educational – 504Mag

Remaining Optimistic About Adults

By docjones January 11, 2013Business, City News, Jazz, Music, R&B, Sports, Tech

Listen Enlarge image Dr. Andre PerryNew Orleans has a literacy problem. More than a quarter of the working-age population in the New Orleans metro are low-skilled and likely low-literate. There is a mismatch between the educational levels of our workforce and the 14 years of education required for available positions.As important as our current school reforms are to the future of the city, the impact of its graduates won’t be felt for decades. Two-thirds of New Orleans’ 2025 labor pool is working-age adults, meaning — if we want to become a more literate and productive city — we must make significant investments in adult education.These are some of the findings from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center’s latest report, “Strengthening Our Workforce from Within: Adult Education’s Role in Furthering Economic Growth in Greater New Orleans." The report flatly states, “If we fail to build the skills of native low-skilled workers, we will continue to have a surplus of adults with low skills, which contributes to high unemployment, high incarceration rates, lost productivity, and cash-strapped governments.” Garnering support for adult education may not be as romantic as it was for school reform, but it’s certainly as important.How do we make a more literate society, and where should investments in adult education come from? We should not simply try to gentrify our workforce with non-New Orleanians. Likewise, low skilled workers aren’t leaving the city, and in spite of our efforts, there are not enough jails for those who turn to crime. In addition, we’re not going to non-profit our way out of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. Certainly, GED programs and community colleges will continue to play a significant role, but we cannot improve illiteracy without a change in perspective from our business community.Businesses small and large must see themselves as providers of adult education. Reform in the business sector must include soft skill training, literacy development and post-secondary benefits. Also, employers must find ways to give the formerly incarcerated opportunities. Schools can’t be the only institutions charged to develop literacy.Literacy is exercised through the practice of work. We expand our skills that are developed in schools, GED programs and colleges by working in our jobs, serving others and performing. If people don’t work, literacy training becomes a lifeless esoteric exercise. Why learn French in school if it is not spoken outside of it? While I certainly appreciate living a life of the mind, most people learn so they can live. Life is hard without a job.It’s tough to convince stakeholders to invest in adult education because we are less optimistic in the capacity of adults. We’ve internalized the adage that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Moreover, we don’t like the aesthetics of illiteracy. Employers don’t want the accents, tattoos and other markers of what we perceive to be to be risky hires.Many adults may not be camera ready, but they have the capacity to learn. People who are low-literate should be seen as less of risk and more as potential customers. We all profit when people read and compute at high level. Equally, if employers don’t invest in building the capacity of low skilled workers, we all may be looking for jobs.Andre Perry, Ph.D. (twitter: @andreperrynola) is Associate Director for Educational Initiatives for Loyola University New Orleans and author of The Garden Path: The Miseducation of a City .

The Real Ethnic Origins of Santa

By docjones December 14, 2012Business, City News, Jazz, Music, R&B, Sports, Tech

ListenAndre Perry's commentary for Dec. 14, 2012. Do you believe in Black Santa? Sadly, people are probably more religious about what type of Santa they have in their homes than about going to church on Christmas Day. If you have children around, this is probably the time when you should turn down your radio. No, let them listen. We must tell the truth about Santa’s background. Santa Claus is a transgendered Latina who’s on dangerously high doses of testosterone.We all have the ability to shape characters, heroes and heroines into the images of our liking, but all of us don’t have the power to shape an industry. Many fictional and historical characters that communities lift up in published work and folklore flatter the ethnic stylings of the dominant culture. Images of Jesus himself have been retrofitted and manipulated to conveniently flatter those who have the power to change it. In some churches, the Palestinian Jew appears more Dutch than Middle Eastern.This may explain why historians believe the Dutch fictionalized or decorated fourth century bishop Saint Nicholas of Myra, who was located in Turkey. The real St. Nicholas became famous for giving gifts so that poor daughters of the faithful would not become prostitutes. Apparently, providing aid to the poor to prevent salacious pursuits, as means for income, isn’t noble enough for the modern, Western world.Slowly but surely, Bishop Nicholas became a portly, elder white man with a full white beard, and he expanded his giving to the middle and upper classes. Today’s rendition of Bishop Nicholas would be named Bill Clinton if our former President didn’t shave or become a vegan. Great minds market non-religious holiday characters that don’t have to exhibit real goodwill. So instead of a bishop, we have Santa and the Easter Bunny.Folklorists certainly exhibit poetic licenses to change pious figures, but they apparently hold a peculiar reverence to race and ethnicity. Why does Santa or the Easter Bunny have to be white? They don’t. Children become critical of Santa’s existence, as well as race generally, in the same developmental period. The social constructions of Santa and race would not exist in today’s forms if we were more honest and kind to ourselves.But society is fixated on differences. Borrowing the title from Cornell West’s best selling book — Race Matters. In my house, I have black Santas everywhere, because in reality I’m Santa Claus to my children. Furthermore, I don’t want my kids growing up thinking a random white guy or the government is going to give them presents simply for being nice. Since President Obama is half black, I’m at least non-discriminatory in my view.One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Santa Claus is a Black Man", written in 1973 by Teddy Vann. If you haven’t heard it, it’s the black power remix of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Both songs playfully expose what we’ve always known: Santa has sex.In the spirit of the secularized holidays, let’s insert authentic non-discriminatory, capitalistic and democratic values when presenting Santa to our children. Every home should not only have black, white, Asian and Latino Santas; we should celebrate Buddhist, twenty-something and female Kris Kringles. The reality is most everyone can be overweight, old and have the right to wear a gaudy red pimp suit. Merry Christmas.Andre Perry, Ph.D. (twitter: @andreperrynola) is Associate Director for Educational Initiatives for Loyola University New Orleans and author of The Garden Path: The Miseducation of a City.