Wesley Fryer's Blog of Support for Barack Obama

Media literacy, US Presidential elections, and assertions of infanticide support

Wesley Fryer — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:37:58 EDT

This is a cross-post from my blog, "Moving at the Speed of Creativity."

There is nothing quite like a U.S. Presidential election to highlight the importance of media literacy, critical thinking, and NOT taking media messages at face value. I recently purchased the revised edition of "How to Watch TV News" by Neil Postman and Steve Powers. This book needs to be further revised for our YouTube media landscape and renamed, "How to Watch Traditional Broadcast Television and New Media IPTV." I'd be willing to write an appendix titled, "How to avoid being conned and duped by emails you receive from your friends."

A contrary view of education and NCLB

Wesley Fryer — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:52:35 EST

Warning: Political rant about education ahead! (I have cross-posted this to my own personal blog.)

Education was a major theme of the "State of the Union Address" shared by the current U.S President this past Monday night. Unfortunately, many of the assertions made during the speech are contradicted by the experiences and observations I've made working in our midwest schools during the past 13 years. Although my blog is NOT explicitly a political blog, I will not hide nor make excuses for my personal and professional advocacy agenda which involves working to transform our schools into learning environments which serve the interests of both our students as well as our nation in the 21st century, rather than the narrow interests of politicians and a political party seeking to advance a contrary agenda. (For more about my views on including or not including political and religious issues in this blog, see my comment from January 11th in response to commenter "Vet.")

In starting the section of his speech which addressed education, our current President stated:

On education, we must trust students to learn if given the chance, and empower parents to demand results from our schools. In neighborhoods across our country, there are boys and girls with dreams -- and a decent education is their only hope of achieving them.

NCLB has nothing to do with empowering parents. Instead, it is all about discrediting teachers and schools, and encouraging parents to distrust public schools and the educators which serve children within them. It is, of course, absolutely true our schools are filled with "boys and girls with dreams." Sadly, the fear-dominated environment encouraged by high-stakes accountability achieves the OPPOSITE effect of providing "a decent education" for our students.

Before analyzing in further detail comments made by our President to the nation about the status of public education, it is worthwhile to reflect on how many of the children and grandchildren of our elected representatives are currently enrolled in public schools. What is this statistic? I do not know, but I am inclined to believe the percentage is very small. Even in the state of Texas, where "school accountability" rose to new heights of intellectual destructiveness, how many legislators have their own children and grandchildren in private schools rather than public schools myopically focused on raising test scores? I'm not sure.

Would those parents and grandparents (our elected officials) want to send their own offspring to schools where recess has been cancelled after second grade, because there is no time for recess amidst the constant environment of test preparation? Do our elected representatives send their own precious children and grandchildren into classrooms where students have been normatively valued predominantly by the test scores which they can or cannot produce for the school's aggregate statistical rating, rather than for the ideas and unique contributions which they can and want to make to their communities? We are living in an increasingly immoral educational and political culture, and the assumptions which are presented as "facts" by our political leaders regarding a "quality education" should both offend and enrage our population.

Our President asserted next in his speech:

Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, and today no one can deny its results. Last year, fourth and eighth graders achieved the highest math scores on record. Reading scores are on the rise. African American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs. (Applause.) Now we must work together to increase accountability, add flexibility for states and districts, reduce the number of high school dropouts, provide extra help for struggling schools.

This is WRONG. I, personally, deny its results as being positive and constructive. And I am not alone. Rather than look to the results of widely variable state test scores, we should look to NAEP scores. It is ridiculous to claim in the context of NCLB that "no one can deny its results." While the very name of the initiative was crafted to try and prevent opposition (since someone against it seems to be supporting the untenable position of "leaving children behind") it is patently false to claim that the alleged positive results of NCLB are undeniable.

