WRIT Large 8.2: "Writing About Education" by University Writing Program University of Denver

WRITL ARGE RETROSPECTIVE

FEBRUARY 2019 VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2: WRITING ABOUT EDUCATION

ÂŠ UNIVERSITY OF DENVER WRITING PROGRAM

WRIT Large is published by the University Writing Program at the University of Denver

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An Introduction to Issue 2 “Writing About Education” Education either functions as an instrument which is used to...bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. –Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1968 Nearly one hundred years ago exactly, in the early months of 1919, University of Denver faculty members received curious envelopes in their campus letterboxes. A local church group was demanding to know who among them believed in or taught the theory of evolution, defying notions that the Bible was both “divinely inspired and unerringly accurate.” Campus response was swift. Professors wrote forceful replies, championing their rights and the rights of students to challenge existing ideas and explore controversial theories, like Darwinism. DU Chancellor Henry Buchtel echoed these sentiments in an open letter, insisting on broad academic freedom at the University. In response, the church group labeled both DU and the Iliff School of Theology “hotbeds of infidelity.” Freedom to think, freedom to learn, freedom to explore new ideas: all are hallmarks of a DU education, and a right of students and faculty alike. It makes sense, then, that DU students would turn their critical gaze to the practice of education itself—both its failures in stunning global disparities and a widening domestic achievement gap; and its possibilities, through new and enlightening instructional models. This issue of WRIT Large Retrospective celebrates three students as they interrogate and advance important ideas about education in an effort to transform their world. — Heather Martin Teaching Associate Professor University Writing Program

Contents pg. 5

Jonathan Seals, “Tiny Little Voices: One Giant Problem”

Originally published in WRIT Large Volume 2 (2013) pg. 10

Peaches Aragon, “I Am Mu: Analyzing the Benefits of Alternative

Education Models”

Originally published in WRIT Large Volume 7 (2018) pg. 13

Shem Kikamaze, “Education and Life on the Other Side of

Paradise”

Originally published in WRIT Large Volume 3 (2014) pg. 21

Meet Our Authors

pg. 22

Call for Submissions

pg. 23

Acknowledgments

Tiny Little Voices: One Giant Problem

Jonathan Seals

by WRIT 1622: Re-Writing the American West | Professor Geoffrey Bateman Originally published in WRIT Large Volume 2 (2013)

I WILL NEVER FORGET MY FIRST CHILDHOOD FRIEND. HIS name was Adam Nelson. We could never fully remember how we met; it was as if our friendship materialized out of thin air. Although he was white and I was black, we were identical in many ways. Playing soccer, going to the park, debating over who was a stronger fighter in our favorite cartoon—we loved the same things, and no matter how intense the debates got, we were the best of friends. Imagine the excitement we both felt when I learned I was transferring to his elementary school. For two first graders, it was a dream come true. Little did I know this change would reveal our hidden differences. In the first grade, I began to notice the nuanced differences between us. Teachers and parents tend to shield first graders from anything that might threaten their self-esteem; as the year progressed, I knew something wasn’t right. The lack of stars and smiley faces began to perplex me when I compared my assignments to Adam’s. On Adam’s paper, there were “good job” stamps and “you rock” stickers and golden stars, while on my homework there was nothing but blank space. The margins were left vacant. As my best friend Adam sat in class, the teacher assistants would pull me outside. They would ask me to sound out words and read short stories to them. I still received no praise, no stickers, no stamps. For a while my reading levels were VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

below their standards, and I continued to be pulled out of class. I felt frustrated. I always wondered why Adam just got it. How did everything click for him and not me? What made two people so similar, but so different? The academic distance between Adam and me was not uncommon. As I grew up and matured, I realized that my struggle is shared by many minorities. According to the Colorado State Board Committee, “Whenever there is a performance gap between students of identifiable groups (i.e., male vs. female, special needs vs. the standard student population, or between ethnic categories) that distance can be categorized as an achievement gap.” Interestingly enough, this is not a new issue in the state of Colorado. According to the Denver Post, in 1999 a Governor’s task force was created to tackle the issue; however, this move led to few improvements. The growing phenomenon is eliciting new research. Strong evidence suggests new reasons as to why a large achievement gap exists between white and minority children. Although experts have long identified the lack of resources within minority communities as the culprit for the achievement gap, new research has also found that the self-esteem of minorities plays a crucial role in their academic development.

FACE THE FACTS One of my biggest disadvantages as a young student was the fact that I grew up in a state with an achievement gap that was growing exponentially. Today, according to the Denver Post, Colorado has the largest achievement gap in the nation. The Center on Education Policy found that based on CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) scores in math, 95% of white fourth graders tested proficient and 29% tested advanced, whereas only 78% of African American and Latino students tested as proficient and 9% tested advanced. In both categories, this is almost a 20% difference between minority and white students. For students’ past elementary education, the study concludes that “twice as many white middle and high school students score proficient or above than African-American and Hispanic students on most reading, writing, and math tests.” Based on these findings from the Colorado Department of Education, the gap only increases as students progress further in the education system. 6

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THE NEW FACE OF AMERICA The increasingly large achievement gap in America’s education system, researchers have claimed, is partially a response to regional demographic shifts. Although many recognize America as “the great melting pot,” to an extent the country has become even more segregated. David Aske, Rhonda Corman, and Christine Marston noted in the Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues that much of the local achievement gap is due to “resegregation” of the Denver community. With the expansion and attractiveness of the suburbs, many white families left their homes in the cities to settle in these new communities. When they left, they took with them their higher incomes, resources, and support, and left behind vacant homes that lost their value, making them more accessible to low-income families. This alteration of the community shifted the face of the Denver educational system. In 1958, approximately 58% of Latino students claimed they attended predominately white schools—schools where they felt overwhelmingly outnumbered by white students—but by 2001, only 20% of these students described themselves as attending white schools. The minorities in these inner city areas were left with insufficient resources. Researchers found that the majority of students who were eligible for free lunch came from low-income minority backgrounds. As free-lunch applications increased, so did the proportion of students who were considered to be low income. Schools that displayed these characteristics generated a higher number of unsatisfactory test scores amongst minorities. Typically, the environment associated with low-income neighborhoods is not sufficient for adequate development. These neighborhoods are often characterized by a high number of single-parent households, high crime, and low resources. And children’s performance in school is affected. As the principal of Columbus Elementary in Denver stated, They’re sponges. They’re here to learn. They’re inquisitive. They bring a range of academic experience to the school. They don’t have those experiences at home. When children are raised in generational poverty they just don’t bring those experiences to school. They come with a little less innocence. They’ve had to move into more of the adult lifestyle at a very young age because young

children become caretakers very quickly for each other. (Brodsky, 108)

Poverty, crime, and a lack of parental involvement affect many low-income minorities and contribute to lower skills, less knowledge, and poorer comprehension of school readings and teachers’ lessons. These challenges hinder minority children from being fully able to engage and benefit from their education as do their white peers.

