Category: Education

Elena Kadvany

Protests, Tension Unite UC Students

By Elena Kadvany, Mar 6, 2010 6:55 AM

The past weeks have seen chaos in the form of social change spread like wildfire across the University of California campuses. A dance party turned riot at UC Berkeley last Thursday. Students are still recovering from a slew of racially charged incidents. Hundreds of UC students lobbied legislators in Sacramento for funding on Monday (and five were arrested).

But in the midst of all the uncertainty and disorder, something exciting is happening at the UC campuses. Although the budget cuts are a threat to the future, and the highly publicized racial incidents unimaginably worse, the passionate solidarity emerging among students is as unexpected as it is empowering. A community has been born in protest. United by crisis, cross-campus student activist movements are standing up to defend public education.

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Ninoy Brown

Continually SMH at UCSD

By Ninoy Brown, Feb 22, 2010 8:41 AM

 (From FOBBDeep)

While attending UCSD, there were more than a few WTF/”that’s racist!” moments experienced. And it appears to continue with a fraternty’s “Compton Cookout” themed bbq:

“UCSD party mocks Black History Month”

A weekend party that involved University of California San Diego students and mocked Black History Month has drawn the ire of black students and prompted a condemnation sent to all students and faculty by the chancellor.

An invitation to the “Compton Cookout” event urged participants to wear chains, don cheap clothes and speak very loudly, according to wording circulated by outraged students and verified by campus administrators.

As a guide for girls attending the event, the invitation read, “For those of you who are unfamiliar with ghetto chicks-Ghetto chicks usually have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and wear cheap clothes…”

Read on

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Ninoy Brown

A Dream Realized

By Ninoy Brown, Feb 10, 2010 6:34 PM

February 5, 2010, The New Parish in Oakland (previously known as Jimmie’s Nightclub) is filled with a diverse range of faces to celebrate and remember the life of Mike “Dream” Francisco. Three year old’s hit the floor rockin’ their best b-boy/b-girl moves along with veteran popper, Bionic Man. Older heads recollect their memories of chillin’ and mentoring the legendary graffiti writer, younger heads recall the pieces he created which inspired them to pick up a can, and his counterparts remembered the escapades.

(Via FOBBDeep)

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Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

The 'Asian fail' and having fun with the model-minority myth and other stereotypes

By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Feb 4, 2010 7:28 AM

 Three summers ago, my 70-year-old father, who has been after me for years to finish my PhD, had a sudden post-retirement revelation, “It does not matter how many degrees you have; what matters is that you are a good person and live a happy life.”

He then turned to the kids and said, “You do not have to get good grades or go to a good college, you just have to learn how to be a good person and be happy.”

The children and I stared at him, mouths dropped open in disbelief, “Who are you and what have you done with my real father?”

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Alan King

Foster Teens, Advocates Address Issue of Aging Out at 'First-ever' Youth-led Hearing

By Alan King, Jan 27, 2010 2:31 PM

EDITOR’S NOTE: Washington Post Columnist Petula Dvorak covered the preparation of this hearing in her column, Normal Teens, Except for their Heartbreaking Circumstances. The article below is a follow-up to that hearing.

While most 18 year olds are preparing for prom or the college experience, Derek Reid is just trying to survive. He’s been in the D.C. foster care system for three years, lives in a group home on Capitol Hill and is on his third social worker.


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NAM Youth Communications Team

The Rise of the Unpaid Internship

By NAM Youth Communications Team, Jan 20, 2010 10:10 AM

Editor's note: This blog by Kristi Eaton originally appeared on Campus Progress.

For eight months last year, Columbia University graduate Michelle Sung worked at four unpaid or very low-paying internships in an effort to break into the graphic design field. Sung, who received a degree in applied math from Columbia in 2008, had just completed a year’s worth of night classes at the Parsons School of Design and was eager to start her new career. Looking to gain valuable experience, she turned to internships that paid a small stipend or nothing at all. “To apply for a full-time job, I have to convince the employer I can do the work,” she says, “and in this industry, you do that by showing your work.”

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Laura Goode

2010 Heralds Female Majority in the American Workforce

By Laura Goode, Jan 5, 2010 4:37 PM

The year 2010 may be remembered by America’s children as the year women took command of its workforce.

Accordingly, more and more major news outlets, themselves the beneficiaries of and sometime obstacles to women’s ascendancy (the sudden death of Deborah Howell, a titanic shatterer of journalism’s glass ceiling, provides a fresh reminder of this), are trumpeting the imminent female majority in the workplace.

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Jamilah King

Young Activist Faces Deportation in Florida

By Jamilah King, Dec 15, 2009 12:40 PM

Editor's note: This blog originally appeared in WireTap.

Distressing news out of Florida.

Last week, ICE officials in Broward County detained 24-year-old undocumented community organizer Andrea Huerfano after committing the criminal act of trying to pay a traffic ticket.

Authorities could deport her as soon as Tuesday.

