One town shows example of why US has failed disadvantaged learners

Natchitoches, Louisiana, oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase

Carol Forsloff - The idea was welcomed by a large swath of the townspeople.  Meetings were held; committees were formed.  People were enthusiastic about a new idea to help disadvantaged learners.  What happened that reveals why the United States has failed disadvantaged learners?

In Natchitoches, Louisiana in 2007 a revolution in education was embraced to help disadvantaged students, but soon it was a forgotten mission  just like the rest of the country.

Natchitoches,Louisiana is just one town in thousands across the United States with failing schools, according to statisticians and educators.  Education Nation, the special by CNN,  and Waiting for Superman, the documentary,highlighted education's problems; but one wonders if they went far enough in examining the equation of why schools are actually failing.

No one speaks of these films and programs anymore.  In fact education remains a backburner item, especially when it comes to disadvantaged students.

What happened in one town in the United States, Natchitoches, Louisiana,might shine a light on why schools fail and why it is the adults who must change.

Pat Cooper, a school superintendent in Mississippi, arrived in Natchitoches to a crowd of support, both liberal and conservative, at a major meeting where the public was invited.  Even the Chamber of Commerce became highly involved in the message of Pat Cooper.  His message before that assemblage was education should be treated like Hillary Clinton's thesis in "It Takes a Village."  He maintained at the time that a community must value education and that it should be reinforced at every
level of the community.

What happened in Natchitoches, however, is what often happens in communities with good intentions.  The ideas fell apart because of vested interests, racial differences, political bickering and power bases that could not give up any turf so children could learn.

The school board, divided racially, divided particularly on the selection of a Superintendent of Schools, on discipline issues and even on the nature of the problems themselves.  For each side, black and white, the problem was the other side.  All of this shows up again in the elections, as sides are often pitted against each other in increasingly high-pitched claims for the school board who are elected officials in Natchitoches and therefore have political power.

The racial divides, however, are not always core issues, despite the claims that are made.  The problem, according to members of both the black and white communities, is that people retain old beliefs regardless of more and more new findings about what works and what doesn't.  Those
well-meaning, dedicated people who wanted to help and to move education forward were left with just too many fights.

"Vested interests in the status quo," was a problem," John Winston said those years ago. Winston is an African American man with a background in school leadership.  He saw both the racial divide as well as management inertia at the heart of the problems in Natchitoches.

Unions, school administrator relationships with national textbook companies,cultural differences and how children should be treated in human relationships in classrooms are at the core of the nation's problems in education, along with the specifics in quality teachers and methodologies in how to teach children.  Without a focused desire to change that overrides adult needs and egos, the children are left with no answers--and no education, as has happened in Natchitoches,Louisiana.

The schools in Natchitoches continue to struggle, folks say. And what will happen in the town of Steel Magnolias and the descendants of Uncle Tom's cabin and places like it when adult concerns and biases override those of their children?

It will mean a desperate future for many children.  The notion it takes a village, that sounds all well and good, does not happen as theoretically explained; and children drift helplessly on.

Anorexia and bulimia: It takes a village

Karen Carpenter, who died of effects of Anorexia

"She's just so skinny.  I wish she would eat more, but she tells me she isn't hungry.  But Madge says her daughter is just like that too and that it's just a phase teenagers go through, that she'll be all right.  I worry, though, as this has been going on for more than a year, and even though she is so thin, she is always saying she needs to lose more. "And it may take a village to help her.

This conversation takes place every day in someone's home, as people observe others who appear to be too thin and worry if there is a problem or not.  Very often the problem is chocked up to a teenage rebellion, an adolescent phase or something that a young person will simply get over with in time.  However, for many people too skinny is a sign of something far more dangerous than someone simply wanting to lose weight.  It is a major health problem that occurs among all age groups and sexes and requires understanding and therapy, sometimes for years.

Anorexia and bulimia are two sides of a coin of concern in many homes.  And in these homes the conversation will highlight many of the misconceptions about these conditions.  These are not individuals who have issues about weight but have health problems that are complex and require special treatment and therapy.

Anorexia is a serious eating disorder, potentially life-threatening.  These individuals seek to lose far more weight than is necessary and seek to weigh less than is normal for their height and age.  They have an intense fear of eating too much and will exercise, diet or purge themselves of food in order not to consume what they consider is too much food.

90% of those who are anorexic are female.  Many of them began having eating problems when they were teenagers.  It is common for the condition to begin during the adolescent years.

The condition, anorexia, can be such a problem that many people end up in the hospital with health problems related to not eating much or not eating the proper amount and types of food to sustain good health.  According to experts, a person can be considered anorexic if he or she drops below 15% of normal weight.

There are frequently rituals involved with eating when someone is anorexic.  The silverware may need to be just so, the cleanliness of concern, and the condition of the food itself is of consequence.  They may refuse to eat in front of other people, or eat in some hidden place where no one can watch or criticize.

