Connecting Mentors and Mentees through “Connecting Cultures”

It’s striking how much we discover our similarities by examining our differences. This past Tuesday, students from LeConte middle school not only found out their Paramount mentor matches, but they got a unique opportunity to get to know each other with help from our friends at Connecting Cultures.  Our two groups learned about their own heritage, as well as the cultures of others, through artifacts and art pieces from around the world in a beautiful mobile museum display. But let’s be honest, the best part about exploring our cultures is the food! All of our participants were also able to grind their own spice blends to be taken home and used in a recipe of their choice from various regions of the globe. It was a chance to learn, share, explore and connect. All of us at YMC, LeConte Middle School and Paramount would like to thank Connecting Cultures for this exciting experience. Check out more of what they do at http://www.connectingcultures.us/

BINGO!!

How many of you remember playing BINGO in school, your teacher calling out the numbers, and you sitting on the edge of your seat because you almost have five in a row? Remember how much fun and competitive it was? Those were the good old days. Now imagine playing BINGO in an interactive way -getting up, walking around, and trying to fill in the blank spots with names of people in the room, matching them with an interesting fact no one would have guessed. And the prize is finding out who your mentee/mentor matches are for the next nine months! This game was so much fun for both mentors and mentees. I saw a mentor dancing and singing, “ BINGO, bingo, bingo!” Other than seeing them discover who their matches were, that was the highlight of the day. That, and knowing everyone was enjoying themselves.

Agueda's Thoughts: More Fee Hikes

    The type of work Youth Mentoring Connection does is life-changing and life-saving. I believe that in order to be able to do such great work that also comes from a good place individual’s need proper training and education on the issues that our communities are facing. Many of us come from such communities, therefore, we have experienced the issues first hand, but regardless of this, being able to critically reflect and analyze your experience is crucial. There are many college courses, professors, advisors, etc who can provide such things for an individual and being able to have those resources at your disposal is an issue of accessibility and equity for our communities.
    Both the UC and Cal State systems recently approved additional fee hikes for the 2011-2012 academic year. The announcements were made this week, just weeks before the year is to begin.  For people who come from a low-income background such notifications can be alarming and can cause panic. How can a family who is barely making ends meet come up with an extra $500-600 in a matter of weeks? Many families do not have disposable income and do not have the liberty to simply set aside money for short-noticed expenses.
    Now, considering all this, how are individuals who are interested in doing social justice work supposed to get the education and training needed to be most effective in the communities they work with when they can barely afford college? How can individuals move up in the social ladder and give back at the same time when their access to so many resources is limited?
    The 9.6% increase the UC Regents recently approved along with the 12% increase the Cal State board approved both will be on top of the previous fee hikes both systems had previously approved for this upcoming academic year. Issues of accessibility and equity have been present within our higher education system for years but fee hikes like these will only create more issues for communities of color.
    Such fee hikes will make it extremely hard if not impossible for many to attend a 4-year institution after high school or transfer from a community college.  This issue goes beyond economic disparities; fee hikes continue to create access for some groups and continue decreasing and limiting the access to higher education to many other groups.  How can those groups whose access is limited be fair competitors in the current job market, do good work, or simply get by? 


Agueda

The Rhymes of a Discriminated Student - Wake Up America!

I always have a lot to say about how our culture leaves youth behind and how our education system is inherently discriminatory.  However, I have never put it quite so eloquently as our young man Elmer Reyes.  Here he offers his firsthand account as a student in South Central Los Angeles.  Listen to his mix of gratitude, recognition and intelligent anger as he cries out to all of us to become heroic teachers, mentors and a more just society.

The Rhymes of a Discriminated Student

There is a huge epidemic in the United States.

The achievement gap shows the devastating rates.

The statistics are staggering, it has to change.

The system is corrupted, it’s not the same.

The poor minority students think it’s a game.

African American and Latino students don’t find it strange.
But all the schools in urban cities compare a cage.
Keeping students confined like if they’re insane.
That’s what gets most of them enraged.
And leads to high school dropouts that didn’t graduate.
If only teachers knew how to motivate.
Instead of teachers who discriminate.
To give students a chance and communicate.
There would be more students to educate.

As the white, middle class, majority students succeed.
Urban city students roam the streets.
Not caring about a high school diploma or a college degree.
Causing the achievement gap to increase.
What type of solution does it take to make the gap decrease.
The one that has teachers actually teach.
To show students something they’ve never seen.
To make their dreams a reality.
And they can be what they want to be.
If only teachers had this ability.
Then the achievement gap would be filled with tranquility.
And have both majority and minority students in universities.

