'Lectures to Beats': “Government Loves Me…Government Loves Me Not”

Lectures to Beats - Episode 1: "Government Loves Me...Government Loves Me Not" from Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele on Vimeo.

In the series premiere, “Government Loves Me…Government Loves Me Not” examines the complex and seemingly dysfunctional relationship between black Americans and the government.

Ph.D. History Candidate Paul Adler uses the critically acclaimed HBO series, “The Wire,” to describe the U.S. labor movement and the hardships communities endured as a result of technological developments in the manufacturing industry.

Government Professor Bruce Douglass and History Professor Adam Rothman share their thoughts about the dominant U.S. political groups and the contradictions and tensions that exist in both the liberal and conservative ideologies.

History Professor Maurice Jackson takes viewers through a series of anecdotes and quotes that speak to the significance of black Americans and race relations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Prepping Parents for Education Reform

Lofty plans for overhauling the education system are all very well and good. But parents have to be ready to take advantage of change.

Prepping Parents for Education Reform
by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele

As a member of the burgeoning movement to improve public education, I believe that for education reform to happen, advocates need to focus their efforts on equipping parents with the appropriate mind-set to succeed in the rapidly changing school landscape.

Many parents will need help transitioning to and operating under the new paradigms proposed by school-choice advocates, primarily because -- well, public education has never been viewed as a commodity. Not all parents are aware of their options, and if they are, not all parents have the time to commit themselves to take full advantage of a sudden abundance of choice.

A few months ago, I attended a media-training seminar for school-choice advocates. There, one of the attendees described his laissez-faire ideal for America's schools: The public education system would function as a shopping mall, with parents picking and choosing from an array of public schools. As he saw it, parents wouldn't be forced to send their children to a school based on geographic zoning restrictions. Instead, mothers and fathers would be the consumers; school leaders would be the vendors. The vendors would be motivated to increase their products' efficiency to attract customers, thereby increasing the quality of all goods (think schools) sold -- and so on and so forth as the Business 101 supply-and-demand principles go.

While that proposed model is not bad or ill-intentioned, it is drastically different from the way that parents, particularly mothers, have traditionally gone about securing -- if that is even the appropriate term -- public education for their children.

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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a multimedia journalist specializing in political thought and introspective narratives. She works in education reform. Follow her on Twitter.