The testing regime of NCLB, like the testing regime of TAAS and the TEKS exams in Texas which our President established while the governor of Texas, were created to achieve two primary goals:

To discredit schools and educators, to demonize the status quo and establish "an enemy" which could be attacked and allegedly "fixed" through political mandates.
To create standardized assessments which could be instituted and emphasized in such a way that gradual progress could be demonstrated and "success" therefore declared.

To find out what students know and what they are learning, you need to talk to them. NCLB has advanced a destructive agenda which feeds into the same tendencies Neil Postman detailed in his book "Technopoly," where the general public comes to believe an idea because it is visually represented with charts and graphs in the newspaper. Is educational quality adequately indicated and represented by test scores? Absolutely not. More than anything, numerous research reports have validated the contention that test scores represent the socio-economic status of parents more than any other factor. Is this mentioned by our President in his most important speech of the year? Of course not. The purpose of this speech was not share insights into the truth about the state of public education in our nation, rather, the purpose of this speech was to justify the actions and policies of a misdirected and destructive political regime which has done far far more to HURT the causes of authentic assessment, project based learning, differentiated learning, and the encouragement of educational cultures of creativity and experimentation than it has HELPED the educational needs of learners in our nation.

It is wholly disingenuous to claim NCLB and the political direction of the high-stakes accountability movement can "add flexibility for states and districts." NCLB has done exactly the opposite: It has forced the states of our nation to impose high-stakes tests upon learners as well as educators, irrespective of the lessons of their prior professional training or experiences.

I vehemently disagree with the proposition that "we must work together to increase accountability." If you own or have invested in an educational testing company, perhaps I can understand your support of this proposal. Just as times have never been better for our oil and gas industry as well as our military-industrial complex during our current administration, times have never been better for commercial interests dedicated to creating standardized test materials for schools and states. If you happen to be a parent interested in a worthwhile education for your own children, however, or a moral educator committed to the cause of doing what is right for children rather than what is politically expedient for elected leaders principally concerned with the maintenance of their own power, understanding support for this proposal becomes much more difficult. Rather than work together to increase accountability as it has been understood under NCLB, we need to work to dismantle this destructive political movement which has done immeasurable harm (gasp, you mean something could actually DEFY measurement in our era of technopoly?) to our students and our educational culture.

Our President continued to reveal his agenda of discrediting public schools and working to open the coffers of public education to private, commercial interests by stating:

Thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships you approved, more than 2,600 of the poorest children in our Nation's Capital have found new hope at a faith-based or other non-public school. Sadly, these schools are disappearing at an alarming rate in many of America's inner cities... Now let us apply that same spirit to help liberate poor children trapped in failing public schools.

Our "failing public schools" are not failing because they have not been threatened enough with harsh punishments and closure. They are not failing because they need a stronger emphasis on "accountability." Our educational system DOES need reform and change, but the solution is not to privatize public education and set groups whose focus is profit and the bottom line loose amidst our public education dollars. The path we have followed under NCLB is the WRONG path, and I have not yet heard ANY of our current political leaders or aspiring presidential candidates articulate a vision for U.S. schools which breaks with the failed patterns of the past and charts the visionary course for the future which our learners and communities so desperately need.

Following his statements about education, our current President referenced the global nature of our economy and the environment for which our schools are ostensibly preparing students to enter after graduation by stating:

On trade, we must trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world and empower them by opening up new markets overseas.

Unfortunately, as he has in the past, our President failed to acknowledge the basic disconnect which exists between the skills and dispositions emphasized in our schools dominated by the mania inspired by high-stakes testing, and the workforce skills required in the 21st century:

Let's not mince words. NCLB has been a destructive failure, and we desperately need leadership in our nation which recognizes this situation and stops pretending that the interests of learners or the interests of the nation are served by creating classrooms filled with fearful teachers, students, and administrators. I am sick of fear-driven politics. Of course we have enemies abroad and must maintain a vigilant military to protect our interests, but the idea that our domestic as well as foreign policy agenda should be dominated by the rhetoric of fear is ridiculous as well as counterproductive.