Urban city schools have so many problems.
People have to find away how to solve them.
Like one of my teachers that was involved in
After school programs where students would taunt him.
But slowly gained their respect and then brought them
Books that he would give and then taught them
How to get good grades in school projects.
He motivated and pushed them to accomplish.
A high school diploma that he promised.

My teacher had the skill to communicate
With minds that were hard to educate.
This is a solution that can make change.
If only there were more teachers that were the same
The achievement gap would have never been made.
I’m sure this solution will even out the rates.
That have been made and claimed
Throughout the United States.
Imagine all of the graduations.
Caused by teachers that had communication.
That stayed after school with dedication.
And gave urban city students inspiration.
And let them see that success comes from education.
That knowledge is power there should be no hesitation.
All the teachers need the communication.
To give urban city students motivation.
 Elmer Reyes

Thanks Elmer for sharing your voice with us and reminding us of our responsibility toward the education of all youth.

Tony

Elmer and his Mentor Jeff at Warner Bros.



Tony LoRe

CEO/Founder, Youth Mentoring Connection / Urban Oasis

Agueda's Thoughts: Personal Agency

Los Angeles Teacher Ratings

It is a fact in my life that every individual has different needs; while many may be similar to each other, no two individuals can benefit equally from one potential solution. With this in mind, I struggle when I consider the many solutions posed by the government, law makers, and education experts on how to improve our education system. While true comprehensive reform is essential for the system as a whole, one cannot expect to have students from every level benefit equally from the changes. Considering that, it can be extremely overwhelming to think about how we are going to help every person who is part of such a huge system. It can be very easy to become discouraged when thinking about doing something to help; but accepting that you cannot save the whole world is a start. Beyond that, it is paramount to remember that your personal agency is far more powerful than you would like to believe.

I have had many conversations with people who wonder why I do the work that I do. Some people say, “You can’t save every young person and you can’t change the system so why bother?” I often would be offended that they did not see the world the way I did but how could they? If it is difficult to have one solution benefit two people equally, how could I expect to have another individual agree on all of my views and politics? I learned along the way that my purpose in having such discussions was necessarily to convince them to join my side but hope that there could be a third space we both could reach in which we would agree. I do not expect to have every person become an educator, a school principal, a superintendent, or have a career change and devote their lives to young people. What I do hope to do is to have every person acknowledge and tap into their personal agency.

Every person can do something to try and better this world. You do not have to be a law maker or part of a governmental entity to make an impact. The people that I work with and the mentors we bring all know that. We all know that having a simple conversation with a young person about why they skipped school or why they got into a fight can make a huge impact. It is difficult to balance the personal with the systematic but one does not have to be at the expense of the other. Every person who works on the macro level can still make an impact in a single person’s life by simply caring and if enough of these acts are done then the impact can be at the macro level as well.

So when learning about all the potential solutions that school districts and law makers are struggling to produce, do not get discouraged when realizing that they probably will not get it right, just think about what it is that you can do to impact a young person’s life. History has taught us that we cannot rely or expect those on top to solve all the issues in our communities especially because all laws cannot and do not have the same impact on all individuals within our society. Because of that, as socially conscious individuals it is our responsibility to embrace our personal agency and put it to use.


Agueda

Waiting For Superman: Waiting for America to become America for all children

In the tug-o-war between left and right, between union and management, between ideologues of different stripes all too often children become the rope. They become the rhetorical tool that people on either side of an argument use to argue their position. So you end up with a system that places accountability measures on schools, teachers and children while at the same time severely limiting their resources. The state of education in the State of California has been steadily declining since the passage of Prop 13 to the point that a system that once was the envy of the world is now a dysfunctional and horribly inequitable mess which has a racially skewed result. To be clear I’m not blaming Prop 13 for our educational problems, but rather an electorate that is more willing to fight for the interests of property owners than for the rights of all children for an equal education.

This should be no surprise as it simply follows the trends of this country. The rich get richer and the poor compete for what little resources are left. The well-to-do can afford expensive private schools ensuring that their progeny can take over their positions of power and influence. The balance of the population are relegated to a position of living off of the table scraps of the wealthy…and then are blamed for not being able to accomplish the near impossible. Our schools may be letting our kids down, but our society is letting our schools down. Children are not safe to walk to a school where they will not have the resources to learn effectively, taught by teachers who have to manage classrooms of 30-40 kids that enter at tremendously disparate levels of comprehension. This is partially the legacy of “No Child Left Behind”. It has left millions of children behind because it was an empty slogan so representative of our willingness in this country to get behind ideology but not worry about its repercussions on real human beings.

