so you know the percentage is considerably higher by now.

Then I remembered that in late March, Chicago-based research firm Mintel released results from a survey showing that Hispanics who are online are more likely to have profiles on social networking sites than non-Hispanics -- 48 percent of them have one compared with 43 percent of black Americans and 31 percent of whites. Other findings from that survey suggested that Latinos online adopt new media technology more quickly than non-Latinos, spend far more time than non-Latinos listening to Internet radio and downloading music and devote more time weekly to surfing, playing multiplayer games and blogging or commenting online.

Just last April, comScore Inc. released numbers that showed that during the past year, the growth of the U.S Hispanic Internet audience outpaced that of the total U.S. online population in terms of number of visitors, time spent and pages consumed. Those Hispanic online visitors -- 20.3 million just in the month of February -- made up 11 percent of the total U.S. online population.

But a few statistics don't tell the whole story. So I blew in some calls to people in the trenches with the young, old, black, white, brown, underemployed and out of work to get their take on things.

Phillip Jackson, executive director of the Black Star Project, an organization that promotes better education in minority Chicago communities, was surprised by the Chicago study, too.

"From my perspective, there is absolutely a divide but mostly among middle-aged and older people," he said. "The younger people realize you have to be connected digitally to even exist anymore and they understand many businesses only accept resumes and applications over the Internet."

Alvaro Obregon, new communities program director for the Resurrection Project, said: "Yes, there are issues with access, but if you look out there you'll see young children doing the texting, they've got their mySpace, and this is forcing parents to say: 'I want to know what my kids know' and they're getting out there and learning it."

Catherine Zurybida, a coordinator at the Odyssey Project, which offers free humanities college classes to low-income students, immediately articulated my gut reaction:

"If that assumption was made by employers, they might conclude that a white candidate has better ordinary, everyday computer skills than a minority," she said. "I would say that's certainly not true, and it's a very destructive stereotype."

Exactly! The easy-headline-grabbing reports are not necessarily inaccurate, but they don't tell the whole story and have a way of getting stuck in people's minds to form limiting stereotypes. But now you know better.

So, clip and save my stats, too. And never let anyone's numbers keep you from knowing that if we really want to talk to each other, technological barriers can be overcome.

Esther J. Cepeda blogs at 600words.com.

Posted at 08:20 AM in African American, Chicago, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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July 15, 2009

Are some children more valuable than others? Colorblindness necessary to fix education in U.S.

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Let us, for just a moment, remember back to oh, let’s say, the year 1980.

The U.S. boycotted the summer Olympics, Jimmy Carter bailed out the Chrysler corporation, Mt. St. Helens erupted in Washington state, and Bruce Springsteen’s latest hit "Hungry Heart" was playing on seemingly every radio across the country.

Some might remember these as "the good old days" when things were as easy as, well, black and white.

Yes, back then the number of people who identified themselves as Hispanic to the U.S. Census was 14.5 million, about 6.5% of the population as compared to African-Americans who in that same year numbered 26.5 million and were 11.7% of the U.S. population.

That would have been a more appropriate time for the National Center for Education Statistics' new report, "Achievement Gaps: How Black and White Students in Public Schools Perform in Mathematics and Reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress."

By 1988, however, Hispanics had multiplied by more than one-third since the 1980 census, growing nearly five times faster than the rest of the population, clocking in at about 19.4 million Americans of Hispanic background, representing 8.1% of the population.

The most recent numbers show the U.S. African American population at 14% and Hispanic at 15%.

My point?

It is the year 2009, folks, there is absolutely no reason why the National Center for Education Statistics should be releasing a report about a Black/White achievement gap for U.S. school children to the exclusion of Hispanic students, not to mention Asian and many other ethnicities.

And no reason why newspapers and television and radio stations across the country should be reporting on this admittedly sad state of affairs (see Illinois numbers here) while excluding the context of every other struggling kid in the U.S. – be they poor and white, from a foreign country, or Latino.

I could point out that it has been widely reported for about two years now that by 2050 Hispanics will be 30% of the U.S. population and African Americans 15% and argue for a special report highlighting Hispanics.

But that would be silly – you can already easily find such reports (Google it). But just try getting the mainstream media to put those in the headlines and I’ll personally bake you a dozen chocolate chip cookies.

There is no need to harp on the fact that, despite the very real challenges and biases African American students face in our abominable school system every day, there are now approximately 10 million Hispanic students in the nation's public kindergartens and its elementary and high schools, making up about one-in-five public school students in the United States.

Rather, it is high time to put the race and ethnicity issue – as it relates to student success in this country – in a coffin and bury it forever.

Any intelligent argument about success factors for U.S. children must center around familial wealth (lack thereof, actually) and kids’ access to decent schools, learning materials, and teachers – regardless of skin color.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released a statement Tuesday in which he said: "This report makes clear that … when schools serving children of color are primarily staffed by less experienced, less effective teachers, the effects are tragic."

He is wrong because the part about less effective teachers is a true statement for every child, even poor white or Asian ones.

And that’s how we need to look at this problem if we have any hope of fixing it. Enough of trying to overhaul our education system while looking at the issue through the prism of a black/brown/white/blue-eyed/brown-eyed divide.

We are almost a full decade into the new millennium. No one child is more valuable than any other and, certainly, none of them deserve to be more or less valued in the academic research we’ll need for building a first-class educational system for the next thousand years of this nation’s history.

Posted at 10:56 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

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June 24, 2009

Ten who are making a big difference for us all – Chicago Latino List 2009

“Way more than 600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda”

Long story short: nearly every time there’s any sort of Who’s Who/Mover-Shaker/One-to-Watch list in “mainstream” publications there are few, if any, Hispanics on it despite there being a ton of awesome Latinos doing truly amazing things here in Chicago.

So, in order to help blunt this perceived shortage of Latino superstars I decided to start one.

I asked for nominations, got about 120, threw out the “usual suspects” – like elected officials and already well-publicized business and community leaders – narrowed the field to get a diverse group of immigrants, U.S.-born, younger, older, community, and business types, then did one-on-one interviews.

At the conclusion, I found five men and five women all dedicating their personal and professional excellence to making Chicago, Illinois, the U.S. – and sometimes the world – a better place.

Let me say it again: these people are not merely engaged in the noble task of empowering the Hispanic community, they have their sights set on making life better for blacks, whites, multi-ethnics, rurals, suburbans, urbans, immigrants, U.S.-born, and everyone in between.

And, yeah, these rock stars just happen to be Hispanic.

Please join me in getting your inspiration on as you read the stories of the ten incredible people who comprise the first annual “Chicago Latino List.”

Click on the title to read the full profile:

Concepcion Rodriguez, 45 – Scare-you-straight Caretaker of the Dead

A bilingual Funeral Director and embalmer, reformed gang member and volunteer gang intervention specialist, Rodriguez shows children and teens the grisly ravages of drugs, alcohol and the gang culture. She also talks to communities, affluent and needy alike, about how to reach out to kids they might not even think are at risk. Through her work, she has single-handedly saved the lives of hundreds of Chicago children.

Cynthia La Boy, 37 – Conqueror of All Obstacles

A single mother and professional living with a traumatic brain injury after a brutally violent crime, La Boy was told by her doctors she’d never be able to care for herself – much less go to college or have a career. Today she works at the Lake County Housing Authority as a bilingual assistant property manager connecting families to clean, safe living conditions and teaching them how to be responsible homeowners. A living miracle, she’s an award winning advocate and authentic voice for people living with disabilities.

Antonio Martinez Jr., 36 – Charmer of Benefactors

Martinez walked away from a successful dream career in sports marketing to become one of a very few Latinos in the field of professional fundraising. As Assistant Director of Development with the Chicago Community Trust, Martinez raises money to serve the basic human needs of the entire Chicago metropolitan region by supporting vitally-necessary community-based non-profit organizations.

John Viramontes, 57 – Voice to the Voiceless

An accountant by trade and lifelong community activist by heart, Viramontes dedicates his time to major issues including predatory lending, housing parity, rights for visual artists, and immigration. On an eternal quest for social justice, he’s devoted to improving the quality of life in Chicago neighborhoods and empowering struggling artists nationally by being a community presence and passionate spokesperson.

Dr. Ana Gil-Garcia, 54 – Leveler of Educational Inequalities

A tenured University Professor at Northeastern Illinois University, author, esteemed community leader, and forerunning advocate for Latino educational leaders, Gil-Garcia is a three time Fulbright scholar and an internationally acclaimed professional. Gil-Garcia, a published author, works tirelessly for a variety of community organizations and devotes most of her passion to ensuring the Chicago Public School system is a nationally-recognized leader in employing school administration leaders who accurately represent the diversity of their student communities.

Jose Oliva, 36 – Restaurant Worker Sentinel

A Policy Coordinator with Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, Oliva is a driving force behind the legislative push to earn restaurant workers such common benefits as paid time off and job opportunity training. As the voice of both affluent teens working summer food service jobs and adults who support families with their back-of-house restaurant jobs, Oliva labors to fight poverty, racism and sexism while mobilizing local worker organizations. He not only teaches these groups how to become active and engaged in the federal political process, but he represents them in Washington, DC, as well.

Veronica Arreola, 34 – Professional Feminist

As Assistant Director for the UIC Center for Research on Women and Gender and the Director of Women in Science and Engineering Program, Arreola is a dedicated advocate for women’s rights, helping them maneuver professions that even today are still dominated by men. As a mother, accomplished blogger, and activist for women’s reproductive rights, she has won numerous awards for her work and is dedicated to helping women and girls advocate for themselves in Chicago and around the country.

Roberto Cornelio, 51 – Large Business Incubator

The Chief Operating Officer of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Cornelio – a former top executive at Fortune 500 companies – works to raise the funds, nurture the relationships and promote the programs that drive Hispanic business growth and foster the next generation of Hispanic business and business leaders. His work makes it possible for the Latino community’s instinct for entrepreneurship to thrive and, in turn, deliver jobs and opportunities to contribute to the overall economic development and job creation in Chicago and across Illinois communities.

Nelly Aguilar, 33 – Esquire to the Special

Attorney and dedicated special education advocate, Aguilar – mother to a son with Autism – works to protect the educational rights of children with disabilities. One of only approximately 15 lawyers specializing in the rights of students with special education needs, she campaigns for State and Federal law reform to help families’ secure medical, educational and recreational opportunities for their special needs children. Better still, she trains the next generation of attorneys who will serve the hundreds of thousands of Illinois children with disabilities.

Matthew Montez, 22 – De-myth-ifier of the Path to College

A former Pilsen/Little Village caseworker, recent college graduate and eternal optimist, Montez has just committed the next two years of his life to the Illinois Student Assistance Corps. After a seven-week training camp, he’s moving to Rockford to teach high school students how to prepare for, apply to and pay for college. Inspired most by those who avoid controversy and succeed despite adversity, his mission is to connect with high school students who will be the first in their family to go beyond a HS diploma, and teach them how to build enough social capital to get themselves into and through the rigors of college.

“Chicago Latino List 2009” was generously sponsored by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago White Sox, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Restaurants. All nominees were independently nominated for this recognition; their rejection and/or selection to “Chicago Latino List 2009” was not, in any way, influenced by any disclosed or undisclosed personal or professional proximity to Esther J. Cepeda or to any sponsor of “Chicago Latino List 2009”.

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Chicago Latino List 2009 – Concepcion Rodriguez, Scare You Straight Caretaker of the Dead

“600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda”

She’s big, she’s loud, and she scares children to death.

Well, almost…better said is that 45-year-old Concepcion

“Concha” Rodriguez scares kids who don’t really understand the dangers of gang culture with real-life stories about real dead gangbangers.

“I talk to kids and tell them about the reality of the gang life, about families seeing their children cold, wrapped in plastic, cut up from an autopsy, and about their screams which will haunt me ‘til the day I die,” Rodriguez told me.

A bilingual funeral director and embalmer, the third-generation Mexican-American Rodriguez has worked for Zefran Funeral Home on the South side of Chicago since August 1995. Born in Texas but raised in the inner city of Chicago, by age 16, she was a member of the Lady Aces gang in Pilsen.

“I got out of the gang when my 15 year-old girlfriend was shot and killed as she walked with her boyfriend,” Rodriguez recalls. “They buried her in her quinceanera dress.”

“I made the choice to leave that lifestyle and become somebody, rather than a statistic.”

These days when the 5’10” self-described loudmouth walks into a room of unruly kids who firmly believe they will live forever no matter what, she makes an indelible impression.

“Usually the casket I bring gets their attention,” she told me. She takes that casket to schools and community organizations for her presentation “Don’t be Grounded by Age 18 (Tough talk straight from the Funeral Home),” and has a mirror in it, giving one pause when opened.

If that doesn’t get them she tells her own story. And if that isn’t enough she’ll get into the gross anatomy aspect. “I show the “Y” incision starting in the clavicle and how you cut from neck to navel, then from ear to ear to open your scalp and saw your skull to pull out your brain,” Rodriguez said.

And if that doesn’t get them (she talks to some seriously tough crowds!) she aims for the heart.

“Then I go into description when a mother and father has to go identify their loved one at the morgue – with your face cut up, THAT’s how your mother and father are going to see you,” Rodriguez warns. “If that’s ok for you, fine, but I tell them that when you’re in a gang so is your whole family. What if it’s your mother, little sister, or little brother who dies because of your gangbanging? Then their whole demeanor changes.”

But she doesn’t always stop there – she can’t. Rodriguez gets a shot at the worst kids: the ones who are on the precipice of real harm, real crime, the ones who could still be saved.

“I tell ‘em, ‘you WILL get violated, you WILL get beaten, girls DO get raped. I talk to them about maybe it’s too late for you but keep this away from your brother or sister,”

Her message isn’t just for those who live on the rough streets of the inner-city, though, she travels to some verrrrry nice middle-class and affluent communities, brought in by community organizations who know that today’s gangsta, thug culture holds allure for kids who have it all, too.

“Some bad seeds will be transplanted to the suburbs, or some bad kid’s going to corrupt your kids who’ve got everything and are bored,” she warns parents and grandparents. “I tell parents how they can get involved make a difference these people who live comfortably, ‘go give one hour of your time at the library,’ don’t just call them ‘bad kids’ lets all get together to make a difference. Besides, showing love and giving respect doesn’t cost money.”

But Rodriguez is tame with the adults in the suburban libraries. The really tough kids get an unwelcome trip to her funeral home where the lesson is a little more tangible.

“I tell them that if the walls of my funeral home could talk they’d hear the cries of parents, brothers, sisters,” Rodriguez said. “But when they walk out the door they have the chance to get out.”

“Chicago Latino List 2009” was generously sponsored by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago White Sox, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Restaurants. All nominees were independently nominated for this recognition; their rejection and/or selection to “Chicago Latino List 2009” was not, in any way, influenced by any disclosed or undisclosed personal or professional proximity to Esther J. Cepeda or to any sponsor of “Chicago Latino List 2009”.

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Chicago Latino List 2009 - Matthew Montez, De-myth-ifier of the Path to College

“600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda”

Did you see the Chicago Sun-Times article Sunday about how the economic downturn – coupled with the new-found, unprecedented popularity of “community organizing” – has made it difficult for idealistic young college grads to get into volunteer service corps?

Well, count Matthew Montez among the lucky ones!

Montez graduated from UIC last month with a B.A. in sociology, and has committed the next two years of his life to the Illinois Student Assistance Corps, a federally-funded program which will be run by the Outreach and Access arm of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, the state agency that makes college accessible and affordable for Illinois students and families.

After an intense seven-week training camp, he’s moving to Rockford, Illinois to teach high school students how to prepare for, apply to and pay for college.

“Well in addition to being one of the best jobs I could find out there, I’m excited to go to someplace that’s similar to where I grew up and get kids to see the value in gaining knowledge,” Montez told me last week.

The burly Mexican-American has two things going for him that will go over well with the exact sort of kids he wants to connect with – those who will be the first in their families to attend school post-high school. 1) He has a super easy-going personality, “I love making people laugh,” and 2) He knows.

He knows about poverty, even though he didn’t experience it in his own family history. While an undergraduate student, the 22-year-old East Moline native, spent two years as Pilsen/Little Village Community Mental Health caseworker teaching poor and cognitively challenged or emotionally disturbed how to live independently, and positively.

“Something that I'm proud of is that I have always maintained a positive attitude in whatever I have done while at the same time having a strong grasp on reality,” Montez says. “I’ve seen people facing incredible challenges but showed them how to keep going. Whether it has been in the classroom, within my extra-curricular activities, or among my peers, I have always seen the positive side of things and have used this mentality to help quench my thirst for knowledge.”

He also knows how to get through college. Though not the very first in his family to attend a university (his older sister blazed the trail) he certainly knows a little something about getting in, and more importantly, getting out of college successfully. Plus he’ll learn about a PhD’s worth during his ISAC Corp boot camp.

Lastly, he knows how critical it is to teach young people about how powerful knowledge – of all kinds – really is.

“The high school years are probably the most crucial time for a student to understand how to take advantage of the college opportunity,” Montez said. “It’s the opportunity to go get into a classroom setting while being on your own for the first time, the opportunity to become a more mature adult.”

“My message to these kids is to look beyond your doorstep and see the real problems that face this world. Learn what is going on in the society and learn how to fix what really needs to be fixed. Understand how the world works and be able to differentiate between the good and the bad. And, appreciate the people around you and those who simply want to live a good life.”

Montez is ultimately focused on having a positive impact on the world, not just Illinois’ communities, or Rockford’s or the Hispanic community.

“My main thing is that the most important thing anybody could have is an education,” Montez said. “Whether its knowledge found on your own, or it’s constructed through organized learning, education in any form is most important.”

“Chicago Latino List 2009” was generously sponsored by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago White Sox, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Restaurants. All nominees were independently nominated for this recognition; their rejection and/or selection to “Chicago Latino List 2009” was not, in any way, influenced by any disclosed or undisclosed personal or professional proximity to Esther J. Cepeda or to any sponsor of “Chicago Latino List 2009”.

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Chicago Latino List 2009 – Nelly Aguilar, Esquire to the Special

“600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda”

When Nelly Aguilar’s son Jason was diagnosed with Autism and their school district basically prepared her for her son to spend his life in a basement with non-verbal children, she knew she had found her calling: to advocate for her son.

“I was stunned by the amount of trouble people have to go through to get basic education services, basic rights for their special needs children,” Aguilar, a 33-year-old Mexican immigrant whose lived in the U.S. since she was six, told me.

So the 33-year-old single mom set aside her well-tended marketing career and decided to get a law degree so she could do just that. “I knew I had to make a change, I knew that he would need a lot of support and I thought that if I went to law school I could help him and other children.”

Aguilar was a single mom to a child who screamed “15 hours a day” and none of the schools she applied to in her then-home state of Texas had any monetary support for her. DePaul University, however, gave her a scholarship worth leaving her parents behind and starting over in a city she didn’t know with a high-need child.

“After he got diagnosed, Jason needed all kinds of therapies and all kinds of help,” Aguilar said, “I would take him to school, then I would go to school, then I’d get out, go get him, take him to his therapies, go home, cook, play, get him down to bed, then stay up until midnight doing homework and studying, then I’d get up the next morning and do it all over again.”

All this and it took her only three years and one semester to get through law school! “Then I graduated and studied for the bar, and passed it,” Aguilar said nonchalantly.

Today she’s one of approximately 15 attorneys in Illinois who work solely on Special Education law as their focus.

“I represent families of children with disabilities in actions against school districts that deny students an appropriate public education. I protect their rights and advocate on their behalf under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),” Aguilar explained. IDEA guarantees students with disabilities an adequate education with the fewest restrictions in the least restrictive classroom environment possible.

“In addition, I make recommendations on pending legislation in healthcare and education, I serve on several boards (Access Living, Autism Speaks, and Stone Soup Community Center), and I participate on statewide and national advocacy activities.”

Because all of that, AND a son with Autism whose now 9, and “doing really well,” isn’t enough, Aguilar is slated to teach a section of Special Education Law at DePaul University College of Law this fall. “I am the founder of the first clinical legal program in the Midwest that protects the educational rights of children with disabilities. I secured federal funding for DePaul University's Special Education Advocacy Clinic.”

Delving into the intricacies, horrors and inequalities of Illinois’ educational industrial complex is a fool’s errand, but Aguilar helped me put the needs into perspective.

· Very few attorneys practice special education law and even fewer attorneys are bilingual and can understand the complex struggles English Language Learners face. Live Downstate? Tough luck, Aguilar couldn’t name a single one south of Kankakee.

· The average State of Illinois institutional stay for those with severe disabilities is about $140,000 per year but the state usually won’t provide preventative therapies which generally cost much less in the long run.

· In the Chicago Public School District alone there are at least 55,000 special education students with Individual Education Plans. 85% live below the poverty level.

