Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

I dropped my kids off at science camp this morning. They gave me their usual kiss goodbye and as I watched them walk in, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of love and pride about who they are and what they are becoming. I love my children, and I have always assumed everyone else does as well. Then I heard this story this morning: “Meant To Keep Youths Out Of Detention, Probation Often Leads Them There ” “Juvenile justice reformers have tried for years to figure out what works to help rehabilitate youth in trouble, and a recent shift away from locking kids up has been at the forefront of reform efforts. One of the most common alternatives to incarceration is to order kids directly into probation, instead of juvenile hall” Listen and read here: http://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/427263478/some-youths-find-probation-more-challenging-than-juvenile-detention We know how ineffective the zero policy rules in schools work, we know that it is a slippery slope int...

  Do not assume you know someone simply because you can see them. True vision of a person comes after truly fellowshipping with them. Have you done that lately? It is never too late. Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

  It is simple math, and if we spent more time on the critical uses of math perhaps we would not have this problem: “California has built 23 prisons since 1980. In the same period, the University of California system has opened one new campus. And although California's prison population has declined in recent years, the state's spending per prisoner has increased five times faster than its spending per K-12 student in the last two decades.” “California has more than 130,000 prisoners , a huge increase from the state's 1980 prison population of about 25,000. Prisons cost California taxpayers close to $10 billion, compared with $604 million in 1980 . While some say the additional spending is needed for rehabilitation services, they also note that the prisons are draining scarce funds from education and other key areas.” Prison system = huge drain on society in so many ways Education = increase of critical thinking skills (real education that is) Society – Pri...

College Jobs, Never Easy, Have Become Pressure Cookers By Jennifer Howard W. Kent Barnds loves his job. But with all the pressures facing higher education these days, it’s not getting any easier. Mr. Barnds is vice president for enrollment, communication, and planning at Augustana College, in Illinois. He’s been there 10 years but has worked in higher education since he graduated from college, in the early 1990s. A lot has changed in those two-plus decades, and Mr. Barnds’s job has expanded remarkably. Like other administrators and faculty and staff members on campuses around the country, he is learning to live in a world of tighter budgets, swelling regulations, and ever more assessment and competition. "The pressure’s greater on enrollment officers for a whole host of reasons, but we’re not alone," he says. "There’s increased pressure on every senior leader on a college campus." The squeeze to do more, often with less, has been felt througho...

 When was the last time you worked hand in hand trying to get the best practices together for the betterment of students rather than just bashing a school you do not like? When was the last time you took a serious look at the myriad of issues that exist in “traditional” schools? For-profit schools did not spring up overnight they were created because there was a need. Are you helping to fill that need or are you part of the status quo? We can do more together than apart. #nottheenemy #highereducationissues #forprofiteducation Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

Educators preach student learning, achievement, and the importance of an education all the time (remember I am an educator as well, just in case you think this is teacher bashing article). That being said, I always get very disappointed when I hear stories of students’ education being interrupted for nonsensical reasons; such as haircuts. See three examples of many: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/03/black-modern-haircut-puni_n_7715350.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education http://www.people.com/article/second-grader-punished-miltary-style-haircut http://www.waff.com/story/26226084/muscle-shoals-student-sent-home-for-distracting-hair-color This is not about race (although sometimes it is), this about priorities, and we sometimes place the wrong priority on students’ education. If you do not like their haircut, fine, but do not take away their education because of that. Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

 I remember many years ago (before social media) being very angry at someone and then writing them a very angry letter. I never mailed the letter, it seemed like the act of writing it was cathartic and I felt no need to send it. This does not mean you always have to excuse people’s bad behavior, it simply means sometimes you need to simply take a breath and perhaps think of a different way. There are many vicious, visceral, and just downright rude social media posts out there, and for no apparent reason. Posters judge people on made up stories, or on one story. Hatred and bigotry are the only winners here since very few people back down in the electronic age. The distance the web seemingly creates is their safety bubble and they feel invincible. We need to take more breaths before we post. The internet is forever; the words you post never really go away. Also, ask yourself: what am I really trying to accomplish by this? If the answer and logic is not positive, perhaps it s...