Enter the new documentary: "Waiting for Superman” to put a human face on this problem. Rhetoric and statistics disappear into the background when one witnesses the real human tragedy of a parent sitting in a hall watching for a lottery ball to drop in order to know if their kid will go to a school that will prepare her for college or one that will warehouse him for the streets and possible incarceration.

This exceptional piece of filmmaking has already created a tremendous amount of controversy and it only opened this past weekend. There will be much debate over teachers and unions and public schools vs. charter schools, and who is to blame. Entrenched interests will rush to defend their positions. The movie will no doubt be criticized for not offering enough comprehensive solutions, but is that the role of a documentary movie? We have to be careful that we don’t let a 90 minute film define the terms of the discussion. Let’s just let it do what it is intended to do: stimulate debate and inflame our desires to offer a better future for all children. The film does show us what is possible. It is up to us to all to stop “waiting for Superman” and engage in one of the most important debates of our lifetime. We need to get angry at what we see on the screen and then make that anger productive.

In an ironic twist, Superwoman Oprah Winfrey takes up the cause of “Waiting for Superman” and features Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg flying in like Superman to drop 100 million dollars on the Newark school system. While we heap praise on both of these wonderful actions (and appreciation for the spotlight that this puts on the problem), it is easy to lose sight of the millions of children who don’t get to go to the few schools who will benefit from these actions. It is a scary proposition that the well-being of the vast majority of the population is once again dependent upon handouts from the wealthy.  Every one of us needs to ask what we can do. Volunteer at a public school. Become a tutor. Better yet, become a mentor. Engage in the debate. Advocate for a more level playing field. Become active.

As mentors we realize how much power there is in simply paying attention to youth. So, when the youth of America see that we are debating and arguing over their future, even if we disagree, they may get a message that they do count after all. But if nothing comes of it, or if they see that we are cynically using them once again as the rope in our tug-o-wars about taxes and privilege and position, they will lose hope and we slip further into a culture of fear that continues to promote the interest of the few at the expense of the children of our future.

sincerely,

Tony

Tony LoRe
CEO/Founder Youth Mentoring Connection
Founder Boarding House Mentors

Possible Reform But In The Wrong Place

California Joining Efforts to Overhaul Student Testing

Ideally, standardized testing produces results that demonstrate the learning that has occurred on behalf students throughout the year. In an ideal world, standardized testing would serve as a great asset to identify student’s strengths and weaknesses but unfortunately, many times, the tests are not reliable sources.

One of the many reasons why standardized testing does not work in favor of the students is because it does not account for the small improvements students make throughout the academic year. For instance, a student can begin the 4th grade at a 1st grade reading level and by the end of the year be reading at the level of a 3rd grader. This improvement would not be accounted for in the standardized testing done at the end of the year because the student would be tested at a 4th grade level and their results would be poor. If these same results are used to "grade" and "review" teachers then there's a problem and unfortunately this is the reality of too many inner-city and low-income students and teachers.

The proposed new format for standardized testing would be computer based and very much like the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). In this test, the computer is basing its next question on your previous response. For example, if you answer correctly several times consecutively the questions get harder and harder. Conversely, if you answer incorrectly the questions get easier. Such format is argued to keep teachers from teaching the exam because they will not know what will be asked on the exam as it will not longer be in scantron form.

The main question is, will the new format of this $330 million exam provide any beneficial results? Or will it just be another way to show case the poor academic performance that exists in the California educational system?

I would argue that instead of focusing energy on changing the format of an exam whose content has proven to be culturally irrelevant to many low-performing groups, time and money should be spent on resources and training that would allow students to perform well no matter what the format of the test it.

Agueda

Hope for Foster Care Students attending California Universities

Students raised in foster care to get priority housing at California Universities
The importance of having a shelter can be undermined and forgotten by many. When we see a homeless person on the street we are quick to assume that it is their fault; that they refuse to search for employment or simply lack the will to better their life. When we are able to spare some change, are we pitying them or we being compassionate and thinking of all the people, circumstances and challenges that have placed them in that situation? It is very easy to judge a homeless adult whom we come across on the street but are people as quick to do that with a homeless family or young person?

Seeing a homeless family may strike different emotions in an individual because there are more people suffering, there may be children involved, and it is a part of our society to strive to have a nuclear, functional family. When people come across homeless youth it can be very easy to assume that they are merely punks who are rebelling against their parents, that they’ve run away and are choosing this lifestyle; but what about foster youth? Specifically those who have been emancipated from the system because they are now 18? Is it not the responsibility of the government to continue to support these young people in some way? Some of the barriers and walls that these individuals have had to cross are unbelievable and it seems so irrational to “free” them from an already dysfunctional child services system and expect them to do for themselves with no help.

