Peabloggy

I feel extremely lucky that last night I was able to attend the preview of a documentary film made by a former local tv news reporter about two current Vanderbilt Medical School students.  The film is called “Sons of Lwala.” The two students are Milton and Fred Ochieng’ who come from a small, remote village in Kenya named Lwala.  The documentary recounts the story of how the two brothers came to be at Vanderbilt and their struggle to build the first medical clinic in their home village.

There are so many remarkable facets of the film that I don’t want to give away because there are still a few opportunities to see the film locally and hopefully nationwide.  Let me just say that it is a great story about sacrifice, philanthropy, and dedication to ones community and family.  Milton, the older brother, was only able to come to the U.S. to attend college because the people of his village sold their cows, chickens, and anything else they could in order to buy him a plane ticket.  The reader should understand that it is not uncommon for students to leave Africa to get a college education; it is unusual for them to come back, and to take on the kinds of burdens in doing so that the Ochieng’ brothers have in order to change the unfortunate state of their home village and country.   The brothers lost both of their parents while at school in the U.S.

I implore everyone who has the chance to see the film to make the time and please go to the premiere at the Nashville Film Festival.  If you are not in the Nashville area, then you can go to www.lwalacommunityalliance.org and learn more about the brothers, their familly, and the clinic, as well as their continuing mission to construct clinics across Kenya and Africa.  Donate.  Tell all your friends. Consider what it is that you have sacrificed for your education or your profession.

–Luke Webb

During his campaign, Dean stressed improving Nashville’s public schools. It appears he may be keeping his word, unlike many politicians paying lip service to the importance of education. Dean has created an education task force of parents, students, teachers, educational experts, college administrators, and political pundits committed to improving Metro schools. (A full listing can be found here.)

During a faculty meeting at one of my student teaching placements, three members from Mayor Karl Dean’s education task force came to visit. These members requested candid feedback from the teachers on parental involvement, communication between school and parents, and Metro’s troubling drop-out rate, among other topics. Earlier in the day, the task force engaged students in the same conversation.

I am very excited to see Dean making initial efforts to understand the deep-seated issues within Nashville public schools, but I hope that this valuable feedback actually results in positive changes for students, families, and teachers.

–Katie Harris

Richard Morton is a staff member in the Peabody Dean’s Office. Last Sunday, he drove to nearby Trousdale County to assist with the cleanup efforts in the wake of recent tornadoes. What he encountered there awed him, and he has written movingly about the experience in a blog post on The Tennessean site. Here’s a snippet:

Turns out this was his grandfather’s farm. Clarence Scott lived with Christine, his wife of twenty five years, in a trailer in the front yard. They were both in their mid-eighties. They had moved into the trailer fifteen years ago when the old farmhouse had proven too much to keep up. The house still stood. A hundred feet away, the trailer had literally been wiped from the face of the Earth.

Highly recommended.

–Kurt Brobeck

Smoking. It can be a unifier or a divider. To a group of college students crowded around a campus “smoke pit,” “smokers’ gazebo,” “the ash tray,” or whatever other creative names those designated areas on campuses are affectionately called, smoking can unite strangers in a shared habit. For non-smokers going about their professional, residential, or otherwise educational business nearby, smoking stinks.

In addition to lung health concerns, environmental issues impose on smokers’ cloudy bliss. The green phenomenon sweeping the nation does not leave room for cigarette stubs in its gardens and ponds.

As one who has never smoked (no, not once, and I was a writing major!), I think all college campuses should be smoke-free. It’s easy for me to say, but East Tennessee State is going to give it a try. Beginning in August, the only “designated” puff zone at ETSU will be the one with a parking sticker on the back windshield.

Some people are going to need a lot of those little trees.

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

Take time to read this article, if you possess any interest in financial aid (need versus merit-based awards) or Ivy League schools (and the idea of a sort of socio-economic integration of their student population).

Also, if you wonder how you will ever pay for your children’s college education anywhere at any school, and (as my husband and I) have started a list of schools your un-conceived, unborn child will never attend…unless, of course, you work there and the tuition discount is very, very good.

Or, if you have accumulated “good debt,” or wonder why you didn’t get into Harvard as a high school senior (maybe, that’s just me), or contemplate how all celebrities’ children could possibly be smart enough for Ivies, then you should find this article one juicy piece of journalism to feed your thought process.

