Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Making of a man
Avatar, as many movies that deal with indigenous themes and rituals—even on a somewhat surface level—again points out that finding one’s manhood comes from finding what one believes, and perhaps going through a crisis of faith (religious or not).
Perhaps the reason such stories are so attractive to an American audience, in particular (aside from the superlative computer graphics) is that we, as a culture, lack rituals for not only women, but especially our men. Women, if they have a child, have the natural test of mettle (especially if they forego painkillers) that childbirth provides though the measure of their womanhood goes much beyond this. Men, however, have no such natural “test.”
Schools have exit exams, but there is no “entry exam” into adulthood. College students may try to survive hazings and may try to party their way into adulthood. Although the military provides a scenario in which a person can test their own mettle, there is no other nationally or “common American” culturally accepted place for a young man or woman to do so in a way that they may not have to kill another human. One has to really be into the search and be willing to go to the fringe in order to find that type of experience. And our children are not taught to search things out on their own these days. They are taught to swallow and regurgitate facts.
Certainly, gangs are one way to discover one’s machismo, but as many former gang members will attest, shooting others in the name of territory is not the way to prove manhood. Rather, the way a man carries himself, the ethics he holds inside him, and the way he manifests those ethics in his everyday actions that attest to his “manhood.” To react in defense if the sign of a boy; to plan and anticipate action in accordance with one’s ethics is the sign of a man.
As a nation, we do not provide this for our young people. Our system that focuses on entering the economic machine as soon as possible either to survive or to get ahead promotes rushing. Young people are not allowed to take the time to observe, to see how the world—both natural and human nature—works in a way that creates the wisdom needed to grow into a mature human being. One must be willing to take a non-traditional route, and the opportunity costs of taking this route can be great the way our society is structured.
Taking a year to explore a particular part of the world is almost unheard of these days. That’s one year less spent earning money, one year more of expenses, one year of not helping to support one’s family. Exit exams and competency testing train students that they always must pass a particular knowledge set to avoid being penalized rather than teaching them the value of exploration to move forward. The result is a nation of people who have a very narrow view of life, who feel that nature is exotic, and that self-exploration is only allowed in a time of crisis.
Perhaps focusing on infusing the classics and mythology throughout the standard K-12 curriculum would help open up students to the idea that growth is more than just measurable height or an increase in test scores, but rather an understanding of how the world and cultures—past and present—connect to each other. That people move through their own personal heroic journeys, and that many succumb along the way. Perhaps such an understanding would allow the permission needed for young people to explore the world and who they are rather than test their boundaries with how much alcohol they can drink. Perhaps it would allow those who are older to understand that their struggles have historic precedence and that they are not alone. One is not a freak to go out in the woods, by one’s self, and just see how you deal with being alone. No I-phone. No laptop. No drinking. Just being. And observing what’s around you.
Perhaps the reason such stories are so attractive to an American audience, in particular (aside from the superlative computer graphics) is that we, as a culture, lack rituals for not only women, but especially our men. Women, if they have a child, have the natural test of mettle (especially if they forego painkillers) that childbirth provides though the measure of their womanhood goes much beyond this. Men, however, have no such natural “test.”
Schools have exit exams, but there is no “entry exam” into adulthood. College students may try to survive hazings and may try to party their way into adulthood. Although the military provides a scenario in which a person can test their own mettle, there is no other nationally or “common American” culturally accepted place for a young man or woman to do so in a way that they may not have to kill another human. One has to really be into the search and be willing to go to the fringe in order to find that type of experience. And our children are not taught to search things out on their own these days. They are taught to swallow and regurgitate facts.
Certainly, gangs are one way to discover one’s machismo, but as many former gang members will attest, shooting others in the name of territory is not the way to prove manhood. Rather, the way a man carries himself, the ethics he holds inside him, and the way he manifests those ethics in his everyday actions that attest to his “manhood.” To react in defense if the sign of a boy; to plan and anticipate action in accordance with one’s ethics is the sign of a man.