LEMON DANCE Besides socioeconomic factors, according to the Colorado Closing the Achievement Gap Commission Interim Report, the gap can also be explained by the lack of qualified teachers in predominately minority communities. In Colorado, only a third of teachers working in high-poverty public schools have a college major or minor in the field of education. As the interim report states, “Naturally, students in high poverty schools are more likely to be taught by less educated and lower scoring teachers, and students in predominately minority schools are about twice as likely nationally to be taught by inexperienced teachers.” The directors of the documentary Waiting for “Superman” depict this phenomenon by euphemistically calling it the “lemon dance.” After a certain number of years, teachers gain tenure and can never be fired, only transferred. The bad teachers, or “lemons,” end up being tossed from school to school, each school ranked lower than the one before it. Eventually, the lemons end up at low-performing schools, where the population is predominantly made up of minority students. The lemon dance can have dire implications for students. After being transferred to numerous schools, these inferior teachers often develop a degree of apathy. A principal at Johnson Elementary in Colorado states: I think it has a great deal to do... with the attitude of the teachers and the administration. If the attitude is we’re going to do it, we’re going to work towards it, we’re going to work as hard as we can—we’re not going to get there the first round, we’re not going to get there the second round, but I think you’ll see an increase. But I think if you have a negative attitude, it’s not going to help you. You have to have a positive attitude about it.

It remains evident that there is a correlation

between the level of enthusiasm teachers have for educating their students and student performance. This idea was expressed in Waiting for “Superman.” In the documentary, many students told the film crew about teachers sitting back all class period while the students struggled to fill out worksheets. The relationship between teachers and students is one of such great disconnect that many of the teachers filmed in Waiting for “Superman” told students, “I don’t care if you understand or not; I get paid either way.”

BUILDING CONFIDENCE IN TODAY’S YOUTH Adding even more complexity to the situation is the fact that the achievement gap does not simply exist between low-income minorities and white students but between minorities of all economic strata and whites. Hispanic and African Americans in middle-class families still test lower than their white peers. Although my family’s income decreased during my time in middle school, in first grade my family was distinctly middle-class and financially stable. Could there have been something less tangible than economic status working against me at the early age? In a race and self-esteem meta-analysis, Jean Twenge and Jennifer Crocker found that minorities were rated more negatively than whites. In the minority group itself, participants viewed African-Americans through a negative lens, seeing them as less desirable and expressing the wish to be more socially distant from them in comparison to other races. Twenge and Crocker then argue, “Negative stereotypes about their intellectual ability pose a great threat to the self-concept of Black students. In response to this threat, Black students gradually disengage their self-esteem from academics.” The continual process of internalizing stigma causes minority students to develop low self-esteem. This is important because students with low self-esteem are less likely to take rigorous coursework, which the Colorado Department of Education notes as being a major factor leading to achievement gaps. Simply put, in order for you to push yourself, you must first believe you can succeed. If a young child grows up with a negative self-concept, he or she will flounder in school. Although I struggled in school early on, the mere fact that I am attending the University of VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

Denver illustrates that something down the line worked. After one year at my best friend’s elementary school, my family ended up transferring me back to my old elementary school. The owner of my daycare—a short, very thin, older white woman— was the one who advised it. Without going into great detail, she simply told my mother, “My little African-American boys just don’t do well at that school.” I wish I could say that once I transferred back to my old school, life took a turn for the better, but I struggled for two more years. After putting me into multi-age classes, extra reading groups, and tutoring before school to get help with writing, my school had exhausted every resource and held me back in the fourth grade. For the fist time, I didn’t feel just separate from Adam but beneath him. Although it was not the easiest, looking back it was the best decision anyone has ever made for me. I was so behind, from the lack of support I received at my previous school, that getting held back was the only solution. I do not wish to advocate for early retention, for in most cases, according to Gregory Fritz, children who are retained either do not show higher achievement or show lower achievement than similar groups of children who were not retained. It wasn’t getting held back itself that made me a stronger student but the support I received afterwards. My family became more involved. Some of my most cherished memories are of my grandma and me making flash cards of various words in her kitchen. She would show me the card and make me sound it out. Then, to really challenge me, she would put together sentences and make me read them aloud. Inside of school as well, I had a strong support system. Even when I struggled, I had teachers who instilled in me the idea that no matter what, I had the capability of becoming advanced. One of my teachers would open up his classroom early so that he could help me with my writing. He invested time and effort that was beneficial for me in the long run.

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While acknowledging that my story is rare, I often wonder about those young children who still hang in the balance. The children who don’t necessarily decline but still struggle to advance: what happens to them? How do they feel when they’re sitting next to Adam, knowing that there’s a gap between them? My new elementary school, Vassar, ultimately changed my life. By the end of fifth grade, I was reading at an eighth-grade level. For the first time my short responses, homework assignments, and projects were covered in “good job” stamps, gold stars, and “You Rock” stickers. Together, support from my family and teachers ignited within me a desire to learn. For the first time, learning became something that I wanted do, instead of a reminder of what I couldn’t accomplish. Even today, I see these same efforts implemented but in greater force. Recently, I visited University Park Elementary School. Although there still remains a gap between minorities and whites students, the school is truly committed to eradicating the gap. When I got a chance to sit down and talk to a second grade teacher, Mrs. Archambault, she said that she doesn’t really see a gap between her minority and white students. If there’s a gap, its primarily between her English language learners and native English speakers. Four of her students, three of them English language learners, are below proficiency, while an overwhelming majority of her second grade class is advanced, leaving the rest as proficient. When asked what works for the school, she says, “A lot of professional development so that the teachers all know what we’re doing, the language we’re using, the way we are going about teaching and what our expectations are.” She also identifies strong parental support as a factor that helps close the gap. Although this all amazed me, I think if there was any proof the school was closing the gap, it resided with 11-year-old African-American Zyen Smith. At his young age, unlike many of his peers, he does not wish to be a basketball, football, or even a soccer player, but a librarian.

