From the outside looking in - Greenwood, MS

On Saturday afternoon, the three interns guided by Ben and team teacher Ashley Johnson all piled into the University van for our first trip into the Mississippi Delta.  Our first destination was Greenwood - headquarters of the Viking Range Corporation - and then we were on to Money - the now vacant town once home to Bryant's Grocery.  The trip was one I will never forget.  The sights I saw opened my eyes to a part of our nation I could never have imagined, neighborhoods so poor and distressed you might as well think you were in a third world country.  

The small Delta 'city' of Greenwood, Mississippi was first introduced to me by Ashley Johnson, the bright and passionate young MTC Team Teacher who spoke to us about her experience as a teacher at the Greenwood Middle School a few weeks back.  Ashley supplemented her verbal description of the area with a simple diagram; a river (the Yazoo) running parallel to a set of train tracks divided the picture plane in two.  On one side, she indicated the affluent, upper class neighborhoods inhabited primarily by white families and wealthy Viking executives. Across the river and on the other side of the tracks that once rattled day and night with whistling trains piled high with mountains of cotton, she noted the now crime-ridden impoverished black neighborhoods.  Boy, did I not have any idea what the Delta was really going to be like.

The Mississippi Delta is a legendary part of America and its history.  The dark nights of lynchings and burning crosses; the gothic complexity of Faulkner’s tales; the horrific legacy of plantations and slavery; the sweet smell of the magnolia tree on a summer's night; the blazing morning sun rising over endless fields of cotton.  I saw it all too well; battered shacks that house the poverty-stricken descendants of slaves; the riverbanks where water moccasins and fire ants threaten; the calm muddy Yazoo and Tallahatchie rivers that have swallowed countless bodies of murdered black men.  And more still, situated within the decrepit slums, we found Baptist Town - the birthplace of the blues; the place where cicadas sing in cacophonous vocal experimentation all night long; and finally, the overlooked origin of some of the raw beginnings of the civil rights movement right there in Money, Mississippi.  Each of these descriptions is a mere glimpse of the delta that is a inextricably apart of our national mythology.

 

In the Delta I was perhaps most struck by the contrast between the vibrance of the fertile land and the unavoidable sense of decay in the black neighborhood.  "My kids from this neighborhood, they had a particular smell, you knew where they were coming from," said Ashley Johnson as we drove down Broad Street in Greenwood.  She taught many young children from this area just a few ago.  She could still remember their names, which houses their aunts and uncles lived in, and the corners they used to frequent.  Most of these children never make it out, we were told.    

Imagine a small ghetto a world away with ramshackle shot-gun shacks lining the streets, shower curtains for front doors and sheets covering the broken window panes.  There were blocks where virtually every storefront was empty and people were just aimlessly hanging out, as if waiting for something else to happen.  The liveliest pockets in many of these neighborhoods were around children.  A lonesome boy road a flat-tired bicycle in front of a barren Baptist church.  There is at least one liquor store for every church in the area, and there were a lot of churches let me assure you.

 

These are the poorest of the poor, their ancestors once slaves and sharecroppers.  Today they are deliberately cast aside, ignored, not discussed, given little attention or care.  They endure lives of poor education, poor health, limited opportunities, and rampant crime.  There are those who loudly proclaim that the poor of the nation should “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps,” but such proclaimers have most always lived lives of relative privilege.  The desperate poor often don’t even have the boots … and the delta can be an inescapable trap.

As Ben has told us again and again, the Delta, and in particular the small town of Money, was significant in igniting the modern civil rights movement.  In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till, a black boy visiting his family from Chicago, apparently wolf whistled at a white woman while visiting Bryant’s Grocery.  Mrs. Bryant told her husband and in the dead of night Emmett Till was kidnapped, beaten, murdered, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.  The accused murderers were acquitted in under an hour by an all-white jury.  The story brought outrage across the country and was a tragic start to the march for racial equality over the decades.   

Finally, the last stop on our journey was Bryant's Grocery. As I gazed up at the now crumbling store front, I felt a wave of grief and disgust come over me.  Sadness for a naive Emmett Till, for his mother, his family, and for all those who lost their lives or suffered any kind of social injustice, prejudice, racism, or segregation.  There was no monument, no marker, nothing to indicate the profound importance of this location in our nation's history.  The historical footage we've seen in documentary films shows a bustling town with one store front after the next.  Of course, that was then.  Now, the rotting frame of this one lonely building and is all that's left.