As a nation, we do not provide this for our young people. Our system that focuses on entering the economic machine as soon as possible either to survive or to get ahead promotes rushing. Young people are not allowed to take the time to observe, to see how the world—both natural and human nature—works in a way that creates the wisdom needed to grow into a mature human being. One must be willing to take a non-traditional route, and the opportunity costs of taking this route can be great the way our society is structured.
Taking a year to explore a particular part of the world is almost unheard of these days. That’s one year less spent earning money, one year more of expenses, one year of not helping to support one’s family. Exit exams and competency testing train students that they always must pass a particular knowledge set to avoid being penalized rather than teaching them the value of exploration to move forward. The result is a nation of people who have a very narrow view of life, who feel that nature is exotic, and that self-exploration is only allowed in a time of crisis.
Perhaps focusing on infusing the classics and mythology throughout the standard K-12 curriculum would help open up students to the idea that growth is more than just measurable height or an increase in test scores, but rather an understanding of how the world and cultures—past and present—connect to each other. That people move through their own personal heroic journeys, and that many succumb along the way. Perhaps such an understanding would allow the permission needed for young people to explore the world and who they are rather than test their boundaries with how much alcohol they can drink. Perhaps it would allow those who are older to understand that their struggles have historic precedence and that they are not alone. One is not a freak to go out in the woods, by one’s self, and just see how you deal with being alone. No I-phone. No laptop. No drinking. Just being. And observing what’s around you.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Please don't let Congress destroy women's rights!
Hi everyone,
I don't know what each of your personal thoughts on this issue are, and it's really none of my business. But I'm appalled that in the name of "reform" that congress' health care bill is preventing health insurers from covering abortions. No one wants to have an abortion; it's not a great situation. But there are many reasons people need them, and if a woman is paying for health care, she should have access to FULL HEALTH CARE.
For most women, who still bear the brunt of the cost of childbearing and rearing (in terms of money, emotion, and time) especially in a situation in which they realize it is not best for them to have a child, the inability to control their reproduction equals an inability to control their financial life and makes her more dependent on the system--it exacerbates the cycle of poverty and loss of freedom and control.
President Obama campaigned on women's rights. If you agree that women should have the right to access to abortion, please write him as soon and as often as possible and make him uphold his pledge. I know that people on this list are of almost all political persuasions, religious beliefs, or are not religious. People from across the spectrum appear on both sides of this debate, and many in the middle class are just silent, because it's something "we don't talk about" for various personal, philosophical, and social reasons. But I implore you to write to Mr. Obama on this issue, for it affects us, our daughters, and our grandaughters (and their partners).
Here is his e-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Feel free to circulate this letter on the Internet if you so choose.
Yours, with love,
Erika Dyquisto
Friday, February 6, 2009
URGENT
Some Republicans negotiating the stimulus plan and the state are about to try and decimate our schools. Votes are very soon. Please use these letters as a template to send to your state and federal representatives and senators.
Fed letter:
Dear Senator xx:
Please, please ensure that in the negotiations for the stimulus package, that the funds for education are not eliminated during negotiations. Specifically, please do not vote for the elimination of stimulus education funds for the state California--as you know the 47th lowest funded state in the nation per pupil--nor for the elimination of IDEA or GATE funding.
Many children have disabilities, and many of them are of average to high intelligence and have the capabilities and desires to succeed intellectually and economically in this country if given the opportunity. Disabilities that affect learning but can be overcome can range from dyslexia to autism to blindness and deafness, as I’m sure you are aware. Many times, these students either simply need accommodations or additional strategies to learn to use their strengths to overcome their disabilities. Cutting funding for these children will exacerbate social inequities and create longer-term drags on state and federal budgets by creating a population of less enabled and frustrated citizenry, just the opposite of what we need to compete in our global economy. This is especially true in communities of poverty, which are still proportionately constituted of people of color. These communities cannot necessarily afford to make up for the public school system’s lack of support through private school, nor should they have to. Cutting funding for students with disabilities is tantamount to gutting the right of students for an equal education, which is untenable.