WORKS CITED Aske, David, Rhonda R. Corman, and Christine Marston. “Education Policy and School Segregation: A Study of the

Denver Metropolitan Region.” Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues 14.2 (2011): 27–35. Print.

Boulder, 2008. Dissertations & Theses: Full Text, ProQuest. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.

of Education, 1 Nov. 2004. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.

Commission On Closing The Achievement Gap.” Colorado State Board of Education’s Comments Regarding 2004

Brodsky, Andrew. Accountability Reform and Student Achievement in Colorado Public Schools. Diss. University of Colorado at “Colorado Closing The Achievement Gap Commission Interim Report November 1, 2004.” Colorado Department “Colorado State Board of Education’s Comments Regarding The 2004 Interim Report of The Colorado

Interim Report on Closing the Achievement Gap (2004): 1–6. Web. 13 Feb. 2012.

Fritz, Gregory K. “The Retention Dilemma: What Parents Should Know If Their Child Is Held Back in School.” The

Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter 23.S9 (2007): I–II. Print.

Denver Post (6 Aug 2006): E.01. Retrieved 19 Feb 2012 from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1090610931).

Teske, Paul, Andrew Brodsky, and Alex Medler. “Guest Commentary: Fix Achievement Gap in Colorado.”

“Subgroup Achievement and Gap Trends—Colorado.” Center on Education Policy, 2009. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. <http://www.cep-dc.org/page.cfm?FloatingPageID=14>.

Twenge, Jean M., and Jennifer Crocker. “Race And Self-Esteem: Meta-Analyses Comparing Whites, Blacks,

Hispanics, Asians, And American Indians And Comment On Gray-Little And Hafdahl (2000).” Psychological

Bulletin 128.3 (2002): 371–408. PsycARTICLES. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.

Waiting for “Superman.” Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Paramount, 2010. Documentary.

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

I Am Mu: ANALYZING THE BENEFITS OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION MODELS

Peaches Aragon

by WRIT 1633 Advanced Writing & Research | Professor Heather Martin Originally published in WRIT Large Volume 7 (2018)

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE TEA HOUSE?” I turn away from a colorful mural depicting Tibetan prayer flags waving lightly in the wind to face an older man, smiling, with crinkles at the corners of his eyes. I have just finished my interview, and I’m attending a class soon. But looking at his open face, I cannot help but nod my head. “Just Mike,” he answers, when I ask him his name. We walk toward a tiny building, where he advises me to take off my shoes before we crawl through a small door. Inside, we kneel on bamboo mats, the sweet aroma of incense fills the air, and Mike explains with enthusiasm the Japanese character on the wall and the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Naropa University, a university founded on contemplative education, is unlike any educational campus I have ever visited—the classes, people, and culture stand in striking contrast to the usual college campus. Tea rooms, classroom meditation, and art fill every space the eye can see: it sounds like a school from a child’s dream, yet it is a real university in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. The contemplative education system is just one of many new alternative education models popping up all over the world. These models demonstrate success in academics, but they also correlate to happier students and communities. Learning from these innovative systems, education must start valuing the wellbeing and development 10

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of students as individuals if they want them to contribute to creating a healthier, smarter society. Alternative education models are not new; however, they are being revolutionized and adapted across the world. The Waldorf educational system was introduced in 1919 by Rudolf Steiner with the goal of developing insight into determining the appropriate model of education for each individual student (Selg). The Denver Waldorf School continues to place that emphasis on development. Brie Kaiser, Admissions Director of the Denver Waldorf School, notes that the curriculum helps contribute to the children’s growth by meeting each student developmentally and designing curriculum around that. According to the Waldorf model, education is an art that can heal students and equip them to succeed in their individual life journeys (Selg). Kaiser believes that one advantage the Denver Waldorf education offers is “the freedom to be who you are without judgment; it is just part of the culture constructed here.” When I walk into the kindergarten class at the Denver Waldorf School during what Kaiser calls “intentional play time,” I witness a future society of individual thinkers and doers. Similarly, Naropa’s contemplative education system places a strong emphasis on the individual and on using education as a tool for student transformation. Charlotte Rotterdam, the director of the Center of the Advancement of Contemplative Education and a professor of contemplative learning, describes contemplative learning as a three-step process. The first step, where traditional education begins and ends, is hearing: students are given information, and they regurgitate it. The next step is contemplation. As Rotterdam describes it, this step asks students, “How do I see this information?” Contemplation values student experiences and encourages learners to view the broader world as a laboratory for study and experimentation. The third step is transformation, and it is focused on the belief that true learning should transform the individual. Rotterdam describes transformation as a process: “There’s a deep curiosity that is awakened for every moment in life. Every moment in life can be a deep learning experience.” Naropa focuses on the unbound, continuous growth of every student, the ability to learn from every moment and experience even when—or especially when—students are outside of the classroom. Alternative education models are making waves

across societies not just for their unorthodox views, but also for their success. Every year, Finland competes globally for top ranking in education. In fact, they rank as third in literacy, sixth in mathematics, and second in science on PISA (The Programme for International Student Assessment), with only some countries in Asia outperforming them (Nieme). Perhaps counter-intuitively, the Finnish system calls for less homework, less lesson time, and fewer evaluations (among other innovations). The Bush administration introduced its own education reform, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in the US; however, a much different result occurred with the increase of the implementation of highstakes tests for many students—especially minority students. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores indicated that there was a 31-point Black-White achievement gap in reading a year after NCLB was implemented (Thompson). The outcome was quite the opposite of the progress promised by NCLB when the government and schools implemented these tests and benchmarks. Not only did the test reveal an increased failure rate among minorities, but teacher evaluations were now linked to student performance on tests. The fear teachers now have of testing scores contributing to their evaluations has led to an education system in America that is no longer preparing students for success and interest in academics. Additionally, these benchmarks and standards lead to a static view of learning. Rotterdam believes that when knowledge is considered alive and continually growing, “learning becomes more fun. It becomes a pathway of deep curiosity.” In the class I was sent to observe, I became as much a member of the class as the students. We began the class with meditation to center ourselves and bring focus to what we were feeling in that moment. Meditation has been proven time and again to help “at-risk” students, but in a case study in the Education Psychology Review, meditation also showed a 61% effect on students’ well being, social competence, and academics (Walters). In one controlled study, mindfulness meditation showed a significant improvement on working memory capacity (WMC), which is associated with higher level cognitive function (Quach). After our meditation, I joined in the small discussions taking place between groups of two students; the look of respect and curiosity when one was speaking is something I see missing VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