 

In a nut shell

This photo comes from our weekly speaker series - here listening to Dr. Germain McConnell.  Early Tuesday morning, Larissa and I arrived at Guyton Hall to begin our days work.  We found the building eerily empty, warmer than usual, and rather dark.  It didn't occur to either of us that the power might.   Ben was no where to be found.  Sure enough, the power was out for the entire campus for much of the day.  The outage occurred as a result of a cooling failure on one of the transformer fans in the Rebel substation, we later learned.  The outage made for dreadfully hot, "character building" cycling class later that afternoon in gym without air conditioning.  When the heat index hovers consistently around 105 degrees, it made for a hot afternoon.

On the whole, however, things ran pretty smoothly this week.  Monday night was 'spa night', hosted by Team Teacher Danielle Hall.  Two generous ladies from a local spa donated their time and services to a dozen or so exhausted teachers (and interns).  It was a relaxing start to the week.  Even some guys showed up to get their lips exfoliated and scalps massaged.  

Tuesday morning, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dr. McConnell - Director of Field Experiences, Co-Director of the Mississippi Teacher Corps, Assistant Dean, and Assistant Professor of Leadership and Counselor Education.  He cracked us all up with stories from his undergraduate years at Ole Miss and also spoke about his life's work in education and as a Minister.   After the conversation, Ben treated us all to lunch at my new favorite place in Oxford, Honeybee Bakery .  We sat outside in the blazing sun sipping iced Moroccan mint tea while Ben gave us a little lesson on tax history and the funding of public education.  We discussed ideas about how to increase prosperity of the poorest families living in the Delta. 

White flight from public education (yes, I am guilty here) leads to a case of moral hazard, especially here in Mississippi.  And, you don't have to just read it to believe it.  At the Holy Springs summer school - held at the town's high school - all you have to do is look at the portraits on the walls of the graduating classes.  After about 1970, the population of white students, previously making up a good percentage, has continued to dwindle down to maybe one student in the graduating class of 2010.  The white children are surely vacating the public schools for private education.

In the flush town of Oxford, Mississippi - Lafayette County - the desperate scramble for enrollment in prestigious private schools does not apply.  Parents here generally think highly of their local public schools, as we learned from Mr. & Mrs. Barksdale.  Though I haven't done my research, I bet in this economy that the nearby private schools have some empty seats and turn away relatively few students.

Still, I know that in my own hometown of Portland, Maine, the well known private schools - Waynflete, North Yarmouth Academy, Thorton Academy, Chevrus, McCaully, Breakwater School, to name a few - survive on the qualities that set them apart from public schools: small classes, flexible curriculum, sophisticated courses, and a bit of freedom.  The differences are so clearly understood that they are rarely made note of.

But I can't help but notice, the Oxford University School has been advertising in local newspapers — a departure, in itself, for many private schools — with a pitch subtly pointing out that at a time when the nation's public schools are cutting back and consolidating, private schools are not.

The advertisements come at a time of paradoxes.  The recession that has prompted public schools to trim programs and increase class sizes, making private school more appealing, has also left parents less able to come up with the $25,000 to $30,000 a year charged by many independent day schools. And for private schools, taking advantage of the perceived vulnerability of public schools is a chance to shore up their own battered finances.

It is all still a bit confusing to me, there are a lot of unanswered questions.  But, this internship has certainly given me the opportunity to reflect on my own primary education.  If I could do it over again, would I go somewhere else, public school even?  I wouldn't.  If I could give the gift of  Waynflete to every student in this country, I would.  As I see it, the only way I think I could come anywhere close to that goal would be to go into education myself and invest in a most desperate and failing system - the nation's public schools.  

What's in store for the weekend: Saturday, a trip to Greenwood & Money, Mississippi with Ben and Ashley Johnson, another Team Teacher.  We will go to the very shop where Emmitt Till evidently wolf whistled at the shop keeper's wife, which ultimately lead to his brutal murder. I am excited for this trip, especially after watching three installments of the Eyes on the Prize documentary series covering Emmett Till, James Meredith, and Medgar Evers.  Sunday, I may finally get to sleep in past 5:30 am.  I have dark circile under my eyes, though I still shoot out of bed at each morning not wanting to miss any of this great adventure.  Until next week...