On a similar note, most education professionals recognize that students that are ready for additional challenges before their classmates (sometimes labeled as “gifted”) also constitute a special student population. They have a high dropout rate when not stimulated, yet these are the very students who can effectively lead us in developing our economy in the future. These students need the resources – in public schools – to meet their abilities, for we do not educate just to learn to meet the standards in grading criteria, but rather to learn to think creatively about the challenges our world faces and to create new ways of doing our jobs. I would think that a fiscally conservative CEO from Silicon Valley and a socially conscious Democrat could agree on the “common good” of such a cause.
If defunding of these programs occurs, huge portions of our society to are doomed to mediocrity and dependence. And by creating an unfunded mandate, this bill burdens states that are already under severe hardship. While the IDEA mandate is certainly needed for equal access to education, it needs to also be funded adequately, as do our schools in general. What we learn in school (along with what our parents teach us, of course) shapes our attitudes, and if student continually experience defeat and/or boredom, they become demoralized and hopeless. Please take the long-term view of this situation, rather than the short-term bottom line, which is part of the reason why our country is in the economic mess in which it finds itself. Vote “no” on the Nelson-Collins Stimulus Compromise because it would destroy the funds we DESPERATELY NEED to keep my district operating.
Erika & Jim Dyquisto
Parents of school-aged child
In a school district funded in the lowest 10th percentile,
In the 47th lowest funded state in the nation
Pacifica, California
State letter:
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger (or appropriate representative) and State Superintendent of Education:
Please do not implement the “permanent flexibility” of categorical funding for school districts in California. Such flexibility, though at times possibly desirable to meet budgets, places our students at risk, especially in those communities that do not have the resources of those in Basic Aid districts.
To those districts that are “on the edge” it might be desirable to be able to meet maintenance needs or debt service with funds designated for special education, GATE, or other categories. However, this puts the needs and equitable education of many students in jeopardy. Until the state implements an instruction framework that allows for better inclusion of GATE and special education students in the regular classroom – such as what is supposed to occur with the implementation of “Response to Intervention Guidelines,” which were required by the 2004 IDEA, which the state has not yet implemented, it is impossible to serve our special populations without specific, categorical funding. In the interim, many students, and the future of our state, could be disadvantaged further.
Most education professionals recognize that students that are ready for additional challenges before their classmates (sometimes labeled as “gifted”) constitute a special student population with special needs. They have a high dropout rate when not stimulated, and reducing dropouts is a current goal of the state. And these are the very students who can effectively lead us in developing our economy in the future. These students need the resources – in all public schools – to meet their potential, for we do not educate just to learn to meet the standards in grading criteria, but rather to learn to think creatively about the challenges our world faces and to create new ways of doing our jobs. I would think that a fiscally conservative CEO from Silicon Valley and a socially conscious Democrat could agree on the “common good” of such a cause.
In addition, many children have disabilities, and of these, many are of average to high intelligence and have the capabilities and desires to succeed intellectually and economically in this country if given the opportunity. The temptation to cut funding for these children will exacerbate social inequities and create longer-term drags on our state budget by creating a population of less enabled and frustrated citizenry, just the opposite of what we need to compete in our global economy. This is especially true in lower income communities or those which—because of relative changes in property values since the baseline date of the revenue limit formula combined with Basic Aid—are giving much more than they are receiving per pupil. While these communities—like mine—may have tremendous parental volunteer support, we cannot necessarily afford to make up for the public school system’s lack of support by having our children attend private school, nor should we have to. Cutting funding for students with disabilities or who are gifted and talented is tantamount to eliminating Free and Appropriate Education, which is a federal requirement. Please see the following article for recommendations on how local control of money must be combined with minimum funding per pupil in: http://www.csus.edu/CALST/government_affairs/reports/School_Funding_Formulas_Final.pdf.