in many of my own classroom discussions at the University of Denver. After ten minutes of discussion, I joined my group on a walk to contemplate the questions we, the students, had created while we picked apart the assigned readings. As I stepped into the humid dome of the greenhouse, the smell of fresh green plants overwhelmed me, and the life around us brought life into our conversation—into our learning. To argue further for these alternative education models that successfully innovate academics and learning, they have also shown a correlation with a healthier, happier society. The statistics showing increased happiness levels in society and decreased stress levels in students is something only seen when these revolutionary alternative education systems are introduced. In an index of 90% of the world’s population, Finland—a country that revolutionized its entire education system—is consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries (Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index). Education systems that are bringing the focus back to the individual student and their growth are creating citizens who will contribute more effectively to society. Contemplative education focuses on building on previous knowledge to increase empathy for humanity and to support individual growth through mindfulness (Mahani). Rotterdam described mindfulness as a quality of focus that brings awareness to something. As to how it can contribute to a more compassionate society, Rotterdam stated it beautifully: “What happens when I become more present? Our heart

opens and natural kindness emerges…You can actually see suffering and feel its effect on yourself and then analyze your experiences to see what you can offer the situation.” Naropa’s university motto is “Transform yourself. Transform the world.” When an education system’s curriculum is focused on creating compassionate individuals and assisting them in finding their purpose, students can create an environment of driven, healthy people. Building an innovative society filled with high-functioning, well-informed individuals begins with education. Walk into a school anytime, anywhere in the world, and you’re walking among future doctors, teachers, builders, politicians, entrepreneurs: you are walking among the future of society. The systematic approach to education in America is hurting our students and limiting our society now more than ever. Policy makers and schools must adopt a model of alternative education or risk limiting the progress of the country as a whole. In the teahouse at Naropa, I sat for an hour on my knees, I spoke Japanese words that had been spoken for generations at tea ceremonies, and I was able to become a part of a true “beyond the classroom” learning experience. The Japanese character on the wall of the teahouse at Naropa was Mu, which translates to “nothing; not; empty.” However, as my tea instructor explained the symbol, “it is nothingness, with the possibility of everything.” Alternative educational models view students in the same way, and in doing so they foster their potential to grow, learn, and act with purpose.

WORKS CITED Mahani, Sepideh. “Promoting Mindfulness Through Contemplative Education.” Journal of International Education Research, vol 8, no. 3, 2012, pp. 215–222. Print.

Niemi, Hannele, et al. Miracle of Education: The Principles and Practices of Teaching and Learning in Finnish Schools. Sense Publishers, 2012. Print.

Selg, Peter, and Margot M. Saar. The Essence of Waldorf Education. Steiner Books, 2010. Print.

Thompson, Gail L., and Tawannah G. Allen. “Four Effects of the High-Stakes Testing Movement on African American K-12 Students.” Journal of Negro Education, vol. 81, no. 3, 2012, pp. 218–227. Web.

Waters, Lea, et al. “Contemplative Education: A Systematic, Evidence-Based Review of the Effect of Meditation Interventions in Schools.” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 27, no. 1, 2015, pp. 103–134. Web.

Quach, Dianna, et al. “A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Working Memory Capacity in Adolescents.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 58, no. 5, 2016, pp. 489–496. Print.

WRIT LARGE: FEBRUARY 2019

Education and Life on the Other Side of Paradise Shem Kikamaze

by WRIT 1133: Writing and Research | Professor Amber Engelson Originally published in WRIT Large Volume 3 (2014)

INTRODUCTION I am seated in a class in one of the wonderfully designed buildings at the University of Denver. The class is a fine work of art because the doors, chairs, and even the students—whose clothing is suave and sophisticated— look like meticulously-made sculptures. I am listening (with my eyes halfclosed) to the gospel of how every person in the world in this new Global Era has many wonderful opportunities (including jobs, healthcare, and education) due to globalization. The students are nodding their heads with affirmation while the Professor explains, like the Shepherd leading his flock, that “the Atlantic Ocean is no longer described as an ocean but rather as a pond.” “Is all this true?,” I ask myself. This question has led me to research what happens on the other side of this “pond.” Does everyone on the other side of paradise have equal opportunities? Does everyone on the other side have a good education? If not, what are the causes, and how do people cope with life? I know some of the answers to these questions because I am from Uganda, but I wanted to conduct more formal research by surveying some respondents who live in the Ugandan slums. My research is on how people attain education in the areas commonly known in Uganda as “the slums.” I focused on education because I believe it opens up someone to numerous technical skills, job VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

opportunities, and creative thinking, which are further developed at school through interactions with various kinds of people and possible mentors. My belief is shared by Kathleen Blanco, the 54th Governor of Louisiana, who tried to persuade her grief-stricken citizens after the devastating Hurricane Katrina disaster that education is important. “Think about it: Every educated person is not rich, but almost every educated person has a job and a way out of poverty. So education is a fundamental solution to poverty” (Blanco 32). In this case, Blanco identified education as one of the rebuilding blocks of Louisiana, and I believe such an approach could work to eliminate poverty and slums in Uganda. My research aims to raise awareness of a correlation between slum conditions and education. What, though, is a slum? According to UN-Habitat, a slum is a household or a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following: 1. Durable housing of a permanent nature that protects against extreme climate conditions. 2. Sufficient living space, which means not more than three people sharing the same room. 3. Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts at an affordable price. 4. Access to adequate sanitation in the form of a private or public toilet shared by a reasonable number of people. 5. Security of tenure that prevents forced evictions. (UN-Habitat) As this definition suggests, slums are not the best place to live due to unhealthy, unsafe, and poor conditions. There have been many research articles written on life and poverty in the slums that provide an overview of how people in slums attain education. According to Pauline Rose, Director of the United Nations 2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, “As we [the UN] have made improvements in getting more children into school, those who are left behind are those that are hardest to reach” (qtd. in Joselow). These children are hard to reach because they live in slums. According to Ramaswamy et al.’s study on the right to education in the slums of India, “the life of the poorest households revolves around the daily survival in 14