· In the State of Illinois there are approximately 60 due process hearings a year. In Washington DC there are about 300 per month, and that’s not because Illinois families are happier than those in DC, but there is already a law school infrastructure for pumping out special ed. lawyers who – when they win a case, get to send the school district for attorney fees. Here in Chicago, however, in-house legal departments have lawyers at the ready to defend a school district’s interests.

Aguilar will certainly start adding to the pool of independent Chicago special education lawyers as a DePaul professor. And she’ll keep fighting for families’ rights.

“I do it more for others than for Jason because he’s pretty situated,” Aguilar said. “It brings me so much hope to be able to take a child who has nothing and a family who has been stepped on or passed over, and over, and over – callously, without any regard to the child’s future,” Aguilar said.

“When I get a child the right support, then I see them a year later and the kids that couldn’t read now can…it’s like the greatest feeling in the world.”

“Chicago Latino List 2009” was generously sponsored by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago White Sox, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Restaurants. All nominees were independently nominated for this recognition; their rejection and/or selection to “Chicago Latino List 2009” was not, in any way, influenced by any disclosed or undisclosed personal or professional proximity to Esther J. Cepeda or to any sponsor of “Chicago Latino List 2009”.

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Chicago Latino List 2009 - Dr. Ana Gil Garcia, Leveler of Educational Inequalities

“600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda”

It would take well over six hundred words just to list the many, many accomplishments of Dr. Ana Gil-Garcia.

She’s a

tenured University Professor at Northeastern Illinois University, a published author, a three time Fulbright scholar, and an internationally acclaimed professional.

When she’s not hosting professional visitors from Belarus, Italy, Armenia, Russia, Georgia, and Ecuador as a member of the International Visitor Center of Chicago, or advocating for Latinos in the academic field of science, she’s a member of the Advisory Council on Latino Affairs of the City of Chicago and a director of the Rotary One Club of Chicago for 2009-2010.

But what realllllly drives this woman is her quest to ensure the Chicago Public School system is a nationally-recognized leader in employing school administration leaders who accurately represent the diversity of their student communities.

“Latino school leaders are the minority. There are 70,000 Hispanic students in CPS but only 13.6% of school administrators are Latino, in Chicago! How can that be in such a multi-cultural city?” Gil-Garcia told me “There are 114 languages spoken in Chicago!”

The Venezuela-born, 54-year-old Gil-Garcia has a bit of a different view – a more global one – when it comes to why it’s important for there to be an equally representative cadre of Latino teachers in CPS.

“Chicago is not only for one racial or ethnic group. We have, in every school in Chicago, Hispanics mixing with the other groups,” she said, in response to my questioning how her crusade affects non-Latinos. “By having someone who is coming from a different background than the mainstream, that person will be more sensitive not only to Latinos but to anyone who is coming from a different cultural background, or who speaks a different language.”

I’ve not been on the bandwagon, instead advocating for high qualifications as the most important aspect of any school administrator, but Gil-Garcia makes a compelling case.

“Being a Latino or Hispanic doesn’t mean the administrator will be only serving one portion of the population, but that person would be serving a very large population of the entirety of CPS,” Gil-Garcia pressed.

“Last September Latinos used to be the second-largest population as it had been for 7 years, since this past year we are now number one – the largest population – followed by African-American students, then Caucasian kids, then Asian and Pacific Islander,” Gil-Garcia said. “When you take a look at the demographics of the teachers, white teachers are the majority, then second African-American then third are Latinos. It’s so much more dramatic in the numbers of school administrators and the number has been like that for 11 years – we haven’t grown.”

I, of course, immediately went to bat for the many, many kids who speak languages other than Spanish – like Polish – and are far from well-represented in CPS or in any other districts across Illinois, and Gil-Garcia retorted:

“When we get qualified Latino school administrators, the schools benefit not because she or he is Hispanic or Latino – it’s that the person, being from a different language and culture, has a deeper understanding of what the student and his or her family might be going through to get the learning to occur.”

Certainly I couldn’t argue that point, and more importantly, the work that she’s doing at Northeastern Illinois University – teaching graduate courses in the field of educational leadership to teach teachers who are in the process of becoming school leaders for K-12 schools – will absolutely ensure that there are highly-qualified administrators of all races and ethnicities to lead our diverse school populations.

It’s no easy task, but Gil-Garcia is inspired. “My inspiration is my mother, she taught me not to give up, not to despair,” Gil-Garcia said. “We talk every Sunday for at least two hours and she always asks me the same question: what have you done this week to help others?….I must always have a response.”

And the other thing Gil-Garcia’s mom always taught her?

“‘Haz bien y no mires a quien,’ which means ‘do good – for everybody.”

“Chicago Latino List 2009” was generously sponsored by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago White Sox, and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Restaurants. All nominees were independently nominated for this recognition; their rejection and/or selection to “Chicago Latino List 2009” was not, in any way, influenced by any disclosed or undisclosed personal or professional proximity to Esther J. Cepeda or to any sponsor of “Chicago Latino List 2009”.

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June 17, 2009

“Hoop Dreams” filmmaker makes “The Journey from Zanskar” via Chicago

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

After walking 17 four-to-twelve-year-old kids over a 17,500 foot pass from one of the most remote places on earth to a Buddhist monastery, Frederick Marx is coming home to Chicago to lead us on a journey toward the place in our hearts that’ll help these children finish their education.

Marx – now fifteen years removed from his star turn as the writer/producer who brought us the story of two black Chicago high school students who thought they had a shot at being pro basketball players in the critically acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams – is again giving us the opportunity to study how people sacrifice in order to gain.

In The Journey from Zanskar, Marx chronicles the passage of a small band of children who were delivered by two Dalai Lama-dispatched monks from their remote village to a monastery where they’ll get the opportunity to learn their own language, culture, history, and religion.

The kids’ voyage away from family and to a life of study is critical because a new road will soon bring the outside world to Zanskar – the last remaining original Tibetan Buddhist society with a continuous untainted lineage dating back thousands of years – endangering its traditions and religious practices. It’s the sort of decimation that has already happened to many other Tibetan towns experiencing this version of gentrification.

Marx was drawn in by this slow, quiet drama.

"What really interests me as a filmmaker is the landscape of the human heart," Marx told me from his San Francisco home last week as he prepared the "preview cut" he’ll be screening at PRIMITIVE Gallery on June 26 and 27. "I’m so interested in heartbreak, in what people do, how they feel, what they think, and why they do what they do. Then when you throw all the layers of cultural differences and socio-economic realities, there’re just such amazing stories."

Marx started out on his own journey toward emotional and financial investment in these 17 kids when an old friend from Chicago called him up and asked if he’d be interested in a gig to go to Zanskar and film the monks for a group of people putting together a non-profit to support their work.

After Marx’ incredible expedition – "when, after climbing 14,000 to 17,000 feet to get over the pass, none of the animals could carry us I just thought ‘I’m going to die today,’" he chuckled – the non-profit failed to take off but Marx took the project upon himself.

"I said, ‘this is crazy, we have to do what we can to help these monks, these kids, and this school.’ So I took it over and it’s been my company’s project ever since," Marx said. His company, Los Angeles, CA-based Warrior Productions, is a non-profit, and his commitment to the 17 children whose story he tells in The Journey from Zanskar is 100% of the revenues – above the cost of production – the films garners.

Those pesky "cost of production" dollars are what brings him back home to the welcoming embrace of Chicago’s PRIMITIVE Gallery for an exclusive set of intimate screenings of this unfinished film in one of the holiest spaces I’ve ever visited.

"In terms of cash dollars, we only need about two hundred grand to get through the post production and then it’s all gravy," Marx said. "Then all the profits from the film will be funneled back to Zanskar for the monks and the kids."

Marx will be at the Friday screening at PRIMITIVE, 130 N. Jefferson, but if you can make it to the Saturday screening, Michael Fitzpatrick, the film’s composer, and Chicago’s own Harold Ramis (on a break from promoting the new Ghostbusters game) will gather with Marx in the breathtaking "Buddha Room" to watch the film.

"What you’ll see is this amazing example of service, of these monks doing what they can for these children, for these families and for the culture of this place they call home," Marx said. "To me there is no grater modeling of leadership than how they sacrifice and risk their own lives to help these families get a leg up."

"These monks demonstrate that the greatest joy in life just might come in doing what you can for others, and that’s the key message I hope people will respond to."

Watch YouTube clips of The Journey from Zanskar here or call PRIMITIVE at 312/575-9600 for more information on attending either the June 26 or 27 screening.

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May 12, 2009

Why “English-only” laws look so good

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

People, bear with me here, I’m only a few days removed from having completed a frustrating and maddening master’s level class in effective teaching strategies to help English language learners pick up our baffling but beloved language, and a report that was just released has me climbing the walls.

But more about that in a moment, let me vent some more:

It was the kind of class where the teacher framed everything in terms of "cultural respect" and where all the students felt it was imperative to teach kids in their native language and that to insist otherwise was to buy into the evil construct of the "white man" trying to keep poor Latinos "down."

Much like my experience being an actual teacher in a classroom of non-native English-language speakers, where I was castigated as the lone weirdo who insisted on talking to and teaching her students in English, I was the freakish anomaly in this class.

I was the nutcase in the back of the room advocating for the hundreds of thousands of non-Spanish speaking students in school districts across the country, insisting that segregating students into Spanish-speaking sheltered classes was a recipe for a permanent underclass.

Every week we discussed interesting language acquisition stories in the media and I almost wish I could have one more Saturday to beg the others to understand the perils of "bilingual classes" taught exclusively in Spanish and how damaging it can be to those who need to learn flawless English in order to thrive in this country (this was my idea of "fun" if you can conceive it!).

My pleas surely would have fallen on deaf ears – after all, who is more committed to the status quo than "bilingual teachers" whose main claim to fame and employment is the ability to teach solely in Spanish? – but check this out: a report from the National Center for Education Statistics on Basic Reading Skills and the Literacy of America’s Least Literate Adults.

You can go directly to the PDF here, but let me just give you a taste of the horrifying statistics, gleaned from the 2003 National Adult Literacy Survey which was designed to measure functional literacy and administered to more than 19,000 adults (ages 16 and older) in households and prisons:

· Basic reading scores were highest for White adults and lowest for Hispanic adults

· Among adults with Below Basic prose literacy scores, 39 percent of those who spoke only English before starting school read fewer than 60 words correctly per minute (i.e., at the lowest Basic Reading Score level), compared with 72 percent of adults with a Spanish language background

· 30 million adults have Below Basic prose literacy; of those, 7 million are Hispanic

· Among adults who spoke a language other than English before starting school, BRS scores were lowest for adults who learned English at a later age. The average score was lowest for adults who learned to speak English after they turned 21 and highest for adults who learned English at age 10 or younger

· The BRS score of adults who learned to speak English after age 20 was 35 points lower than the BRS score of adults who learned to speak English at age 10 or younger.

I’ll cut the numbers off right there, though you should plow into this report if you’re interested in knowing at just how much of a disadvantage some people in this country are.

But the point I’m trying to make is illustrated by those last two bulleted items – and you didn’t need a fancy report to tell you this – it is absolutely crystal clear beyond any doubt that the key to Hispanic and Latino success in the United States is fluency in the English language.

It doesn’t require giving up culture, giving up a native language, or giving up speaking a native language in the home – it very simply requires a country single-mindedly dedicated to making learning English the number one objective for public school students. By hook or by crook.

Some people reflexively rail at the very thought of "English-only" legislation; there is currently a bill called the "English Language Empowerment Act" being bandied about in New York state. Pro-Spanish-language education advocates are already complaining that such a move would make it mandatory to teach children in – gasp!!!! – English.

But the unacceptable alternative is hoards of students who get dumped into public school "bilingual ed" classes and, after years of sheltered Spanish immersion classes, walk out of high school still not fluent in English (read more about my experiences as a bilingual ed teacher here).

And that alternative is a denial of the American Dream. It is, in fact, an American tragedy – and not just for them, but for us all.

Posted at 09:34 PM in crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, international relations, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

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May 07, 2009

Incubating the Scientists and Engineers of Tomorrow – Today!

"Way more than 600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

What do a sixteen year old immigrant from Bosnia and a sixteen year old Nigerian immigrant of extremely modest means have in common with the greatest scientists and inventors of all time?

They wake up every morning with the single-minded belief that anything – yes, anything – is possible.

What Raliat Abiola and Suad Causevic have in common with little old me is that we’re all proud standard bearers of the Myrtle and the Gold – Lane Tech HS Indians through and through – and all of us are proud to call ourselves "Alphas," as part of the elite club that Lane Tech, lo all these many years later, still calls the Alpha Science and Engineering Program. And that’s pretty much where the similarities end.

Unlike I, who nearly failed my accelerated Biology class freshman year due to an unfortunate incident in which I killed my science experiment, these two are going to change this world dramatically within our lifetimes.

I met them when I had the privilege of judging Lane Tech’s Science Fair a few months ago. Amidst the projects on the sound wave patterns of electric guitars, the effects of food dye on mice, analyses of carbon particulate in our air, and way-too-complex molecular-level experiments I could barely understand, these two really stuck with me.

Raliat, whose father – well-known for helping others in their village – died when she was just ten, gave me a stunningly passionate presentation on the effects of Eastern medicine on microbes, a science experiment very much out of the ordinary.

"Where I come from medicine is vastly different from the way Western medicine is administered here," she’d told me in her regal accent, referring to the panoply of holistic principles, herbs, and other treatments that are the hallmarks of Eastern medicine. "I want to be a pioneer in this field, I’m setting out to prove that this is actually a form of science and it can help millions of people in the world."

Raliat stands a great chance – she’s already been singled out for scholarships, which she needs because her single mom is working toward her own degree and they need all the help they can get. And I’ve no doubt the future Dr. R. Abiola, who’ll be spending the rest of the summer sharpening up her project for next year, will someday make major additions to the practically-non-existent literature out there comparing Eastern and Western medicine techniques.

Now Suad, he’s waaay out there. Like, so brilliant that this weekend he’ll be presenting his project "Keep it Cool" at the Illinois Junior Academy of Science Exposition in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. His breakthrough research – the design for a cooling system for microprocessors – has already drawn in university money and attention from big tech companies worldwide. The totally unassuming kid who does Tae Kwon Do when he’s not toying with molecular biology, is one of 62 students who won at the city science fair (10 are from Lane), and an alternate for the International Science and Engineering, Fair in Reno, Nevada later this month.

"Basically, I designed a system that uses magnets and thermo-electricity to disperse the heat of the microprocessors in a computer with no fan, and therefore, no noise," Kausevic said.

Why?!

"Because a while ago my dad and I fried a computer because we overheated it and I was thinking, ‘liquid metals, nuclear reactions, no more fried boards,’ and I thought it’d make a pretty fun science project." This is the kid’s idea of "fun."

Now let me put it all into context for you: Lane Technical High School is one of the best schools in the city and has provided high quality educational opportunities for over 100 years. Lane is administering approximately 1,800 Advanced Placement exams this school year in 29 content areas. In fact, Lane submits more than 50% of all the AP Studio Art Portfolios in the City of Chicago.

It’s truly a school of champions, and is one of the most diverse – in race/ethnicity and family income – high schools in Chicago. According to Assistant Principal Chris Dignam, the driving force behind the Alpha program which he revived three years ago and has grown to approximately 300 kids, "Lane Tech has the highest number of students at or below poverty level in any of the College Prep high schools in Chicago – 60% – and the highest percentage of Hispanic students in any of the College Prep High Schools in CPS, they make up 41-42% of the school population."

Dignam stresses the importance of his program passionately, "There is an alarming deficit with regard to the number of students exiting high school and going on to major in engineering, science, and mathematics in the United States," Dignam said. "There are many talented, interested students of diverse backgrounds that are in need …and Alpha provides students a unique program that focuses on developing research skills, as well as reading and technical writing skills – skills all students need to achieve and succeed in college and upon entering the workforce."

He’s right, the number of kids going into science and math-based fields of study in college is low and the number of black and Hispanic kids doing so are painfully low, despite their representation in the U.S. population. But workplace equity is not what gets the kids up early – and keeps them up late – honing their research to perfection, these kids are having fun and are inspired, which is a nuclear reaction in and of itself.

"Sure it's hard," said Suad, "but it’s just fun and when you work hard for the science fair, you can know that when the future comes, you’ll be prepared."

"I want to make something of myself and then go on to be a doctor and be successful so I can tell others that anything is possible," Raliat said, "If they can send a monkey and a man to the moon you can do anything. And though you might want others to reach out and give you a hand, that would be nice, but you can do it yourself."

Posted at 12:37 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, education, Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, Science, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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April 23, 2009

R.I.P “Digital divide” – Latinos are all over Internet

“600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda”

This rant is dedicated to all the people out there who are innocently laboring under the misperception that the vast majority of Hispanics in the United States are living in such crushing poverty that they are not able to access information on the Internet.

These people – distinguished academics, misguided do-gooders, and everyday Joes alike– go around with a picture in their mind of what a Hispanic person is and it involves challenges in language, lack of education, and low access to resources. Sadly, this is true in many cases. However, it is not when it comes to access to the internet.

And to the concerned parties, Nice Esther says: stop fretting about our electronic habits, we’re OK. To others who aren’t as benevolent toward the U.S.’s exploding Latino community and prefer to think of us all as illiterate immigrants, Mean Esther says: Take your “digital divide” and shove it up your assumptions.

Let me ply you with statistics:

• In a recent report called The Power of the Hispanic Consumer On-line, Scarborough Research says that the majority (54%) of Hispanics are now online.

• In fact, Internet access among Hispanics has been increasing at a faster rate than it has among total adults in the U.S - growing 13% (on a relative basis) since 2004 - from 48% in 2004 to its current penetration of 54%. By contrast, Internet access by all consumers nationally grew 8% during the same time period. (In 2004, 64% of all consumers accessed the Internet, and this increased to 69% in 2008.)

Of course, it’s not abuelita - 18-34 year-old Hispanics are more likely to access the Internet than Hispanics overall, and their rate of Internet access is growing at a faster pace than that of the total Hispanic population. Scarborough says:

“Younger consumers are more likely to download content online. Forty-nine percent of 18-34 year-old adult Internet Users downloaded digital content in the past month, compared to 35% of the total online population. Similarly, it is no surprise that when you examine this younger demographic of Hispanics, the percentage is even higher. 51% of 18-34 year-old Hispanics downloaded digital content during the past 30 days.”

And no, it’s not some tired dial-up connection made from a pre-historic machine in someone’s basement. This same report says, “Hispanics have been taking advantage of the expansion of broadband, and their rate of adoption has mirrored that of the total U.S. population. Currently, 68% of Hispanic Internet Users have a broadband connection in their household. This grew from 13% in 2002 – an increase of more than fivefold.”

In late March, Chicago-based research firm Mintel released results from a survey showing :

• Hispanics are more likely to have profiles on social networking sites than non-Hispanics: 48% of them have one versus 43% of black Americans and 31% of whites.

• Web-surfing Hispanics ages 18-34 visit social networking sites 3.6 times a week on average, versus just 1.3 times per week for over-35s.

• More than a third of all Internet-using Hispanics were age 24 or younger in 2006.

• Other findings from the survey suggest that Hispanics adopt new media technology more quickly than non-Hispanics, spend more time listening to Internet radio and downloading music than non-Hispanics and devote more time weekly to Internet browsing than non-Hispanics.

• The firm says Hispanics spend more time using electronic readers like Amazon's Kindle; playing multiplayer games online (although not single-player); and blogging or commenting online than other groups.

Then just last week, comScore, Inc., a leading Internet-usage research firm released numbers showing that:

• During the past year, the growth of the U.S Hispanic Internet audience outpaced that of the total U.S. online population in terms of number of visitors, time spent and pages consumed, an increase of 6 percent from the previous year.

Alright, say it all together with me now: “There is no ‘Digital Divide’ when it comes to Hispanics.” We know how to boot up, log on, and surf the web – in two languages!

And never mind the computer part of it, Hispanics – much like people who live in poverty and affluence all over the world – access their internet information via that little marvel we call the cellular phone.

Here’s what the Scarborough paper had to say on that topic: “Hispanics are avid cellular phone users. They are more likely than the typical adult to have a cell phone, and they are in the top spending brackets for cellular usage. Hispanics have been at the forefront of using the expanded functionality and technology in cellular devices, such as picture taking, text messaging and downloading ring tones or games. They are also more likely to use cell phones for tasks such as email or utilizing other Internet features.”

"As technology prices drop and the number of bilingual Hispanics in the U.S. grows, we see more Hispanic adults relying on the Internet for day-to-day communication and learning," comments Leylha Ahuile, multicultural expert at Mintel. "U.S. Hispanics who get online via their cell phones provide a great opportunity for marketers who want to reach them in a personal, direct way."

But I’m not here to tell you everything is perfect and, no need to look after the members of Latino communities who don’t yet have access to decent internet or even a computer, thank-you-very-much. Far from it!

There are still many, many great challenges for Latinos of varied socio-economic backgrounds and educational levels who, in all honestly, wouldn’t know a Mac from a PC if the Mac grew teeth and bit them. But that’s where I circle back to the greatest opportunity for growth in communicating with Latinos of all stripes and types: the cell phone.