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Frances Kai-Hwa Wang

Emily Hsiao: a role model for my children, an inspiration for me

By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, Dec 14, 2009 2:49 PM

My first memory of Emily Hsiao is from 11 years ago, when she and a bunch of her little 7-year-old girlfriends were sitting in a tree yelling “Kiss! Kiss!” at my daughter and Emily’s little brother, who, since they were both 3 years old at the time, would oblige, much to the giggles of the 7-year-old girls sitting in the tree.

As she grew older, I often asked Emily to babysit so my girls could develop a relationship with an older sister who could later lead the way for them and talk to them about teenage girl stuff should the need ever arise.

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Laura Goode

Naming the Barbarians

By Laura Goode, Dec 14, 2009 1:46 PM

Today’s New York Times publishes a new and confidential report, released by an unnamed “state agency,” that substantiates the shortcomings (to use a generous word) of the New York juvenile justice system.

Though little of it would surprise anyone who’s ever worked with the American juvenile justice system, it’s hard to know what horrifies me most about the new report’s findings. Is it the fact that an estimated half of these young people suffer from diagnosed mental illnesses, one-third have developmental disabilities, and the system fails to employ a single psychiatrist who can issue medication?

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Edwin Okong'o

'Funny!' is in the age of the beholder

By Edwin Okong'o, Dec 10, 2009 1:32 PM

A few weeks ago, Our Man in America got on stage to tell jokes to his fellow Kenyans. They booed him. A week later when he stood in front of Nigerians to tell the same jokes, they showered him with money. After weeks of gathering pieces of his broken heart, he understands that the rejection by Kenyans had nothing to do with the fact that a prophet is never accepted at home.

The Kenyan audience was full of young people in their early 20s. To understand why they booed me, I had to look back at my first years in America. I was young, naive and full of misconceptions. At one, two, three, four, even five years I was at the stage in America when I thought that I had hit a jackpot — that I had escaped poverty. I was still converting my hourly wage into Kenyan shillings and — realizing that I earned more than my friends who were doctors in Africa — I thought I was up to bigger things.

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Emmi Grooney

The Road to College: The Stress of Following Your Dreams

By Emmi Grooney, Dec 9, 2009 11:46 AM

Editor's note: In an ongoing series, the EthnoBlog will be following three students in their senior year of high school as they confront the challenges of applying to, selecting, and paying for college in a recession year.  Emmi Grooney is the first of these students.

My dream is to be the first person in my family to go to college, and my goal right now is to make that dream a reality for next year. I plan to major in Psychology and minor maybe in Sociology or social work because I have a passion for working with youth, and I want to be a teen counselor when I'm done with school.

I’m currently a senior in high school, and by the end of January I'm supposed to be all done with all my college applications. At the moment I've finished all my Cal State University applications to San Jose, Hayward, San Diego and Sacramento. After learning about the 30 percent fee increase for the University of California system, it reestablished that I don't really want to go to a UC school. As it is I'm probably going to have to take out loans for school, unless I get a really good financial aid package, which is what I'm praying for.

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NAM Youth Communications Team

"Too-Fat-To-Graduate" Is Wrong

By NAM Youth Communications Team, Dec 2, 2009 10:57 AM

Editor's note: This YO! blog was written by Alexi Drier.

Lincoln University, located in Oxford, Pennsylvania, has created a Too-Fat-To-Graduate Rule that has upset many people. At Lincoln University, students with a body mass index of 30 or above are required to take a thrice-weekly fitness course. Students who are required to take the course, but do not complete it, can't graduate from Lincoln University.

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NAM Youth Communications Team

How Do 37 Students Fit Into 20 Seats?

By NAM Youth Communications Team, Nov 23, 2009 1:54 PM

Editor's note: This blog was written by Melissa Vargas, 16, a junior at Lincoln High School in San Jose.

I’ve always been an A student. I liked doing my work and asking questions whenever I was having doubts about something. My teachers always gave me the attention I needed and answered all my questions. All that changed for me when I started high school. I got my schedule and was excited to start because I got interesting classes. My enthusiasm started to slowly go down as I entered every room to find myself stuck between the wall and door! I couldn't believe it, how can there be so many students assigned to one class? The worst one was English fourth period.

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Andrew Lam

"Ssshthanks give in"

By Andrew Lam, Nov 23, 2009 1:49 PM

"Thanks-giving," said Mr. K., my seventh grade English teacher. "Repeat after me: Thanksgiving."

"Ssshthanks give in," I repeated, but the word tumbled and hissed, turning my mouth into a wind tunnel. A funny word, "Ssshthanks give in," hard on my Vietnamese tongue, tough on my refugee's ears.

"That's good," said Mr. K., full of encouragement. "Very good. Thanksgiving."