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the margins of life” (293). The children are not able to get an education because they cannot afford it; the households in which they live concentrate on fulfilling the basic needs to ensure that everyone in the household survives. Therefore, education, which should be a basic need attained by everyone in the world, is lacking in slums. The people in such areas are cut off from the rest of the world when it comes to educational opportunities. In addition to Ramaswamy et al.’s findings on scarce opportunities for education, Oketch et al. note in their research on education policy in Kenya that a third of the parents in the slums surveyed took their children to low-cost, poorly facilitated schools. Children were taken to such poorly facilitated schools because of poverty (i.e., families cannot afford a better school). In “Free Primary Education Policy,” Oketch et al. find that 83.87% of the schools in the study sample of the slums were private, individually–owned, and poorly facilitated schools that provide education at a lower cost than government schools. Even if children receive an education, it is below standard to the extent that such schools are not recognized by the Kenyan government, although they absorb nearly half of the children in the slums (Oketch et al. 173). The above-mentioned authors not only try to explain the situation of education in the slums, but also provide insight into what causes poverty in the slums. Furthermore, Oketch et al.’s survey points out that only 11% of men in slums have salaried jobs, and that they can only afford low-cost schools (176). Ramaswamy et al.’s work complements this argument by pointing out that, due to poverty, many families in slums experience predicaments which include either “‘taking their A-student girl to school’ or ‘paying medical bills for a husband who is the bread winner’” (307). In such scenarios, families tend to spend their income on basic needs like food and health, and children may not go to school, because all the other needs have to be fulfilled first. These examples provide a practical view of how barriers to education arise. First and foremost, only a few are employed; hence, many of the people are poor. Families either cannot afford to provide an education for their children, or the few employed take their children to poorly–facilitated schools in the surrounding area. George Owusu et al. theorize that the prob-

lems of slums are caused by population explosions due to rural-urban migration. They introduce the notion that globalization leads to the formation of slums, suggesting that “reforms such as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) have led to increased poverty” (Owusu et al. 181). Similarly, Mike Davis, in his book Planet of Slums, provides an explanation of what SAPs are—rules provided by international donors that poor countries should adhere to in order to receive loans. These rules include “devaluation [of currency], privatization, removal of import controls and food subsidiaries” (153). Davis writes about the economic impact of SAPs on these countries and how they ultimately affect the growth of slums; he points out that “artificial depression [is] engineered by IMF (International Monetary Fund)” (155). For example, when subsidies are removed for rural farmers, the agriculture sector requires more expenditure than income to the extent that people move from rural areas to urban areas for different jobs. Thus, there is a huge population explosion of illiterate farmers who move into temporary shelters in towns with very few jobs requiring highly educated employees.1 I concur with Davis that globalization and SAPs, which were originally meant to promote development, are one cause of the formation of slums, but I also believe the onus to provide the needs for the citizens of a nation-state lies on the shoulders of the nation itself. Developing nations should reduce corruption and resist spending money on ensuring the ruling party’s political superiority. The ruling party spends most of its available funds on projects that would increase the number of votes in the next election, rather than providing services that would benefit the entire community or generations to come. For example, the President of Uganda recently gave out sacks of money worth $100,000 at one of his political rallies (Aljazeera English). In this case, the President does not provide his people with

fishing skills that would benefit them later, but only with fish. The education system in the country is in dire shape; while the teachers are receiving meager salaries, the political officials benefit from corruption. However, not everybody in Uganda lives in such dire slum conditions; my high school was renowned in the country for tuition scholarships. In my high school, I met students who spent their free time in heated arguments, insisting that it was not possible for a person to earn less than a dollar a day. Most of these students were privileged, relatives of government officials and other educated and respected people in the country. Most of these students also had dreams of becoming influential government officials or heading large government institutions like their family and friends. Having lived privileged lives, these students were unaware of the existence of people living for less than a dollar a day in their own city. Remember, this was all happening in a country the World Bank estimated as having 24.5% of its population below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. My high school experience made me realize that the wealthy remain wealthy, since their children get the best education and, ultimately, great high school grades. The great high school grades then entitle these students to university merit scholarships. The poor who could afford such good high schools rarely get the grades needed for admittance. Therefore, the educated privileged continue to exert control over the wealth and resources of the country, just as the poor remain uneducated and poor. Despite the obstacles to attaining education faced by people in slums, most research that I reviewed concluded with a notion that people living in slums had a beacon of hope that life would improve. In their article about parental aspirations, Oketch et al. conclude that although the slum-dwellers were faced with many problems,

Due to these SAPs, the cost of living in cities for these immigrants also becomes high. SAPs make the poor developing countries import more than they export (“Uganda Trade”). The prices of imported commodities like oil are determined by international organizations, and these commodities have high and f luctuating prices in the importing countries. Therefore, the price of, for example, imported petroleum affects the transport sector, which in turn affects the price of basic needs like food. The European Commission reiterates this factor by suggesting that many factors inf luence the rise of commodity prices including “supply and demand . . . Nevertheless, petroleum prices raise input costs and increase demand for . . . products” (“High Prices on Agricultural Commodity Markets: Situation and Prospects.”). Expensive imports mean that people in slums may resort to taking care of their families rather than putting an emphasis on education. 1

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

they aspired for their children to at least receive an education (771). Ramaswamy et al. add to this conversation in showing that children have dreams after education like becoming doctors and helping with diseases in the area. The research shows that many of these “dreams are enmeshed within and inseparable from the net of familial obligations” (308), and that people in slums are hopeful that life would be better in spite of all the problems they faced.

