Conservationism

George Perkins Marsh is an essential figure in the conservation movement. His address to the Agricultural Society of Rutland County on September 30, 1847 was a catalyst for commencing discussion regarding the preservation of lands, especially forests, and the effects of agriculture on the greater environment. Why did I read this address on a Sunday morning? Good question, and must be answered in two parts. First of all, I'm a nerd. Secondly, by examining the origins of an idea or a movement, we can better understand and appreciate that movement (but seeing as I'm a believer in conservationism, it's probably a greater dose of the former rather than the latter) Anyway, I highly recommend the address: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/consrv:@field(DOCID+@lit(amrvgvg02div1))

In reading the address, I was again reminded of the former power of American political speech. Speech used to stretch the mind, argue elegantly for new ideas, and inculcate passion. Let's do a little comparison. G.P.M. "So far then as telluric influences are concerned, it be may assumed, that the results of agricultural labors are in the main subject to calculation, and depend entirely upon the intelligence and industry of the husbandman." Compared with G.W.B. "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning?" Granted this is somewhat of a cheap shot, so let's just look at Marsh. First of all, the language is far from the middle school level to which too many speeches and newspapers have dropped their standards. We will not improve our lexicon without necessity, and so it is the responsibility of our leaders (and leading publications) to drive us to the higher standard. (By the way, telluric means 'of or pertaining to the earth, terrestrial') Secondly, I love the image he paints with this phrase. On the surface, agricultural productivity is dependent on smart choices coupled with hard work, but by including the phrase husbandman, he deepens the connection between the farm and the farmer. Not only is the farmer to work the land to the best of his ability, but he is also to serve the land as a husband would to his wife; talk about imagery!

Apologies for a post centered on enhancing your useless knowledge, but Sundays are usually slow and today is even slower because there's no futsal this week since we were unable to get enough guys to commit. Oh, a fun piece of news, my cell phone bill from my entire time in Indonesia thus far has been $5.50. Arguably this is considerably better than my previous relationship with Verizon :)

World Vision "Concert"

Due to our participation in the 30 hour famine over the past few years and the relationship Mentari has had with World Vision, we were invited to perform for an hour at eX (a mall near Grand Indonesia). Today was the performance and despite technical difficulties (one of the cables provided by eX kept going in and out causing one of the guitars to not be amplified, unfortunately it was the guitar of a soloist...) they did an amazing job and I'm really proud of my kids! I'm continually reminded of the importance of interacting with them outside of an academic setting, and some of them were overly surprised to see that I occasionally wear jeans! :) Furthermore, being a part of the supporting cast helped me connect in a much more meaningful way with many of my students, creating a bond in which I now they feel like my "kids" just like Zewei, Imran, and Qingmei will always be "my kids"

Lastly, on the way home, I was able to sustain a 10 minute conversation with the cab driver! He is originally from East Java, currently lives in East Jakarta, has two children - one in grade four and one in grade seven, and I was able to answer many of his questions and tell him a little about New York! I enjoy putting myself in situations where I'm forced to use Bhasa because it greatly increases my understanding of the structure of the language, improves my vocabulary, and eases insecurity. For the rest of my Saturday evening I'm looking to go for a longer run and finish my third version of my personal statement, clearly I'm living an exceedingly exciting life :)

Open House

Today, the students left after "religious activity" time, which has become a school-wide break from instruction on Friday for the time period that the boys head to the mosque - an action that levels the playing field and provides consistency and parameters for this time period. Each week I've helped out with the Christian meeting, looking to support the leaders and listen to the students. It's interesting that when they want to know what denomination you are, they ask if you're "Christian or Catholic" as though those are mutually exclusive.

Anyway, the students left early so that their parents could come for the school Open House. Essentially it was a curriculum night, but it took place during the day. There were about 30-35 parents present and it was great to be able to interact with students' parents. Additionally, I heard from parents in attendance as well as leaders of the Yayasan (the "governing" body for Mentari) that parents were pleased with what they were hearing about what was taking place in my classroom. I guess it's good to know that I learned a thing or two over my TFA experience :) However, when talking with Ibu Elena and Matt about class trips, Ibu Risa (one of the five heads of the Yayasan) came in and mentioned she heard good things and was hoping that I would be able to stay for at least a second year, if not more. I deflected giving a specific answer by saying that things were up in the air, that I was pleased with how the year had been starting off, and then changing the subject. We'll see how this works in the long-run :)

Interesting tid-bit from the day: Kirk Herbstreit picked Stanford to win the Pac-10. (I'm very excited for College Football starting in less than a week!) I hope everyone is well!

