Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

 As much as I like to see colleges being held accountable for handling this properly, it really should come from within. Why does congress have to be the one to tell you to do the right thing? “Sex Assault Bill Unveiled” “WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of eight U.S. Senators on Wednesday unveiled legislation aimed at holding colleges more accountable for preventing and dealing with the sexual assaults that occur on campuses.” “The lawmakers, led by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, both Democrats, said that the bill responds to a national problem of campus sexual assault and the publicized cases of colleges mishandling investigations.” ““If you are a young woman who goes to college, you are more likely to be sexually assaulted than if you didn’t,” Gillibrand said. “The price of a college education should not be that one in five students is sexually assaulted." (That one-in-five figure, though widely cited, is qu...

Remember, this is a school that has approximately 85,000 students; their futures are up in the air: “Accreditor Won’t Reconsider Decision on City College of San Francisco” “The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges said on Monday that it would not reconsider its 2013 decision to revoke City College of San Francisco’s accreditation, after an independent appeals panel ordered the commission to review the college’s compliance with accreditation standards.” “The commission told the college last year that its accreditation would be rescinded, but last month an appeals panel directed the commission to once again evaluate the college. The commission said on Monday that its latest review had concluded that the college “did not establish its compliance with accreditation standards as of May 21, 2014.” Therefore, a reconsideration of the decision to terminate the college’s accreditation “was not warranted,” the commission stated.” “The commission’s de...

I thought this was an interesting, positive, and potentially long reaching way of viewing admissions. “The 'Best and Brightest' Aren’t Always Obvious” “I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to parents whose aspiration of overcoming poverty and giving their children a better opportunity led them to New York. Our version of the American dream began in the projects of the South Bronx during one of the most dangerous times in the borough’s history. Violence, drugs, poverty, and pollution were everywhere.”   “One of my most vivid childhood recollections was watching my mother cry as she sat at our kitchen table. She had no idea where she was going to find a dollar to buy milk the next day. That was the moment I realized something was different about my family, and as I grew older I learned we were poor. My first few years in New York, I slept on a cot in the hallway where I heard rats rummaging through the walls each night.”   “A high-school counse...

I always find this an interesting topic:   “Year-Round Schooling: Why It's Time to Change” “When public schools first started popping up in the U.S., they were considered secondary to other hands-on pursuits. Learning to read, write and perform basic arithmetic in classrooms was not equal to or greater than the actual work of building the nation and keeping up family farms.” “Even when a basic public school education became a relative priority, the school calendar revolved around agriculture - a necessity of the American way of life. Three months off in the summer months was not mandated because students needed "down time" or free creative play or time to decompress from the pressures of their studies. Those months off were full of even more work, and little free time, and plenty of hard work for the sake of the family and the nation.” “Though family farms as a whole have become an antiquated piece of American history, the idea of summers off fro...

“ Monitors reach Ukraine crash site ” “ Israel may widen Gaza offensive - PM ” “Many dead' in Nigeria town raid ” “ Berlusconi sex conviction overturned ” “India school boycotted after 'rape'” “Tears for the Border Children” This is just a sample of some of the main headlines in the news today and I am looking for the proverbial “silver lining”. Has anyone noticed that very little positive news is getting much in the way of press? Has anyone noticed the violence and hate that is spewing from all corners, all sides, and from all sectors (so it seems)? I am setting a challenge for all educators: for the next week, let us report positive news only, let us show the world the positive power of education. Tell us about a great school year, a great lesson plan, the positive gains of your students, tell us something that can alleviate this darkness. I look forward to hearing your positive stories! Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam...

Educators have one of (if not the most important) the most important jobs in the world, and that is to prepare people for the future. Educators come in many forms, places, and educate in many different ways, but what they all have in common is that they can have a far-reaching impact with students’ lives depending on how the student perceives them.   A lot of the social “issues” we are seeing in the media are not new (e.g. marriage equality, transgender, race, etc), I call them issues simply because society still is discombobulated about these things. However, once the proverbial “cat is out of the bag”, it always a matter of time before these things become accepted, so it is often silly to fight them. As educators, it is my thought that we should be leading the way of tolerance and acceptance of social issues because we are people who can have a profound effect on future generations. Forget religion and personal beliefs for a moment, because our jobs cross all bo...

Higher education, especially the non-traditional sector, is increasingly relying on adjuncts to teach their courses. I am not going to discuss pros and cons, or equality versus inequality; what I do want to talk about is blatant abuse of adjuncts. There is a mentality in some places that says, “we can replace you in an instant so just suck it up”; newsflash, a skilled adjunct is a prize worth keeping and not that easy to replace. “Falling Short” “Summer means lean times – leaner than usual – for many adjuncts, as fewer courses offered means fewer available sections. So adjuncts at Northern New Mexico College who say they were shorted by a third on their last two paychecks say they’re not only angry but have been thrown into an unexpected financial bind.” “Adjuncts also say it’s symptomatic of larger, ongoing problems between the college’s faculty and administration.” ““No one would have signed a contract if they’d known – it takes an hour for most of us to commut...