METHODS To explore access to education in the Ugandan slums, I designed a questionnaire to be taken by a small representative group of respondents. My sample group was made up of 29 people from the slums of Kitintale and Mutungo, which are on the outskirts of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The two places are not quite one mile apart, and life in both places is similar. My questions were based on factors I had found in my research: for example, the cost of school, the employment rate, and age groups of the respondents. I chose my sample group because I knew most of the people, and I could relate to the type of questions they would be able to answer. Most of these questions were multiple choice, since I felt my sample group would have been more willing to answer by ticking boxes rather than writing out answers. I included spaces on 80% of the questions for anyone who had suggestions I had not specifically asked about. Since most of my sample group would have had to pay for the Internet to access my questionnaire, I had to make a paper one. I sent it to my brother, who printed and distributed it to interested friends. Since most of the people were also my friends, I was confident that I would get a fairly good reply rate. Some were administered by my brother, who interviewed people who could not read and write properly. He then scanned and emailed the questionnaires back to me. I entered the results into an analysis program at https://udenver.qualtrics.com. I personally entered each scanned response into the website so that this program could create charts and tables. I also converted any currency questions to dollars using http://coinmill.com for the conversion from Ugandan shillings to dollars on May 5, 2013, when the conversion rate was one dollar for 2,550 Ugandan shillings. 16

WRIT LARGE: FEBRUARY 2019

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Of the 29 adult responses that I received, 45% were below the age of 25, while 34% were above the age of 30, and the remaining 21% (6 respondents) were between 24 and 30 years. Overall, 66% of my respondents were in the typical age bracket for attaining a university education. From my questionnaire, I wanted to know the highest level of education obtained by my respondents. Almost all—28—had never received a higher degree, 54% of the respondents had achieved secondary school education, and 36% had received tertiary or technical education through either a certificate or a diploma. Only one person did not report the level of education attained. This result suggests that people in slums do not go far in terms of education. Even though the respondents were all adults, there was not a single one who had gone as far as a degree. Only one person was at an accredited university pursuing a certificate or diploma. These results correlated with Oketch et al.’s research on the low rates of education in slums (178). According to Ramaswamy et al., people in slums face a lot of predicaments when it comes to choice of education and surviving life (293). My other questions, then, focused on the economics of education: how much the respondents earn, how much their guardians earn, how many are supported by the government, and how many siblings they have. Of my respondents, 71% answered that they had four or more siblings. This means that most of the families are large, and I presume that the guardians/parents with multiple children and low incomes would not choose which person to educate and which person to not send to school. This situation ultimately leads to poor education for most of the children, since the scarce resources have to be divided equally. With the previous predicaments in mind, I asked the respondents how much it costs per term/ semester at their school and how much they think their parents or guardians earn per month. I multiplied the range by 12 to see how much it would cost in a year. I also asked how much they earn per day if they work. I multiplied that amount by 365 with an assumption that they work every day of the year. Table 1 shows the breakdown of parents’ and guardians’ annual income, and Table 2 shows the daily and annual income for the respondents themselves.

TABLE 1. ANNUAL SALARIES OF RESPONDENTS’ PARENTS OR GUARDIANS N

$4.68–14.04

Estimated Annual Salaries in US $

$14.52–46.80

$47.28–140.40

$140.90–234.00

$468.36–937.20

$1,405–3,279.96

More than $3,279.96

100

total

TABLE 2. DAILY AND ANNUAL SALARIES OF RESPONDENTS Daily Salaries in US $

Estimated Annual Salaries in US $

$0.39–1.17

$142.35–427.05

$1.21–3.90

$441.63–1,423.50

$3.94–11.70

$1,438.10–4,270.50

$11.74–19.50

$4,285.10–7,117.51

100

total

The tables show that 80% of those who work earn below $1,440 a year, and 56% of the guardians earn below $940 a year while the rough cost of college tuition is about $1,054 annually without extra fees (“Fees Schedule”). With the assumptions that my respondents work every day of the year, that they all have parents or guardians, and that their guardians or they themselves support their siblings, these tables reinforce the fact that education is affordable for only one person in a family. After making some calculations, I realized that if these families were to pay for the respondents’ university tuition, then the entire family would only live on about $4 a day. That amount per day would never provide basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter for a family (and 71% of my respondents have siblings). Therefore, most families who forego paying university tuition cannot afford to pay tuition and still afford to provide for family needs. One might still continue to argue that $4 per day is good enough for people living in developing countries, since many commodities are cheap, without taking into account that, as shown in my introduction, most commodities are expensive due to large quantities of imported goods. The prices of these goods are determined by the international

community. Therefore, earning $4 a day with soaring food prices and transportation costs presents a predicament for parents who either must choose to take that one child to university or try to make sure that everyone in the family survives. I should note that, with regard to income earned, I believe my estimated calculations may be off, since only one respondent out of the 29 said that he/she had a salaried job. Although my respondents were all adults, 54% of them were unemployed. In my questionnaire, I split unemployment into two sectors and found out that nearly half those who are unemployed go for any job available: making bricks, carpentry, carrying heavy loads, etc. I therefore split the unemployment into two sectors so that I could find out how my unemployed respondents earn a living. The results from these additional calculations further show that most of my respondents are uneducated and end up in slums with scarce employment. Of 26 respondents, only two people said that at least one of their parents had earned a university degree; 73% of the respondents pointed out that none of their parents had ever gone above secondary education. These findings reinforce the idea that the vicious cycle of poverty and low education is passed down through generations. As the wealthy attain a good education, the people in slums get little or no opportunities to develop, since most jobs are dependent on the level of education attained. In addition to getting some information about how education is attained, I wanted to know the reasons why people stay in slums. Some 55% of the 29 respondents pointed out that they had moved from the villages to the place they were living, while 41% said that they were born there. Only one person had moved from a city in Kenya. From this information, I presumed that those who had moved to the slums had left their parents in the villages or had moved with them. These data seem to support Davis’s research that argues the formation of slums is primarily caused by rural-urban migration, which has been theoretically caused by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). Should the international community, with globalization and SAPs, be the only scapegoat for the existence of slums? Of course not; the existence of slums is caused by other factors, which may include corruption of governments, nepotism, and also lack of transparency. Of the 27 respondents who anVOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