For someone who is anorexic thoughts about food can occupy much of the day.  Thoughts about dieting, what to eat and what not to eat, the need to constantly exercise and the anxiety about not being thin enough are a constant part of an anorexic's life, one that is filled with worries about weight.  Furthermore these thoughts are often coupled with feelings of poor self worth and lack of personal power.  It is a self-destructive pattern that is difficult to break.

While anorexia is a separate condition, there are many people who suffer from both anorexia and bulimia.  The person with bulimia gorges on relatively large amounts of high calorie foods from which they need to "purge" themselves.  During a binge, an individual may consume as much as 3000 calories or more, then feel a sense of shame because of it.  Diuretics, laxatives and enemas become the tools for relieving the anxiety, by purging the system of the food, so that the guilt can be washed away with it.

Bulimia comes about as a consequence of genetics, being bullied, having strong feelings of hopelessness and a lack of self worth, being a victim of abuse, or having mental health problems.  Some of these individuals are involved in occupations where one's weight is critical to maintaining a job.  Many models feel the pressure to remain slender, so when they eat more than the ordinary amount of food, they reach for something to purge the food so it does not contribute to weight gain.

These conditions, anorexia and bulimia, create serious problems for families and for the individuals as well.  Often it is the family and friends that can offer someone the support necessary to break the cycle, to get help and get healthy.  But it is a difficult road, once habits are entrenched; and some people end up dying, like Karen Carpenter, the famous singer-entertainer, did at a very young age.  Knowing the facts, the causes and the treatments available, however, can bring people back to normal weight and a normal life, as Jane Fonda, the actress who suffered from both conditions, likes to reiterate.  In other words, there is help and treatment, but the road back can take time, understanding and the affection and support of a "village" in the person's life.

Living In a global village - How the Internet has changed the face ofinteraction

[caption id="attachment_21973" align="alignleft" width="300"] Booth volunteer represents the handicrafts of the global village.[/caption]

Rob Chernish---Have you ever wondered how Earth has become smaller in some ways?  For example, how does someone in a tiny town get toys from China, pasta from France, coffee from Columbia, sausage from Spain, and who knows what, from somewhere else?   In days gone by, going to the market was a weekly or monthly affair, and the trip usually involved bringing some supplies to trade with your neighbors and others in the village.  There were games played and the interaction and social activities were vast, and it is with this concept in mind, that the global village has been introduced via social networking and the worldwide web.   

No longer are the people of the same race or from the same tribe, nor are the products at the market in the village all from the same producers, instead, what we are seeing now is a total global world where instead of having multiple small villages isolated from each other, we have a global village.

The concept of the “global village” was first coined by Marshall McLuhan, a popular contemporary media theorist who studied the impacts of globalization and wrote many books during the 1960s, illustrating the future potential of this concept.  McLuhan has since passed, but his predictions have fulfilled themselves in our modern world.  No longer are people isolated from other cultures and races, but are intertwined among a network both physically in our modern societies, as well as digitally across the internet and social networking.

How is this village evolving?  The answer has yet to be given on how our world will continue to evolve, but given the increased connectedness of international and national trade agreements and greater population migrations, it looks like it is going to continue to mesh and mingle.  Consider the currency of the Euro, and how it has impacted the countries of Europe by bridging them through their common currency.  This is how villages of the past also became united.

Other examples are most prevalent in the marketplace, where if you stop to take a step back, you can see the global movement of products and supplies much like the caravans of old.  However, the most obvious examples have been introduced by the internet and social media following  McLuhan’s prediction where he envisioned how the global population would be connected through time and space by electric technology to add:

• Instant Communication


• Removes Space / Regional Barriers


• Audio - Video Interaction With Anyone - Anywhere - Anytime


• Extension Of Consciousness


• Increased Social Functions


• Revolutionary Social Structure


• Realtime Interconnectedness 

Many of the traits of the traditional village, especially those relating to communication and interaction have presented themselves in a global village through the advent of the internet and information communications technology.

What other ways can you think of that make our world like a traditional village?   Do you think it is safe to say it is a global village?  Do you think McLuhan was right in his predictions?   Many people are still wondering whether technology will bring us together or push us apart, but the growing consensus, especially among the younger generations who openly embrace the aspects of social networking that technology offers say that is gives them much more freedom to interact with their friends across space and time in ways they never dreamed of.  Moving forward with new technology that continues to make communication even easier than our current models is breaking down many of the traditional barriers that prevented communication outside of closed groups and communities.  Even the Khan in the hills in Mongolia has a cell phone now, albeit no service, but one day our local village will become the global village we live in….if Mcluhan’s predictions were correct.

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Author Bio: Rob Chernish is a media theorist and alumni from the University of Lethbridge who is currently studying the effects of mass media on local village populations.