Champions League and Will Forte

They recently announced the groups for the Champions League this year. The Champions League is a privatized version of the World Cup and it's too bad the United States doesn't have something that can even come close to the excitement, magnitude and quality of play. It's as if Canada and Mexico had both an American and National Leagues that were up to par with the AL and NL in MLB, and then 3 or 4 of the best teams from each league were grouped off to play each other in a play-off. The Champions League inspires nationalism (an Arsenal fan will feverishly support their team, but if they get knocked out, a fellow EPL team could become the standard bearer) and internationalism (the connectivity and international make-up of all of these teams exemplify globalism, and it helps sew ties between nations as teams from throughout Europe compete against one another - from England to Serbia).

Additionally, I'm sad to hear that Will Forte will be leaving Saturday Night Live. The MacGruber sketches and Jon Bovi opposite tribute band will be missed.

Lastly, this coming Saturday, a group from Mentari will be performing at one of the malls in Jakarta. We were invited by World Vision (thanks to our annual participation in the 30 hour famine and dedication to Community and Service as being one of the Areas of Interaction for IB schools) and will be performing various songs and dances from 4 to 5. Yesterday, I helped supervise the practice session and was blown away with how musical some of my students are. I love interacting with my students outside of the classroom because it gives me a better picture of who they are, and it also lets them see that their teachers are people too :) While things are still rather rough, I'm confident with another 3.5 hours of practice today the students will be prepared for Saturday!

The Times

In the 21st century, things like e-mail, blogs, and face-space enable the 10,000 miles between us to not seem so far. Furthermore, The New York Times online and IndoCafe have enabled breakfast to be a time of both relaxation, education and connection to my home, despite taking place before 6 am :). Recently, I've been intrigued by three stories in particular: "What is it About 20-Somethings?" (including later in the day having it independently sent between multiple friends and commonly posted by other friends online), "For New York, $700 million in School Aid" (oh Race to the Top...), and "A Fight on New York's Skyline."

"What is it About 20-Somethings?":
As of late, I've been fascinated with all things dealing with psychology, and the early reference to Teach For America (and other programs my close friends have participated in, like City Year and Fulbright) sought to specifically assign the period of "emerging adulthood" to me and my peers. Within my own close group of friends, there are certainly those who will easily clear the five hurdles before reaching 30 (leaving home, completing one's education - I think that's a bogus phrase since I intend to be continually educated throughout my lifetime, but that's a whole different issue, financial independence, marriage, and having a child), but I've started to seriously question whether or not I will be married, let alone have a child, before 30 (of course assuming the other three will be completed, but at my rate of postponement of law school, that may even be in question :) lol)

However, "emerging adulthood" deals with so many factors outside of the five milestones. First of all, NPR (thanks for the article Greg!) has an article citing continued brain development well into one's 20s. Second of all, thanks to the way in which my generation was told we can achieve anything, there's much greater hesitation to "settle" before at least attempting to give our dreams a try. Finally, I am convinced that my time in TFA was vital for my personal growth and that spending time in Indonesia will make me more well rounded and increase my perspective. Furthermore, not only are these experiences benefiting me, but due to an increased exposure to other professions, ways of life, and cultures, all future interactions will be impacted in a positive way. Thus, while me, and many of my peers, may be "emerging" into adulthood, there could be many worse ways to emerge than Teach For America, City Year, or Fulbright :)

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?src=me&ref=homepage

"For New York, $700 Million in School Aid"
It's encouraging that New York was able to place in the top ten of the second round of Race to the Top, but it sounds like a large factor was Arne Duncan's relationship with Joel Klein. Granted, New York has made a number of important steps in education reform, most importantly that the status quo is crippling to the long-term health of the state and our country. However, and this is for Joe C, I don't think the fact that New York has increased the number of potential charter schools is necessarily going to lead to a turn-around in results. While New York is blessed to have some of the best charter schools in the country (thank you Harlem, KIPP, Uncommon, and Achievement First), it is important to note that a school is not inherently better simply because it is a charter school. I think it is much easier for a charter school to achieve greatness, but that's already been discussed.

Additionally, assessing teachers based on student performance is a needed change. While there are many issues regarding the practical application of this (ie, what to do with subjects without state-wide standardized tests, how to measure students growth, etc), the simple fact that teachers need to be accountable for their pupils learning material seems to be a work-place fundamental.

Furthermore, re-working the curriculum is drastically needed in New York, but I don't know if they're taking a step in the right direction by making it more standards-based, especially in the "common core" subjects of English and Math. The article, and the state, acknowledge the assessment for these subjects is inappropriate, but I think we need to focus more on the teaching (ie the proliferation of "master teachers" or other specialists who can provide meaningful PD throughout teachers' careers) than on the assessing.