What you’ll see, though, is that the cell phone will revolutionize Hispanics’ access to information on the web, making for infinite more connections to vital information that will bring access to social services, higher education, and political empowerment. Sort of like what Novelas Educativas, a Burbank, California-based digital entertainment company has done on YouTube, and in cell-friendly social platforms for the National Council on La Raza and for “Amigos de Obama” during last year’s elections.

"Today kids are all about cell phones just like we were about Air Jordans back in the day – popular and everywhere,” Miguel Orozco, Co-Founder, Novelas Educativas told me when we met a few weeks back. “And now that the digital gap is closing, the real issue we should be concerned about is the information gap. We should all be asking, 'How do we leverage access into knowledge.'"

Ahhh, yes, how DO we leverage access into knowledge? Well, I don’t have any easy answer for that one, but whatever the answer turns out to be, that lever will probably be translated to at-risk families via a broadband or cellular connection – and most likely into the palms of their hands.

Posted at 04:53 AM in advertising/marketing/media/merchandising, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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April 02, 2009

Mixed Martial Arts at Clemente High School: where street life and ring life don’t collide

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

You’ve no doubt heard about the epidemic of Chicago Public High School children being murdered on the streets of our fine city.

It’s not a jungle out there so much as a flat-out war zone where women, children, and basically anyone caught in the street – or asleep in their bed – can be victimized by the random violence gripping certain Chicago neighborhoods.

It’s gotten so bad community organizations are writing to President Obama asking for troops to keep his hometown’s streets in check (see Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary A. Mitchell’s article here).

So the commonly-held idea that violence begets violence makes it difficult to understand how a full contact combat sport featuring a wide variety of martial arts fighting techniques – and few safety rules – could change the lives of kids living in gang-infested neighborhoods for the better.

But then again, you haven’t met Bryan Gomez. So let me introduce you.

Bryan is a 17-year-old junior at Clemente Achievement Academy High School on Chicago’s near northwest side who is doing pretty darn well considering that as an eighth grader at Ames Middle School, he was failing classes and getting in trouble for acting out angrily at his teachers. Getting abandoned by your biological father and living in rough circumstances will do that to a kid.

But a chance freshman-year meeting with Tony DiVittorio, a clinical counselor with Youth Guidance, a social service agency that works in more than 50 Chicago Public Schools, introduced Bryan to the artful sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Today Bryan is the captain of the school’s MMA club and is undefeated with three knockouts in competitions against Kelly High School, the only other Chicago school with a Mixed Martial Arts program.

You might know MMA as Ultimate Fighting or NHB – No Holds Barred – fighting which employs such signature styles as ground-and-pound, sprawl-and-brawl, clinch, lay-and-pray, and submission grappling. Don’t go getting the wrong idea, now – moves like biting, eye-gouging, strikes to the groin and the ever popular fish-hooking are no-nos.

And I can only assume that the kiddies take it easy with the elbow strikes, headbutts, and spinal locks...but I’ve digressed. My point is that this stuff saves kids’ lives, and not in the self-defense way, either, but I’ll let Bryan tell you himself, in his words.

"I’d always been into MMA, I was always wanting to know how to learn how to fight but Tony got me into it," Bryan told me shortly before one of their few tournaments a couple of weeks back. "Tony ended up teaching us once a week and showed us how to give it our best so I trained real hard."

"My parents, they like that I have something to motivate me, that I’m doing something to keep me busy and I’m not just walking around outside. I’m kind of like the only one who’s succeeding right now in my family so they support me."

"Mixed gave me a type of discipline that added to my life. Like, my family, my cousins and brothers… one of my brothers did real bad in life, ended up in jail. My other cousin is in gangs. The discipline MMA brought me made me look at my surroundings and people differently."

"I don’t go around the neighborhood like I’m a badass, I’m not the type. You get discipline and you don’t go around trying to beat up people. As for avoiding gangs, we get a smartness of what streets not to take, like if we know there are 10 guys on the corner try to avoid it. I avoid situations where I have to be forced to fight."

A bit about Tony: he’s been the driving force behind creative physical after-school programs at various CPS schools. DiVittorio, a licensed clinical counselor with Youth Guidance, has over a decade of martial arts training, brought the growing sport to both Kelly and Clemente in an attempt to help the students cope with the many challenges they face every day.

I asked him how well the school’s administration – and parents – took his innovative program.

"I brought it to the schools ten years ago when I got to Youth Guidance and when I first brought it to the administrations it was foreign, not well known they thought it would bring more violence." DiVittorio said. "But I brought my experience to the students who came to the MMA club – most of whom were either at-risk or struggling – and connected club to school and academics. It didn’t take too long before teachers and administrators started seeing less outbursts and positive character changes."

"There are a lot of single-family households, lots of poverty, gang activity, drugs and generally, a normalization of violence in these communities," DiVittorio said. "We teach them to honor anger, to find a positive way to express it."

But how do the parents take it?

"I use lot of tactics with the parents, every year we have an end-of-the-year parent ceremony for students, parents, teachers, and peers. We give trophies to the best kick-boxers, they all come with food and see we’re like family," Tony told me, "they see that the bottom line of the MMA Club is that it’s a Youth Guidance program that keep students in schools."

And beyond…Bryan has high hopes about his future as a result of his success with MMA, he now dreams of becoming a Chicago Police Officer.

"I was waiting to drop off my girlfriend one day and these gangbangers came out of nowhere, throwing bottles and we really wanted the cops," Bryan said. "It was kind of a classic moment we were thinking ‘Where is a cop when you need one?’ I thought about that and thought: ‘What if a cop was there and he didn’t help us?’"

"That motivated me," Bryan said, "I could be that cop that was there when someone needed me."

Posted at 05:23 AM in Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, education, Games, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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March 31, 2009

More minorities in suburban schools yet they experience less diversity and more segregation

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

People bashful that they moved out to the suburbs for the better school systems often defend their actions (as if they needed to) by remarking that their child's classroom is a mini-United Nations.

"You should see Krystyn's school," they gush, "there are Japanese kids, and African kids, and Indian kids – it's so diverse!"

Sure, although that depends on what you consider "diverse."

Some people would imagine that a school district sporting a whopping 67% minority count would be offering their kids an education that celebrates the actual make-up of the population it serves, and providing their children with the kinds of experiences with people from different ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds that will help them thrive in "the real world."

They'd be wrong.

According to a report the Pew Hispanic Center released today, though the student population of America's suburban public schools has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade and a half – and virtually all of this increase (99%) has been due to the enrollment of new Latino, black and Asian students – there has been only a modest increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of student populations at the level of the individual suburban school.

The backgrounder for the report says: "For example, in 2006-07, the typical white suburban student attended a school whose student body was 75% white; in 1993-94, this same figure had been 83%.

So at a time when the white share of student enrollment in suburban school districts was falling by 13 percentage points (from 72% in 1993-94 to 59% in 2006-07), the exposure of the typical white suburban student to minority students in his or her own school was growing by a little more than half that much-or 8 percentage points."

This is not big news to me. It is a well-documented fact that African American students tend to be labeled as "Special Education" students and shunted off to "special" classes – at a rate of DOUBLE their white counterparts (Current statistics indicate that African American boys represent only 9% of the total student enrollment in public schools, yet in the category of mental retardation their enrollment percentage is more than double 20%).

Then we can move right along to Hispanics who are also often misdiagnosed as being special education students when, in fact, they have difficulties due to second language acquisition. Or they're simply shoved off into "bilingual classes" where a modified curriculum is presented in Spanish under the guise of "transitioning" the students into English-language classes, a day that rarely comes for too many students.

The numbers say that the presence of minority students in the suburban schools attended by whites (25%) is much lower than the overall representation of minority students in suburban school districts (41%).

The net effect is that even though suburban school districts are experiencing unprecedented growth in their minority populations they are not integrated into the schools districts, depriving them, and their classmates of valuable experiences with people who come from different backgrounds. Check this out:

In 2006-07, the typical suburban black student attended a school that was 44% black, up from 43% black in 1993-94

In 2006-07, the typical suburban Asian student attended a school that was 23% Asian, down from 24% Asian in 1993-94.

Suburban Hispanic student isolation has significantly increased: in 2006-07, the typical suburban Hispanic student attended a school that was 49% Hispanic, an increase from 42% Hispanic in 1993-94.

What's weird is that this is not an area anyone has put much attention on, probably because the numbers, as they so often are, are deceptive.

The Pew Hispanic Center's Report notes that, "The movement of minority students into suburban schools has had the overall effect of slightly reducing levels of ethnic and racial segregation throughout the nation's 93,430 public schools.

Minority students on average are less segregated in suburban school districts compared with city school districts, so the shift toward suburban school districts tends to reduce national segregation levels."

That these students are less segregated in suburban school districts than they are in city school districts is good, but certainly not great. We can do better.

But we don't. I can tell you from experience, as a teacher in two different suburban school districts, both experiencing large population shifts, that there is tremendous fear of African-American and Hispanic children in schools.

The administrators of and community-elected representatives on schools boards across the collar counties of Chicago are simply not adequately prepared to deal with the influx of students representing wildly different cultural and background experiences that have arrived in the past ten to twelve years. But they must.

And the parents of these children can not wait until school administrators see the light, they must make their voices heard at school board meetings, in principals' offices and in their local media.

Their message: we're here, we're not leaving, and our children deserve the same quality education as Caucasian students – in integrated classrooms.

Posted at 05:30 PM in African American, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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March 23, 2009

Illegal Alien College Students: Cash cows with bleak futures

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Set aside the DREAM Act for a moment, I’m not here to tell you whether you should be for or against legislation that would make young illegal aliens with "good character" eligible for a conditional path to citizenship in exchange for a mandatory two year commitment in higher education or the military.

Let’s talk about how things stand today.

Currently, an illegal alien student can, in many cases, attend an institute of higher education if he or she is able to afford the tuition – many times at the "out-of-state" rate – and can make the grades to finish.

Then they get plopped out into the world and have two choices: 1) take a menial job, illegally or 2) take all that U.S.-bred brain power somewhere else.

Darn.

At any rate, I came across two pieces of information that just seemed to cry out for six hundred words, or so.

This from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars, who conducted a survey from February 25 to March 8, 2009 to "better understand the processes related to undocumented students that are used by U.S. postsecondary education institutions."

Of the 613 institutions of higher ed who responded – 260 full responses and 353 responses not completely filled out – here are a few salient facts for your consideration:

96.9% of respondents answered that they do seek information about applicants' citizenship/residence status on their admissions application

19.6% of responding institutions indicated they do verify all applicants claiming to have U.S. Citizenship/legal status.

30.6% responded that they verify applicants for financial aid

23.3% answered they do not verify at all

18.7% said that they verify applicants seeking in-state tuition, since they are a public institution

7.7% indicated other

Asked if required to report information on undocumented students 22.6% said that they are required to report information on undocumented students. 77.4% said they are not required to do so.

55.4% of institutions who said they’re required to report information about undocumented students said they report this information to a state entity.

30.1% said they are required to report information about undocumented students to an office or offices within their institution. 14.5% indicated "other"

If applicants specifically seeking admission as undocumented students don’t provide the required information?

38.4% said they are charged higher tuition

22.7% said that they are not permitted to enroll.

16.3% said they are permitted to enroll without conditions

10.8% indicated "other"

10.3% said they are permitted to enroll under certain conditions.

1.5% said that if already enrolled, they are asked to withdraw

If they find out, or have reason to believe students who claimed otherwise, are undocumented?

23% responded that they are not permitted to enroll

23% said they are charged higher tuition

20.5% indicated "other"

12% said they are permitted to enroll without conditions

11.2% said that if already enrolled, they are asked to withdraw

7.8% said they are permitted to enroll under certain conditions

And along those same lines, last week an interesting story out of North Carolina, Illegal immigrants' tuition pays way" revealed that the state, which has been caught in the cross-fire of differing and ambiguous state and U.S. immigration laws on the matter, is making money off illegal alien students attending the state’s community colleges.

According to Gina Shkodriani, a researcher with JBL Associates of Maryland, on average it cost $5,375 per year to educate a student at one of the state’s 58 community colleges. But for the undocumented students who were allowed into colleges between 2007 and 2008 who paid out-of-state rates, their average tuition cost was $7,024.

"In a sense ... it’s a revenue," Shkodriani was quoted in Mark Binker’s News-Record story.

Sen. Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, has filed legislation to stop those illegal aliens from being admitted to the community college system.

Apparently undocumented students are not worthy of being educated even if they are cash cows.

Posted at 08:25 PM in Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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March 15, 2009

The Future of Illinois: Our English Language Learners

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

I just couldn’t be more thrilled with today’s New York Times front page story "Where education and assimilation collide" by Ginger Thompson.

In it, she delves into the sociological ramifications of the waves of new immigrants – and their children – on U.S. school systems. Most of these school districts are completely unprepared for the host of issues and needs that come with large numbers of students with many varied native languages other than English, wildly different cultural norms, and challenging home experiences.

There’s no need to re-create her well-written, balanced article here, I suggest you take a look at it when you’re done visiting me, I’m providing the link at the end of this column.

Instead I will key in on one major point she makes – the one she leads with – is it right to segregate students who don’t speak English to a self-contained, sheltered learning environment where new skills are built on past experiences and shared background knowledge?

I say no – absolutely not!

Ginger, in the fifth paragraph of her story – after having remarked the beauty of the integrated main campus of Cecil D. Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Virginia – quotes a young woman from Guatemala who is segregated from the main population to one where all the students are English Language Learners. I’ll give you the flavor:

Walk with immigrant students, and the rest of Hylton feels a world apart. By design, they attend classes almost exclusively with one another. They take separate field trips. And they organize separate clubs.

"I am thankful to my teachers because the little bit of English I am able to speak, I speak because of them," Amalia Raymundo, from Guatemala, said during a break between classes. But, she added, "I feel they hold me back by isolating me."

Her best friend, Jhosselin Guevara, also from Guatemala, joined in. "Maybe the teachers are trying to protect us," she said. "There are people who do not want us here at all."

I was a "bilingual teacher" in two different Illinois school districts where the non-English-speaking students – 90% of whom happened to be native Spanish-language speakers – were shunted off to be with their own kind like Amalia and Jhosselin. It was horrible!

These students relied on each other so much they had no need to speak English, therefore they didn’t learn it. They were perpetually angry at me for insisting on speaking to them and teaching them with as much English as possible.

It wasn’t their fault – this is what the schools taught them that the normal "Bilingual classes" were supposed to be like.

That, of course didn’t hold true for the Polish-only speakers, the Chinese-only speakers, and the Russian-only speakers who numbered so few, they were simply thrust into "mainstream" classes with accommodations. Those kids subsequently thrived and picked up English at a rate I observed to be roughly three to six times faster than my students – some of whom were born in the U.S. and still didn’t have a decent command of the language.

The school district and the state thought I was insane for demanding that the Spanish language students be integrated with the rest of the school and taught in English – and guess what? I’m not a teacher anymore.

Schooling for English Language Learners must change – like 10 minutes ago! – across the country to better serve these students, and all the people who will have to live with them for generations to come.

Here are some statistics mined from the New York Times article’s on-line interactive maps, and from the National Center for Education Statistics, to give you a sense of what all this means to Illinois.

Keep in mind the U.S. Achievement gap: English Language Learners graduate from High School at a rate of 64% versus 80.1% for the "average" native English speaking student.

Illinois ranks #9 in the 51 states/Districts in terms of diversity according to latest figures, in 2006. (Top five are Nevada, Florida, California, New York, and Texas)

Following are statistics on the number of English Language Learners (ELL) in Illinois in 2006:

Cass County

% ELL 16.5%

total ELL students 391

total students 2,371

% Latino/Hispanic 23%

Kane County

% ELL 13.9%

total ELL students 16,483

total students 118,515

% Latino/Hispanic 35%

Cook County

ELL% 13.3%

total ELL students 106,756

total students 800,262

% Latino/Hispanic 31%

Lake County

% ELL 11.8%

total ELL students 16,469

total students 140,164

% Latino/Hispanic 24%

Jo Daviess County

% ELL 11.8%

total ELL students 410

total students 3,483

% Latino/Hispanic 2%

Boone County

% ELL 9.6%

total ELL students 1,005

total students 10,457

% Latino/Hispanic 28%

DuPage County

% ELL 7.5%

total ELL students 12,192

total students 162,017

% Latino/Hispanic 16%

Grundy County

% ELL 6.3%

total ELL students 740

total students 11,751

% Latino/Hispanic 10%

McHenry County

% ELL 5.3%

total ELL students 2,807

total students 53,515

% Latino/Hispanic 12%

I include the following counties because of their proximity to Chicago, but they, like the rest of Illinois’ counties, have less than 5% English Language Learners in their community schools:

Will County

% ELL 4.8%

total ELL students 5,537

total students 114,560

% Latino/Hispanic 18%

DeKalb County

% ELL 4.5%

total ELL students 743

total students 16,421

% Latino/Hispanic 11%

Kendall County

% ELL 4%

total ELL students 830

total students 20,579

% Latino/Hispanic 19%

Kankakee County

% ELL 1.1%

total ELL students 225

total students 19,656

% Latino/Hispanic 11%

Read the full text of the New York Times story "Where education and assimilation collide" by Ginger Thompson here.

Posted at 02:52 PM in Chicago, culture, education, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, kids/teens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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March 11, 2009

A South American Penguin Story

600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

It’s been a while since I gave an update on my pal Isai Madriz.

He’s the guy who, on September 12, 2007 hopped on his rickety bicycle to pedal from the ‘burbs of Chicago to Argentina for twenty months to raise money for low-income students to go to college.

I’ve written about him several times (read the last post on him here), chronicling his amazing adventures as he rides 22,500 miles from Montgomery, IL, a tiny ‘burb outside Aurora, to Tierra del Fuego (''Land of Fire'') at the southernmost tip of Argentina.

All because after struggling to pay tuition and board at Humboldt State University in California, he wanted to make it easier on other young Latino students pursuing their college degree.

He’s been chased by dogs, broken a few bones (dislocated others), been bitten by truly horrifying bugs, and gotten several debilitating viruses because he’s been in starvation mode – he’s been relying on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter because a corporate sponsorship fell through before he started his odyssey 17 months ago.

He crossed into South America August 11 and was in Colombia in early September. In February he crossed into Argentina and here is a note he sent me a few days ago.

"Penguin Story

Penguins are the bestest, most adorable, clumsy little creatures on earth. In the refuge (Punta Tombo) there are almost 800,000 individuals and they walk all around you and make congested horn-like calls.

I have to tell you all, the story I told my Danielle over the phone.

Walking around hundreds of penguins, I became so excited to be in such a great place that I decided to enjoy it as much as I could.

In the absence of people at that time, I decided to lay down and I closed my eyes to hear the penguin calls and nothing else.

I laid down on the ground underneath a bush shadow, with my face facing towards the sky. I covered my face with my hat and closed my eyes. After a couple of minutes of tranquility I felt a heavy object fall on top of my stomach, squishing it down. I gently lifted my head and looking through my mesh hat I saw a 44cm, and about 4km male penguin on top of my stomach.

Apparently I was blocking the path that he takes to reach his nest and since the way around was too long, he decided to take the short cut. The little animal started to look around at the weird object underneath him and began to sit down on my squishy tummy. It started to move its little feet in the same place, making himself comfortable.

Lifting his short legs one at the time, rising and falling on my stomach as it moved, made him look like he was jumping. I, all exited of coarse, did not want that to end so stayed still looking through the hat at the magical moment.

The penguin made himself home and started to fall asleep on my stomach. Another individual, looking at the weirdness of the situation decided to take a closer look and moved near where all the fun was. Standing besides my arm, the new penguin began to look at the lazy pinguino on my tummy and with no apparent reason, started to peck the side of the lazy individual on top.

The penguin on top, after feeling the pecking, moved its feet in the same manner as previously but did nothing against the obvious discomfort of its buddy. Before it could sat down again, the pecking continued until he could not take it any more and jumped off and started to walk away in the cutest way that only a penguin can do.

I uncovered my face and looked at the other evil penguin. After ending the greatest moment since "Daniel the manatee" back in Mexico, the penguin just stared at me and started to move its neck to the sides while keeping its eyes on me. That is the characteristic sign that a penguin wants to fight.

With the little trouble maker a few inches from my face I decided to not get into a mess where definitely the penguin would have won. He was so cute and fluffy that I could not stare at him madly. All I wanted was to hug him and squeeze its tummy but I don’t think that would have been a good idea so I got up and moved away.

The little animal did not have enough and began to chase me for a few meters. Moving its cute little body side to side he ran behind me for a few meters until he could not keep up with the chase and turned around.

I hope you enjoyed the story."

I certainly did, and I hope you did too. I hope you enjoyed it so much that you’ll go on his website http://www.isaimadriz.com and donate – either to his odyssey fund or directly to the college-bound students he’s raising money for.