Let's hope the next State of the Union address we hear will include tidings of great joy, rather than disingenuous, misleading, and unsupported assertions based on fear and the selfish politics of misinformed and misdirected leaders.

Is my attitude OK here?

Technorati Tags:
nclb, education, learning, reform, bush, georgewbush, georgebush, stateoftheunion, educationreform, schoolreform, politics

Political emails fly fast, but are readers validating content?

Wesley Fryer — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:45:47 EST

Validating the accuracy and reliability of information we read online, both on the web and via email, is an essential literacy skill in the 21st century for adults as well as young people. An email I received this evening from someone in my family provides a dramatic case in point.

The email which was forwarded begins:

>
> This is fairly interesting...
>
> Who is Barack Obama?
>
> Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack
> Hussein Obama was born in
> Honolulu , Hawaii , to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a
> black MUSLIM from
> Nyangoma-Kogel , Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white
> ATHEIST from Wichita ,
> Kansas .

The message goes one to assert that Senator Obama's father is a "radical Muslim," and Obama is a Muslim himself. The focus of the message is to create fear about a possible Obama presidency and generate opposition to his candidacy among voters.

These allegations are serious. I would like to think everyone who receives an email like this will take the 15 seconds required to do a quick Snopes.com check to verify the information. The fact that this particular email, and others like them, are regularly forwarded along every day by well-meaning but poorly informed Internet users is distressing. I had a conversation with someone in my office just last week about Senator Obama's candidacy, and her comment was, "I'm pretty concerned over all that Muslim stuff." I am pretty sure email messages like this one planted the false seed of uncertainty which was the root of her "concerns."

A fast search on Snopes for "Who is Barack Obama" brings up a through explaination which reveals this email to be false and misleading. As usual, the Snopes.com authors go through the claims included in this email point by point and include an extensive list of referenced sources at the bottom of the article:

Why do many people persist in forwarding along emails like this one, which can be VERY quickly debunked? I do not know all the reasons, but I suspect there are several keys:

FEAR: Many people thrive on controversy and news which inspires or incites fear. Fear is a powerful motivator. When we allow ourselves to be directed by fear, rather than reason, we are naturally less able (physically) to make informed decisions and use logic. I think a primary reason people forward these types of messages rather than validating and debunking them is that they are AFRAID. Messages of FEAR often work. People get scared, and they are therefore malleable in the hands of the architects of the propaganda who wrote and disseminated the false, misleading, and fear-encouraging messages in the first place. Forwarding this message to other people is EXACTLY what the anti-Obama Presidency author of this fictitious email wants people to do. Those who allow themselves to directed by their fear play right into the hands of others who seek to manipulate and distort the truth to serve their own ends.
LAZINESS: It's easier to click the forward button and the send button rather than think critically. Critical thinking takes brain power. It takes energy. Many times, I think people (both young and old) tend to be lazy. Should I check out that claim with a quick trip to Snopes? Should I do a Google search on that message before I forward it to my entire address book? Of course you should. To fail in that requirement is to fall short in our obligations to support the dissemination of accurate and valid information. Sadly, laziness in thinking (or NOT thinking) is common in our society. This is not just true in many schools, it's true of lots of people who long ago left the classroom.
IGNORANCE: People don't know how to validate information properly. Issues of fear and laziness aside, this reason is possibly one of the most pressing that we, as educators, should take seriously. Are we teaching our students (and learning with our students) how to validate information properly and thoroughly? Have we considered ourselves instruments of a dishonest propaganda machine, if we thoughtlessly forward on emails like this one to others? I wrote the article "Digital Literacy NOW!" for the TechEdge in Septebmer 2003, but it is every bit as applicable today in 2008 as it was five years ago.

Who will carry forward this banner of media literacy, critical thinking, and our ongoing need to validate information where you live and work? If not you, then who? Who will tell your relatives? Who will tell your principal? Who will tell the senior citizens living in your community, who may be among the most susceptible to inflammatory and misleading emails like this one?

