Dad Life

A friend shared this with us. It has to at least make you smile...

The Girls & Boys Projects recognizes all of the fathers out there! :)

Black Woman Walking

This could easily have been posted on our Girl Talk blog... But, it's probably more important for our guys to LISTEN to what these women are saying:

An Uphill Battle

On Tuesday, March 2 Teach For America hosted a panel discussion entitled, "Men of Color & Education: A Discussion on the Pursuit of Excellence." The conversation was centered around Black and Latino boys and the challenges they face in our school system. The star-studded panel included rapper Common, singer John Legend, former NBA player Eric Snow, Bronx Borough President Rueben Diaz, Jr., and professors Dr. Pedro Noguera and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill. The event was moderated by David C. Banks, founder and president of the Eagle Academy Foundation.

      

Each panelist brought something different to the table. Whether it was his experience as a teacher, father, mentor, researcher, musician, etc. each voice was unique. Dr. Noguera, Dr. Hill, and Mr. Diaz offered a number of eye-opening statistics including:

• Stuyvesant High School (one of the city's specialized high schools) accepted SIX Black boys this year.
• At Bronx High School of Science, only 5% of its students are actually from the Bronx.
• Last year, more money was spent on surveillance equipment for schools than for similar equipment in prisons.
• Indicators among 3rd and 4th grade Black and Latino boys (dropouts, suspensions, expulsions, failings) can forecast for state officials just how many prison spaces they will need when these boys are of age.

There were many more statistics and opinions offered, but these were particularly glaring. So, the question remained: What do we do? And, the answers came in many forms, offering different perspectives and solutions. We heard about eliminating failing schools, having one great teacher in every room, adding mentors, psychologists and social workers, scrapping No Child Left Behind as a failed program and starting over, holding our representatives responsible, increase parent involvement, and the list goes on.

These concepts have been debated - and, will continue to be debated - for quite some time. But, it was really moving to hear not only the pros and cons of making these changes, but also the passion with which these men wanted to see that change through. Some spoke more of institutional or systematic changes in government, others debated the efficacy of charter schools vs. public, and others spoke about the need to rejuvenate "the village" and love our kids better.

What was most clear is that there is no one answer. The problem needs to be addressed from all angles. Better teachers. Better schools. Better curriculum. Better policies. Question what privatizing prisons - i.e. making prisons profitable - means to those groups disproportionately populating them. Question why certain new schools are able to take kids from the same pool and make them succeed. Question everything... but, DO something.


Overall, the panel was a great success. If done in the future, they might wish to reduce the size of the panel as some voices overshadowed others, but there isn't too much else to change. And, definitely bring Mr. Banks back as moderator... Kudos to Jemina Bernard and all of the TFA team that made the event possible!

Highlight: During the audience open-mic portion, a 5th grader from Brooklyn stepped up to the mic and asked the panel, "We've been to the assemblies and heard all of the talks, but I still get bullied. How do we stop bullying in our schools?" (He received a huge applause for being the only audience member to be able to succinctly ask a question!) We've reached out to his principal immediately...

The Worst Man In History

Who, you ask? Try all of us. Yep, modern man, when compared to men of the past - way, way back, past - could be the "the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet." That according to a new book by Peter McAllister entitled, "Manthropology."

In the book, McAllister, an anthropologist, makes claims that prehistoric man was faster and stronger than man is today. In fact, some women were stronger than modern man is today, too. The why [this happened] makes perfect sense - we don't have to run down our own food anymore, we don't take part in war the same way, and our tests of manhood come in very different forms now. The why he chose to reveal this information is less clear.

*Note: It might be important to introduce a new "Man Law" at this time:

• Rule #45: If you find in your research that man has become weak, shiftless, and a basic waste of space, do not release these findings in a book that is easily accessible by our female counterparts.

Can you hear the fights men and women will have now?! ("You aren't half the man you used to be!") The insults are limitless... Women already have enough ammunition with the dumb things men do, why provide more fodder?

It that's not enough, wait for McAllister's next book about the Aka Pygmies of Western Congo: "Dubbed the 'best fathers in the world', the men spent most of their time raising the children, going so far as to offer their nipples for the babies to suck on."

MCALLISTERRRR!!! WHAT'RE YOU TRYING TO DO HERE?!?!

Hopefully, his work will open up some interesting dialogues on the concepts of health, activity, and manhood. Even if it does paint a sorrowing picture of devolution...

I'm Tiger Woods

Who can forget those adorable little faces from Nike's "I Am Tiger Woods" ad campaign? Golf was almost immediately being watched by a wider and more diverse audience, and being played by people once denied access to the same courses on which the game takes place. Kids everywhere wondered what it would be like to be Tiger Woods, the golfer.

And, now there is a new reason to want to be like the smiling, 33 year-old mega-star who never seems to make a wrong move: his role as "Dad."

The images of Tiger and his father Earl embracing on the golf course are as well known as the red-shirt-ed, fist-pumping Tiger adding another trophy to his collection. The love and respect from father to son was tangible and admirable. As the NYTimes piece above notes, "If Woods grew up knowing nothing else, it was that his father and his mother, Kultida, were wholly committed to him."

And, that's an important lesson to take away from this story. Kids will always want to be Tiger Woods. They will want to achieve his success on the golf course and be worth what he is worth. But, with Father's Day just in our rear-view mirrors, fathers (and fathers-to-be) should garner additional inspiration from the phrase "wholly committed to him." We can't all fly our kids around the world to watch Daddy play golf like Tiger Woods. We can't all take the time away from work to foster our child's passion for golf like Earl Woods. But, what we can do is work hard everyday to be sure our kids know we are wholly committed to them . . . And, you don't need a private jet to do that.