swered the question about receiving help from the government concerning education, 26% (seven respondents) said that they had received government help with primary or secondary education. The other 74% had never been helped by the government. This correlates with another result showing that 73% of the total respondents knew at most three people who had ever received university government scholarships. According to New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily newspaper, 75% of government scholarships were awarded to children of the rich, since they always go to the best schools while the poor “fend for themselves” (Businge). To add salt to the wound, when asked about state scholarships for study abroad, 90% knew at most two people who had ever received state scholarships, with 62% knowing none. When I researched these state scholarships further, I found out from The Daily Monitor, another Ugandan newspaper, that the government does not release the list of those who receive such scholarships to the general public (Nalugo). This suggests that the government lacks transparency around scholarships. Lack of transparency is an issue that affects not only education, but the African continent as a whole. According to Kofi Anan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, the continent is plagued by lack of transparency because of secret deals with international corporations that only benefit the rich government officials rather than the whole country (BBC). It seems, then, that slums are caused not by only one reason, but by many. Like most of the researchers I studied, I asked my respondents about their expectations for the future. When asked what they hope concerning their highest level of education, 83% of the 23 respondents answered that they would receive a university degree or a PhD, although they were all adults and have never gone to university. These respondents still have hope that they will receive a good education. At the same time, only 19% said that their further education would be funded by their parents. The other 80% responded by saying that their education will be funded either by no one or by a good samaritan or the government. One of the respondents said that he/she thinks that the University of Denver will further his/her education. Overall, my research suggests that respondents are not able to receive a good education because of the place that they live and because of poverty. The 18

WRIT LARGE: FEBRUARY 2019

poverty rate leads to few educational opportunities, since the uneducated guardians cannot afford to take their children to school. The uneducated children then grow up with few job opportunities, since most jobs with a good income require an education. These uneducated adults then give birth to children in the same condition as their forefathers, and the cycle of poverty and illiteracy continues down generations.

LIMITATIONS My project did have some limitations. First of all, it was kind of hectic in the sense that I had to send the questionnaire to my brother, who had to print it out and supply it to my respondents and then re-scan it and send it back in three days. This is basically due to the fast-paced quarter system, which requires a person to learn a lot in a short time. Furthermore, I had to use a paper version of the questionnaire because I realized that my respondents would have had to pay Internet café fees to access it. This was also to counter the problem of finding respondents who could not understand English or who could not use a computer. In such cases, my brother translated the questionnaire into the local language just like in an interview. I also did not pay any particular attention to gender in my survey. I believe that if I had asked a question about gender, then I might have gotten more information on how parents choose when it comes to dividing of resources among children. Is there any gender bias? Further research could address this question. CONCLUSION Despite these limitations, I was able to get some interesting results. As previously stated, my research was meant to provide insight into the way education is attained on the other side of paradise and the barriers to attaining education in the slums of Uganda. I realized that many people in slums do not have access to the resources that would provide them with a good education. Many of the respondents do not have a university-level education, and the unending cycle of poverty is passed down through generations. My research was also meant to provide an insight on the issue of why slums still exist. From the results, I found that many people migrate to slums, most of them with low levels of education and jobless, to look for cheaper

settlements. My research shows that barriers to education in slums start from larger global phenomena and ultimately affect a smaller population in the slums. In other words, the problems are caused globally by the SAPs and continue down to non-transparent governments that do not provide enough opportunities to the poor and finally down to the poor in slums, who do not have enough skills to attain a good income so that they can educate their children. My

research continues to show that disadvantaged people need help in the form of long-term skills that will help them to be able to fend for themselves. I believe that is what the disadvantaged need most: long-term donations. On a large scale, change can be achieved through lobbying for transparency of governments and/or international organizations to provide a safe world for all. On a smaller scale, change can be begun by building more schools in the areas that need them.

QUESTIONNAIRE • How old are you? (18-24 years, 25-30 years, 30 years and above) • What is the highest level of Education you have attained? (Primary Education, Ordinary Level Secondary Education, Advanced Level Secondary Education, Certificate or Diploma, Degree)

• • •

Which school did you go (or currently in) to attain the above qualification? (write-in)

• •

Who paid (or pays) for your tuition? (write-in)

• • • • • • •

Were you: (day scholar, boarder)

How much did it cost per term/semester? (UShs. 100,000 – UShs. 200,000, UShs. 200,100 – UShs. 500,000, UShs. 500,100 – UShs. 1000,000, UShs. 1,000,100 – UShs. 2,000,000)

How far do you expect to go in your education? (Ordinary Level Secondary Education, Advanced Level Secondary Education, Certificate or Diploma, Degree, Other [write-in]) Do you like school? (write-in)

Who do you think will pay for your further education? (write-in)

How many schools have you attended since childhood? (write-in)

Do you still live with your Guardians? Parents in the same house or home? (write-in)

How much do you think your parents/guardians earn per month? (UShs. 1,000 – Ushs. 3,000; UShs. 3,100 – Ushs. 10,000; UShs. 10,100 – Ushs. 30,000; UShs. 30,100 – Ushs. 50,000; Other [write-in])

What is the highest level of education that your parents attained?

Did your parents ever come to Kampala for a job or Education from the village? (write-in) Which type of job do you have? (Kagwiraawo, Self-employed, Employed ( salary not constant), Salaried employment, Do not

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

work)

If you work, how much do you earn per day? (UShs. 1,000 – Ushs. 3,000; UShs. 3,100 – Ushs. 10,000; UShs.

10,100 – Ushs. 30,000; UShs. 30,100 – Ushs. 50,00; Othe r[write-in]) Do you rent? (write-in)

Where did you spend your earliest childhood? (Same place where I am now; In the village, I just came to Kampala; other [write-in])

How many brothers and sisters do you have? (write-in)

Are they all in school? (write-in)

Do you have any children? (write-in)

Do you think the government has helped with your education? (Yes, No)

If Yes, explain how? (write-in)

When you or any of your family members are sick, where do you go for treatment? (Clinic; Health Centre, e.g Naguru, Kiswa; General Hospital, e.g Mulaga, Nsambya; Use local herbs; Church; Other ([write-in])

How many times do you fall sick in a year? (write-in)

How many people do you know in your area that have received Government scholarships for University?

