Education Update - June 2009

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Volume XIV, No. 10 • New York City • JUNE 2009

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FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

GRADUATION 2009

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COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATORS

CONGRATULATES Distinguished Leaders in Education Ernest Logan PRESIDENT, CSA

Randi Weingarten PRESIDENT, AFT, UFT

Alfred Posamentier DEAN OF EDUCATION, THE CITY COLLEGE OF NY

Outstanding Educators of the Year

CONGRATULATIONS FOR ENRICHING THE LIVES OF THE C HILDREN OF NEW YORK CITY TEACHERS ★ Beth Altmann, PS 811, Queens

Alyce Barr

Judy Mittler

Mary Scarlato

★ Craig Antelmi, HS of Business, Bronx

PRINCIPAL BROOKLYN SECONDARY SCHOOL FOR COLLABORATIVE STUDIES

PRINCIPAL I.S. 125 THOM J. MCCAN WOODSIDE

Principal P.S. 31 Samuel F. Dupont

★ Steve Cucuzza, Abraham Lincoln HS, Brooklyn

Jeanne Fish

Laverne Nimmons

PRINCIPAL, P.S. 277

Principal P.S. 335 Granville T. Woods

Principal P.S 380 John Wayne Elementary

Mary Padilla

Joan Washington

Principal P.S. 005 Port Morris

Principal P.S. 811

Josephine Viars

Paula Holmes PRINCIPAL DR. SUSAN S. MCKINNEY SECONDARY SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

GRADUATION AROUND THE NATION 2009

A Long Road to Graduation

★ Dedria Lacy, PS 335, Brooklyn ★ Sandra Mattes-Schwartz, School for Collaborative Studies, Brooklyn ★ Leah Moore, Baruch College Campus H S, Manhattan ★ Rosanna Ohba, Marta Valle Secondary School, Manhattan ★ Margarita Rosa, IN-Tech Academy, Bronx ★ Karena Thompson, PS 335, Brooklyn ★ Michael Tighe, The Hungerford School, Staten Island

ADMINISTRATORS ★ Alyce Barr, School for Collaborative Studies, Brooklyn ★ Jeanne M. Fish, PS 277, Brooklyn ★ Paula Holmes, Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School of the Arts, Brooklyn ★ Judy Mittler, IS 125, Queens ★ Dr. Laverne Nimmons, PS 335, Brooklyn ★ Mary Padilla, PS 5, Bronx ★ President Regina Peruggi, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn ★ Mary Scarlato, PS 31, Brooklyn ★ Dean David Steiner, Hunter College, New York ★ Josephine Viars, John Wayne Elementary, Brooklyn ★ Joan Washington, Marathon HS, Queens

We Thank Our Sponsors Who Support the Work of Educators in New York City The City University of New York ★ Con Edison ★ The United Federation of Teachers ★ The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators ★ The New York Times ★ Paul Stuart Company ★ Landmark College ★ The Everett Foundation ★ The Samuel and Ethel LeFrak Charitable Trust ՗՗՗՗

From your avid supporters at Paul Stuart

Officers:

Vice Presidents:

By SUSAN RANDELL Getting my degree was a long-term goal of mine. Little did I realize how long the term would be. It was a journey that started in New York, continued in New Jersey and ended in Florida.

When I graduated high school, getting my degree was not a priority; I was a non-matriculated night student taking whatever course sounded interesting at the moment. Two years after Art and I married, I stopped. Both my children were born in New Jersey and when my son was three

months old and my daughter was two and a half I decided to go back and get my Associate’s Degree. I did not finish because we moved to Florida. However, much to my surprise I found I was getting straight A’s.

I had very bad rheumatoid arthritis, which I got when I was pregnant with my daughter.