Finally, Klein is right that a key element to education reform in New York is the elimination of "Last In, First Out." Yes, I'm biased due to my Teach For America experience, but it doesn't make logical sense that a highly effective (by any measure) teacher must go first if they were the last one hired.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/nyregion/25nyrace.html?_r=1&hpw

"A Fight on New York's Skyline"
This article is interesting simply because of the focus it puts upon how we deal with change. A development group has gotten plans for a structure nearly as tall as the Empire State Building to be built only two avenues away from the iconic landmark. The development group is following the wishes of the city and planning major office space near transit hubs (the proposed skyscraper would literally be across the street from Penn Station), however, the owners of the Empire State Building and other purists of tradition are claiming the new office tower would be a monstrosity that would destroy the city skyline. While I completely agree with the city that high-rise office space should be built as close as possible to major transit hubs, I have some issues with 15 Penn Plaza. First of all, they don't have any major tenants planned. It seems that with the new World Trade Center Tower (which will over-take the Empire State Building as the tallest structure in NYC) being built downtown, one should line up a few tenants before dropping $100 million to help ease traffic in Penn Station, to say nothing of the cost of building the actual structure. Furthermore, regarding its affect on the skyline, I don't so much have issues with another tall structure close to the Empire State Building, but I do have issues with structures that lack inspired design. 15 Penn Plaza is nothing special and there is one rendering that makes the building appear to be a simple block of steel erected in Midtown. If you're going to make a substantial change on the skyline of New York, do so in a classy and inspired way :)

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/nyregion/24empire.html

Lastly, this is just funny: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5491740 I was confused as to why they would've needed to use a stun gun until, "Thomas refused and dropped into a three-point stance like a football player and lunged at the officers..." Way to keep in classy in Corvallis...

Graffiti

Every day as I travel between home and work, I pass the following scene on Kemang Utara.

At first, I was taken aback by the amount of graffiti and general disarray of the lot (especially since it is right behind a nice apartment building with high quality shops and restaurants on the ground level) However, throughout the past couple months, I've seen local teenagers use the lot behind the concrete wall as a space to play futball, people have used the front area to gather, and the graffiti isn't as malicious as tasteful and artistic. Consequently, on Sunday, I decided to bring my camera and get a closer look. Below is my attempt at a relatively artsy-type shot of some of the graffiti on the lot:

Overall, it's been fascinating to me that as I've become more and more familiar with the neighborhood, this lot has transformed from being a blight into an area of local self expression, independence, and intrinsic beauty. I'm not saying all abandoned lots should be used in this way (and this one could use a major clean-up to remove the debris and whatnot), but I think this lot is a microcosm of developed/developing mentality. The developed world comes in with their notions of how something should be without taking the time to see the beauty of what the developing world has.

IB Training and Buka Puasa

As of yesterday morning, I officially completed the introductory training with the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program. Throughout the training, I kept thinking back to the Professional Development I received over the past few years and how the IB way of thinking compared with that of TFA and the NYC DOE. TFA wouldn't like the MYP because of a lack of standardization or norm-referencing exams. The NYC DOE would find the MYP to be too difficult to implement in such a large system because of the holistic change in teacher training required. However, both of these things caused me to question the way in which we approach education as Americans. While the MYP is far from perfect, yet the importance it gives to things such as community service and independent research helps us acknowledge we can't educate the mind without also educating the person. Being supportive of education is good rhetoric, but the wise wife of President John Adams is as true today as she was in the 18th century, "we have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."

Additionally, last night Ab and I were honored to sharing buka puasa, or a breaking of the fast, with the Fathony family. In a spirit of transparency, I had not been fasting yesterday as having to wake up early to get to the IB training was making me cranky (like that's hard to believe, right? :) lol), but it has been an outstanding comfort to be welcomed as family so far from home. Actually, funny story; the Fathony's don't live very far from MPR (the People's Consultative Assembly) which is a prominent government building in central Jakarta. However, upon getting into a cab in Kemang, the cab driver had no idea what we were talking about (in fact, suggesting MPR was in a southern suburb of the city, which is kind of like being in DC and having the cabbie try to take you to Silver Spring, MD) Fortunately, after a conference of cabbies on a side street, a phone conversation between Sabina and the driver, and consultation of a map, we were able to find our way :) Not exactly the fun I was planning on having during a Saturday evening...but you know, gotta stay alive on your feet!