Isai’s fundraising efforts, need help. Aside from a few local donations – and the hospitality shown to him by the people he’s touched on his quest – the fund for other low-income Hispanic students to get a helping hand through college still needs help.

But that never enters into Isai’s equation when he’s on the hot road or under the stars in the mountains. "Education is like planting little seeds, and when those seeds grow everybody benefits."

As Isai continues on his way I’ll share his stories with you in this space. If you’d like to help you can send donations – which will go to the education fund, not Isai’s travel expenses – to: Jesus Guadalupe Foundation, 902 S. Randall Road, Suite C-322, St. Charles, IL 60174. Write "For Isai" on the check.

Posted at 08:59 PM in Chicago, education, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, international relations, kids/teens, responsibility, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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March 10, 2009

Remarks of President Barack Obama US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce March 10, 2009

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_________________________________________________________________

Remarks of President Barack Obama

A Complete and Competitive American Education

US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

March 10, 2009

Washington, DC

Every so often, throughout our history, a generation of Americans bears the responsibility of seeing this country through difficult times and protecting the dream of its founding for posterity. This is a responsibility that has fallen to our generation. Meeting it will require steering our nation’s economy through a crisis unlike any we have seen in our time. In the short-term, that means jumpstarting job creation, re-starting lending, and restoring confidence in our markets and our financial system. But it also means taking steps that not only advance our recovery, but lay the foundation for lasting, shared prosperity.

I know there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time. They forget that Lincoln helped lay down the transcontinental railroad, passed the Homestead Act, and created the National Academy of Sciences in the midst of Civil War. Likewise, President Roosevelt didn’t have the luxury of choosing between ending a depression and fighting a war. President Kennedy didn’t have the luxury of choosing between civil rights and sending us to the moon. And we don’t have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term.

America will not remain true to its highest ideals – and America’s place as a global economic leader will be put at risk – unless we not only bring down the crushing cost of health care and transform the way we use energy, but also do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters; unless we give them the knowledge and skills they need in this new and changing world.

For we know that economic progress and educational achievement have always gone hand in hand in America. Land-grant colleges and public high schools transformed the economy of an industrializing nation. The GI Bill generated a middle class that made America’s economy unrivaled in the 20^th century. And investments in math and science under President Eisenhower made it possible for Sergei Brin to attend graduate school and found an upstart company called Google that would forever change our world.

The source of America’s prosperity, then, has never been merely how ably we accumulate wealth, but how well we educate our people. This has never been more true than it is today. In a 21^st century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there’s an internet connection; where a child born in Dallas is competing with children in Delhi; where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know – education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it is a prerequisite.

That is why workers without a four-year degree have borne the brunt of recent layoffs, Latinos most of all. And that is why, of the thirty fastest growing occupations in America, half require a Bachelor’s degree or more. By 2016, four out of every ten new jobs will require at least some advanced education or training.

So let there be no doubt: the future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens – and my fellow Americans, we have everything we need to be that nation. We have the best universities and the most renowned scholars. We have innovative principals, passionate teachers, gifted students, and parents whose only priority is their child’s education. We have a legacy of excellence, and an unwavering belief that our children should climb higher than we did.

And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us. In 8^th grade math, we’ve fallen to 9th place. Singapore’s middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our thirteen and fourteen-year olds can read as well as they should. And year after year, a stubborn gap persists between how well white students are doing compared to their African American and Latino classmates. The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy, and unacceptable for our children – and we cannot afford to let it continue.

What is at stake is nothing less than the American dream. It is what drew my father and so many of your fathers and mothers to our shores in pursuit of an education. It’s what led Linda Brown and Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez to bear the standard of all who were attending separate and unequal schools. It is what has led generations of Americans to take on that extra job, to sacrifice the small pleasures, to scrimp and save wherever they can, in the hopes of putting away enough, just enough, to give their child the education that they never had. It’s that most American of ideas, that with the right education, a child of any race, faith, or station, can overcome whatever barriers stand in their way and fulfill their God-given potential.

Of course, we have heard all this year after year after year – and far too little has changed. Not because we are lacking sound ideas or sensible plans – in pockets of excellence across this country, we are seeing what children from all walks of life can and will achieve when we do a good job of preparing them. Rather, it is because politics and ideology have too often trumped our progress.

For decades, Washington has been trapped in the same stale debates that have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our educational decline. Too many supporters of my party have resisted the idea of rewarding excellence in teaching with extra pay, even though we know it can make a difference in the classroom. Too many in the Republican Party have opposed new investments in early education, despite compelling evidence of its importance. It’s more money versus more reform, vouchers versus the status quo. There has been partisanship and petty bickering, but little recognition that we need to move beyond the worn fights of the 20^th century if we are going to succeed in the 21st Century.

Well, the time for finger-pointing is over. The time for holding ourselves accountable is here. What’s required is not simply new investments, but new reforms. It is time to expect more from our students. It is time to start rewarding good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones. It is time to demand results from government at every level. It is time to prepare every child, everywhere in America, to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world. It is time to give all Americans a complete and competitive education from the cradle up through a career. We have accepted failure for too long. Enough. America’s entire education system must once more be the envy of the world.

And that is exactly what the budget I am submitting to Congress has begun to achieve. At a time when we’ve inherited a trillion-dollar deficit, we will start by doing a little housekeeping, going through our books, and cutting wasteful education programs. My outstanding Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars. It’s not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works. This will help free up resources for the first pillar in reforming our schools – investing in early childhood initiatives. This isn’t just about keeping an eye on our children, it’s about educating them. Studies show that children in these programs are more likely to score higher in reading and math, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, more likely to hold a job, and more likely to earn more in that job. For every dollar we invest in these programs, we get nearly ten dollars back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health costs, and less crime. That is why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act I signed into law invests $5 billion in growing Early Head Start and Head Start, expanding access to quality child care for 150,000 more children from working families, and doing more for children with special needs. And it is why we are going to offer 55,000 first-time parents regular visits from trained nurses to help make sure their children are healthy and prepare them for school and life.

Even as we invest in early childhood education, let’s raise the bar for early learning programs that are falling short. Today, some children are enrolled in excellent programs. Some are enrolled in mediocre ones. And some are wasting away their most formative years. That includes the one fourth of all kindergartners who are Hispanic, and who will drive America’s workforce of tomorrow, but who are less likely to have been enrolled in early education programs than anyone else.

That is why I am issuing a challenge to our states. Develop a cutting-edge plan to raise the quality of your early learning programs. Show us how you’ll work to ensure that children are better prepared for success by the time they enter kindergarten. If you do, we will support you with an Early Learning Challenge Grant that I call on Congress to enact. That is how we will reward quality, incentivize excellence, and make a down payment on the success of the next generation.

Second, we will end what has become a race to the bottom in our schools and instead, spur a race to the top by encouraging better standards and assessments. This is an area where we are being outpaced by other nations. It’s not that their kids are any smarter than ours – it’s that they are being smarter about how to educate their kids. They are spending less time teaching things that don’t matter, and more time teaching things that do. They are preparing their students not only for high school or college, but for a career. We are not. Our curriculum for eighth graders is two full years behind top performing countries. That is a prescription for economic decline. I refuse to accept that America’s children cannot rise to this challenge. They can, they must, and they will meet higher standards in our time.

Let’s challenge our states to adopt world-class standards that will bring our curriculums into the 21^st century. Today’s system of fifty different sets of benchmarks for academic success means 4th grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming – and getting the same grade. Eight of our states are setting their standards so low that their students may end up on par with roughly the bottom 40% of the world.

That is inexcusable, and that is why I am calling on states that are setting their standards far below where they ought to be to stop low-balling expectations for our kids. The solution to low test scores is not lower standards – it’s tougher, clearer standards. Standards like those in Massachusetts, where 8^th graders are now tying for first – first – in the world in science. Other forward-thinking states are moving in the same direction by coming together as part of a consortium. More states need to do the same. And I am calling on our nation’s Governors and state education chiefs to develop standards and assessments that don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether they possess 21^st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and creativity. That is what we will help them do later this year when we finally make No Child Left Behind live up to its name by ensuring not only that teachers and principals get the funding they need, but that the money is tied to results. And Secretary Duncan will also back up this commitment to higher standards with a fund to invest in innovation in our school districts.

Of course, raising standards alone will not make much of a difference unless we provide teachers and principals with the information they need to make sure students are prepared to meet those standards. Far too few states have data systems like the one in Florida that keep track of a student’s education from childhood through college. And far too few districts are emulating the example of Houston and Long Beach, and using data to track how much progress a student is making and where that student is struggling – a resource that can help us improve student achievement, and tell us which students had which teachers so we can assess what’s working and what’s not. That is why we are making a major investment in this area that we will cultivate a new culture of accountability in America’s schools.

To complete our race to the top requires the third pillar of reform -- recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers. From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents, it’s the person standing at the front of the classroom. That is why our Recovery Act will ensure that hundreds of thousands of teachers and school personnel are not laid off – because those Americans are not only doing jobs they cannot afford to lose they are rendering a service our nation cannot be denied.

America’s future depends on its teachers. And so today, I am calling on a new generation of Americans to step forward and serve our country in our classrooms. If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make the most of your talents and dedication; if you want to make your mark with a legacy that will endure – join the teaching profession. America needs you. We need you in our suburbs. We need you in our small towns. We need you in our inner cities. We need you in classrooms all across our country.

And if you do your part, we’ll do ours. That is why we are taking steps to prepare teachers for their difficult responsibilities and encourage them to stay in the profession. That is why we are creating new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where they are needed most. It is why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects. And it is why we are building on the promising work being done in South Carolina’s Teacher Advancement Program, and making an unprecedented commitment to ensure that anyone entrusted with educating our children is doing the job as well as it can be done.

Here is what that commitment means: It means treating teachers like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable – in up to 150 more school districts. New teachers will be mentored by experienced ones. Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools. Teachers throughout a school will benefit from guidance and support to help them improve.

And just as we have to give our teachers all the support they need to be successful, we need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. That means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. Let me be clear: if a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences. The stakes are too high. We can afford nothing but the best when it comes to our children’s teachers and to the schools where they teach.

That leads me to the fourth part of America’s education strategy – promoting innovation and excellence in America’s schools. One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools. These are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate – schools I supported as a state legislator and United States Senator.

Right now, there are caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they are preparing our students. That isn’t good for our children, our economy, or our country. Of course, any expansion of charter schools must not result in the spread of mediocrity, but in the advancement of excellence. That will require states adopting both a rigorous selection and review process to ensure that a charter school’s autonomy is coupled with greater accountability – as well as a strategy, like the one in Chicago, to close charter schools that are not working. Provided this greater accountability, I call on states to reform their charter rules, and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, wherever such caps are in place.

Even as we foster innovation in where our children are learning, let’s also foster innovation in when our children are learning. We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day. That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21^st century economy. That is why I’m calling for us not only to expand effective after-school programs, but to rethink the school day to incorporate more time – whether during the summer or through expanded-day programs for children who need it. I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas. Not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom. If they can do that in South Korea, we can do it right here in the United States of America.

Of course, no matter how innovative our schools or how effective our teachers, America cannot succeed unless our students take responsibility for their own education. That means showing up for school on time, paying attention in class, seeking out extra tutoring if it’s needed, and staying out of trouble. And to any student who’s watching, I say this: don’t even think about dropping out of school. As I said a couple of weeks ago, dropping out is quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country, and it is not an option – not anymore. Not when our high school dropout rate has tripled in the past thirty years. Not when high school dropouts earn about half as much as college graduates. And not when Latino students are dropping out faster than just about anyone else. It is time for all of us, no matter what our backgrounds, to come together and solve this epidemic.

Stemming the tide of dropouts will require turning around our low-performing schools. Just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia produce over 50% of America’s dropouts. And yet, there are too few proven strategies to transform these schools. And there are too few partners to get the job done. So today, I am issuing a challenge to educators and lawmakers, parents and teachers alike – let us all make turning around our schools our collective responsibility as Americans. That will require new investments in innovative ideas. That is why my budget invests in developing new strategies to make sure at-risk students don’t give up on their education; new efforts to give dropouts who want to return to school the help they need to graduate; and new ways to put those young men and women who have left school back on a pathway to graduation.

The fifth part of America’s education strategy is providing every American with a quality higher education – whether it’s college or technical training. Never has a college degree been more important. And never has it been more expensive. At a time when so many of our families are bearing enormous economic burdens, the rising cost of tuition threatens to shatter dreams. That is why will simplify federal college assistance forms so it doesn’t take a PhD to apply for financial aid. And that is why we are already taking steps to make college or technical training affordable.

For the first time ever, Pell Grants will not be subject to the politics of the moment or the whims of the market – they will be a commitment that Congress is required to uphold each and every year. Further, because rising costs mean Pell Grants cover less than half as much tuition as they did thirty years ago, we are raising the maximum Pell Grant to $5,550 a year and indexing it above inflation. We are also providing a $2,500 a year tuition tax credit for students from working families. And we are modernizing and expanding the Perkins Loan Program to make sure schools like UNLV don’t get a tenth as many Perkins Loans as schools like Harvard. To help pay for all of this, we are putting students ahead of lenders by eliminating wasteful student loan subsidies that cost taxpayers billions each year. All in all, we are making college affordable for seven million more students with a sweeping investment in our children’s futures and America’s success. And I call on Congress to join me – and the American people – by helping make these investments possible.

This is how we will help meet our responsibility as a nation to open the doors of college to every American. But it will also be the responsibility of colleges and universities to control spiraling costs. And it is the responsibility of our students to walk through those doors of opportunity. In just a single generation, America has fallen from second place to eleventh place in the portion of students completing college. That is unfortunate but it is by no means irreversible. With resolve and the right investments, we can retake the lead once more. That is why, in my address to the nation the other week, I called on Americans to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training, with the goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020. To meet that goal, we are investing $2.5 billion to identify and support innovative initiatives across the country that achieve results in helping students persist and graduate.

And let’s not stop our education with college. Let’s recognize a 21st century reality: learning does not end in our early 20s. Adults of all ages need opportunities to earn new degrees and skills. That means working with all our universities and schools, including community colleges, a great and undervalued asset, to prepare workers for good jobs in high-growth industries; and to improve access to job training not only for young people who are just starting their careers, but for older workers who need new skills to change careers.

It is through initiatives like these that we will see more Americans earn a college degree, or receive advanced training, and pursue a successful career. That is why I am calling on Congress to work with me to enact these essential reforms, and to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act. That is how we will round out a complete and competitive education in the United States of America.

So, yes, we need more money. Yes, we need more reform. Yes, we need to hold ourselves more accountable for every dollar we spend. But there is one more ingredient I want to talk about. The bottom line is that no government policies will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents. Because government, no matter how wise or efficient, cannot turn off the TV or put away the video games. Teachers, no matter how dedicated or effective, cannot make sure your children leave for school on time and do their homework when they get back at night. These are things only a parent can do. These are things that our parents must do.

I say this not only as a father, but as a son. When I was a child, living in Indonesia with my mother, she didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school so she supplemented my schooling with lessons from a correspondence course. I can still picture her, waking me up at 4:30 in the morning five days a week to go over some lessons before I left for school. And whenever I’d complain or find some excuse for getting more sleep, she’d patiently repeat her most powerful defense – “This is no picnic for me either, buster.” And it is because she did this day after day, week after week, and because of all the other opportunities and breaks I had along the way, that I can stand here today as President of the United States. And I want every child in this country to have the same chance that my mother gave me, that my teachers gave me, that my college professors gave me, that America gave me.

I want children like Yvonne Bojorquez to have that chance. Yvonne is a student at Village Academy High School in California. Village Academy is a 21^st century school, where cutting edge technologies are used in the classroom, where college prep and career training are offered to all who seek it, and where the motto is – “respect, responsibility, and results.” A couple of months ago, Yvonne and her class made a video talking about the impact that our struggling economy was having on their lives. Some of them spoke about their parents being laid off, or their homes facing foreclosure, or their inability to focus on school with everything that was happening at home. When it was her turn to speak, Yvonne said:

“We’ve all been affected by this economic crisis. [We] are all college bound students…We’re all businessmen, and doctors and lawyers and all this great stuff. And we have all this potential,” she said, “but the way things are going, we’re not going to be able to [fulfill it].”

It was heartbreaking that a girl so full of promise was so full of worry that she and her class titled their video, “Is anybody listening?” And so, today, there’s something I want to say to Yvonne and her class at Village Academy. I am listening. We are listening. America is listening. And we are not going to rest until your parents can keep their jobs, your families can keep their homes, and you can focus on what you should be focusing on – your own education. Until you can become the businessmen, doctors, and lawyers of tomorrow, until you can reach out and grasp your dreams for the future.

For in the end, your dream is a dream shared by all Americans. It is the founding promise of our nation. That we can make of our lives what we will; that all things are possible for all people; and that here in America, our best days lie ahead. And I truly believe that if I do my part and you, the American people, do yours – then we will emerge from this crisis a stronger nation and pass the dream of our founding on to posterity, ever safer than before. Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Posted at 09:15 AM in Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

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March 08, 2009

Act of futility number 463: the RNC’s black chairman

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

It was a nice try, a nice gesture if you will, for the Republican National Committee to name its first African American chairman to show those snooty Democrats: "Ha! We have one, too! See? You’re not so special!" But apparently – after just a month – the honeymoon is over.

OK, by any measure it’s been over since last Monday when he insulted Rush Limbaugh by describing him as an "entertainer" whose show could get "ugly." There’ve been other comments shedding a light on the dysfunctions of the GOP, as well.

Of course, Steele’s comments made me kinda like the guy, and got me to wondering whether the party who’d endorse that sort of straight-talkin’ leader was maybe not so bad after all.

Um, not so much. Steele’s pie-in-the-sky vision of a Republican Party where the wealthy mingle with the colored and poor in the name of conservative values and party unity is under attack, by…drumroll please…his own party.

These are not people for whom Census figures and population forecasts matter much.

Last Thursday Hope Yen of the Associated Press reported that "In 2007, more than 40 percent of all students in K-12 were minorities — Hispanics, blacks, Asian-Americans and others. That's double the percentage of three decades ago."

Of those, one-fourth of the nation's kindergartners are Hispanic and also represent one-fifth of all K-12 students.

For the fifty-millionth time: minorities are projected to become the majority of the overall U.S. population by 2042 and Latinos will be a full third of the population by 2030.

Michael Steele gets this. He’s talking about reaching people with "off the hook," hippety-hoppity tactics but what he’s thinking about is how to play a flat-out numbers game. More minorities equals more warm voting bodies to ensure the future of the now-faltering Republican Party in this country.

And isn’t that really all the Republican Party should care about?

You’d think. But no, they’re hatin’ on Michael Steele, big-time. Today’s New York Times quotes an email from a black RNC member, Ada Fischer, who last week called on him to resign, saying Steele makes blacks appear foolish.

Frankly, even if that were true, Fischer has no one to blame but her Party leadership, not Steele, for that. He certainly has his shortcomings – little experience managing on a large scale and a bombastic personality are the biggies – but he didn’t elect himself.

I don’t doubt the Republican Party elected Steele to go head-to-head with President Barack Obama and prove that the Republican Party can be the party of the affluent and "the people." I’m just shocked they picked someone with such reasonable viewpoints on the future of minorities in America.

Too bad the GOPers weren’t smart enough to realize the guy has real ideas and intends to do his best to make them reality, which, again, says more about the GOP than it does about Steele.

Who knows what amusing thing Steele and his GOP cabal will bicker about but I have a thought for the future: Though ideologically far apart, once this whole business is over and they’re getting ready to move on to new things, Barack Obama and Michael Steele should get together to write about their experiences this year.

It would be a fascinating behind the scenes look at what it feels like to have the weight of the world’s hopes, expectations – and disappointments – bearing down on you at every moment of your life in the spotlight.

They could call it: It’s tough being "The First."

Posted at 06:02 PM in African American, Current Affairs, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

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February 25, 2009

Help fellow Latinos understand: you don’t leave kids unattended in cars!

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Well, thank goodness little Gael Dominguez is home safe and sound.

If you hadn’t heard, last Sunday morning four-year-old Gael was sitting in the back seat of his family’s SUV that his daddy had left running in front of their house for "just a minute" on Chicago’s northwest side when a thief stole the van – with Gael in it.

I can just imagine the alarm the thief must have felt when he realized there was a small person in the car he’d helped himself to. Certainly not as bad as the feeling dad, 24-year-old Javier Dominguez, had when he walked out and realized what had happened – and then when he had to tell Gael’s mom Elizabeth Cruz. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it.

The thief abandoned the van about a mile away from the family home with Gael inside who, according to his mom Elizabeth, had hidden between two child seats in the back and exchanged no words with the driver, according to Monday’s story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Really? Does that mean he had not been securely fastened into his own child seat – or merely that he was a master at unbuckling himself from it? Shake your head wearily.

