Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

Just before, during, and after world war two, the Jewish people were having a hard time everywhere. Europe did not protect them, United States did not want them, and both Germany and Russia (yes Russia our allies at the time) were actively jailing them, confiscating property, and killing them. We all know the numbers, or you can look it up yourself, but the death toll was genocide. Let me also add that Romani, also known as Gypsies were almost wiped out because they were confused with Jews and because Europe did not like them for the perceived way they lived. Fast Forward 60 years later, it seems like religious intolerance is making a comeback when we have elected officials, some of them vying for the highest office in the nation, advocating discrimination, deportation, and registration of Muslims. Sound familiar? Islam is a religion not a people fools! Religion does not kill, people kill. The world swore “never again”, but how quickly we forget. Innocents are dying in w...

I find myself talking about “back in my day” sometimes; this is scary because I am only middle aged, but things seem to have changed in education so quickly. The tools students have at their disposal can do so much, but they also seem to take away a lot as well. Social media has also allowed students to  publicly  vent about a perceived injustices, and what is worse (in my opinion) is that they can do anonymously. I am not a fan of anonymous feedback, especially in the professional world. Rate my professor , I am sure started off as a good idea because after all, it helps to know what you are getting in to; or so we thought… End of course evaluations are never the best way to evaluate professors because not only are they usually highly subjective, but you usually only here from the angry students, and their feedback is rarely constructive in nature. Rate my professor, is 100 times worse. I was recently told a story by a colleague about how he was appr...

I am going to pick on Chris Christie today, and for the simple reason that I needed some fodder and he gave it to me on a platter.  I will also say I have no party affiliations, I am simply interested in logical and sane politics, and this is in very short supply in this very early political campaign. Here is some basic information and terms of presentations: ·          Ethos: An appeal based on character and credibility ·          Logos: An appeal based on logic and reasoning ·          Pathos: An appeal based on emotion Emotional fallacies unfairly appeal to the audience’s emotions. Ethical fallacies unreasonably advance the writer’s own authority or character. Logical fallacies depend upon faulty logic Ad Hominem arguments attack a person’s character rather than that person’s reasoning These are typical campaign parlor tricks, ...

I am fiercely protective of my children; I am that dad that you do not want on campus when my kids do not feel safe, when they feel threatened, belittled or demeaned as a student. This not to say I am violent because I am not, this is not to say that I start shouting at teachers because I do not, especially since I am an educator myself. What it does mean is I believe the school and the profession of teaching owes my kids (all our kids) the right to succeed. They owe my kids the right to feel safe, appreciated, and encouraged. As educators, we have to watch our words, are methods, and the message we are sending to kids. If you send them home because you do not like their haircut what does that tell them except how they look is more important than their education (not to mention it is 100% subjective). It can be worse for young ladies because they are being judged it seems on so many things. If you tell a child that they will never be good at math, guess what is going t...