A Tale of Two Cities, and Two Educations

cross posted from MNPolitical Roundtable:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Those of you who did not sleep through English Lit will recognize that from Charles Dickens magnum opus, "A Tale of Two Cities".


Increasingly, we appear to live in Dickensian-like times. We have a growing chasm of wealth and income disparity. We have a huge disparity in Minnesota in education outcomes, that best of times and worst of times/best of educational outcomes and worst educational outcomes.

As a generality, white students have that best of times/ best of educational outcomes, while minorities have that worst of times/worst educational outcomes.

We see horrendous push-back from conservatives, who as a demographic appear to desire this extreme dichotomy. Certainly, they oppose efforts to correct it, and blame the victims of poverty for both the poverty and the poor educational outcome, while we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the two are inextricably linked.

We see the horrendous push-back from conservatives, and their inherent dishonesty and foolishness equally, when a public figure like Melissa Harris-Perry can say on television that we need to be willing to pay for public education, and to consider all the children in our communities as 'our children' when it comes to funding their education. From that, the knee-jerk nut jobs on the right did their Chicken Little 'the-sky-is-falling' dance, claiming that liberals were coming to take people's children away from them, and spinning some further crackpot tinfoil-hat worthy conspiracy theories about the U.N.

The reality is that when we improve the educational outcomes of those who currently are at the bottom of the national statistic, in a state where clearly, we KNOW HOW to educate, we can do better. What we seem to lack in forming the consensus to act to make those necessary improvements (including spending the money to do so as an investment in ALL children in the state) is an understanding of WHY we should do so.

We need, I would argue, a heavy handed slap upside conservative heads, in the form of an appeal to enlightened self-interest, since it is clear that other appeals to better angels are a total failure with the religious right and family values empty lip service crowd on the right.

I came across the perfect example of why it is we cannot afford to fail to educate ALL our children, and educate them very, very well. I came across it late at night, that most excellent exemplar, while listening to the BBC World Service Outlook broadcast. The broadcast was about 70 year old Dr. Donald Hopkins, who grew up at a time when schools were segregated, and when only three medical schools in the nation would accept and train an African-American to be a doctor. This radio broadcast details the amazing accomplishments of Dr. Hopkins brilliantly.

Here is a brief rather bare-bones bio on Hopkins, courtesy of good ol' Wikipedia:

Donald R. Hopkins (born 1941) is an American physician, a MacArthur Fellow and is the Vice President and Director of Health Programs at The Carter Center.^[1] He graduated from Morehouse College with a B.S., from the University of Chicago with a Doctor of Medicine, and from the Harvard School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health. He studied at the Institute of European Studies, at the University of Vienna.
From 1984 to 1987, Hopkins was deputy director and acting director (1985) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thereafter, he was an assistant professor of tropical public health at Harvard School of Public Health.
He directed the Smallpox Eradication/Measles Control Program in Sierra Leone.^[2]
He has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization.^[3]
Throughout his career, Hopkins has received numerous awards, including the CDC Medal of Excellence, the Distinguished Service Medal of the U.S. Public Health Service, and a MacArthur Fellowship in 1995 for his leadership in the international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine.^[4] His book, Princes and Peasants: Smallpox in History was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1983.
Dr. Hopkins was also elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1987 and has been a member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene since 1965. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1997, awarded the Medal of Honor of Public Health (Gold) by the country of Niger in 2004, and named a Champion of Public Health by Tulane University in 2005. Hopkins currently serves on the Board of Directors for the MacArthur Foundation.

• Center of Disease Control Medal of Excellence
• Distinguished Service Medal of the U.S. Public Health Service
• 1995 MacArthur Fellows Program
• James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation Prize
• Mectizan Award from Merck & Co.,
• Knight of the National Order of Mali in 1998

What does that have to do with, say, poor graduation rates or failing literacy and math scores on Indian reservations or similar chasms of educational achievement among other minorities? It demonstrates why we cannot fail to develop ALL our students through an effective and rigorous education. When Hopkins was receiving his education, few black men could become doctors; our education system made it as difficult as possible, apparently on the assumption that black men (or women) were not suited, could not be talented or become accomplished, at the art and science of medicine or any other professional field requiring higher education.

We should pursue available quality education for everyone, through whatever means is effective, as an investment in our communities, our state, our nation and our world. Not because we have a problem with guinea worm in Minnesota, or even Small Pox, but because we have other public heath and private health problems, because we have other areas of science and industry and the humanities where we need to maximize ALL talents, for our own individual benefits as well as that larger, greater good.

It should be as unacceptable to lose or miss a gifted scientific mind and humanitarian character like Dr. Donald Hopkins as it is any suburban comparatively affluent white child. It is in OUR interests and to OUR benefit, as well as the interests and benefit of the children of Minnesota.

It is time to stop following the penny-wise pound-foolish short sighted, and too frequently just plain racist policies and politics of the right. It is time to apply our resources so as to regain our previous ground. We have not always been among the worst for minority educational outcomes. We can be among the best, again, if we focus the political will to do so. When and if we do, then Minnesota can be producing people who accumulate the equivalent of a life time of accomplishments like Dr. Hopkins, in whatever field they choose to pursue. For those who do not achieve such lofty goals, we are still better off if those who are failing now maximize their abilities than if they do not. We should be educating ALL our children, and that includes seeing they are not prevented from getting an education because of the interference of poverty.