Latinos don’t get it when it comes to child vehicle safety – they just don’t. O.K., yes, not all Hispanics, obviously, but too many. Gael Dominguez’ excellent adventure was just the latest in a string of incidents.

We can go back to July when Ricardo Gonzales, a 35-year-old Midlothian, Illinois man was charged with misdemeanor child endangerment for locking his two-year-old and five-year-old daughters in a makeshift cage in his pickup truck (read my column here).

Back on November 28, 2008 seven-month-old Osiel Hernandez was whisked to a hospital to be checked out after spending about 12 hours inside a Dodge Caravan which was stolen when his mom had left it running – with him inside it – at a factory in Skokie as she ran into pick up materials for her job.

There are a million reasons: from ignorance of this country’s laws, to poverty, to desperation…I’d insert a really good quote from a Latino public health specialist here if any of them had wanted to talk about this disturbing issue. But as one Latino community leader told me off-the-record, "that’s one of those things you’re not going to be able to get too many people to talk about." No kidding!

My take: all of these people were poor, relatively recent arrivals to the U.S. (and therefore ignorant of the laws against leaving children unattended in cars), monolingual (all used translators to communicate to police and media), and probably scared of police because of immigration-related anxiety.

And all those like them – in those same life situations - need our help.

It’s not a matter of taking sides over the immigration issue and it’s not about whether parents "should" know better – do a Google search, plenty of U.S.-born citizens make the bone-headed move of leaving their kids in cars, they’rejust usually not scared to call police – it’s about raising awareness in communities.

Simple to say and hard to do because it seems overwhelming, but don’t let it be – talk about these incidents with people, then suspend your desire to judge and reach out to someone who might need a friendly piece of advice about securing their kids in car seats and not leaving them alone in the car.

I talked to JuanValenzuela, an Illinois State Police Sergeant and Public Information Officer and a designated officer for Hispanic Community Affairs:

"We don’t keep statistics on race about who leaves kids in the car unattended," Sgt. Valenzuela told me, "but we do do presentations in local communities where there is a need."

"We can present to specific groups, like at the Mexican Consulate and at immigrant welcoming centers where we teach about our laws. We can be topic-specific when providing presentations," Valenzuela said. "If it’s Latino-related I would provide them but we also have 21 other education police officers in the state."

"If anyone wants to set up a presentation they can reach me directly at valenzj@isp.state.il.us or by calling me at 312/ 814-8368."

His final words on the subject: "We recommend nobody leaves a vehicle with a child in it or with a key in the ignition even if there is no child present and that goes across all lines – NEVER leave a child in a car for any amount of time. Regardless."

Posted at 09:41 PM in Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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February 23, 2009

Newbery Honor-winning advice for writers of all stripes from Margarita Engle

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

People often ask me where I get my inspiration; usually it’s from readers who pepper me with their interesting life stories.

On rare and wonderful occasions, inspiration comes from those I read, like Margarita Engle, an internationally published Cuban-American poet, novelist, and journalist who recently became the first Hispanic author to earn a prestigious Newbery recognition.

I knew her work from when I was a teacher, filling long, hot afternoons with writing lessons based on her 2006 book, The Poet Slave of Cuba.

Her latest book, The Surrender Tree- Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom, is a challenging collection of poems about Rosa, a Cuban concentration camp nurse who turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her. It’s a painful book that demonstrates the human ability to find joy in sorrow.

A tiny, short excerpt from a poem in "Part Two: The Ten Year’s War":

"Jose and I agree to marry.

Together we will serve as nurses,

healing the wounds of slavery,

and the wounds of war."

Margarita was kind enough to share her great honor with me and you. Following is an edited transcript of our conversation last week.

EJC: Recently, the Newbery Award has come under fire for the lack of ethnic diversity in the books and authors it honors and awards. A recent Bloomberg article titled "Blacks, Hispanics Are Rare Heroes with Newbery Kids Books Medal," the journalist argues that the Newbery medal has traditionally been awarded to books featuring predominantly white characters. "Characters depicted in Newbery winners are more likely to be white, male and come from two-parent households than the average U.S. child, according to a Brigham Young University study. The trend has accelerated even as the U.S. has diversified, with fewer black and Hispanic main characters in the past 27 years than in the Civil Rights era of 1951-79."

However, the themes you explore in The Surrender Tree are international and cross-generational which is what, I think, makes this book such a particularly great Newbery Award winner - it doesn't scream "Latino book!!!!"

For that matter your very name does not scream "Latina!" Perhaps incorrectly, that makes me feel like your award is based on the profundity of your ideas and writing and not on the fact that the Newberys had not previously been "diverse."

So based on all that...how do you feel about being a "first" what does that mean to you and to the book publishing world?

M.E.: Thank you. I am so glad that the timeless and universal themes came through, because that was my intention. I think the inner history of ordinary people is a better way to learn history than memorizing the names and dates of famous figures and celebrated events.

I am comfortable with not screaming Latina, because my mother is from Cuba, my father is from Los Angeles, and I think of myself as Cuban-American, half and half, perched on the hyphen. Engle is my husband's last name. At first, I tried to hyphenate the maiden and married surnames, but eventually I decided that writing under my husband's name is an expression of love and loyalty. I don't feel the need to pose as completely Latina. I am of mixed ancestry, both genetically and culturally.

As a "first," I am astounded and grateful, but I also recognize that I am preceded by a long line of brilliant authors who began writing before the time for recognition was ripe. I share this Newbery Honor with them. I am standing on the shoulders of Alma Flor Ada, Tomás Rivera, Pat Mora, Esmeralda Santiago, Juan Felipe Herrera, Gary Soto, and so many others.

EJC: Tell me what it's like being an author of Cuban descent in a country that, generally speaking, looks at most Hispanics and assumes they are Mexican? What does (or doesn't) that experience bring to your writing?

M.E.: When I was a child growing up in Los Angeles, Mexican-Americans often asked me if I was Mexican, and when I said, "Cuban," some thought I was lying, because Cuba was simply not a familiar place. Now, that sort of generalized expectation would not be a problem. There are large Cuban-American communities in cities all over the U.S., including Los Angeles.

EJC: Your writing for young adults really challenges (it certainly challenged me) and pushes. As a teacher of writing – which you are by default – and as a role model for young writers can you please talk about what the devotion to writing might feel or look like for a young adult?

Do they tell you they're overwhelmed by everyone claiming to be a writer? Or are they excited that everyone and anyone can blog? Do they imagine an economy where they can legitimately follow their dreams or is there too much pressure and too little hope of being the next "Twilight" author or JK Rowling?

M.E.: I think it is wonderful that young people keep in touch with each other through the written word in any form, and I am especially delighted that so many young people experiment with poetry. I'm not sure they really feel like they are all writers. A true writer does not put every word out in the open, for all to see.

Like musicians or dancers, we need practice. We rehearse, writing in solitude, erasing ninety percent of our work, and showing only our best ten percent to editors. If ten percent of that fraction is actually published, that's a pretty good success rate. In other words, you have to love the process.

People often tell me they want to write books, but they don't like to read, and they don't like to sit still. In those cases, writing does not strike me as a realistic goal. It is even less realistic to write for the purpose of getting rich and famous. We write to express our thoughts and emotions.

EJC: How about you - you support yourself as an author...what do blogs, Kindle, iPhone readers, dying newspapers, and fragmented attention spans mean to someone who spends painstaking amounts of time crafting a single poem?

M.E.: I try not to worry about changes in technology. Even if nobody reads, I will still write.

EJC: What do you say to struggling writers who are writing day in and out and can't seem to get published, are pressed into giving their work away for free, don't know how to navigate the publishing world (and it's all changing so quickly) and just feel frustrated and ready to quit?

I spoke to a young woman two weeks ago in just this same position and I was at a loss to offer more than "It'll hurt too much to stop so just keep going."

M.E.: Many beginners send their first short stories and poems to the big, famous magazines. That can be terribly discouraging. I started with small, unknown literary journals, and felt wonderfully excited whenever one haiku was accepted. I think we need to ease our expectations, celebrate small successes, and just keep writing because we love to write.

EJC: The Hispanic community has serious problems with education and there are many excellent reasons for it: poverty, lack of parental time, etc., but do you have any culturally unique suggestions for what Latinos can do to get their kids interested in books, reading, and writing?

M.E.: In Latin America, poetry is a force of nature. Poets have always been respected. They were the leaders of independence movements. Elderly Latinos who went to school in the "old countries" still know long poems by heart. They used to name their children after poets. Even illiterate peasants improvised elaborate verses with complex rhyme and meter patterns, holding poetry "duels" at family gatherings and street festivals.

At one time, it was considered very macho for a man to stand up and declaim a dramatic verse in a powerful voice. Women did the same, with romantic poetry. Perhaps this tradition can be revived, while removing the gender-based stereotypes.

As a child, I loved reading because it was an escape, and at the same time, an exploration. I loved The Black Stallion, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. These were stories about young people surviving in isolated places, in creative ways. I also sneaked into the adult section of the library, where I haunted the travel section, reading about faraway lands, and looking at pictures of exotic places.

I think reading is simply an extension of curiosity. Anything parents and teachers can do to give natural curiosity an outlet may eventually lead children into the library or its online equivalent, searching for answers.

Just going for a walk together is an example. My mother is an immigrant with a sort of parallel universe mentality. She took us exploring in Los Angeles City parks as if they were wilderness. We gazed at bugs and flowers, tadpoles and minnows. It didn't matter that our patch of nature was small. She treated it like the Grand Canyon.

She gave us the chance to be amazed.

Posted at 08:55 PM in African American, Books, culture, education, Hispanic/Latino, international relations, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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February 18, 2009

Cough medicine abuse – en mi casa and in yours, too

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

My great thanks to all who sent me well wishes for a speedy recovery over the last two weeks. It sure wasn’t speedy but at least I’m now 90 percent functional.

Your outpourings of affection, suggestions for home remedies – "honey and hot water with the whiskey optional" was a favorite – and vivid descriptions of personal maladies were touching. The warnings were surprising and I’ll share the most shocking one: beware of the cough medicine lurking in your medicine cabinet!

There’s nothing quite like coming to the realization that the dark little bottle of magical elixir that holds your only ticket to getting through your work day – or getting your kids through their school day – can be as dangerous as an unsupervised fifth of Courvoisier.

A well-meaning email from my new pals at www.fivemoms.com asked me to inform you about a real concern that should put you on notice if you tend to keep a few bottles of ‘ol reliable in your medicine cabinet: kids are sucking down cough syrup, bypassing decongestion and going straight to inebriation.

"When I heard about this I couldn’t believe it, I thought I’d seen everything," Hilda Morales, a bilingual educator in San Antonio Texas who is the Latino face of the Five Moms campaign, told me over the phone. "What’s scary about it is that people don’t know about it and it’s so common, especially with how many people keep cough medicine in their homes."

A 2005 report published by Partnership for a Drug-Free America showed that

§ Abuse of Rx/OTC medicines is now so prevalent it is "normalized" among teens.

§ One in 10 (10 percent, or 2.4 million) report abusing cough medicine to get high.

§ More than half of teens (55 percent, or 13 million) didn’t agree strongly that using cough medicines to get high is risky.

Ugh.

The Hispanic statistics (at the time of the report there were 2.8 million U.S. Latino teens in grades 7 – 12) were no less alarming:

· One in eight (13 percent) or 352,000 Hispanic teens report abusing cough medicine to get high

· Only 36 percent of Hispanic teens "learn a lot about the risk of drugs" from their parents

§ 61 percent of Hispanic teens didn’t agree strongly that "taking cough medicine to get high is risky"

"With cough medicine what we’re seeing is a trend that kids are starting at middle school, and when we interviewed high school and college educators they said they had actually heard of it and some even said they themselves had done it in college," Hilda said.

In the Latino community it’s not so much the alone-after-school boredom that gives cabinet-snooping kids the opportunity to imbibe as much as it is the big family parties coupled with a population accustomed to having stores of medication at home (in many Latin American countries you need no prescriptions to buy pain killers or antibiotics – you can just pick them up at your corner drug store).

"I was at a PTA meeting two months ago campaigning and these moms, they could not believe it. They said ‘What are you talking about? We buy three bottles at Wal-Mart so we don’t run out!’" Hilda said.

"I told them that’s fine, but you can’t just have it out, you have to keep it safe, especially when you’re home," she said, "When your comadres and tias and abuelitas are over and we’re having a good time the kids are having their own party."

Ouch! Who knew the Sabado Gigante marathon could be so treacherous?

"I’m really concerned about this," Hilda said. "I didn’t know this was another thing for us to worry about, I thought cough medicine abuse was more in Caucasian families. I was always thinking that as Hispanics, we’re so nosy, we’re always looking in our kids things, checking friends, and looking in the rooms…but no – this has no boundaries. There’s no racism, cough medicine abuse it’s all the way across."

Well, I can certainly vouch for the loving hyper-vigilance of an ultra-nosy Hispanic mom but, clearly, if you come in contact with teens – regardless of their ethnicity – pay attention to signs like dizziness, weird behavior, over-sleepiness, and empty bottles in the trash. Just be aware.

"We’re not saying do not buy cough medicine, it helps us with our colds," Hilda said after rattling off a chilling list of cough medicine OD dangers including heart palpitations, drugged driving and serious addiction. "I tell moms, sisters, cousins: ‘Just take care of it just as if it was alcohol; put it under lock and key."

Posted at 09:10 PM in Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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February 17, 2009

Asian immigration: A family affair

by Esther J. Cepeda

Gross generalization alert: If there’s one thing Hispanics hate is for people to assume they’re all Mexican.

And if there’s one thing Mexican-descended Hispanics hate it’s for people to assume they’re all immigrants – and illegal ones at that.

And if there’s one thing immigrants hate, it’s for people to assume that the issue of illegal immigration is just a "Mexican problem."

And who could blame them? To look at the news coverage, the "broken immigration system" is primarily reported in the context of what it means to Latinos and their extended families, as if every single one of the "12 million" illegal immigrants in the U.S. came from Tijuana.

With the rhetoric heating up yet again I thought I’d talk to someone with an alternative view point on this whole immigration business, which is how I came to meet Karen Narasaki, the Asian American Justice Center’s president and executive director.

AAJC bills itself as the nation's premiere authority on immigration policy as it affects the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, so who better to talk with about what’s going on in immigration land?

Q. Karen, how does the immigration issue hit Asian American homes?

As you know, Asian Americans have a higher percentage of foreign-born residents living in the U.S. so immigration is very much a relevant issue to many families in our community. We did some exit polling [during the November 2007 Presidential election] to find out just how important the issue of immigration was to Asian-Americans and I thought one of the interesting takeaways was that it was very important, and that there were very strong views of how the different [political] parties looked at immigration.

We were looking to see what effect Asian-American votes had on the race and found that 94 percent of Asian-American voters supported increasing programs to help new immigrants learn English and 56 percent of Asian Americans who voted on election day oppose continuing workplace raids. We felt the emerging story on the Asian-American community is that on the economy, healthcare, and immigration, they’re voting for someone with a progressive agenda.

Q. A nice chunk of your polling happened here in Chicago, can you talk a little bit about what you found here?

Tuyet Le, the executive director of the Chicago-based Asian American Institute participated in a tele-briefing posted on our website in which she discussed her findings.

She said that the Chicago Asian American Institute, in conjunction with other groups such as the Illinois Center for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, polled 15 areas in the city and suburbs, though most came from the Chinatown area.

What they found was that [across polling sites] 81 percent of Asian-Americans voted for Obama 16 percent for Sen. John McCain.

Tuyet reported that the top issues were the economy and jobs at 45 percent, then healthcare, and education. Specific to immigration, the top issue in importance was faster processing of family re- unification applications, with 25 percent of respondents favoring a path to legalization.

In terms of party politics, 50 percent of respondents felt the Democrats were very favorable toward immigration reform in contrast to the 46 percent who felt Republicans were unfavorable toward immigration reform. Obviously this debate had a significant influence on how Asian Americans voted and how they perceive each of the parties being responsive to Asian Americans in regard to immigration issues.

In fact, 18-30 year olds overwhelmingly voted for Obama and foreign born voters overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama at even slightly a higher rate than U.S. born Asian Americans. Tuyet said that in Chicago a majority of the survey participants were foreign born which shows that the message is reaching across generations.

Q. What’s the situation with undocumented Asians? We never hear about them. The most recent statistics I found from a March 2006 a report estimated the number of undocumented Asians living in the United States in 2005 was about 1.5 million – 14 percent of the 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, and 12 percent of the Asian population. At the time it was estimated that of the 1.5 million 23 percent were Chinese, followed by Filipinos (17%), Indians (14%), and Koreans (11%).

What's been reported largely has been just the issue of the undocumented and therefore people are under the false impression that most illegal immigrants choose to come in undocumented.

People misunderstand how hard it gets to get in the U.S., people believe [illegal immigrants] have a choice to come in legally but don't.

For Asians, a majority came on a student or tourist visa, or temporary employment visa and overstayed so they don't think of themselves as illegal immigrants because they came with documents and a lot of them are caught in the burueacracy to adjust their status.

Because it is a very different kind of immigration on some levels it does make it difficult. For example, the fact that someone's undocumented status tends to be a secret moreso than in the Latino community where, for instance, many undocumented immigrants come from the same family or village. And that’s one of the reasons why it’s harder to organize the Asian community – I think there is more of a stigma in the Asian community about being undocumented.

Asian kids sometimes don't even know because their parents never even told them! We saw that a lot when advocacy began on the Dream Act.

Again that was seen largely as a "Latino issue" but we found out it was an issue in the Asian community but it wasn’t well known – kids didn't discover it until they were going to college.

For instance, there’s a wide preconception that there aren’t many undocumented in the Chinese community but that's probably higher than any other. If I go to talk to a Chinese group about immigration and ask who knows someone who is undocumented almost no one will raise their hand but then after I talk, people will come up to me individually and say, "I have an auntie" or "an uncle," but they would never publicly admit that.

And the reasons for that vary – for instance, some refugees are undocumented but the numbers are lower so when you talk to Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants about the issues, there can be less sympathy because they largely came here legally and don’t understand [the challenges].

Q. Talk a bit about the "signature" Asian American immigration issue.

It’s the issue of family backlogs. Huge backlogs exist in families where immigrants are citizens and they can bring in spouses, and parents, and minor children from overseas. The backlog grew enormously in part because those who became citizens during the last legalization programs are now finally now trying to get family members over.

In July 2007, 4 million immigrants were in the backlogs and we estimate about half are spouses of legal permanent residents.

So the family concerns flow through all of these issues; the high tech workers, unless they’re already married, they face enormous wait times. And historically extended family immigration [of brothers and sisters] is perceived as being more important to Asians than Latinos.

What’s very important to Asians is that a big part of the backlog is family members where for Latinos there are larger numbers of undocumented living here versus those with a backlog of families waiting – for Latinos that number is only about 10 percent.

Q. So what’s your best prediction about the immigration issue under the Obama administration? Are we going to see any movement this year?

It’s a little early in the game… we know this is an issue Obama had spoken a lot about in the campaign. Most people didn’t notice because it wasn’t an issue they were following but every time he spoke of comprehensive immigration reform he would talk about family backlogs.

The administration knows this is an issue that needs paying attention to but with the economy it’s very difficult to talk about any kind of immigration – people are very skittish about additional immigration.

But I think an argument can be made that solving this issue and helping families come together – especially in times when families need to work together – people will be able to see that if you take care of this issue now it would be helpful to the economy in the long term.

One of the things people tend to look at regarding family immigration is the degree to which it helps that family, but they don’t understand that it’s important in helping all people thrive because immigrants buy houses, buy businesses, send kids to college, and pool their money.

This is why the Asian community has been relatively successful in integrating in the U.S. – they live with other family members who help them get jobs, learn English, and learn the culture.

Family immigration has been at the core of U.S. immigration for about 100 years now. People talk about changing the immigration system [to limit family immigration] but they lose perspective of the role the family plays in helping new immigrants become part of America.

Posted at 09:22 PM in Chicago, Current Affairs, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, international relations, kids/teens, politics | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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February 05, 2009

CPS needs more Latino teachers – but only highly qualified ones

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Wednesday a cadre of concerned parents gathered at Chicago’s City Hall to deliver a message to incoming Chicago Public School’s Chief Ron Huberman:

CPS needs more Hispanic teachers.

And who could argue with that? According to the group, Latinos United for Educational Priorities, which spells LUPE in Spanish, Latinos represent 41 percent of all enrolled CPS students but Hispanic employees, including teachers and other staff, only number 13 percent.

Alderman Manny Flores was there, and was quoted by Leticia Espinosa in Thursday’s Hoy – Chicago’s Spanish-language daily newspaper – thusly:

"[This situation] is a crisis in our community and [shows] a lack of respect," Flores said. "We ask that Huberman tell us his vision and explain to us how he plans on ending this tragedy we’re facing. Let’s hear how he thinks he’ll reduce drop-out rates and assist our students in reaching their maximum potential."