Does America need an Amendment to the US Constitution to improve Public Education?

On Monday, Ben handed each of us a copy of a recent report by the Southern Education Foundation, (link) entitled, 'No Time to Lose; Why America Needs an Education Amendment to the US Constitution to Improve Public Education.  It is pretty comprehensive, and thus lengthy, but here are some of my thoughts and reactions.

There is little doubt that Bush's 'No Child Left Behind Act' isn't turning out results and that a new initiative on education is desperately needed.  However, with the ongoing War on Terror, the oil crisis in the Gulf Coast, and the new hugely expensive Health Care bill, I'm not hopeful that public education is a nagging priority of the current administration.  The idealist in me believes that neither race, location, nor class should be predictors of the quality of public education provided to students.  Soon enough the country will have to address the status quo of public education: an inadequate system of inequitable opportunity allocation.  Of course, those who suffer the worst are the millions of low income -mostly black - students.  As far as money is concerned, the data all points to one near victory: the 'race to the bottom' in a competitive global economy.  

The essential components to establish a basic infrastructure of an sufficient public education system are clear: good teachers, adequate facilities, quality instructional leadership, counseling services, security, libraries, text books, technology, aligned curriculum to high standards of achievement and expectation, after school services, funded pre-kindergarten (non-existent in Mississippi), professional development, to name the basics.  Schools and school districts that fall short of the funds for such essentials shortchange their students.

The calculations are simple, too. Students who endure an inferior education perform significantly worse on standardized tests and other state mandated measures of proficiency compared to those who receive an outstanding education.  Students can't learn unless they are taught by a capable team of teachers and administrators.  Those from an educationally or economically stressed background especially need extra instruction and guidance to make any gains in school.

As I understand it, the "resource and finance" gap abets the "achievement gap".  The SEC report addresses the more frequently pushed under the rug issue of the disconnect between desired achievement ends and available resource and finance means to achieve those ends.  Aren't we just weighing the cow, rather than considering how to ensure that it is well fed?

What is the federal role in regards to funding and providing for public education?  It is unclear and variable, at best.  No Child Left Behind and other partially funded mandates indeed set aspirational standards.  However, without the funding that enables all states to defray compliance costs, such measures are just but small steps in the right direction.

I haven't come across any sound argument for the effectiveness of the highly decentralized system of public education allocation that America now has.  Certainly it is not the most efficient and effective method of ensuring that all students, regardless of the neighborhood they come from or their own parents' education, are treated fairly.  While formal equal opportunity is on the books, we continue to deny the millions of low income and minority students the opportunity to cultivate the tools necessary to capitalize on equal opportunity through improved education.  Check out the link I provided, and see if you can be convinced.  You can also check out John Stossel's Stupid in America for some more commentary.

 

Just do it

My philosophy for this week is rather simple; just do it.  Don't think too hard about things and keep moving forward, I tell myself.  We have three blog entries to post before Friday in addition to the usual workload (a bit more than the previous weeks).  With that in mind, this morning I will address the first assignment; re-reading the the blog of one MTC alumnus.  

Ben asked that we read from beginning to end (two years of entries, mind you), the blog of a former MTC-er.  I have been reading bits and pieces of past blogs all along, as I find them informative as well as stimulating for when it comes to writing my own entries.  They offer little glimpses into the personal experiences that might otherwise never be exposed.   

I came across a blog link entitled, 'Texas', and decided to go with it.  I am a native Texan mysel, so naturally I was curious.  The blogger's name is Hunter Taylor. By luck of the draw, I turns out that I happen to know Hunter.  I met him at the gym my first week here.  Although he completed the program and is no longer teaching in the Delta, he is still heavily involved with MTC as a "team teacher".  

Hunter is one of eleven other alumni who have returned this summer to help evaluate the second-year teachers as well as teach at the Holy Springs summer school.  Now that is dedication.  We have joked around quite a bit, hung out together, worked out together, but he has never gone into great detail about the specifics of his experience in the classroom.  Needless to say, I had quite a bit of reading to catch up on in order to find out more about his experience as a teacher in the Delta.  