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Silicon Valley Debug

Help Not Wanted: Youth Respond to Their Highest Unemployment Rate Since WWII

By Silicon Valley Debug, Oct 22, 2009 1:05 PM

Editor's note: According to the Labor Department, the percentage of unemployed youth has reached an all time high since World War II, hitting 53.4%, while the amount of young people employed from ages 16 – 24 years old has gone down to 46.6%. Silicon Valley De-Bug asked young people in San Jose how they felt about their job prospects in these difficult times. Despite the shrinking set of job opportunities, we found these young adults are both pragmatic about what they need, and hopeful about what they can become.

hiring.jpg

comic by Rolando Barron

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Laura Goode

Day of Dissent: UC Rises Up

By Laura Goode, Sep 25, 2009 11:54 AM

Editor's note: EthnoBlogmistress Laura Goode hit Telegraph Ave. on Thursday to cover what students are saying about the University of California-wide walk-outs, which were organized to protest, among other things, rising student fees and slashed employee salaries.

It’s a New Depression double whammy on the University of California system: 4-10% pay reductions for UC employees, and a 9.3% increase on UC student fees. It should be noted that “fee” is the public-university jargon for “tuition,” because according to the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education in California, UC schools are supposed to be free for California residents. Moreover, the UC Regents are mumbling about raising the fees another 32% next year to help narrow the California budget gap. Much of the deficit, some argue, is a result of Proposition 13 of 1978, which limited California property taxes to 1% and in doing so, reduced funding for public education. Many UC students, faculty and employees are fed up, and staged a walk-out from class and subsequent demonstration on Thursday, Sept. 24.

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Laura Goode

Shenekah Cayetano: The Road to College, Part 3

By Laura Goode, Sep 10, 2009 10:28 AM

Editor’s note: The Community Coalition of Los Angeles runs a specialized program, South Central Youth Empowered through Action, which helps develop African-American and Latino youth to be the next generation of leaders to create positive change in our schools and their community of South L.A. Over Labor Day weekend, SCYEA took 30 youth on a Bay Area college tour where students visited major universities and met with local community leaders and social justice activists. In light of President Obama’s Tuesday speech on the state of American education, the NAM EthnoBlog caught up with SCYEA to share three blog entries by one of their youth, Shenekah Cayetano, reflecting on what the trip meant for her future. This is the third and last of those entries. To learn more about SCYEA’s mission and action, and to read more youth perspectives, please visit http://blog.cocosouthla.org/

Last Day of the Retreat: Unity and Support
Shenekah Cayetano, September 8, 2009

Today is the last day of the retreat. The best part of the retreat, to me, was when we made our “unity circle” Sunday night. In the unity circle, everyone had a chance to express how they felt and what they learned about this trip. It was very emotional for everyone and we all felt God’s presence around us.

On our last night, we created a unity circle of yarn as we shared our thoughts and feelings about the retreat. The yarn, wrapped around each of our wrists, represented the ties of support that we provide for each other.

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Laura Goode

Shenekah Cayetano: The Road to College, Part 2

By Laura Goode, Sep 10, 2009 10:12 AM

Editor’s note: The Community Coalition of Los Angeles runs a specialized program, South Central Youth Empowered through Action, which helps develop African-American and Latino youth to be the next generation of leaders to create positive change in our schools and their community of South L.A. Over Labor Day weekend, SCYEA took 30 youth on a Bay Area college tour where students visited major universities and met with local community leaders and social justice activists. In light of President Obama’s Tuesday speech on the state of American education, the NAM EthnoBlog caught up with SCYEA to share three blog entries by one of their youth, Shenekah Cayetano, reflecting on what the trip meant for her future. This is the second of those three entries. To learn more about SCYEA’s mission and action, and to read more youth perspectives, please visit http://blog.cocosouthla.org/

Where I Was and Where I Am Now
Shenekah Cayetano, September 7, 2009

I was not looking forward to going to Cal State San Francisco on Sunday. I heard it was unbelievingly cold and disgusting. I really didn’t know what to expect or how this tour would turn out.

When we reached and touched the campus, the first thing that came to sight and caught my attention were the murals. I love art and find myself interested in its history. My opinion about SFSU instantly changed while we waited for our tour guides, I expected more than what was told.

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Laura Goode

Shenekah Cayetano: The Road to College, Part 1

By Laura Goode, Sep 10, 2009 10:03 AM

Editor’s note: The Community Coalition of Los Angeles runs a specialized program, South Central Youth Empowered through Action, which helps develop African-American and Latino youth to be the next generation of leaders to create positive change in our schools and their community of South L.A. Over Labor Day weekend, SCYEA took 30 youth on a Bay Area college tour where students visited major universities and met with local community leaders and social justice activists. In light of President Obama’s Tuesday speech on the state of American education, the NAM EthnoBlog caught up with SCYEA to share three blog entries by one of their youth, Shenekah Cayetano, reflecting on what the trip meant for her future. This is the first of those three entries.  To learn more about SCYEA’s mission and action, and to read more youth perspectives, please visit http://blog.cocosouthla.org/

What Student Activism Means to Me
Shenekah Cayetano, September 6, 2009

I joined SCYEA because I wanted to learn more about what happens after high school.

In middle school and the beginning of high school I didn’t think of going to college; my classes weren’t important like the ones I have now. Enough people didn’t push me to go, meaning schools, neighborhoods, friends, all of those people on the side who want you to fail. Living in the ghetto makes it difficult for me to go to school and pay attention.


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