I am glad to know that the state of California is now making more of an effort to help youth who come from the foster care system. It is remarkable what many have survived and getting to college is a huge accomplishment that not many experience. By having the public education system give year round on-campus housing to foster care college students is a huge support.

Overall, this new law is a step in the right direction. Hopefully in the future all foster care youth can count on some governmental support after they turn 18.

Agueda

It's time for our annual campaign drive! Partner with us to mentor our youth from the threats of gang violence, drugs, and dropping out of school. Everyone who donates will be entered to win two tickets to our benefit concert with Jackson Browne in October.
 
YOUR DONATION WILL CHANGE LIVES! Donate here: Youth Mentoring Connection Annual Campaign

“Let America be America again--The land that never has been yet”

"O, yes, I say it plain,

America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!"  (Langston Hughes)

Our good friends at HBO, along with hosting our longest running mentoring program also continue to create opportunities for us to experience socially conscious performances that provoke thought and inspire action. Last Tuesday they provided the opportunity for 50 of our mentors and mentees to see Laurence Fishburne perform the one-man show “Thurgood”, about Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who prior to becoming a justice argued one of the most famous cases in front of the court: Brown V. Board of Education - The case that launched a wholesale effort to desegregate our schools nationwide.


…and it was working. Graduation rates for African American and Latino students were growing and test score gaps narrowing. However, over the past couple of decades we have been marching steadily backwards, replacing legally enforced segregation with economic and social inequities that have reestablished a quality gap in education reminiscent of Jim Crow days. And now with the election of our first black President a severe economic downturn, powerful undercurrents of racial bigotry are being exposed again. How will we respond this time? Can we ever reject fear and greed to finally become what we can be as a civil society?

Fishburne closed the play with a quote from a Langston Hughes poem that still resonates today with a plea to…

"Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That's made America the land it has become.

O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home--

For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,

And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lee,

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we've dreamed

And all the songs we've sung

And all the hopes we've held

And all the flags we've hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay--

Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--

The land that never has been yet--

And yet must be--the land where every man is free.

The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,

We must take back our land again,

Langston Hughes

America!

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath--

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain--

All, all the stretch of these great green states--

And make America again!"

 

respectfully,

Tony

Tony LoRe

CEO/Founder

Youth Mentoring Connection/Urban Oasis

It's time for our annual campaign drive! Partner with us to mentor our youth from the threats of gang violence, drugs, and dropping out of school. Everyone who donates will be entered to win two tickets to our benefit concert with Jackson Browne in October.
 
YOUR DONATION WILL CHANGE LIVES! Donate here: Youth Mentoring Connection Annual Campaign

Fremont High: Will it perform?

Fremont High's grand experiment begins

It is officially time to see if Mayor Villaraigosa’s grandiose plan of shutting down Fremont High School, due to low-academic performance, and re-hiring new and old teachers will work. The school re-opened July 7, 2010 with new and returning teachers.

Many of the experienced and caring teachers chose not to re-apply for their positions. It is not surprising that some of these teachers are missed by many of the students. The thing is that the educational system cannot punish all teachers at one school for low-academic performance when not all of them are to blame. There are many external factors that lead a student to perform low. Societal issues such as poor neighborhoods, gang violence, lack of employment, etc all play factors in a young person’s educational experience.

The school system needs to properly implement evaluations. Once a teacher reaches tenure the amount of times that they are reviewed decreases over time. It is obvious to me in my educational experience and from talking to actual teachers that such practices may not be the most reasonable considering that some tenured teachers are not the best teachers. The accountability of some teachers needs to increase as well as the evaluation methods and practices.

I know that some of the best learning I did from K-12 was in classes in which the teachers really cared about the progress of the students. Recently, I had a conversation with my 8th grade science teacher about the status of the California education system. I wanted to get insider perspective on it, especially from a woman who was by far the best, most dedicated and caring teacher I had in my youth. I voiced my thoughts about how teachers should have a passion for their career and not look at it as a job; they should care about the learning and progress of their students because that gives a space for students to reach their full potential. She replied, “The thing is, teachers are not paid to care, their paid to teach.” It suddenly struck me that she did not have to constantly remind kids to do their homework or provide extra tutoring and counseling when needed, she did that all on her own. Even though she wasn’t paid to care she still did. The reality is though that some students do not have the opportunity to have teachers who truly value their growth and as a society, how do we solve that? How do we address the teachers who simply have a job and not a calling? How do we measure each teachers commitment to their students when they are not paid based on those standards?

I feel that until something is done to address such issue as well as all the other societal issues that effect a student learning, simply shutting down and re-opening a school with some new staff will not bring the reform our education system needs.

Agueda