The statistics are stunning, the number of Hispanic and Latino students who dropout is shameful – 45 percent and higher depending on whether you look locally, statewide, or nationally. And the number who start but never complete college is depressing – about 20 percent of those who even try to go.

But, there are some other stunning numbers for Ron Huberman and the LUPE members to consider, the number of highly-qualified Latino teachers available to accept such positions, and the number of minority students across the U.S. who are taught by low-quality teachers who just happen to speak Spanish.

In November, a study was released that detailed how frequently high-poverty schools employ teachers to teach a subject for which they don't have an undergraduate degree.

The Associated Press story said, "Math can be hard enough, but imagine the difficulty when a teacher is just one chapter ahead of the students. It happens, and it happens more often to poor and minority students."

In their report, CORE PROBLEMS: Out-of-Field Teaching Persists in Key Academic Courses, Especially in America's High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools, the Education Trust, a children's education advocacy group, found that "in America’s secondary schools, low-income students and students of color are about twice as likely as other students to be enrolled in core academic classes taught by out-of-field teachers… who possess neither certification in the subject they have been assigned to teach nor an academic major in that subject."

They found that in middle and high school mathematics, for example:

· Four in ten classes in high-poverty schools are taught by an out-of-field teacher, compared with 16.9 percent in schools serving the fewest low-income students.

· In schools with high percentages of African-American and Latino students, nearly one-third of mathematics classes are taught by out-of-field teachers, compared with 15.5 percent in schools with relatively few minority students.

I can tell you from my own experience that this is all 100 percent true, there are people in classrooms across Illinois today who are little more than glorified babysitters but they’re certified to teach bilingual students because they were able to pass the tests to prove they have a proficiency in English (or Spanish, if that isn’t their native language).

The Education Trust points out that "while out-of-field teaching is particularly acute in mathematics and in high-poverty and high-minority schools, the problem is pervasive. Nationwide, more than 17 percent of all core academic courses (English, math, social studies, and science) in grades 7-12 are taught by an out-of-field teacher. In the middle grades alone, the rate jumps to 40 percent."

Why? Because seven years ago, Congress required all core academic classes be taught by "highly qualified" teachers and asked districts and states to assure that poor and minority children weren't taught disproportionately by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers.

That federal law gave states wide latitude to define "highly qualified," and most states used that discretion to deem nearly every teacher as "highly qualified." The U.S. Department of Education essentially looked the other way, refusing to use its authority to press states either to set high standards for teachers or to solve the equity problems.

Today, secondary teachers certified in one subject continue to be assigned frequently to teach classes in additional subjects for which they're often unqualified and unprepared.

States generally sweep this problem under the rug – but out of necessity, not malevolence. Frankly, there are probably one or two bilingually fluent "real" math teachers in Illinois and they are probably working for somewhere close to a zillion bucks at a "good" school.

And yes, that is a direct result of there not being enough role model teachers who can show students that Hispanics can be totally cool and geeky-smart, too.

That’s why I agree with the premise that CPS teachers and staff should be more reflective of the students they are entrusted to teach, but I advise the members of LUPE to be careful what they wish for.

Posted at 07:42 AM in Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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January 24, 2009

Obama rescinds the Mexico City Policy AKA the global gag rule

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

I was never what you'd call a rabid G. Dubya Bush-hater, but I do remember the day I first went "oh crap, we're all screwed!"

That day was January 22, 2001, G.W.'s first full day in office when he reinstated the Mexico City Policy – otherwise known as the global gag rule – which effectively mandated that no U.S. family planning assistance could be provided to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that use funding from any other source to perform abortions in cases other than a threat to the woman’s life, rape or incest. That also went for NGOs that provided counseling and referral for abortion; or lobbied to make abortion legal or more available in their country.

That day happened thirty-eight days before I "celebrated" the one-year anniversary of my daughter Wren's birth – and subsequent death – from a major birth defect. I could have elected to abort this unfortunate incident away when I got the diagnosis but I shook the dice; which is just another way of saying hey, I'm not "pro-abortion" but I'm sure grateful to have had the actual choice to make.

Friday I was thrilled that women in Mexico and many other countries around the world will now have a better chance at making that choice, too.

On his third day in office, President Obama sent a quiet, late-Friday afternoon e-mail through his Press Office announcing he revoked the so-called "Mexico City Policy:"

"It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.

"For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.

"It is time that we end the politicization of this issue. In the coming weeks, my Administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.

"I have directed my staff to reach out to those on all sides of this issue to achieve the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies. They will also work to promote safe motherhood, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls.

"In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund. By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries," said President Obama.

I was too young to reproduce in August 1984 when President Reagan directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand their limitations to withhold USAID funds from NGOs that provided advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, and information on lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available.

When it was rescinded by President Clinton in 1993 I was barely aware of how important his reversing of The Mexico City Policy was, but Dubya's first-day move hit me hard. Right in the uterus, in fact.

For some it's so easy to hate the poverty-stricken, so easy to dismiss them as dirty and uneducated – a scourge which shouldn't be reproducing anyway; so easy to damn them for getting themselves pregnant then damn them for searching out alternatives.

But it's not so easy to be a young, poor and many times illiterate woman in the slums of the Dominican Republic or Mexico City taking matters into their own hands by throwing themselves down staircases or slugging down homemade concoctions of soap, tea, and extra-strength aspirin to poison themselves into an abortion.

Those sorts of very common situations tend to lead to the death of an unborn fetus, anyway, albeit inside the body of a dead mother – not exactly within the spirit of the policy if you ask me.

Obama promises to open up a "fresh conversation" on family planning… it will be ugly, but hopefully, it can lead to less dead babies – and less dead mommies – than during the past eight years.

Posted at 09:27 PM in crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, Current Affairs, education, Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, international relations, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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January 03, 2009

A new American food agenda: regulate food stamp usage

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

News flash: as expected, the economic downturn and rise in gas and food prices has goosed the number of people receiving food stamps – nearly 1.4 million Illinoisans in November alone, according to our friends at the Associated Press.

Consider this: we have an obesity epidemic sweeping our nation with children as young as five becoming the newest victims of weight-controllable Type-2 diabetes.

What if, once economic woes stabilized, President Obama decided to put health and nutrition policy in the spotlight? What if he made one simple change that would affect the health and well-being of millions and millions of people?

What if he simply changed the rules for what a person can and can't buy with food stamps?

If the fight against hunger went hand in hand with the fight against obesity and obesity-related diseases like heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, the country would be a fitter place.

Think about it: right now, nearly 30 million children and adults receive assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – the new name for the federal Food Stamp Program since last October – and there are precious few restrictions on what can be bought with them.

For instance, the Women Infant Children (WIC) program provides mothers who meet the income requirements with vouchers specifically for milk, eggs, cheese, cereals and staples such as peanut butter and pure fruit juices.

But once the children in the household get up above toddler age and the family relies solely on food stamps, its open season. Fruit Loops, Cheetos, Pop Tarts, frozen pizzas, hotdogs? Sure!

According to SNAP guidelines, breads/cereals, fruits and vegetables, meats/fish/poultry and dairy products are fine. Even seeds and plants which produce food for the household are allowable, but as you can see, those are very broad categories.

Of course, any form of tobacco, booze, pet foods, household supplies and prepared foods that can be eaten in the store are prohibited but everything else is perfectly allowable.

And I can tell you from personal experience, that you could inflict some severe malnutrition on a family by stocking the fridge with SNAP-approved beef jerky, bologna, pizza rolls, frozen waffles, potato chips and whipped cream.

To be fair, it's really hard not to buy non-perishables such as boxes of instant mac n' cheese and cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli over fresh fruit and vegetables because they're so cheap comparatively, and won't spoil in the fridge.

But that's the other thing: food stamp recipients are not counseled on sound nutrition basics, not only do they not understand that frozen fruits and vegetables are nearly as nutritionally sound as fresh, but they also don't get why Doritos are not healthy for their and their children's bodies.

Yes, I know intake counselors and case workers are stretched to their limits as it is, but that's why the food stamp program needs to be seen by the incoming administration as not just the "food safety net" but also as an opportunity to shape how the poorest among us understand their dietary needs and a chance to teach them how to take control over their own well-being through healthier food choices.

As it stands now, a family of four can get up to $588 a month for groceries through the program. That's not much. But imagine the bang-for-the-nutritional-buck if there was a master list of certain types of foods that were not allowable for purchase with the electronic SNAP debit card; not things such as cake mixes and frostings such as a family might purchase for a birthday or other special occasion, but items such as snack bars which are effectively cookie and candy bars disguised as misleadingly "healthy" granola bars.

Much is made of what sorts of life skills the poorest among us need to thrive in this country including financial literacy and computer literacy – throw nutritional literacy on the pile and we stand a better chance at more, ahem, well-rounded citizens.

Posted at 02:55 PM in African American, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, education, Food and Drink, Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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December 26, 2008

A Credit Crunch Christmas: lessons for next year

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

"This is the worst Christmas of my entire life!" said my beautiful, 7-year-old nephew on Christmas Eve, shortly after all the gifts had been unwrapped. There hadn't been that many, and his haul had not included that one thing that had topped his list to Santa.

I noticed it early on in the evening: the usual excess of brightly-wrapped presents was but a small – yet respectable – pile that didn't over-power the tree like in years past. I wondered how the six kiddies in my family would take their first – but certainly not last – credit crunch Christmas.

There was no way to prepare them for it: grade-schoolers don't read the Financial Times, they don't pay any attention to the evening news and blissfully overlook their parent's pained faces at the dinner table.

In my family alone a devastating illness, paired with a job loss (unemployment) and slashed hours (underemployment) made for a slightly less cheery affair than usual, and the kids were the only ones honest enough to say so.

Christmas cards that in years past had been stuffed with dead presidents or gift cards contained only warm greetings. The adults limited presents to the children and the kids – accustomed to way over-the-top outpourings of purchased appreciation – looked around, confused. "This is it?"

Yes, it was.

On the day after Christmas – quickly coined this year's second "Black Friday" of the year because of the bargains retailers are using to salvage the shopping season – when I and half of America was out buying the seven million batteries necessary to power all the kiddie gadgets, I heard this in line at every store I visited: "I TOLD him what I wanted and he didn't get it for me, at least now I can get it for myself on sale!"

How did we as a society let it come to this? How is it that we trained our children – and ourselves – to believe that even though a lot of lip service is paid to the idea that Christmas is truly about being with your loved ones, it really is all about the goods?

If the collapse of the credit markets and the bursting of the housing bubble is a natural market correction that will eventually make our economy stronger, then this first-of-a-series of Christmases where counting our blessings is the true centerpiece of the holiday will surely make our spirits stronger.

Despite every parent and grandparent's desire to make all our children's wishes come true – at least one day a year – not maxing out our credit cards on that fool's errand is a great lesson to pass on. It certainly won't be easy but we'll have plenty of time to practice.

Next year, through the beginning of an economic recovery, and then in 2010 when the inflation resulting from the effects of (a successful) proposed stimulus plan start hitting us square in the pocketbook, there will have to be a re-interpretation of what Christmas means to our families.

Yes, Virginia, and sweet nephew, there is a Santa Claus.

And he loves you – as does your entire family – even if he doesn't swoop down the chimney with a pair of diamond earrings and the latest incarnation of Guitar Hero.

Posted at 08:29 AM in advertising/marketing/media/merchandising, Current Affairs, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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December 10, 2008

Minority's digital divide destined for the history books

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

President-elect Barack Obama has been bombarded with wish lists and one more was thrown on the pile last week by a group of prominent Latino interest groups looking for the new administration to ease the so-called digital divide.

In a four-point plan released earlier this month, organizations such ASPIRA Association, Inc., the Latinos in Science and Technology Association (LISTA), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc. (IPR/HE), among others, called for making high-speed internet access more affordable to all minorities in general, but specifically for Hispanics.

Their statement said the Obama administration should "take the necessary steps to ensure that every American has access to high speed internet service, and provide the necessary tools to enable children across the country to consider careers in science and technology."

Yes, but it won’t be Obama who takes the necessary steps, it’ll be the Nokias, Motorolas and Research in Motions (think: Blackberry) of the world who will make that happen – and they’re already erasing the divide.

Do a bit of amateur sleuthing: go into the poorest neighborhood you dare visit and simply observe. You won’t see hoards of youngsters (or oldsters for that matter) tapping away on a Mac Book at a Starbucks but I’ll bet you a million dollars you’ll see people of all ages thumb-typing on a phone.

Yep, the cellular phone is the personal computer of the next generation.

They’re cheaper than even marginally-loaded laptops and come with high speed internet access built in. Sure, the high school kids aren’t whipping ‘em out to Google the Pythagorean theorem, but more and more the college kids are doing just that.

Even more frequently they and their non-degree seeking friends and families are opening doors of opportunity with their cell phones, following trends seen all across the globe of impoverished people empowering themselves through the power of a hand-held communication device.

In March of 2007, Pew Internet & American Life Project, along with the Pew Hispanic Center, surveyed more than 6,000 Latino adults by telephone, in both Spanish and English, to find out the reasons for Hispanic online absence. Back then, even though Latinos comprised 14 percent of the U.S. adult population, only 56 percent went online compared to 71 percent of non-Latino whites and 60 percent of non-Latino blacks. Plus there was a big drop off when it came to the Spanish-only speaking segment of U.S. population.

Those who didn’t complete high school made up just 31 percent of online Latinos, whereas 89 percent of those with a college degree went online and Internet connections in Latino homes were found to be considerably lower than their white counterparts with 79 percent of Latinos having a connection of some sort, compared with 92 percent.

At that time, the cost of broadband connections was considered a barrier (and that hasn’t changed) but what has changed is the proliferation of cell phones with texting, picture and video capacity and reasonably well-functioning internet browsers.

Today in the marketing world we’re soooo post dot-com-boom, it’s now all about getting our .mobi sites up as fast as possible so millions of consumers bored at school or work, in traffic or on the train can access our information, goods, and services quickly and easily from the keyhole-sized window of their cell-phone.

Bored Latinos are no less interested in looking through that keyhole.

A November report in Multichannel News written by Laura Martinez said this about the Hispanic mobile mania: "The market is too large to ignore. According to Simmons Research, there are over 18 million Hispanic wireless subscribers, and recent data compiled by Ping Mobile shows 66% of Hispanics use text messaging on a daily basis, compared to 36% of the general market."

"Mobile content is going to be huge among U.S. Hispanics," said Lee Durham, president of LSN Mobile, which this year partnered with Telemundo and Azteca América to offer users local news and weather updates on their mobile devices. While the trend has been largely driven by the big broadcast networks, it is also catching on among smaller players such as V-me, Sorpresa, MTV Tr3s, mun2 and WAPA-TV."

Dosvedanya digital divide! Just as they’ve done in remote villages in India, Bottswana and New Guinea, cell phones – and those who innovate them – will democratize information for the next generation of the underserved black, brown, and plain-old-poor in America.

So let’s leave Obama out of this one. He’s got more pressing issues – such as how to make himself the first Crackberry President in history – to worry about an issue that will correct itself through the power of free markets.

Posted at 10:10 PM in advertising/marketing/media/merchandising, African American, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, Science, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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November 29, 2008

Under-qualified teachers in high-poverty schools need a No Teacher Left Behind law.

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Last week a study was released that detailed how frequently high-poverty schools employ teachers to teach a subject for which they don't have an undergraduate degree.

It certainly happened to my students – I was one of those teachers. I taught pre-algebra, algebra 1, and algebra 2 as a bilingual teacher to low-income Spanish speakers in a north suburban high school in Illinois. Was I always "just a chapter ahead?" Heck yeah it happened – my undergrad was in journalism! But let me start back at the beginning…

They found that in middle and high school mathematics, for example:

· Four in ten classes in high-poverty schools are taught by an out-of-field teacher, compared with 16.9 percent in schools serving the fewest low-income students.

· In schools with high percentages of African-American and Latino students, nearly one-third of mathematics classes are taught by out-of-field teachers, compared with 15.5 percent in schools with relatively few minority students.

Tell me about it. When I started teaching all I cared about was providing excellent teaching to the neediest of students – the poor ones who couldn't speak English. I passed the state of Illinois' exams to prove I was fluent in written and spoken Spanish and assured the principal of the school who had approached me about the position that I could definitely teach algebra.

Well, that part wasn't a complete lie – for the most part the classes were a walk in the park for two reasons: 1) I love math and found all the material covered in the state-and-federal-teaching-standard-approved text books to be super-easy and 2) the students were operating a good two full grade-levels behind their peers and needed to be taught the most basic math skills before even tackling the more abstract aspects of Algebra. It was tragic.

And why, you ask? Because many students showed up to class with no more than a Mexican fifth-grade education. Because every year for the past three years the high school had burned through yet another non-math-degreed bilingual teacher (the guy before me had been dismissed for stealing money from the soccer team). And because, generally speaking, kids in bilingual ed got promoted no matter what their grades or abilities were.

I had kids in pre-algebra who didn't have the basics of multiplication or division down pat, and kids in algebra 2 who absolutely could not maneuver the very simplest of algebraic equations. It didn't help that they were stuck with the odd, hard-core teacher who insisted on teaching mostly in English – the language of the work-force they'd be entering in a few months.

Still, I was a true-believer and felt that as long as I brushed up on all my lessons the day before – and took full advantage of tutoring from the real math teachers who were blown away by my dedication to uphold the department's math standards and get my crews up to snuff like the white kids – everything would be alright.

It was and it wasn't. There were times I fumbled a lesson and confused the kids more than I taught them, but mostly I worked my ass off and learned – then learned how to teach – complex lessons that boggled even the "regular ed" kids. Not that they are immune.

How can this happen even in Illinois, which has some of the most stringent teaching requirements in the nation?

Seven years ago, Congress required all core academic classes be taught by "highly qualified" teachers and asked districts and states to assure that poor and minority children weren't taught disproportionately by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers.

But, the federal law gave states wide latitude to define "highly qualified," and most states used that discretion to deem nearly every teacher as "highly qualified." The U.S. Department of Education essentially looked the other way, refusing to use its authority to press states either to set high standards for teachers or to solve the equity problems.

Apparently, secondary teachers certified in one subject continue to be assigned frequently to teach classes in additional subjects for which they're often unqualified and unprepared. States may be sweeping this problem under the rug – but out of necessity, not malevolence. Frankly, there are probably one or two bilingually fluent "real" math teachers in Illinois and they are probably working for somewhere close to a zillion bucks at a "good" school. So, my students were stuck with me.

As it turns out, they started cracking down at the end of the school year – 2006 – and despite my master's degree in education, I was terminated from my math teaching gig and offered a job back in the primary grades where my undergraduate degree supposedly would have no bearing on my ability to teach well.

So when the last bell of the school year rang, the rapport and trust I'd built with the lowest achievers in my school went out the window. The phenomenal gains in math ability that almost every single one of my students made throughout the year came to a screeching halt – as did the incredible gains in English-language acquisition most of them made. There was no candidate in sight who could do the job better than me but it didn't matter: after summer break my students would be welcomed back to class by yet another new person who probably would not last.

"Conversations about the achievement gap often turn too easily to what’s not happening in students’ homes. These data make clear that we need to put much more emphasis on what’s not happening in classrooms," said Ross Wiener, vice president of The Education Trust said in the press release they sent me. "Unless we boost the overall strength of our teaching force and ensure that all young people have equal access to well-prepared teachers, other strategies to improve student achievement are unlikely to succeed."

Hear, hear! And unless school systems across the country start making it easier for teachers who really care to teach the most underprivileged students in the toughest schools – but can't afford yet another four or five years of pricey post-secondary classes to bone up on those core classes – there will never be enough highly-qualified teachers to go around.

Posted at 08:35 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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November 27, 2008

Saving yourself for marriage: a quaint new custom for the next generation

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Back in 1996, when Melody LaLuz turned 16, she'd already seen it all: friends gettin' busy, gettin' sick and gettin' pregnant, and she wasn't having any of it.

When she learned that 2,000 teenage girls get pregnant everyday and 52,000 cases of sexually transmitted diseases are diagnosed daily (10,000 in teenagers) at a True Love Waits assembly at Lane Technical High School, she vowed to stay a virgin until she got married. What Melody didn't expect was that no one, not even her family, would think this was a good idea.

"I went home and I said, 'Mami – I’m going to wait until I get married to have sex' and she was skeptical," a now 28-year-old Melody told me four days before her wedding this Saturday. "She said 'How is this possible? Oh my god you’re not going to be able to get a man! And what if you married and you’re not compatible?'"

And so, four days before their wedding night, Melody the 28-year-old virgin and Claudaniel Fabien her 30-year-old "renewed-virgin" fiancé who's been abstinent for the past seven years – who have never even tongue-kissed!!! – addressed the question of…compatibility.

"Well, if we don’t get it right the first time we’re going to do it again, and, again and again!" laughed Claudaniel, better known to his friends as CD.

Uhhhhhh…but seriously, what if it's a flop? I mean, geez, not even any kissing?!?!