If de-funding of these programs occurs through “flexibility”, large portions of our state’s students are doomed to mediocrity and dependence. It also, in effect, creates an unfunded mandate, because the federal requirements for those programs still exist, as they should, if our state does not guarantee equal access to education. What we learn in school (along with what our parents teach us, of course) is affected by our experiences there, and if student continually experience defeat and/or boredom, they become demoralized and hopeless and have a tendency to drop out, further exacerbating this state’s problems. Please take the long-term view of this situation, rather than the short-term bottom line, which is part of the reason why our country is in the economic mess in which it finds itself. Do not implement the “flexible categorical funding” component of the 2009-2010 California state budget proposal.
Erika & Jim Dyquisto
Parents of a school-aged child
In a school district funded in the lowest 10th percentile,
In the 47th lowest funded state in the nation
Fed letter:
Dear Senator xx:
Please, please ensure that in the negotiations for the stimulus package, that the funds for education are not eliminated during negotiations. Specifically, please do not vote for the elimination of stimulus education funds for the state California--as you know the 47th lowest funded state in the nation per pupil--nor for the elimination of IDEA or GATE funding.
Many children have disabilities, and many of them are of average to high intelligence and have the capabilities and desires to succeed intellectually and economically in this country if given the opportunity. Disabilities that affect learning but can be overcome can range from dyslexia to autism to blindness and deafness, as I’m sure you are aware. Many times, these students either simply need accommodations or additional strategies to learn to use their strengths to overcome their disabilities. Cutting funding for these children will exacerbate social inequities and create longer-term drags on state and federal budgets by creating a population of less enabled and frustrated citizenry, just the opposite of what we need to compete in our global economy. This is especially true in communities of poverty, which are still proportionately constituted of people of color. These communities cannot necessarily afford to make up for the public school system’s lack of support through private school, nor should they have to. Cutting funding for students with disabilities is tantamount to gutting the right of students for an equal education, which is untenable.
On a similar note, most education professionals recognize that students that are ready for additional challenges before their classmates (sometimes labeled as “gifted”) also constitute a special student population. They have a high dropout rate when not stimulated, yet these are the very students who can effectively lead us in developing our economy in the future. These students need the resources – in public schools – to meet their abilities, for we do not educate just to learn to meet the standards in grading criteria, but rather to learn to think creatively about the challenges our world faces and to create new ways of doing our jobs. I would think that a fiscally conservative CEO from Silicon Valley and a socially conscious Democrat could agree on the “common good” of such a cause.
If defunding of these programs occurs, huge portions of our society to are doomed to mediocrity and dependence. And by creating an unfunded mandate, this bill burdens states that are already under severe hardship. While the IDEA mandate is certainly needed for equal access to education, it needs to also be funded adequately, as do our schools in general. What we learn in school (along with what our parents teach us, of course) shapes our attitudes, and if student continually experience defeat and/or boredom, they become demoralized and hopeless. Please take the long-term view of this situation, rather than the short-term bottom line, which is part of the reason why our country is in the economic mess in which it finds itself. Vote “no” on the Nelson-Collins Stimulus Compromise because it would destroy the funds we DESPERATELY NEED to keep my district operating.
Erika & Jim Dyquisto
Parents of school-aged child
In a school district funded in the lowest 10th percentile,
In the 47th lowest funded state in the nation
Pacifica, California
State letter:
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger (or appropriate representative) and State Superintendent of Education:
Please do not implement the “permanent flexibility” of categorical funding for school districts in California. Such flexibility, though at times possibly desirable to meet budgets, places our students at risk, especially in those communities that do not have the resources of those in Basic Aid districts.
To those districts that are “on the edge” it might be desirable to be able to meet maintenance needs or debt service with funds designated for special education, GATE, or other categories. However, this puts the needs and equitable education of many students in jeopardy. Until the state implements an instruction framework that allows for better inclusion of GATE and special education students in the regular classroom – such as what is supposed to occur with the implementation of “Response to Intervention Guidelines,” which were required by the 2004 IDEA, which the state has not yet implemented, it is impossible to serve our special populations without specific, categorical funding. In the interim, many students, and the future of our state, could be disadvantaged further.