Now, the blog doesn't read like a day-to-day journal account, though it is sufficient in painting a picture with a broad brush of life in the Delta public schools. The entries I enjoyed reading most gave specific accounts of events - a play by play recount of a nail-biting state championship basketball game following a tumultuous season.  Immediately, I was brought back to the court, or field rather, of my own state championship games.  Reliving through his description the enormous effort required to reach that level of competition.  But it was the tough circumstances of his team that particularly stood out to me - a product of a relatively affluent northern private school. Take a glance at his team description:

Poster Children for Perseverance

I was talking with one of my assistant coaches the other day, and I am quite certain that I have never been a part of a team or heard of a team that has had as much turmoil on it. Let me give you a brief recap of how we started the year, and what our current status is. In order to protect the anonymity of my players, however, I will not be referring to them by name. We began the year with 15 players. Ten of them were 8th graders and five of them were 7th graders. Then the season started...haha. We’ll begin the year by what happened first to player 1. 

Player 1(that’s how I’ll refer to him) was caught with a fire extinguisher hosing off another student. Result…..45 days at alternative school and automatic dismissal from the team. 

Player 2 then decided to run from the school’s security guard on two separate occasions. Result…..3 days school suspension and automatic dismissal from the team as ordered by administration. 

Player 3 then missed multiple practices with no excuse, and was caught by an administrator with a bag of marijuana. Result….dismissal from the team. 

That’s 3 people gone….try and keep up now.

Player 4 missed multiple practices with no excuse and is currently being investigated for having an improper relationship with a girl in one of the school’s portables after school. Result, dismissal from the team. 

Players 5, 6, and 7 all failed four of eight classes for the first semester. Result…..dismissal from the team due to state and school policy.

That’s 7 people gone….we have 8 people left.

Of the 8 players that are left, we have…..

Player 8, who has a sprained toe, will be out of action for the final home game.

Player 9, who has already served a one-game suspension for disciplinary matters and currently faces a “last chance” team policy from the coaches. 

Player 10 is still dealing with the shooting of his brother, which occurred two months ago. 

Player 11 was suspended last game by his mother for skipping a class, and is still under the microscope from her as to whether or not he will be able to play for our last home game.

Player 12 has a pulled thigh muscle that he hid from the coaches, until his mother finally came and told us. (He’s a warrior, he’s our Captain, and he’s still playing)

Players 13, 14, and 15 are great kids who seem to have lost their confidence the last 2 games.

I think the one aspect that I’m most proud of our kids that are still playing on the team though is how well we’ve persevered. Our current record is 7-1 overall and 3-0 in conference. Of our 7 victories, we’ve won 5 of them by single-digit margins. This past Thursday, we also clinched the division title, and reserved our spot for our school’s fourth straight City Championship game. Our school, however, hasn’t won the championship in over 5 years, and I can’t think of a more perfect ending than for a group of wildcards to somehow band together and pull this thing off. I guess we shall see in about 2 weeks.

I'm told this case is not unusual.  But how remarkable it is that Hunter didn't allow his frustration to override a team's potential.  Coach Hunter isn't an exception.  Many MTC teachers are coaches, club leaders, mentors and advocates.  It's a job title with many hats.    

I bet Hunter was far more than a basketball coach to these young students.  It takes a lot to gain trust, you must show up day after day to show that you care about someone.  Tutoring to retain failing kids.  Coping with the shooting of one young man's brother.  

Weekly Re-cap

Somehow, the days just keep getting better and better. My mom is pretty famous for saying "that is the best [chose your food] I have ever had, ever, honestly!" My father and I just laugh and try not to roll our eyes; because, really, how many bests of the same sort of food can can you have? You should only be able to say that line once per category, I would argue. But lately, I confess, I am beginning to feel the same way about my experience here with the Mississippi Teacher Corps. At the end of each day, I find myself thinking, "wow, those were the most inspiring people I have ever met, ever, honestly!" Or, "now that was the best day yet."

Week three has been a thrill. I am beginning to nail down a routine; I wake up at 5 AM with Larissa before she heads off to Holy Springs summer school to work in the office. I try and take my run through Lamar Park before the heat index reaches 105 degrees later in the day. I read the handy online NY Times Digest while I eat breakfast and then savor my fifteen minute walk to work through the beautiful University campus beneath towing magnolia trees.