After living in Florida for about a year or so, the arthritis started to go into remission and I decided to go back to work. I had worked in the stock market in New York so when I saw a job

that would keep me involved, I jumped at the opportunity. I was fortunate enough to manage a stock market research department and work with a well-known market leader. The company published nine stock market publications and a national magazine. Time Warner purchased the company and one by one they closed down the publications and moved the magazine to New York. About a year before we were downsized, I saw the handwriting on the wall and returned to school to get my Paralegal Certificate. With a newly minted Paralegal Certificate, I worked as an Immigration Paralegal bringing foreign nurses into the United Sates. I loved the Paralegal program and decided since I was in a school and study mode I would complete my Associate’s Degree. In 2001 I finished with a 3.88. Some say “get an education and you will get a good job”. I

did it in reverse – I had a great job and then went back and got my formal education. Since I had just started a new career as an Internal Auditor, I thought there was no time like the present to finish my Bachelors degree. I returned to school in 2006 and earned my B.S. in business with a concentration in Finance 3.82 GPA. I could not have done it without the support of my husband Art. I worked crazy hours and traveled, and he cleared my time when I was home so I could study for tests, work on projects and write papers.

It was truly a joint effort and he was encouraging and supportive all the way. My graduation was amazing, the house was decorated, both our children with some family and friends celebrated.

It was a day to remember. What’s next? Industry certifications? Who knows after that, maybe I’ll retire, only kidding!#

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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THE DEAN’S COLUMN

THE COUNTERINTUITIVE BIRTHDAY MATCHES Students should notice how quickly almostcertainty is reached. With about 60 students in a room the table indicates that it is almost certain (.99) that two students will have the same birth date.

Were one to do this with the death dates of the first 35 (or fewer) presidents, one would notice that two died on March 8 th (Millard Fillmore in 1874 and William H. Taft in 1930) and three presidents died on July 4th (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826, and James Monroe in 1831). With three of our founding fathers dying on the 4th of July,

By DEAN ALFRED S. POSAMENTIER, Ph.D. This is one of the most surprising results in mathematics. It is best that you present it to your class with as much “drama” as you can. This unit will win converts to probability as no other example can, since it combats the students’ intuition quite dramatically.

Let us suppose you have a class with about 35 students (including yourself). Begin by asking the class what they think the chances (or probability) are of two people in the room having the same birth date (month and day, only) in their class of about 30+ students. Students usually begin to think about the likelihood of 2 people having the same date out of a selection of 365 days (assuming no leap year). Perhaps 2 out of 365??

Ask them to consider the “randomly” selected group of the first 35 presidents of the United States. They may be astonished that there are two with the same birth date: the 11th president, James K. Polk (November 2, 1795),and the 29th president, Warren G. Harding (November 2, 1865).

The class will probably be surprised to learn that for a group of 35, the probability that two members will have the same birth date is greater than 8 out of 10, or 8/10.

Students may wish to try their own experiment by visiting 10 nearby classrooms to check on date matches. For groups of 30, the probability that there will be a match is greater than 7 out of 10, or in 7 of these 10 rooms there ought to be a match of birth dates. What causes this incredible and unanticipated result? Can this be true? It seems to go against our intuition.

To relieve students of their curiosity guide them as follows: First ask what the probability is that one selected student matches his own birth date? Clearly certainty, or 1.

This can be written as 365/365.

The probability that another student does not match the first student is ((365-1)/365) = (364/365).

The probability that a third student does not match the first and second students is ((3652)/365) = (363/365).

The probability of all 35 students not having the same birth date is the product of these probabilities: p = (365/365) • ((365-1)/365) • ((365-2)/365) •…• ((365-34)/365).

Since the probability (q) that two students in

KUDOS

TO

the group have the same birth date and the probability (p) that two students in the group do not have the same birth date is a certainty, the sum of those probabilities must be 1. Thus, p + q = 1.

In this case, q = 1 – (365/365) • ((365-1)/365) • ((365-2)/365) •…• ((365-33)/365) • ((36534)/365) ≈ .8143832388747152.