Media literacy is the responsibility of us all. Accept the banner, and carry it forward. Whether or not it's on your written lesson plan for today or tomorrow, it's an essential skill that simply can't wait till next year.

I have cross-posted this entry to my personal blog.

Technorati Tags:
literacy, obama, validate, information, reliable, snopes, propaganda, disinformation, mislead, politics

The personal value of YouTube in politics

Wesley Fryer — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:02:56 EST

I listened to the full 20 minute speech by Senator Obama at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner on YouTube this evening.

The availability of video content like this on YouTube is personally transformational for me, as far as my thinking and decisions that relate to politics go. I rarely watch television anymore. I am on the Internet working many hours of almost every day, however, and I have opportunities to read articles as well as watch videos from traditional news sources online. When I want, as I did tonight, to take some time and listen to a message from a candidate, it is SO POWERFUL as well as valuable to be able to listen to their message directly, without advertisements or distractions, as I did tonight on YouTube.

I think all U.S. voters should be taking time to listen carefully to the messages of the different candidates running for office, both at the national as well as at state and local local levels. I am thrilled the Obama campaign is thoroughly embracing the use of read/write web technologies and user-created content, and look forward to sharing more of my thoughts and reflections which relate to Senator Obama and his Presidential campaign in the weeks and months ahead. I maintain my own blog ("Moving at the Speed of Creativity") and regularly contribute to several other education blogs, but none of those spaces are entirely appropriate for the political ideas and views I want to share. This blog provides me with that space. For that I am thankful.

I resonated with many things Senator Obama said in his speech at the Jefferson Jackson dinner recently. I am ready for a President who will take steps to end the war in Iraq. I agree this is a war we should never have started, and never gotten engaged in to begin with. I do agree with Senator McCain, that we are not going to be able to just drop everything and leave Iraq tomorrow. A great deal is at stake. But I AM supportive of a President that is committed to ending this war which should never have been started. I will elaborate more on this point in later posts, but I will say for now that I am VERY committed to the ideals of human rights and self-determination. Saddam Hussein was NOT a good leader for the people of Iraq, but neither is the current leader of North Korea or the leaders of the communist party in China. We don't see the United States marching into those countries with our military might and forcing a political transition "to democracy," and we shouldn't see the US doing this in Iraq either.

I also agree with Senator Obama's position on torture. It is ridiculous, embarrassing, and intolerable that the United States continues to violate the human rights of numerous people with our military and intelligence facility in Guantanamo Bay. The Bush government has kidnapped many, many people in Iraq as well as elsewhere and moved them to Guantanamo because there, they ostensibly have no human rights-- to due process or anything else. I am not naive. I know we are at war. I know there are lots of people who hate the United States and want to destroy our nation and what we stand for. But I fervently believe one of the things we DO NOT and SHOULD NOT stand for is condoning torture and the arbitrary suspension of habeas corpus. Senator Obama is right to speak out on these issues, and I support him because of these views.

I also am ready to have a President who will lead meaningfully on the issue of health care. As a husband and father of three young children, I'm quite aware of health care costs. They are ridiculous. We have not seen strong national leadership on the issue of health care costs, and we need it. I'm not for nationalized health care. I've been in the military, and I'm quite familiar with the challenges and problems which come with socialized medical care systems. We do, however, need a system which serves the interests of the average consumer more than it serves the interests of the insurance companies. I think our current system fails to meet the needs of many, and I'm ready for leadership on health care.

I could write more, but I will close with those thoughts for now. If you haven't already, take some time to watch some of the videos of Senator Obama posted to his campaign's official YouTube channel. You may not be able to tune in "live" to watch him give a speech, but thanks to the power of digital communication technologies, sites like YouTube, and the work of his tech-saavy campaign support team, you don't have to. Take some time and watch Senator Obama speak online, on your own time. That's called "time and place shifting" in your consumption of electronic media, and enabling that dynamic as the Obama campaign is doing should be considered a "best practice" for 21st century electoral politics.