Larissa and I alternate working here at the University for Ben one week to helping out at summer school. So, in answer to many of the questions I have received - no we do not actually teach. At the MTC office I am working on converting all of the MTC paper files to digital files, a rather daunting task at first, but by this point I see progress and that is encouraging. I do whatever Ben requests; fax, file, phone calls, spreadsheets, errands, you name it. Ben has high expectations, but keeps it fun, that's just the kind of person he is and just the way I like it.

As apart of the MTC Internship, Larissa and I get to meet, listen to and talk with a wide variety of people who are in some way deeply involved with public education in the state. This Tuesday, the other interns and I were fortunate enough to meet Claiborne & Marian Barksdale at the Barksdale Reading Institute (BRI) right here in Oxford. At the University of Mississippi, Oxford, the Barksdale name has come to be associated with a true dedication to improving life for all Mississippians through vision, innovation, execution and philanthropy.

I find it awfully surprising that the state of Mississippi, while home to generations of literary giants such as William Faulkner, John Grisham, and Richard Wright, ranks dead last out of all state literacy rates. It is also last in the dollar amounts spent on each student in its public school system, competing with Alabama, Tennessee, Arizona, and Utah. High poverty levels combined with a lack of funding for remediation, materials, and teacher training exacerbate the critical problem. This is where MTC and BRI are working to eliminate the gap.

In the year 2000, Mr. and Mrs. Barksdale, both natives of Mississippi, decided that the reading levels in the Magnolia State were unacceptably low and they became determined to reverse the trend. The family donated $100 million dollars and founded the BRI. Claiborne gave us a detailed account of the ways in which the Institute has significantly improved the reading abilities of children in kindergarten through the third grade in more than 70 under-performing Mississippi public school, in addition to the pre-literacy levels of children from birth.

Here's how it works: the BRI formed partnerships with the state's public school system, the Mississippi Department of Education, as well as the state's public Universities to create 'systemic' reform in the way reading is taught to children across the state. To save myself from paraphrasing, I encourage everyone to visit www.msreads.org/ to learn more about this critical effort.

This has really been a small recap of what I learned in one morning this week, but there were so many other things going on as well. On Tuesday afternoon, Larissa and I interviewed Dr. Whitney Webb to begin our oral history project about MTC. Thursday, I continued the project with an interview with Dr. Mullins - the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the MTC program. The workload in the office has been significant and constant, but I so enjoy it!

(Attentive notetakers while listening to Marian Barksdale talk about her work on the PTA and as a tutor)

And, here with Hallie sitting on the great porch of the BRI before lunch

Yesterday afternoon, my mom popped into town for a quick visit. It is so lovely to have to opportunity to show her a glimpse of what I have been excitedly writing home about for several weeks now. After a trip to the Taylor Farmer's Market on Saturday morning (I am dying to buy a handmade wooden salad bowl), we will travel north to visit a dear old family friend in Germantown, Tennessee. We plan to go to the Civil Rights Museum and I hope, visit the cul-de-sac where I first learned to ride a two-wheeler at age three. Next week I will be in Holy Springs so expect some updates from there!

Taylor Grocery

I wanted to include a shot of the exterior of Taylor Grocery, my new favorite restaurant here in Mississippi.  Located just about 8 miles from Oxford in the artsy community of Plein Aire, it's about the only thing in the town itself.  The interior walls are covered floor-to-ceiling with signatures.  Elvis Presley's name is said to be somewhere on those walls.  You can always find live music on Sunday evenings.  I will certainly be hitting this place up a couple of more times before I head out of town.  This place is worth the trip!

 

Soul Food

Southerners sure do like there food, and they sure do know how to prepare it, too.  One of the many perks of working for Ben Guest (MTC Program Director) is accompanying him on the ongoing grand gastronomic tour of some of Mississippi's best dining spots.  Ben has treated us to many a good meal, and the food just keeps getting better and better.  In fact, as much as this internship is devoted to education, food has been a critical component of experiencing Mississippi through its rich culture.  

Last week we had the opportunity to meet with Amy Evans Streeter, the oral historian for the Southern Food Alliance.  The meeting was set up in order to help Larissa and I get going on our own oral history project about the Mississippi Teacher Corps.  Mrs. Streeter has traveled all over the map tasting generations old family recipes and innovative creations from some of the hottest kitchens in the country.  I encourage anyone to check out the Southern Food Ways website - SFA - and start exploring. 