In other words, the probability that there will be a birth date match in a randomly selected group of 35 people is somewhat greater than 8/10. This is quite unexpected when one considers there were 365 dates from which to choose. Students may want to investigate the nature of the probability function. Here are a few values to serve as a guide: Number of people in group 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70

one may wonder if one can control the death date.

Above all, this astonishing demonstration should serve as an eye-opener about the inadvisability of relying on intuition entirely.

Dr. Alfred Posamentier is Dean of the School of Education at City College of NY, author of over 40 Mathematics books, including: Math Wonders to Inspire Teachers and Students (ASCD, 2003) and The Fabulous Fibonacci Numbers (Prometheus, 2007), and member of the NYS Mathematics Standards Committee.

“ You have a choice, so take a

serious look at Sadlier-Oxford Progress in Mathematics, K–8.”

– Alfred S. Posamentier

Probability of a birth date match .1169481777110776 .2529013197636863 .4114383835805799 .5686997039694639 .7063162427192686 .8143832388747152 .891231809817949 .9409758994657749 .9703735795779884 .9862622888164461 .994122660865348 .9976831073124921 .9991595759651571

39 YEARS AS DEAN

By DR. POLA ROSEN How many people can a teacher influence? To answer that mathematical question, you had to attend the recent retirement dinner honoring Dean Alfred Posamentier, mathematician, author and mentor to scores of students across time and the span of oceans.

His original math team, now in their 40s were there. A professor and former student flew in from Austria. Others came from Chicago and California. College presidents, principals of schools, publishers including Bill Dinger, CEO of Sadlier Publishing and colleagues from all walks of life lauded the successful teaching techniques and mentoring of one individual, Dr. Alfred Posamentier.

A standing ovation by 200 individuals was a moving tribute to the man who taught square roots, Fibonacci’s code and other mathematical conundrums.#

Alfred S. Posamentier Senior Author Progress in Mathematics Dean, School of Education and Professor of Mathematics Education The City College The City University of New York New York, NY

(L-R) Dean Alfred Posamentier & William Dinger, CEO, Sadlier Publishing Company

Call today for your free evaluation copies, 877-930-3336.

Mention Promo Code E2.

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FROM THE SUPERINTENDENTS’ DESK

METROBEAT

Time Management is a Family Affair

Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan: More Jobs for New Yorkers

By DR. CAROLE HANKIN, SUPT. Thomas Edison once said, “Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.” His words are as true today as they were a century ago; the difference between success and failure can be attributed in large part to the amount of time and preparation we put into any endeavor.

As both a parent and an educator, I have spoken for years about the importance of time management and study skills for children. We teach these disciplines in our schools and help our students develop their strengths in these areas, but to be truly effective, time management strategies must be reinforced at home. Effective time management is critical not only for children, but for parents as well. It is we parents, after all, who our children most heavily rely on for support in achieving their goals. If parents cannot manage their own time efficiently, the challenge for kids becomes even greater.

But My Project is Due Tomorrow!: Avoiding the Last-Minute Crisis Many parents have at one time or another found themselves staying up late to help with homework because their children didn’t plan ahead sufficiently. This unpleasant situation can be avoided with a little help from parents in setting clear and attainable goals. While it’s appropriate for parents to expect their children to take responsibility for their own assignments, children will have the greatest likelihood of success when mom or dad provides a structure within which their child can successfully meet deadlines.

Here are a few simple tips for establishing good time-management habits in your home: • At the beginning and end of each week, ask

your child about any upcoming projects and homework that needs to be done.

If you establish a regular time for these conversations – such as right after school on Friday (to learn about weekend assignments) and on Monday (to learn about assignments for the week), you can help prioritize and develop a game plan for your child to tackle each project in the most effective manner.

• Make sure you have a schedule for upcoming quizzes and tests. These may be available on the school district website, or you can ask your child’s teacher for a schedule. Kids will inevitably need to help studying, so check the schedule at the beginning of each week and plan an appropriate review time with your child. For elementary children, it’s often helpful if you put together some simple flash cards or games to practice spelling, vocabulary, multiplication tables and the like. In addition to reinforcing your child’s knowledge and skills, these can be fun occasions together that help your child enjoy the learning experience.