Most education professionals recognize that students that are ready for additional challenges before their classmates (sometimes labeled as “gifted”) constitute a special student population with special needs. They have a high dropout rate when not stimulated, and reducing dropouts is a current goal of the state. And these are the very students who can effectively lead us in developing our economy in the future. These students need the resources – in all public schools – to meet their potential, for we do not educate just to learn to meet the standards in grading criteria, but rather to learn to think creatively about the challenges our world faces and to create new ways of doing our jobs. I would think that a fiscally conservative CEO from Silicon Valley and a socially conscious Democrat could agree on the “common good” of such a cause.
In addition, many children have disabilities, and of these, many are of average to high intelligence and have the capabilities and desires to succeed intellectually and economically in this country if given the opportunity. The temptation to cut funding for these children will exacerbate social inequities and create longer-term drags on our state budget by creating a population of less enabled and frustrated citizenry, just the opposite of what we need to compete in our global economy. This is especially true in lower income communities or those which—because of relative changes in property values since the baseline date of the revenue limit formula combined with Basic Aid—are giving much more than they are receiving per pupil. While these communities—like mine—may have tremendous parental volunteer support, we cannot necessarily afford to make up for the public school system’s lack of support by having our children attend private school, nor should we have to. Cutting funding for students with disabilities or who are gifted and talented is tantamount to eliminating Free and Appropriate Education, which is a federal requirement. Please see the following article for recommendations on how local control of money must be combined with minimum funding per pupil in: http://www.csus.edu/CALST/government_affairs/reports/School_Funding_Formulas_Final.pdf.
If de-funding of these programs occurs through “flexibility”, large portions of our state’s students are doomed to mediocrity and dependence. It also, in effect, creates an unfunded mandate, because the federal requirements for those programs still exist, as they should, if our state does not guarantee equal access to education. What we learn in school (along with what our parents teach us, of course) is affected by our experiences there, and if student continually experience defeat and/or boredom, they become demoralized and hopeless and have a tendency to drop out, further exacerbating this state’s problems. Please take the long-term view of this situation, rather than the short-term bottom line, which is part of the reason why our country is in the economic mess in which it finds itself. Do not implement the “flexible categorical funding” component of the 2009-2010 California state budget proposal.
Erika & Jim Dyquisto
Parents of a school-aged child
In a school district funded in the lowest 10th percentile,
In the 47th lowest funded state in the nation
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Favorite Books
My daughter asked me today, “What are your favorite books?” Now, this is my list of favorites, which in no way has to do with “what makes a good book” in terms of the literary canon. Here are my top 10 fiction books (not necessarily in order) plus some other favorites. I wonder what my daughter could infer from this.
2) July’s People by Nadine Gordimer
3) The Good Wife by Doris Lessing
4) Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
5) The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
6) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
7) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
8) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
9) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
10) Bastard Out of
11) The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Top 8 Non-Fiction Books and articles
1) The Tao te Ching by Lao Tse
2) The Religions of Man by Huston Smith
3) The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
4) Space and Place by Yi-Fu Tuan
5) Man, Myth, and Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of mythology, religion, and the unknown by Richard Cavendish
6) Flora of the
7) Troublemakers by Malcolm Gladwell
8) The Idea of a Local Economy by Wendell Berry
Top 8 Plays:
1) The Cherry Orchard by Anton Checkov
2) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by
3) Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
4) The Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
5) Loot by Joe Orton
6) Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill
7) Death of a Salesman by Henry Miller
8) Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepherd
Top 8 Short Stories or poetry:
1) Tiger Mending by Aimee Bender
2) To Room 19 by Doris Lessing
3) Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4) The Cask of Amantillado by Edgar Allen Poe
5) Poems of Emily Dickinson
6) The Case of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7) The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams
8) Leaves of Grass by Walt व्हित्मन
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