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Education: An American Journey
By Manuel Hernandez-Carmona copyright 2008
mannyh32@puertoricans.com
The true meaning of success is to define one’s purpose through
an on-going journey. There is no way the journey will be successful
without a quality education. Americans understand that dreams
travel according to one’s own level of expectations. Educational
empowerment provides the key to walk and run across the avenue
of self-expectations. There has been so much talk in the media
these days about the economy. We are definitely in an economic
crisis, no doubt. But with all due respect, there will be
no true economic advancement without a clear and concise agenda
on education. America is and will always be the frontrunner
in business, technology, entertainment and music. But we are
falling behind drastically in what really matters: education.
It is time that we Americans recognize that drastic changes
must be made if education is going to continue on that successful
journey.
There is no doubt that changes in the economy must be made
"ahora", right now, today and as soon as the present.
President Obama’s plan tackles the essentials for quick and
sudden changes in an ill-stricken economy. Yet failing national
reading levels and soaring high school dropout rates are still
haunting education today. According to the National Testing
Service, technology is traveling faster today than the speed
of education, and millions of Americans are at risk of falling
behind.
As an American born Latino who had the unique and rich opportunity
of learning English as the primary language, I grew up breathing
and interacting with authentic symbols, literary figures and
real-life experiences depicted in the American and British
classics. My hometown, Sleepy Hollow, New York was graphically
representative of that literary tradition. As a child, we
took school field trips and visited Puritan settings conserved
by Sleepy Hollow’s historical society. When I read The Scarlet
Letter, I already had a visual image of the homes, clothing
and other cultural aspects of old New England . Those experiences
paved my academic foundation. No wonder my two papers in-lieu
of thesis were on the English writers John Milton and George
Bernard Shaw.
But that is not the personal and cultural experience of
millions of foreign born young adult students who rarely had
the opportunities that I (we) had because they simply came
to the United States with different cultural, social and personal
experiences which are hardly examined, explored or presented
in the American and British classics. When will the Department
of Education understand that it must include the recognition
of “minority literatures” as a bridge (jump-off point) in
reading? Research that supports this strategy is extensive.
The only way to make second language learners interested in
a new language is to build bridges towards that new language.
Drastic measures require bravery and decisiveness. Not recognizing
the obvious is perpetuating the academic situation of millions
of students that are at risk. America deserves better! The
economic crisis is much more than Bulls and Bears and bailing
out giants who share the responsibility of the so-called economic
crisis. It may mean revolutionizing core curriculum and allowing
school communities to have a real voice in the education of
their children.
Dreams have no limitations! President Obama knows that as
a fact, but the dreams of many may be shattered if they are
not given an academic plan that is much more than a new school
with the same old academic offerings. A new structured academic
vision is needed to help all children with different academic
needs but with one goal: an education.
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