Again, I must recall my History of Higher Education course with Dr. Doyle, in which I learned some of the ins-and-outs of college financial aid, as I read this selection from the USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2008-02-04-private-college-tuition_N.htm

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

Last semester in Dr. Doyle’s History of Higher Education course, I chose for my final paper the topic of Millennial students, specifically related to technology. I have felt intrigued with the study of the Millennial generation since I first read Millennials Go to College in my master’s program. All the excitement of generational comparisons and the hope of a bright crop of young people ready to redeem their older siblings and parents and return to a greater time in history; how moving. Helicopter parents encircling their college students, eager to meet their sheltered youth’s every need–how, well, complicated.

As an aging Millennial, myself, I love that my parents supported me and genuinely wanted to help me with my every endeavor in high school and college. However, as a university professional, working with involved, concerned, and interested parents of students can be challenging. Perhaps I was just on the edge of this thing called Millennialism, and as the generation progressed, parents became closer and closer to their children to at least a slight fault. Or, maybe, my view is different on the other side of the desk.

In any case, this article in the USA Today serves to encourage parents to keep their flight plans intact as their relationship with their child-turned-undergrad may help keep those kids in college. So, if all the “hovering” helps students stay engaged, that’s wonderful–as long as parents make occasional stops to let their students soar.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-04-nsse-helicopter-parents_N.htm

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

I suppose before one can discuss whether higher education is effectively preparing graduates for the workforce, the first consideration would involve if, indeed, job training is really the, well, job of today’s universities. Otherwise, while reading this recent article in The Chronicle, one may say “shame” on our colleges for testing content knowledge and recall.

Now, I have long felt that most people write poorly, including spelling and grammar; so, I understand that employers are finding college graduates lacking in their writing skills. I also know what it is like to graduate from undergrad without any hope of full-time employment (I studied writing and political science). So, in those ways, I am on the bandwagon hitched to this article. However, I don’t mind multiple-choice tests, and I am not sure how to learn “self-direction” or globalism in most college settings.

Although a degree and zero work experience is not necessarily the best combination (I know this first-hand), so employers could offer more on-the-job training and consistent development opportunities to enrich their new staff’s practical abilities. Career services programs on college campuses can help, too.

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=rCmg3nBzkSsb9GWWwpbtmqghkjq2RBs8

Election year is well underway at this point, complete with varying results from state to state and the beginnings of playground spats between the candidates. This article from a December issue of USA Today explores what some people in Iowa were prepared to do to secure university students’ presence at the caucus—including cheap hotel rooms and carpools.

According to the article, college students were deterred from attending the Iowa caucus by the busyness of their schedule (e.g. needing to work in order to pay for school, instead of heading to the polls) and winter break, during which many college students returned to their out-of-state homes.

The article suggests that college students (within the 18-24 age group) simply may be too busy for politics. Politics, though, is one thing; while exercising the privilege to vote and responsibility to preserve American rights and freedoms for the future are quite another. Politics can be confusing and messy, but there is nothing complicated about the excuses we all make when we don’t vote. However you vote, get out there, and represent your age group with pride!

-Teresa Bagamery Clark

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-12-31-youth-vote_N.htm

Should high school students get a jump on college at any university they choose in the state of Tennessee? Lottery money may one day pay the way for high-schoolers to “dual enroll” in any public or private institution of higher education in the state. Whereas before, only community colleges offered “dual enrollment,” in which students have the opportunity to receive college credit before graduating from high school.

What are the benefits to providing a greater selection of institutions from which high-schoolers may choose for their pre-college work? What are the implications of opening up the classrooms of private universities to high school students?

 For more details, check out the article in The Tennessean: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/NEWS04/801160443/1018

Teresa Bagamery Clark

(I recently posted a blog about the conditions in Darfur, Sudan.  If you haven’t read it, please refer to it in relation to this post.)

 Lifting for Lives is an event that I attended this week.  It was dreamed up by a guy that has a heart for the Sudan and does not want to sit around doing nothing about it.  He trained for months on bench press and took pledges by the pound for a lift-a-thon where the funds raised would go to the Sudan.  Peoples’ pledges ranged from 10 cents a pound to $4.00 a pound!

He did the lift and was able to bench press 405 pounds!

I think it is great that one individual assessed what he had (in this case: muscles) and used it to contribute to the Sudan.  This individual inspired me.  I do not need a lot of money to make a difference in the world.  I just need to use the resources that I do have to be creative and dream big. 

There are kids in the Sudan that are dying because of starvation, unclean water, and no protection from the violence that surrounds them.  Luckily, I know of a way to help them.  If you are interested in learning more please check out thesudanproject.org

-Anna Oparah