In just a few short weeks, we have dined at Yocona In Exile (the finest steak I have ever tasted), Taylor Grocery (catfish that blew us all out of the water), Boure (refreshing Southern sweet tea), Jerusalem Cafe (delicious rich and creamy hummus, dolmas, and salty feta cheese) to name but a few.  I think YaYa's Gourmet Yogurt Bar has been my all time favorite.  The other interns and I frequent YaYa's regularly in the hot afternoon.

Friday night, Larissa, Hallie and I received a call from Ben around 9:00 PM inviting us to Nagoya, his favorite Japanese Sushi Bar.  Asia Sierra Millette (Amherst Intern with the Mississippi Law School), Lauryn Smith (former MTC Intern and current Kentucky Law School student), Basil Beaty and Amani Floyd would all be joining us.  It was an offer we could not past up even though we had just settled down to watch a movie together.  Here we are before another great meal...

(Photo from Nagoya Restaurant - Larissa, Asia, Hallie, Ben, Lauryn, Me)

I awoke Saturday morning and set out to find food a little closer to the Earth, and what better place to look than the local farmer's market?  I wandered over to the Mid-town Farmer's Market first thing so as to avoid the most intense heat of the day.  Less than one mile from my apartment, I found vendors aplenty selling a variety of locally grown and produced fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, honey, baked goods, and even farm-fresh milk and fish!  Friendly people were milling about, recyclable bags in hand, some old, some young, all searching for local delights.  The colors were vibrant and there was even live music and freshly brewed sweet tea to cool me off after my walk.  

   

Peaches 

Zinias

Sunflower

Tomatoes...

Needless to say, I had a great time selecting the ripest fruits and veggies of the bunch.  I left with a handful of mild salad onions, a small bunch of rosemary, two fish fillets, and some baby red potatoes.  Yes, I ate well that night.  I so much enjoy eating out at local joints or fancy-pants restaurants, but sometimes nothing compares to the simple creations I prepare myself.  That night I roasted my fish in parchment (an adaptation of sole en papillote that Jacques Pepin does so well).  I added lemon juice, butter, thyme, salt and pepper and it was tremendous.  I roasted the potatoes as well with the rosemary, salt and pepper.  The onions I saved for a later date but threw together a nice spinach salad with sliced strawberries, blanched almonds, and manchego cheese.  I washed it all down with a nice glass of fresh, local milk.  Yum-0!

So after a weekend of good food, good company, and some much needed rest, I have a busy week ahead.  It is my first full week in the MTC office by myself, working vigorously to keep on task and up to speed with assignments.  In addition, Larissa and I are in the early stages of an oral history project on the MTC program, which will officially be underway Tuesday morning as we complete our first interview.  The week will finish with a dinner with a visit from my mother and a trip to Memphis to visit old friends.  

Being Schooled

Our first week of working at the Holy Springs summer school is nearly complete and it has been quite a week!  The week really began Sunday afternoon when Larissa and I  helped set up for a meeting over at what I like to call MTC Headquarters - or Guyton Hall.  I have woken up each morning at 5:30 AM to catch the 6:10 AM bus to Holy Springs.  Yes, it's an early start, but the day is over before you know it and I have already have learned a great deal.

I am trying to keep what Ben Guest calls, "the beginners mind", approaching each situation as if I have nothing to loose but everything to learn.  The entire 'summer school' concept is so completely foreign to me - what ever happened to summer camp? Detentions, referrals, bells for classes, a strict dress code, and even the P.A. system - all new to me.  These 'instruments' for running an efficient and productive school day were never apart of the Waynflete School formula I grew up with.  I realize now more than ever what a lucky kid and camper I was.  

Detention was something I first saw watching the movie Ten Things I Hate About You - and was that ever a romanticized portrayal.  This afternoon, nearly 40 kids (about 1/5 of the summer school population) had received detentions, and because of the numbers, extra desks were placed in our office so I got to see what it was really like.  Every student was black, and all but one were male.  I felt so cold and awful just sitting there, glancing up from my work occasionally to see what kids were doing.  It looked like a mini version of the United States prison system, and we know well that system isn't working.