• Keep a large calendar for the whole family to see, and include due dates for each child’s assignments. Checklists also help, because they will not only make it easier to prioritize upcoming projects, but also add a little extra motivation to finish them. (Who doesn’t love the feeling of checking a completed task on their to-do list?)

We know parents have very busy lives.

However, in the long run it will save them from coming home after a late night at work and having to help their child complete an assignment.

Give your children a little more responsibility each week and eventually children will learn a skill for life.# Dr. Carole Hankin is the superintendent of the Syosset School District in New York.

By MAYOR BLOOMBERG In tough economic times, it’s easy for jobseekers to get discouraged. But it’s important not to give up, because there are still jobs being created, and we’re doing everything we can to identify growth industries and help New Yorkers find jobs in those industries. In January, I set an ambitious goal for the City’s Department of Small Business Services: to place 20,000 New Yorkers in jobs by the end of the year. That’s 3,000 more than last year’s all-time high of some 17,000 placements.

Now, some might expect a recession to reduce job placements, but we’re determined not to let that happen. In hard times, City Government has to work even harder for New Yorkers—and we have been. I’m pleased to report that with more than a quarter of the year behind us, we’ve already placed more than 5,000 New Yorkers in new jobs. That puts us on track to reach our goal of 20,000 placements by the end of the year.

There are many reasons why we’ve been able to increase job placements, even as the economy has slowed. First off, we significantly expanded operations at our Workforce 1 Career Centers across the city to include new weekend and evening hours.

Our career centers are now open until 8 p.m. three days a week, and are also open on the first and third Saturdays of every month. You can find one convenient to you by calling 311, or going online to the City’s website at www.nyc.gov.

We’re also investing more in training and career preparation than ever before. Thanks to an infusion of federal dollars, our training budget for the new fiscal year is twice what it was just two years ago. Training programs run through

our Workforce 1 Centers can help displaced workers sharpen their skills and increase their earning potential, and in some cases, find new jobs that are even better than the ones they lost.

Even in a down economy, some industries continue to grow. That’s why we’ve begun creating sector-based Workforce 1 Centers that train and place people in industries where the demand for their skills is the highest. Last year, we opened a transportationrelated center in Southeast Queens that capitalizes on the community’s proximity to the airports and places New Yorkers in aviation and transportation jobs that typically pay more than $12 an hour.

And this summer, we plan to open two more career centers focused on strong industries.

Another way we’re maximizing our city’s pool of talent is through JumpStart NYC, a job-training and placement program that pairs up laid-off workers with companies and small businesses that are just starting out, and could really benefit from their expertise. Earlier this month, the first 50 workers to participate in the program graduated from a week-long entrepreneurial “boot camp”. These experienced workers will now begin 10-week internships with start-up companies, which may well lead to full-time jobs.

At the heart of our Administration’s Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan is a pledge to create or preserve 400,000 jobs over the next six years. The initiatives I’ve just described will help us get there. They will train New Yorkers for the jobs of today, help our businesses create the jobs of tomorrow, and keep our city moving towards a brighter future. #

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EDUCATION UPDATE

The Crisis in Education

By PHYLLIS C. MURRAY While billions of dollars are invested in the prison system, the nation’s schools are constantly pauperized. The failure to adequately educate our students places our youth in a state of crisis.

The public educational system is also in crisis.

This means that we need to look for ways to end the cycle of failure that is systemic throughout the impoverished inner-city communities. Everyone should be involved in the process of ameliorating this situation. If not, that is the problem.

Since one size does not fit all, we should certainly try to look at exemplary programs for our schools that will work. Of course there are success stories whenever these programs work and enable students to reach their academic potential.