"I told her if we date I don’t even want to kiss until we get married – I’m not going to start something we can’t finish!" CD said. "There is such a sexual tension between us, we have to keep physical boundaries…no we don’t have any fears or concerns that physically anyone's going to be inept."

Melody and CD met in July 2006 in a New York airport as they were waiting for a plane to Uganda, Africa where they were headed on an abstinence mission trip to teach young people in the AIDS-ravaged countryside the value of blood-testing, commitment and faithfulness. As they visited orphanages bursting with over 2,000 children who were orphaned by AIDS-stricken parents, the couple sparked a friendship which will culminate on Saturday with their first kiss – after they're pronounced man and wife.

So what's it like being pure in the 21st century?

"People would always tell me I was crazy, they'd say 'Girrrrrl you do not know what you're missing!' I'd say 'What am I missing, baby-mama-drama, getting herpes?'" Melody said. "The young woman who came to talk to us at school was gorgeous and so I thought, 'See? I can be fine and abstinent.' Today I go around talking to other young women and being that living role model." Melody is now a program director for the What's Good abstinence program which operates out of the Lydia Home on the Northwest side of Chicago.

CD, who sowed his wild oats as a freshman at college then made the commitment to value and respect himself and others on way-deeper-than-surface level, responded to my pointed inquiry about whether their respective pledges were an expression of a freakishly deep religious faith.

"When we're in the schools we intentionally don't talk too much about our faith because this message is for those who walk with the faith and for those who do not," CD, now also an abstinence educator and a news editor for the Confederation of Spanish-American Families said. "The religion – that’s a completely different talk, that’s not the be-all-and-end-all of the abstinence message. This movement is for everyone, it's to have a healthy lifestyle regardless. I don’t ever want people to feel like they got Jesus after talking to us, no."

"We're both Christians," Melody chimed in, "but it’s more to do with our spirituality because your belief system affects your values. The principles that are behind this – self control, delay of self-gratification, a vision and goal for a future – are just useful in life."

And how well does their example go over in the Latino community where teen girls get pregnant at a rate of twice the national average every year?

"We're both from broken homes and both felt the repercussions but it’s still hard," Melody said. "We’ve both had those moments where people aren't havin' it. Being a Latina livin' in the hood near Logan Square I hear a lot of 'I don’t want it, don’t need it!' but I'm surrounded by people already on their second marriage, having had one or two abortions…there's a mentality in the hood that that’s just the way it is. No! It doesn’t have to be that way."

But, even Melody and CD will readily admit that their chosen path hasn't been easy. Frankly, during the course of our conversation I intuited (while blushing profusely) that while they've savored their journey together, they're realllllly ready for it to be over.

I won't go into specifics, but if there are news reports of a mild earthquake in the Chicagoland area Saturday night, you'll know why!

"There is such a desire – but it’s rooted in deep friendship, love, and respect. Our desire for each other is based on love and concern for the other person." CD gushed as he visualized their wedding night. "There’s nothing like knowing someone loves you 100%. We’re not afraid. We're looking forward to it like crazy."

Posted at 09:15 AM in Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, education, Health/Medicine/nutrition, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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November 23, 2008

Boys perform badly in school because many teachers are "anti-boy"

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

It's two days before parent-teacher conference night and I had to sign this note, written to me by my 7-year-old son:

"Dear Mom and Dad, I didn't follow Mrs. S's direction. I'm sorry."

When asked what the infraction was, my darling told me – as he held back big, fat tears – that he had been tapping on his desk during quiet time.

My precocious 7-year old – the one who has a seven-piece drum kit in his room and has been taking private lessons to learn such hits as "Iron Man" and "Purple Haze" – got in trouble at school because he was tapping when he should have been quiet. I never have to wonder why he and his brother hate school.

If you're a boy, school is not just hard, it's hard time – I should know.

When I was their age I was pretty much a boy, too. Talkative, quick to raise my hand to answer an easy question – and just as likely to answer without being called on – prone to staring out the window and constantly fidgeting at my desk, I was way more like the boys in my class than the prim and proper girls who were my teachers' favorites.

I can't tell you how many times I was put in the corner – or out in the hallway – yelled at for talking too much, or otherwise snapped at for being overly boisterous. Mrs. Smith, my third grade teacher at St. Andrew's School in Chicago, once resorted to begging me to stop whistling in class, "because it makes the angel's cry." For eight years I got good grades in all subjects except for behavior. At graduation I was voted the class clown.

While you can't deny that teachers have the incredibly difficult task of teaching 20-30 kids all at once, the economics of the quiet behavior required to make sure at least some of them learn something means that boys have it tough in school.

Every couple of years or so someone writes another book saying as much and pointing to the American school system for turning boys off of school. The latest entry is The Trouble With Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do, by Peg Tyre.

In it, she details how the most popular educational practices (sitting motionless while being lectured to, reading quietly about a topic, writing answers to questions) fly in the face of how boys' physical chemistry hardwires them to learn (by doing, if you hadn't figured it out). Of course she got attacked by militant feminists, complaining about misogyny, etc., but her book offers keen insight into why so many boys will end up in jail rather than in a corporate boardroom after a mere 13 or 14 years in the classroom.

It's a great book to read if you don't remember your school years well and want to be depressed about every single boy who is almost literally chained to his desk all day (as a special and regular ed. teacher, I saw it all, folks!).

Mostly it's a helpful tool for understanding your kid and interacting with his teacher in a way that will make him or her see your young darling as more than just the daily pain in the ass.

Read the book if you have boys, or if you ever plan on having boys, or if you remember being a boy and need to send some kind thoughts into the ether to other boys who are struggling in school, probably at this very moment!

Seriously, you'd be shocked at how differently teachers treat girls and boys. To say that the current educational system, in which women are the predominant-gendered teacher, is rigged against boys is the understatement of the year.

Let me tell you: the way female teachers talk about their students – especially the rambunctious male ones – in the teacher's lounge would make you cry. "Billy won't sit down and shut up," "That James needs drugs," "If I were Greg's mother, I'd kill myself." I spent most of my lunch periods alone in my classroom to keep away from it.

We're lucky…very lucky! My 7-year-old darling has a wonderful young teacher (in stark contrast to the old battleaxes my 10-year-old has had to deal with) who will tell us how great the kid usually is, before moving on to more pressing matters.

Don't email me; of course I don’t mean "every-single-teacher," but too many, take my word for it. Of course, that's the word coming from someone who never quite acted the way she was supposed to, even as a teacher.

As I signed the note that's to be delivered to the always-loving Mrs. S tomorrow, I told my darling "It's OK, sweetheart, I know exactly how you feel."

Posted at 08:06 PM in crime/violence/gangs/poverty, culture, education, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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November 13, 2008

The tale of the tape: child almost gets left behind

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Two days before Columbia University Teachers College’s Campaign for Education Equity announced its soon-to-be-published research papers on the topic of poverty as the key barrier to closing U.S. education gap – I got a personal taste of how children in this country get left behind despite the massive amounts of resources being poured into education.

I was sitting in my living room Tuesday, working on the computer when my doorbell rang. Out in the cold drizzle stood a squat forty-ish Hispanic woman in a worn coat and scarf accompanied by a young, equally-damp eleven-ish girl. The woman asked me if I spoke Spanish and when I replied in the affirmative she asked for my help.

Her story – which I have no reason to doubt – was that she and her daughter had been walking the streets of my suburb all morning trying to gather materials for a school project and the girl, who’d been wearing brand new snow boots, was now suffering from bleeding feet. They wanted to know if I’d be kind enough to lend them a pair of shoes so they could complete their walk home.

Once it dawned on me that my garage door was up and my car inside was parked in front a rack piled with worn-out running shoes destined for the local Goodwill, I realized why they’d stopped at my house.

I coaxed them inside to the warmth of my home so the girl could put on my two-sizes-too-big pair of shoes, and got mom to tell me about their morning.

They’d set out that Veteran’s Day morning to gather the materials for a class project. Using the school – which services both the upper-middle class families who live in my neighborhood, as well as the low-income families that surround it – as their compass, they’d gotten lost in the tangle of cul-de-sacs and dead-ends in their search for the public library.

After two hours they headed back onto Main street and into a community center which opened a few years ago to assist the booming Latino population, looking for a computer. "But they told me to come back another day because the Internet was not working," Mom told me.

They then walked the three-quarters of a mile to Walgreens to buy colored construction paper and adhesive tape…which they ended up not being able to afford.

Stupefied by the situation, I fished out a brand new roll of tape, and offered hot chocolate – oblivious to the next request.

"She has to do a report on ‘Women in the Revolutionary War’ and we’re not going to be able to get to the library now," Mom said sheepishly as the young girl with the bloody, blistered feet literally squirmed in embarrassment, "Can she use your computer?"

What to most people would have amounted to no more than a routine annoyance – "Geez, I gotta get supplies for my kid’s school project!" – became for this family an epic odyssey that nearly ended badly.

We’re all concerned about the economy and our jobs but who among us can honestly say we don’t have nearly 24/7 access to an Internet-accessible computer? Who among us has ever not had enough money to buy a 99-cent item at Walgreens? How many times have we been so desperate to provide for our children that we literally relied on the kindness of strangers?

Billions of dollars are spent every year in researching and analyzing what keeps kids from succeeding in schools; the answer to ensuring no children get "left behind" isn’t more cash to schools, it’s more resources to people – a task lying far out of the scope of any school district and thus seemingly impossible.

According to Wednesday’s announcement, on November 17 and 18, the Campaign for Educational Equity will outline a comprehensive national plan that would deliver $15,000 to one million students whose families fall within 75 to 125 percent of the federal poverty line.

The difference between this plan and others I’ve seen in the past is that it funds the standard smaller class size and effective teaching initiatives but also "a full array of out-of-school assistance from in utero through age 18, including prenatal care, after-school tutoring, health care, nutrition and physical education, and family support."

According to the press release, the $15,000 investment would include federal, state and local funding but also recoup many of it’s costs "through subsequent reductions in costs for special education and compensatory educational services for older students and savings from the reduction in costs in health care, crime, and welfare that are associated with poorer educational outcomes and the increases in worker productivity and tax revenue associated with improved educational outcomes."

Most people don’t buy that line of thinking, under the guise that it isn’t their job to provide unknown schoolchildren with all the infrastructure that those kids’ parents should be providing.

If you think that’s not your job, then whose job is it? On Tuesday, it was mine, and I did it happily. Mom and girl got home armed with 12 pages of Internet research on the role of women in the Revolutionary War.

Maybe when the Campaign for Educational Equity’s full report comes out next week it’ll get national media play and shine a spotlight on those who really don’t have any of the social and financial resources most of us take for granted – those who have to ask strangers for shoes, and tape, and information just to get simple fifth-grade class reports completed.

Posted at 07:55 AM in Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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October 23, 2008

Chicago's third-world math scores a disgrace

"600 words by Esther J. Cepeda"

This is why I cackle when I hear presidential candidates talk about school funding.

Because you can pour all the money you can imagine into a school system, and by the time the teacher’s unions take all of their benefits, and top non-union administrators take their six-figure salaries out, teachers-secretaries-helpers, consultants and specialists get paid, kids STILL end up getting the short end of the stick.

Get this: Chicago Public Schools total budget for 08-09 is 6.2 Billion dollars for approximately 400,000 students. The operating budget is 5.2 Billion dollars, or $13,000 per kid.

So what do you get when you pour $13,000 on a Chicago Public School students? A proficiency in math that "performs no differently than in third world nations," according to John Dossey of Illinois State University as quoted in today’s Chicago Sun-Times. The study he co-authored says just 13 percent of CPS eight-graders were proficient in math, putting them far far behind global powerhouses such as Signapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and on par with Armenia, Slovenia and Scotland.

Yesterday at the Executive’s Club of Chicago CEO Breakfast I listened to Martin Slark, Vice Chairman and CEO of Molex, Inc. talk about leading truly global companies (Chicago-based Molex does 73 percent of its 3.3 billion dollars in sales outside of the U.S.) and heard him say that China’s growing dominance in the world has less to do with cheap labor than with mind power.

"The Chinese value education, we even designed our matched savings benefits to be tied to their children’s education because they feel so strongly about it," Slark said. "People are worried about China’s cheap labor. China is now competing with Africa as a cheap labor source. If you really want to worry about China, you should be worried about all the engineers they graduate each year."

Ouch.

It’s 100 percent true though. All of the countries listed as the tops in math have, as a solid tenet of their culture, a fundamental respect for and commitment to education – something this country pays a lot of lip service to, but generally doesn’t deliver on for those who weren’t born with silver spoons in their mouths.

As for the educational institutions in this country, they are complicit in the robbing the U.S. of its American dreams. From exorbitantly-priced universities to exhorbitantly-priced neighborhood day-care centers, anyone who’s even remotely familiar with the machinations of the educational system in this country knows it’s a racket.

There’s way too much money to be made in coming up with new curricula, selling "innovative teaching" consulting services, shiny new politically correct text-books, and pricey tutoring services for kids as young as seven who can’t quite decipher the "new math" their teacher was taught in school.

And parents, well, they disengage at a verrrrry early age. "I can’t do math!" was a frequent complaint I heard during your-kid-is-failing-math conferences as both a first-grade and as a high school teacher. The clearly articulated message was always that valuing and teaching math was my job, the kid’s job was to learn it and parents shouldn’t be expected to either like or assist in the process.

So there you have it: we live in a country with a dysfunctional education system, no true commitment to general math or financial fluency, and a popular disdain for both people who are good at math ("math geeks" they call us) and, to a certain degree, the countries where that is valued.

We need to wake up to the beauty – and the dire necessity – of math. We clearly aren’t "getting" the numbers if $13,000 beans a year per kid yields such stunning underperformance. Chicago may be many things, but a third-world city it’s not.

Posted at 07:44 AM in Chicago, culture, Current Affairs, education, international relations, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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October 14, 2008

Minority kids being "left behind" from college, too

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Is there any doubt whatsoever that the key to the United States’ prosperity is intimately tied to an innovative, highly-educated population?

Those hopes for a prosperous future are headed straight into the toilet as this country – which will become minority white and majority black and Hispanic by 2042 – lets its young people sit on the sidelines while only the affluent get a shot at a college degree.

Here’s a sobering quote from last week’s American Council on Education report Minorities in Higher Education 2008: "The tradition of young adults in the United States attaining higher levels of education than previous generations appears to have stalled, and for far too many people of color, the percentage of young adults with some type of postsecondary degree compared with older adults has actually fallen."

Using data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, the report found several disturbing trends:

The percentage of young adults aged 25 to 29 and older adults aged 30 and above with at least an associate degree in 2006 was about the same, approximately 35 percent but Hispanic and American Indian young adults have even less education than previous generations

The postsecondary educational attainment rates of African Americans remained relatively the same for both age groups, at approximately 24 percent.

Asian Americans and whites were the only two groups where young adults were more educated than prior generations. Sixty-six percent of young Asian Americans had at least an associate degree compared with 54 percent of older Asian Americans. The percentages for whites were 41 percent for young adults and 37 percent for older adults.

There are many many core problems at play here, not the least of which is that minorities often have a lower quality of K-12 education, are less able to pay skyrocketing tuition and are often financially or culturally averse to taking out huge loans to pay for the kind of education no one in their immediate families has ever enjoyed.

But the root of the problem is that minority children and their parents do not believe they can actually get accepted to and pay to go to college. What this report tells us is that their hope is dying and we need to get it on our national radar before it’s way too late.

"It appears we are at a tipping point in our nation’s history," ACE President Molly Corbett Broad said in a written statement. "One of the core tenets of the American dream is the hope that younger generations, who’ve had greater opportunities for educational advancement than their parents and grandparents, will be better off than the generations before them, yet this report shows that aspiration is at serious risk."

It’s a tricky issue to understand because the numbers are only now shifting. Sure, according to ACE’s numbers, total minority enrollment at the nation’s colleges and universities rose by 50 percent from 3.4 million students to 5 million students between 1995 and 2005 compared to white enrollment, which increased only 8 percent from 9.9 million to 10.7 million.

Though students of color made up 29 percent of the nearly 17.5 million students on America’s campuses, and significant gains occurred in college enrollment rates for young people from all races, progress was uneven and gaps widened.

In 2006, 61 percent of Asian Americans aged 18 to 24 were enrolled in college compared with 44 percent of whites, 32 percent of African Americans, and 25 percent of Hispanics and American Indians respectively.

More sobering stats:

The gender gap has swung in the opposite direction and now among students aged 18 to 24, and in 2006 only thirty-six percent of young men were enrolled in college compared with 44 percent of young women.

Despite improving their rate of high school completion from 59 percent to 68 percent, Hispanics still had the lowest rate among all racial/ethnic groups.

The high school completion rate for African Americans aged 18 to 24 remained relatively flat over the past two decades at about 76 percent.

Keep in mind those are just numbers for attendance, when you look at degree completion the picture darkens further: college persistence rates declined slightly, and these declines were more pronounced for students who began at two-year institutions, especially for Hispanics.

But wait! There are rays of hope:

African Americans more than doubled the number of master’s degrees earned from nearly 25,000 in 1995 to nearly 53,000 in 2005. During the same period, the number of doctoral degrees earned by African Americans increased 84 percent from nearly 1,600 to nearly 2,900.

Hispanics nearly doubled the number of bachelor’s degrees received over the last decade to more than 105,000. Hispanics also made dramatic gains in doctoral degrees earned, rising from 950 in 1995 to more than 1,700 in 2005, an increase of 83 percent.

The number of minorities earning associate degrees between 1995 and 2005 grew 84 percent to just over 201,000. The number of minorities earning bachelor’s degrees over the same period grew 65 percent to 355,000.

Minorities outpaced whites in the percentage change in total degrees awarded at all levels over the past decade and minority women showed stronger gains than minority men at all degree levels.

The moral of the story: minority kids can get in and complete college successfully, but we need to give them every possible bit of encouragement we can scrounge up. Anything from plain old role-modeling, to moral support and encouragement starting at age 12 to when they’re in that first big job, to throwing a kid a few bucks to pay for one of their books.

You don’t have to look too far to find a minority student who could use any of the above and it won’t cost you to tell them: "You’re going to make it," even if you’re not a hundred percent sure.

When the economy is bad, when jobs are scarce, when the belt gets tightened all we have to hold onto is hope. We can't afford to let that hope die for the millions of black, Latino and Native American kids who are struggling to believe that they, too, can go to college.

Posted at 07:19 PM in African American, Chicago, culture, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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October 09, 2008

A gay time will be had at The Pride Campus of Social Justice High School

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

The Chicago Public Schools unveiled a bevy of new Renaissance 2010 schools at a press conference Wednesday. Among the new schools focusing on vocational studies, studying the humanities, learning about health and loving the Chicago Bulls, one sticks out for striving to create a safe haven for gay students.

The Pride Campus of Social Justice High School doesn't have a location set, is to open in 2010 and will eventually serve 600 any-oriented students.

My initial reaction: separate but equal…why would you want that?

According to Bill Greaves, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered liaison from the City of Chicago's Commission on Human Relations, as quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, the school will provide students with heroes and role models delivered through a standard curriculum which will be augmented with stories highlighting GLBT people.

The point is to provide a school open to kids from all parts of the city with a safe, gay-friendly atmosphere aimed at serving GLBT students who face higher rates of depression and, subsequently, tend to drop out more because of intolerance and bullying in "regular" schools.

But, isn't high school supposed to be where the gloves come off and you're forced to deal with life as it is, rather than as it should be? Does insulating kids in the warm embrace of a gay-friendly cocoon really serve them when they leave and step into college life and then into the work-world? Let's face it, unless you go into theater, it's a bit of a hard-knock life for the openly gay.

I'm not being callous to the very real and intolerable nasty treatment boys and girls who even simply appear to be GLBT are subjected to in high school, it's unacceptable – I used to freak out when any of my students even said "that's so gay" in my classroom – but I don't think "separate but equal" is the answer.

But before I get to that, doesn't such an endeavor put an eight grader in the precarious position of coming out to his or her family before he or she is even sure of themselves? How, exactly, do you tell your parents you want to attend the Pride campus rather than your neighborhood school? And what do you tell your friends?

What about the kids who don't want to or aren't ready to declare themselves? This feel-good initiative effectively leaves them stuck in the same unfriendly environment that spurred such a specialized school in the first place.

And what kind of security measures will these students have working for them? I can easily imagine their facility being the target of vicious attacks from the same sort of people who'd make life unbearable at a mainstream school. Fevered attempts to get anyone to talk to me about these concerns were fruitless.

So, am I the only one thinking that red flags would go up if CPS designed an illegal immigrant student high school, or a wheel chair-bound student school? I don't think that the distinct learning styles in males vs. females – making single-sex education a vital learning environment – quite applies here.

"I've heard those arguments over and over again, many of them are valid," Tania Unzueta, a Latina GLTB activist who works as support to "Homofrecuencia," a Latino GLTB radio show airing on Pilsen-based Radio Arte told me. "But these are the same arguments against ethnically-based schools like African-American colleges, it's just we're not used to hearing gay positive news."