(write-in)

How many people do you know in your area that have received State scholarships to study abroad? (write-in) Do you take part in Sports Betting? (write-in)

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

WORKS CITED AlJazeera English. “Uganda President Hands out Sacks of Cash.” AllAfrica.com: Resources. 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

BBC. “Kofi Annan: Africa Plundered by Secret Mining Deals.” BBC News. 10 May 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

Blanco, Kathleen Babineaux. “Louisiana Solutions to Poverty: Engaging Ideas, Empowering People, Enhancing Lives.” Governor’s Summit on Solutions to Poverty Summary Report. State of Louisiana, 2005. PDF File.

Businge, Conan. “Admissions Favour Rich.” New Vision: Uganda’s Leading Daily. 28 June 2012. Web. 17 May 2013. Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums. London: Verso, 2006. Print.

“Fees Schedule for Private Students.” Makerere University. 2010. Web. 17 May 2013.

“High Prices on Agricultural Commodity Markets: Situation and Prospects.” European Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. July 2008. Web. 17 May 2013.

Joselow, Gabe. “UN Report Finds Africa Education Goals Stagnating.” Voice of America. 14 Nov. 2012. Web. 8 May 2013.

Nalugo, Mercy. “State House Sponsorship Scheme ‘not Changing.’” The Daily Monitor. 6 May 2013. Web. 17 May 2013. Oketch, Moses, Maurice Mutisya, and Jackline Sagwe. “Parental Aspirations for Their Children’s Educational Attainment and the Realisation of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Kenya: Evidence from Slum and Non-slum Residences.” International Journal of Educational Development 32.6 (2012): 764–72. ScienceDirect. 4 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.

Oketch, Moses, Maurice Mutisya, Moses Ngware, Alex C. Ezeh, and Charles Epari. “Free Primary Education Policy and Pupil School Mobility in Urban Kenya.” International Journal of Educational Research 49.6 (2010): 173–83. 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

Owusu, George, Samuel Agyei-Mensah, and Ragnhild Lund. “Slums of Hope and Slums of Despair: Mobility and

Livelihoods in Nima, Accra.” Norwegian Journal of Geography 62.3 (2008): 180–190. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.

Ramaswamy, V., Lorena Gibson, and Sita Venkateswar. “The Right to Education and the Pedagogy for Hope: Some

Perspectives on Talimi Haq School.” Critical Asian Studies 42.2 (2010): 289–310. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

“Slums: Some Definitions.” UN-Habitat. 2006. Web. 17 May 2013. “Uganda.” The World Bank. 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

“Uganda Trade, Import, Export.” Economy Watch. 9 Apr. 2010. Web. 17 May 2013.

WRIT LARGE: FEBRUARY 2019

Meet Our Authors JONATHAN SEALS updated for volume 8

Class of 2015 | Political Science Major, Religious Studies Minor

Six years after writing “Tiny Little Voices: One Giant Problem,” Jonathan is still

passionate about educating youth and preparing them for the future. As the 2012-2013

Black Student Alliance president, he launched their first student outreach program “A day

at DU.” This program introduced high school students to campus life and resources at the University of Denver. Over the years, he has also helped fundraise $20,000 for programs such as the Black Male Initiative Summit and Black Women - L.E.A.D. Both initiatives focused on college access as well as identity and leadership development.

Life after college has presented Jonathan incredible opportunities to serve his

community. Today, Jonathan is currently serving on the board of a community group called Students of Color in Technology (SoC-IT). The goals of this organization is to develop the interests of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)

amongst secondary school students. He is currently in charge of launching the non-profit and obtaining the 501(c)(3) status for the organization. He looks forward to the impact his team will have on students in the Denver metro area.

PEACHES ARAGON updated for volume 8

Since writing “I am Mu: Analyzing the Benefits of Alternative Education Models,” Alana

“Peaches” Aragon enjoyed a sophomore year full of fun and diverse experiences, one of her favorite being her job as an assistant coordinator for the Excelling Leaders Institute, a pre-orientation and four-year program dedicated to leaders from diverse and typically underrepresented backgrounds. She is half-way through her junior year, part of which

she spent in Valparaíso, Chile. While she missed her family in Albuquerque, NM, and her friend at DU, she loved every moment of being immersed in the beautiful culture of Chile and, of course, the perks of living by a beach. Currently studying International Business, she is also passionate about traveling, education, writing, learning, and activism.

SHEM KIKAMAZE

written for volume 3 in 2014 Shem Kikamaze, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, comes from

Kampala, Uganda. He describes himself as eclectic: he might listen to Ugandan

music, Jamaican riddims, hip hop, rap, R&B, pop, ballads, country, and a Pavarotti

opera in a single day. He attributes his eclectic nature to a family that is ¼ Muslim, ¼ Catholic, ¼ Protestant, and ¼ Traditionalist.

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

Submit Your Work We welcome not only essays and research papers but also scientific and business reports, creative nonfiction, multimodal projects, and more. If accepted for publication, your work will appear in 2020’s Volume 9.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Texts may be submitted electronically (by students or by instructors on behalf of students, with their permission) to the Editorial Board at writlarge.du@gmail.com by June 15, 2019.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: • Submissions must be the original, previously unpublished work of the authors (group submissions are also accepted). • Authors must assume full responsibility for the accuracy and documentation of their submission, and a bibliography must be included, when appropriate. • Authors selected for publication must agree to work with an editorial team (of faculty and students) throughout the Fall 2019 quarter and to participate in all editorial activities. • Please limit each submission to 20 double-spaced pages or fewer.

WRIT LARGE: FEBRUARY 2019

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are very grateful to Doug Hesse and the DU University Writing Program for funding and supporting this project. We would like to thank all of our present and former colleagues who have generously contributed to WRIT Large over the past eight years.

FACULTY EDITORS For Seals (vol. 2 / 2013): Heather Martin and Juli Parrish For Aragon (vol. 7 / 2018): Heather Martin For Kikamaze (vol. 3 / 2014): Kamila Kinyon and Juli Parrish

2018â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2019 EDITORIAL BOARD April Chapman-Ludwig, David Daniels, Megan Kelly, Heather Martin, Juli Parrish, & LP Picard

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2

WL RETROSPECTIVE (8.2)

WRITING ABOUT EDUCATION

FEBRUARY 2019