Nevertheless, we are constantly assessing the progress of students and tailoring instruction to meet their needs. The hours spent by effective teachers are incalculable. But at least as educators, we try, because we are dealing with human lives. We try because the alternative of not trying, is too costly, as prisons await those children who have failed to become productive citizens. We try because the school to prison pipeline is a reality for far too many of our students as police in our schools takeover the role once reserved for teachers and administrators.

Educators in New York City public schools, know that smaller class size is a priority; adequate resources are a priority; staff development is a priority; and parent participation is a necessity.

We know that we need highly qualified teachers, para-professionals, social workers, guidance counselors, psychologists, mentors, administrators, and union leaders. Surely, the schools that have the aforementioned cadre of professionals are fortunate.

Today, it is unfortunate that New York City has left parents and teachers out of the decision

making process for too long. Mayoral control, without the input of other elected officials, greater transparency and checks and balances in the system, as advocated by UFT President Randi Weinberger and the UFT Delegate Assembly, is not the answer. Yet, despite the full participation of governing officials in matters which impact education, the United Federation of Teachers political action body, as well as concerned parents and teachers, have never stopped advocating for children in City Hall, in Albany and in Washington, DC. Therefore, I applaud any positive effort that is being made on behalf of children in NYC. Certainly, we have a long way to go. But we must pull out all stops to make this broken system work. The New York City Public School System was once a viable force for its earliest immigrants, like Henry Kissinger. Henry Kissinger attended George Washington High School at night and worked in a shaving-brush factory during the day. Yes, Henry Kissinger: the political scientist, diplomat, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Today, the NYC Public Schools must work for all of its students, again. Comptroller William Thompson is right: “Failure to involve parents in the education policy process has reinforced a widespread perception that the department is arrogant and out of touch. The current administration has sought to avoid debate and public scrutiny, while fundamental decisions regarding reform have been made by executives with no education background.” And Arthur Eisenberg is also right: “The state must seek to break the cycle of discrimination and disadvantage”. Certainly, the future of America, as a strong nation, depends on it. # Phyllis Murray is a teacher and UFT chapter chair in NYC.

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STRIP SEARCHES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

By MARTHA MCCARTHY, Ph.D. The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Safford Unified School District # 1 v. Redding, involving the strip search of a thirteen-year-old girl in an Arizona school district. Savana Redding, an honor student who had not been disciplined previously, was strip searched in 2003 by female school employees after a classmate was caught with prescription-strength ibuprofen that she alleged Savana supplied. Savana asserted that the strip search was stressful and humiliating, and no ibuprofen was found.

Following the search, Savana transferred to another middle school, but she never received a high school diploma. She and her mother challenged the constitutionality of the search, and the lower court dismissed their claim. Reversing, the Ninth Circuit held that the search was not reasonable and assessed damages against the assistant principal for authorizing the search in violation of clearly established law.

On appeal to the Supreme Court, the school district argues that its actions were justified because of the increasingly significant drug problem among young students. The National School Boards Association contends that it will make school administrators hesitant to look for drugs if the Court awards Savana damages.

However, those defending the student, including the National Association of Social Workers, the National Education Association, and the National Association of School Psychologists, note the relatively harmless nature of ibuprofen and argue that strip searches can result in trauma and emotional damage.

In previous decisions, the Supreme Court has allowed school authorities to conduct personal searches of public school students’ book bags, purses, and pockets based on reasonable suspicion that illegal or disruptive contraband is concealed, and random drug tests have been allowed for student participants in extracurricular activities. Because of the special school environment, the Court has not required school authorities to base personal student searches on probable cause that a crime has been committed, which is the standard police must satisfy to secure a search warrant. But until now, the Supreme Court has not addressed whether strip searches of students can be based on the lesser standard of reasonable suspicion.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide this case by the end of June. If the Court condones the strip search, this will expand the authority of school personnel in searching students for drugs and other contraband. A contrary finding that the strip search was unreasonable will have less impact, as most school districts currently refrain from conducting strip searches. There is some sentiment that the student should prevail but that damages should not be assessed because the law governing strip searches was not clearly established in 2003. Savana recently observed that regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, she feels that she has already won because of the significant publicity her case has received, which will likely deter some school authorities from strip-searching public school students.