"Besides what's the alternative? Do we continue to not have any resources for GLBT?" Tania asked me, making an excellent point. "From what I hear from the organizers, part of the project is to continue to do education and outreach to the rest of CPS schools, but I don't know whether that's actually going to happen or not."

I hate to be a naysayer but there are two types of people in the world: the type who, feeling marginalized by society, take their group and make a space for themselves outside the mainstream. Then there are those who dig in and work to make themselves part of the mainstream through education, exposure and integration.

Neither choice is easy, and I don't want to judgmentally say that one is better than the other, but instead of a token, I'd much rather see a tour de force effort on the part of CPS and the GLBT community to make gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students comfortable, accepted and valued in all our high schools.

There is no reason why our history and literature curricula – just two examples – shouldn't be peppered with GLBT contributions and experiences just as we struggle to do so with women and minorities in required high school courses.

And there's no reason why our city's gay students should have to be separated from the rest of the educational community to have their educational and emotional needs met.

Posted at 12:01 PM in Chicago, culture, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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October 07, 2008

Financially illiteracy is killing America

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

There are two types of smarts Americans value: book smarts and street smarts. But when it comes to money smarts, we're mostly stupid.

The economy is collapsing in on itself and so many people are completely clueless as to what is happening, it’s absolutely frightening.

I heard a guy say, "I don't have any damn stocks, so why should I give a ---- about the rich bastards who are losing money? They got it comin'," on my train ride home the other day. It's the sort of bravado I've been hearing nearly everywhere since the market meltdown began, and it says more about a regular Joe's lack of connection to Wall Street than it does about his sour grapes.

Nothin' against Joe, he's certainly not alone – the number of people in the United States who don't have basic knowledge of financial concepts is stunning.

That number is – drum roll, please – unknown.

That's right, folks, the ability to read, analyze, manage, and communicate about the personal financial conditions that affect one's material well-being is so ignored in this country that no one even knows what the baseline of that knowledge is! (Just last July the U.S. Treasury announced that for the first time ever they’re going to examine financial literacy among U.S. adults and how they fare in handling their finances at both state and national levels. Preliminary survey data is expected to be released to researchers and the general public in early 2009.)

And wwhhhyyyyy are adults so financially illiterate? Because we do next to nothing to teach kids about the dough they're constantly begging their parents for.

"I'm never surprised by what kids know, but I'm always shocked by what they don't know," John Stowers, a business teacher at north-suburban Mundelein High School, told me last night during a debate viewing discussion spurred by Obama's critique of the post-9/11 consumer spending binge President Bush encouraged by suggesting we go out and shop to show the terrorists they hadn't won.

"Freshmen through seniors, none of them can tell you what fiscal or monetary policy is, what the fed is, who the fed chairman is, or in what city Wall Street is located," Stowers, a third year teacher, railed. "By the time these kids get to high school they have virtually no financial literacy. Oh they can take a debit card and go out and buy things, but they can't keep track of the money in the bank – in fact they don't know the difference between a withdrawal and a deposit! If you tell them that taxes are withheld from their paycheck they don't understand what that means."

Stowers teaches kids from all different socioeconomic, ethnic and racial backgrounds and across the board he’s found that what kids don't know about money is passed down through the family.

"Moms and dads don’t sit down at the kitchen table and say 'I don’t like this president's fiscal policy but I really do like what the Fed is doing with monetary policy' because they don't understand it either," Stowers said. "Why? Because you can live your whole life without knowing that stuff – you can get a job, get and spend a paycheck and just get by… if getting by is all you want to do."

Heck, you don't even need a checking account for merely getting by, just ask the thriving currency exchange and check cashing industry. I did find one startling statistic in a 2007 Time magazine article, which said there are an estimated 40 million adults in the U.S. without bank accounts. That number is surely higher now…it's been a year of vault-busting bank runs.

But why does this all matter? Because a large part of the current crisis is a direct result of people failing to predict the volatility of the terms of home loans in the context of their financial health.

And because, worse, there is a multi-billion dollar educational industrial complex fighting for more money, money, money to spend on curriculum, teacher salaries, research, infrastructure and blahdiddy-blah-blah to educate kids in this country to become thriving, productive members of society. With almost zero effort put into teaching them how to balance a checkbook, read a credit report, or understand the employee benefits offered by a company.

Kids today are required only one consumer economics class in their entire school careers and it clearly isn't enough. "Repetition is the key to really learning something," Stowers said. "You study English for 12 years by the time you get out of high school and you still don't remember how The Great Gatsby ends and yet you only talk about your financial life for one semester."

Along with all the other causes championed for classrooms, we need to insist on teaching America’s next generation how to make, manage, and grow their money or we’re destined to repeat the current economic crisis again and again.

"Financial literacy is as important as any other skill – the stake of the whole country's economy is as important as any other class," Stowers hammered home. "You study math for twelve years, but how many people use the calculus they studied in high school? And yet how many people have a mortgage?"

Posted at 10:37 PM in Current Affairs, education, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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September 13, 2008

No brown rings and no education dollars in Chicago's Olympic bid

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Friday morning, fresh off back-to-back trips to Beijing for the Olympics and the Paralympics, Chicago Bid Chairman Patrick Ryan, a self-described insurance salesman, gave the Executives Club of Chicago a major rah-rah session, accented by a fly in the ointment.

Ryan showed a packed Fairmont Hotel ballroom, flanked by a who's-who of Chicago bid-ness two tear-jerking videos about the virtues of a completely privately-funded 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago ("We're up against national governments, we're just little private guys, but I think the little guys can win," Ryan said).

The videos' key points?

Video one: to those who don't know our fair city, "which was built by immigrants," its full of surprises, including "the most exciting fine dining in America" and "the people in diverse neighborhoods." Stationing the proposed Olympic village "in the heart of the city," the narrator also referred to Chicago as "the heart of the nation" and, if we were to win the bid, "the focal point of the world."

Video two: our city is full of active and passive sportsters. This piece profiled 12 Chicago kids talking about how the prospect of a Chicago Olympics fuels their dreams to become star athletes.

Ryan also hammered home corporate Chicago's hand in funding the bid – big wink American Airlines! – and the "legacy" programs that will better Chicagoan's lives through sports regardless of whether we get the Games or not. He also went out of his way to press into his enthralled audience that this bid was "all about the people."

In fact, Ryan mentioned that as he and the rest of the 2016 Bid Committee have hosted 102 of the 112 International Olympics Committee members, they've often witnessed those members "be surprised by the ethnicity of our city."

You would be too, if you'd seen the videos. Aside from nice shots from Ukrainian, Chinese, Polish and Mexican parades and music fests, Chicago looked pretty white. For a Bid Committee whose web site goes out of its way to tell the story of the 1.8 million Chicagoans of Mexican-American heritage in this city, not a single Hispanic kid made it into the athlete video.

I won't harp on the fact there was also not a single Latino on the dais – because they were Executive's Club members, not strictly Bid Committee members – not that I could find any trace of Hispanic representation on the leadership team in an extensive clip search.

I wasn't the fly in the ointment, though. Me bringing the lack of Latino up to the politely surprised Ryan didn't amount to nearly the fuss the Rev. James Meeks kicked up when he confronted Ryan about Chicago's educational disparities.

"How can we have a world-class city and second-class schools? What is the 2016 committee going to do about changing the funding formula for public education in the state of Illinois?" Meeks had asked during the Q&A. Ryan responded with a nod back to the legacy programs he'd already touched on.

Out in the foyer afterwards, firmly ensconced in the video camera glare, Meeks held forth some more, asking – rhetorically, this time – why the business community and the media were not concerned about the school funding crisis and why Chicago should want the Olympics when there are murders tearing families apart.

OK, so the Rev has a point: bad schools and murders are indeed a crisis that demands immediate attention. Those facts – and little things like, oh let's say, U.S. born Hispanic residents like Salvador Contreras getting threatened with deportation by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in this "city built by immigrants" – pretty much flies in the face of Ryan's happy proclamation that this city has been "bonded across racial, social and economic boundaries" by the bid.

But what's Chicago's Olympic committee supposed to do about any of that?

I don't care how patriotic the 2016 Bid Committee members are, they're business people salivating at the economic boom that could be generated by the international spotlight an Olympics could shine on Chi-town.

I can respect Rev. Meeks' desire to clang his very worthy school reform bell anywhere it'll jar the silence but shouldn't there be some more thought to picking the battles?

I mean what's next? Is he going to block the runners from crossing the finish line at the Chicago Marathon in the name of poor students? Will he stage a hunger strike at next year's Taste of Chicago? "How can you people cook and eat food in the park when there are poor children being left behind?!"

Sure, the guy knows how to get himself on TV but I'm seeing little else emerge from his very worthwhile crusade.

Chicago is a city on the take. If it beats out Madrid, Tokyo or Rio – who President Lula proclaimed had been "created by God for the Olympics," according to Ryan – there'll be all kinds out looking to get in on the Olympic action.

Meeks is just the tip of the iceberg. A delegation from every conceivable special interest group – from angry Hispanics to ticked-off animal rights nuts to a coalition of miffed left-handers – will be breathing down the necks of the 2016 Olympic bid committee until the winner is declared on October 2, 2009 in Copenhagen, and then beyond, if Ryan gets his way.

Posted at 09:32 AM in Chicago, Current Affairs, education, Games, Hispanic/Latino, immigration, international relations, kids/teens, Sports | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: 2016 Olympic Bid, Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid, Chicago Public Schools funding, Executive's Club of Chicago, Hispanic blogger, Hispanic columnist, Hispanics in Chicago Olympics bid, Latina blogger, Latina columnist, Latino blogger, Latino columnist, Patrick Ryan, Reverend James Meeks

September 11, 2008

From Chicago to Colombia and beyond for a college dream

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

On September 12, 2007 I stood next to the Chicago river with a skinny little guy who had gotten it into his head that he was going to ride his rickety bicycle from the ‘burbs to Argentina for twenty months in order to raise money for low-income students to go to college.

He had a satchel containing a few rudimentary bike tools, some clothes, a few cans of food, a map, and a picture of his girlfriend, Danielle, he’d taped to the frame of his bike, for inspiration.

Then-25-year-old Isai Madriz, a resident of Montgomery, IL, a tiny ‘burb outside Aurora, planned on relying on hard work and the proverbial kindness of strangers for his own sustenance as he pedaled 22,500 miles to Tierra del Fuego (''Land of Fire'') at the southernmost tip of Argentina.

From there he was going to bike up to Caracas, Venezuela, all the while getting the word out to local media in order to raise money for the Jesus Guadalupe Foundation, which had helped him, back in 2004, when he needed a hand to graduate from California’s Humboldt State University.

The commitment he made seemed crazy to others – but only those others who didn’t know that the Guadalajara, Mexico native who’d arrived here when he was 16 had been so poor that he had been riding his bike everywhere. Even to college in California. This is a kid who literally would not take ‘no’ for an answer.

"I started riding for myself because after I transferred to Humboldt State University in California, I needed a way to pay for my tuition and board. Then I did a second ride in 2004 to help pay for my student loans, but 500 miles into the trip a truck drove me off the road and I fell and fractured my hand," Isai told me the morning before he left. He said there was little he could do, but that this was the one statement he could make about the crushing problem of low college enrollment and graduation for Hispanic students.

"People tell you the door is closed before you even try to open it. Most [immigrant] students that are here don't have the means or the papers to go to college once they graduate from high school," he said. "Hispanics don't have really good jobs. Mostly families don't have papers to get good jobs then don't have the means to help their kids go to college. I know a lot of really intelligent students, really gifted people who graduated from high school then went to work because they have to help their families. Then they settle in, have their own kids, and never go back to college."

So whatever happened to? The skinny guy with the rickety bike crossed into South America August 11 and he’s in Colombia right now, moving slowly, but making progress.

"Hi Esther! I’m in Popoyan, Colombia," one recent email chirped. I promised him I’d keep telling his story as long as he was on his quest so he sends me email and we talk from time to time. Never once did I doubt he’d keep going, and I’ve been so happy to receive his pictures and letters telling of incredible adventures.

A short run-down: we first checked off all the United States Isai pedaled through. On October 11 he crossed over into Mexico after having been nearly run over by semis too many times to count, been chased by toothy Rottweillers and mauled by fire ants.

After tussling with cacti, breaking a toe, and catching a terrible flu, he made it to Guadalajara where he lay sick in his uncle’s home until recuperating enough to go to the state of Tabasco to aid flood victims. Yes, all on his bike – at a rate of about 50 miles a day.

From there he made his way south of Mexico biking through Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama City, and, finally, into Colombia.

The stories are, frankly, too horrifying to repeat here but his emails are so ridiculously upbeat – accounts of nearly crashing into a truck after hurtling down a steep hill in a Colombian town called Ipiales because his brakes went out is spiced which descriptions of "glorious skies," "beautiful people" and topped with statements such as "after almost an hour of recuperating and thinking about this episode [by the side of the road] I went on my way."

Isai’s fundraising efforts, to be honest, have not been spectacular. Aside from a few local donations – and the hospitality shown to him by the people he’s touched on his quest – the fund for other low-income Hispanic students to get a helping hand through the new, bizarre, and breath-takingly expensive experience called college still needs help.

But that never enters into Isai’s equation when he’s on the hot road or under the stars in the mountains. "Education is like planting little seeds, and when those seeds grow everybody benefits."

Posted at 07:47 AM in Chicago, education, Hispanic/Latino, international relations, kids/teens | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: biking through South America, Hispanic blogger, Hispanic college attendance, Hispanic columnist, Isai Madriz, Latina blogger, Latina columnist, Latino blogger, Latino columnist, minorities in college, raising money for college

September 04, 2008

I love Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's Down Syndrome Baby

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Forget the fact that, if the McCain/Palin ticket won, Sarah Palin would be the first female vice president in history. If the Alaskan hottie made it into the big leagues, would her little cutie, Trig, make it into the annals of history as the first Down Syndrome baby in White House?

Let me know if I'm wrong here, history buffs, but I think this might be a landmark.

After Sarah Palin's Vice Presidential candidate acceptance speech Wednesday night, her beaming family made their way on stage and she embraced her fifth child, Trig Paxson Van Palin. He looked mighty handsome in some sort of dark, rugby-striped onesie affair, his gently hooded almond eyes squinted in the bright lights – and I loved it.

Ol' Trig has Down Syndrome, almost surely the result of being born to parents in their forties, but he was there!

Back in 2000 my daughter Wren was given a death sentence at the tender age of 27 weeks. Without boring you with the highly technical medical details I'll just say that my husband and I were given the choice to abort and try again later, or press on and, at very best, have a really sick kid with serious disabilities.

In those 24-or-so hours – the worst of each of our lives, I believe – in which we had to decide what to do, we weighed the options. And let me tell you that, ultrasound printout in hand and about two hours removed from cooing over a Doppler heart scan, Down Syndrome – the extra 21st chromosome disorder for which doctors routinely prescribe "pregnancy termination" upon a parent's request – sounded like heaven to us!

"Down Syndrome?? Walk in the park!" we thought, walking the fine line between hope and denial. "Downs kids compete in Special Olympics, they live long happy lives these days! Heck that kid who played 'Corky' on Life Goes On is doing alright for himself, right?!"

But it wasn't meant to be. And while I wouldn't trade the Tasmanian Devil we spawned after Wren's birth and death for anything in the world, it gave me a completely emotional, illogical feeling of glee (and pang of jealousy) to see Palin up on stage with her little five-month bundle of extra-chromosomed joy Wednesday night.

Setting aside her politics, her stances on issues, her running mate's baggage – and pretty much everything else of substance – I homed in on something I liked. Something that might make the whole fiasco slightly ok – or maybe just not as bad – if our lesser of two evils choice for President swings Republican.

During her speech Palin said: "To the families of special needs children all across this country I have a message for you: for years you've sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. And I pledge to you that if we are elected you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."

I tuned out the subtext about whether that might mean more Bush-ian "pro-life," anti-choice who-knows-what and focused on the already living. There are millions of children and adults in this country struggling daily with disabilities and special needs.

A mom advocate – of any political affiliation – and a baby role-model to disabled kiddies all over the world in the White House would be a wonderful thing.

Posted at 12:12 AM in Current Affairs, Health/Medicine/nutrition, kids/teens, politics | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, disabilities advocacy, Down Syndrome, Down Syndrome Baby in White House, extra 21 chromosome, Hispanic blogger, Hispanic columnist, Latina blogger, Latina columnist, Latino blogger, Latino columnist, Republican Convention, Sarah Palin's baby, Sarah Palin's Down Syndrome baby, special needs advocacy, Trig Palin, Trig Paxson Van Palin

September 03, 2008

Field trip over: Meeks' boycott kids finally out of media glare

this column originally appeared on Huffington Post/Chicago

Anyone who cares about kids in this town getting a shot at a decent education surely looked at the Chicago Public School children who marched into Winnetka and felt the rumbling pride of civil rights crusades past.

The images were enough to make even the most cynical opponent of Meeks' guerilla techniques to get proper school funding for the poorest of Chicago's communities feel like maybe his stunt wasn't such a bad idea.

But if you happened to see the kiddies, neatly dressed in oversized orange t-shirts and splayed cross-legged across the floors of several Loop businesses Wednesday morning, you couldn't help but squirm and wonder whether the ends truly justifed the means.

Perhaps the sight turned enough people off that Meeks was pressured to stop, though his remarks at a Wednesday night press conference indicate he's calling the whole thing off to call Gov. Rod Blagojevich's bluff. He'd said he wouldn't open a school-funding dialogue until he got the kids back in school.

The children who Tuesday so cheerfully endured the heat, humidity and long bus ride to Winnetka to try to register in the New Trier school district spent their Wednesday making do on the floors of air conditioned office buildings.

I stopped by City Hall early Wednesday where a cluster of kids and chaperones hung out in front of Mayor Daley's office, then later strolled over to the James R. Thompson Building where, in advance of the Reverend and State Senator James Meeks' noon press conference, a gaggle of kids were half-heartedly taken through some language arts lessons by retired school teachers while a crowd gawked, photographers snapped pictures and reporters asked the standard "How do you feel" questions of younguns unaccustomed to being displayed like the gazelles at Lincoln Park Zoo.

After the cameras were clicked off, the children were taken away for a snack out of public view and one organizer talked to me about the day's work.

"The kids have been great," the Reverend Dearal Jordan, a full-time pastor at Meeks' Salem Baptist Church, told me as school buses were being pulled around to take some kids over to AT&T headquarters where they'd been invited for a late lunch. "They're happy, they're still energetic…they've been working on a special curriculum of reading and math so they can keep up with their classmates."

I can't speak for the students at any of the other sixteen corporate locations, but the kiddies at the Thompson center looked like their energy was flagging.

Any school teacher, as I was for a few years, can tell you that those first days of school are a tremendous struggle even under the best of circumstances. Young bodies show up to class tired from getting up early, hungry from having their meal schedule drastically changed from one day to another, and antsy about making the adjustment to their new home away from home.

The children scattered across the lobbies of the corporate power centers of this state were no different, except they didn't have the luxury of getting used to the rhythms of a new school year. Their first days were alternately a fun field trip and a boring doctors' office-type wait while people in power played a form of high-stakes chicken with each other.

Granted, the classrooms they'll finally walk into Thursday will be hot, sticky, cramped, overcrowded, and lacking in adequate materials but there will be regularity, familiar surroundings, and an adult who is single-mindedly devoted to ensuring their academic success under even the worst of circumstances. It may not be much, but even that bit of regimented continuity is essential to their health and well-being.

Wednesday night Meeks did a subdued sort of endzone dance – thankfully, with no quasi-Greek chorus of half-asleep grade-schoolers by his side – as he announced the end of his particularly powerful stunt.

Meeks told the night's media throng he and his coalition were calling on all students to get to school the next morning in hopes of sitting down with Gov. Blagojevich Thursday. "Our children have had an opportunity to see what a well-funded school looks like…this effort has been a success." CPS estimated that the boycott cost them $100,000 in state reimbursement – which would be a drop in the $120 million dollar bucket Meeks is seeking.

Only time will tell whether this living, breathing display of the intersection between childhood potential and the broken promise of equal and unseparate education for all will succeed in bringing about meaningful and appropriately-funded reform to Chicago Public Schools but, at last, Thursday morning while Illinois' power-brokers get to work on figuring the money out, the children Meeks used to prove his point will finally get the opportunity to crack open their new boxes of crayons and learn their teachers' name.

For better or worse, they're already behind their peers whose parents opted to send them to school. The question is: how far will their efforts go or how far behind will this two-day field trip have left them?

Posted at 10:55 PM in African American, Chicago, crime/violence/gangs/poverty, Current Affairs, education, Hispanic/Latino, kids/teens, politics, responsibility | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Technorati Tags: Chicago Public Schools, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Hispanic blogger, Hispanic columnist, Latina blogger, Latina columnist, Latino blogger, Latino columnist, Rev. James Meeks, school boycott, school funding disparity, school funding inequality

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