I attended the Teachers of Color and Allies Summit (TOCA) on CU Boulder campus yesterday and found the keynote speaker to be excellent. He was very entertaining and honest albeit speaking to the converted. I really appreciated his close examination of the USA Today report of America's 100 Top Excellent Schools. His elimination process and challenge to the word "excellent" for schools that didn't meet his criteria was very good. First, the percentage of non-white students set at 25% eliminated all but 36. His statement, "What America?" regarding the top school having just 2% minorities was so right on. That is not America's demographics. Other criteria he used was whether or not the schools had open enrollment or lottery instead of a selection process and school size. He eliminated all 200 schools and then offered a new title for USA Today that would more accurately fit the list as something like, America's top elitist White schools which I found so much more honest.
I am glad he linked racism and his agenda to our current political environment. I can not agree more. People hate Obama because he is black. A far as his politics, he is quite conservative for a liberal. I guarantee if he were white, those Conservative policy makers would love him and work well with him. Those same people hate illegal immigration from Mexico because they are Mexicans. They aren't thinking logically, they are thinking out of fear and ignorance. It's the same with taking a pro-Palestinian stance. It is deep seeded anti-semitism instead of knowing the history and issues on a deep level before taking a stance. I liked the way he delivered this information. It was clear and concise plus I agree with him whole-heartedly.
The break out session I attended was run by the group, Facing History and Ourselves, and was very informative. It will be a great resource for me when I begin teaching Social Studies. One hour wasn't enough to really delve into their information so I was grateful to meet the 2 facilitators again today at the NCSS conference in Denver. They, like myself, had volunteered to stuff bags so we got to talk a lot about their mission and how they could help me in my future class. It was a nice added bonus to the TOCA conference! Plus, small world as it is, the director turned out to be an old friend of one of my dearest friends. Very coincidental! I love connections.
All in all, I had a great experience and thought it was well done. I would have liked to have attended more break-out sessions but my afternoon classes dictated my afternoon schedule