Sitting there, I did a bit of thinking about a Sociology class I took with Dr. Witherbee at USM.  In the class, we read "Punishment and Inequality in America", written by Princeton's Bruce Western who describes the particularly dire circumstances for young black men in this country.  I recall one startling study of nearly 1,500 private employers in New York City, which found that black job applicants with no criminal records weren't any more likely to get a job than white applicants who were just out of prison.  

The kids talk about not coming back.  Most hate it, while others actually attend for enrichment.  Will these boys make it out?  Do they have a shot in life? What can MTC do to help them?  Is detention really a good answer?  I certainly don't have the answers.  At least, not yet.  I tried to make it appear as though I knew what I was doing as I handed out copies of President Obama's Inaugural Address for the students to copy - yep, that was their punishment.  It really didn't seem like punishment to me; reproducing an inspiring and eloquent speech from the nations first African American president.  All I keep hoping, is that these young children, however poor and disadvantaged, will realize that their teachers are here to help them and not to punish them.  

On a better note, life is sweet here in the South and the University of Mississippi and MTC are treating me well.  Oxford is a beautiful city, rich in history, culture, and cuisine!  I will try and post a bit more about the farmer's markets and favorite shopping and eating spots as Oxford has many!  Agenda for the coming weekend: a trip to Square Books (http://www.squarebooks.com/) for a look at what's new in fiction, the farmer's market in Taylor (http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/M23756) for some fresh veggies, milk, and eggs, and a yoga class in town.  Let's not forget the weekend getaway to Austin's farm.  There is so much to look forward to and I am trying to savor it all, even the difficult days and 5:30 AM wake ups!  Did I mention Faulkner is in town?

Austin Walker brings Latin to the Delta

Last Friday I was introduced to the legendary Austin Walker.  The soft-spoken MTC participant is famous around here for astonishing success in introducing the first ever Latin program to the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta community of Hollandale.  Prior to meeting Austin, I thought this seemed like the most unlikely place to find any Latin program at all, let alone the winner of the Magnolia State's high school Latin examination and six top finishers on the National Latin Exam.   

Austin sat down to talk with Larissa and I about his teaching and success in the Delta.  A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he was signed up to teach only English at Simmons High School.   However, during his first year teaching he encouraged a handful of students to study Latin with him as well (the first Latin program in school history).  The hard work of Austin and his students clearly paid off as Alexis Hicks, then a 15-year-old sophomore, outscored students from established programs to take first place on the Mississippi State Latin exam.  Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that out of his nine students who took the National Latin Exam, six scored in the top forty percent nationally.

I took the National Latin Exam several times myself and scored quite well.  My brother did too.  But then again, we both attended Waynflete, a relatively affluent private school with a long history of an outstanding Latin program.  I certainly do not think we ever had the 67% award rate that Simmons did after Austin's first year. 

One of Austin's students received a first place gold medal, Summa Cum Laude; a second student won a second place silver medal, Maxima Cum Laude; while three other students all won third place, Magna Cum Laude honors; and yet another student won fourth place, Cum Laude.  I was blown away by these results.  Austin told us that Simmons was the only public school in the Delta to take the National Latin Exam. Only students at the Washington School, a private school in the Delta,  also took the best but won just two awards. What Austin's students’ success demonstrates is that in every school district there are students whose potential is simply not realized.  These students can clearly compete with anyone in the nation; all they need is the opportunity.  

Sharing the good news with his students was an experience, as well.  The kids were elated to find out how well they did, Austin said. He recalled that one student was in the cafeteria when the results arrived.  When he sent someone to go and tell him how he did, he refused to leave the cafeteria because he thought that they were pulling his leg or making fun of him. He simply did not believe that he could do so well.

This is a true story of success, "the type that movies are made out of," says MTC Program Direction Ben Guest.  Unfortunately, not every school has a teacher like Austin.  But thanks to MTC, more and more bright and dedicated teachers are filtering into the critical needs public schools in the Mississippi Delta.  Hopefully, this success has at least offered all of Austin's students a bit of self-confidence.  For they have demonstrated that they are among the most elite Latin students in the country.

On another note, I am really looking forward to this coming weekend for a trip to the Walker family farm! Austin has invited the entire MTC crew of about 60 to spend the day and night at his 500+ acre farm located just outside of Holy Springs.  I have heard rave reviews from past farm weekend trips and I can't wait to experience it myself.  Look forward to reading about this trip in next week's post.  There will be a crawfish boil and shootin' on the range!