Martha McCarthy is the Chancellor’s Professor and Chair, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Indiana University.

School of Professional Horticulture At the NY Botanical Gardens

By CHARLES M. YURGALEVITCH, Ph.D. Three years ago, Songsuk Kim was working at a nursery but wanted to enhance her horticulture skills, so she enrolled in The New York Botanical Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture.

Although Ms. Kim has a Bachelor of Science degree in landscape architecture from her native country, South Korea, she wanted to increase her knowledge about botany and horticulture. She felt that the School was the best place to study because she would be able to use the Garden’s 250-acre landmark site as a classroom and be trained by leading experts in the horticultural field, including the School’s alumni. After graduating earlier this year, Ms. Kim was hired as a gardener in America’s premier Victorian-style glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the Botanical Garden.

“When I was a student in the program, I learned so much about horticulture. I enjoyed all of the hands-on experience that I receive at the Botanical Garden,” she said.

It is the School’s mission to educate motivated individuals like Ms. Kim to become horticulturists of the highest caliber who will take on leadership positions in both the public and private sectors. One of the School’s many strengths is that it combines a strong academic curriculum with real-world experience gained by working alongside the Garden’s expert horticulture staff.

Designed by leading horticulturists and botanists, the School’s academic courses explore the multifaceted field of horticulture. The two-year

Begun in 1919 as a vocational training program for returning war veterans, the School was expanded into a professional gardener-training program in 1932 by distinguished horticulturist Thomas H. Everett, an alumnus of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Everett modeled the School after the programs at British botanical gardens such as Kew and Edinburgh, which combined practical and academic work in horticulture. In 2005, the School became accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training, and certified by the U.S. Department of Education to administer Title

IV financial aid funds (Pell grants and Stafford loans) to eligible students.

Graduates like Ms.Kim have gone on to successful horticultural careers in a variety of positions, including estate managers, nursery and landscape business owners, and greenhouse growers.

The School is currently accepting applications for the class of 2012. Prospective students may complete applications online at http://www.nybg. org/edu/soph. For additional information, call 718.817.8797.

Charles M. Yurgalevitch, Ph.D., is Director of the School of Professional Horticulture

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New York City • JUNE 2009 FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

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PETER DIAMANDIS, M.D.: CEO, THE X PRIZE Recently, Dr. Peter Diamandis spoke eloquently at a dinner at the Cosmopolitan Club sponsored by the American Farm School, based in Thessaloniki, Greece. Founded in 1904, the school’s mission was to teach the poor rural youth of Greece how to support themselves and their communities through training in modern agricultural techniques and leadership skills. The American Farm School is now one of the world’s leading agricultural institutions. Chair of the Board of Trustees: Charlotte Armstrong; Co-Chair, NY Committee, American Farm School: Joannie Danielides.

Guest Lillian Vernon

Dr. Diamandis, Sr., Dr. Peter Diamandis, Joannie Danielides

By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D. The three mantra-like goals that appear on Peter H. Diamandis’ “Unauthorized Top-Secret Website” only hint at the propulsive energy and idiosyncratic imagination that inform this brilliant, extraordinary innovator and entrepreneur: (1) “The meek shall inherit the earth. The rest of us are going to the stars. (2) My Mission is: to open the space frontier for humanity; and (3) The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.” The statements appear alongside a smiling, flying (yes, flying, think zero gravity) Dr. Diamandis—he has an MD from Harvard, a graduate degree in aerospace engineering from MIT, where he received an undergraduate degree in molecular genetics, and an honorary doctorate from the International Space University, one of two companies he founded in his fourth year of medical school. That was when he finally determined to follow his heart, his “passion”—which was “space,” a passion that he had felt from the time he was eight or nine and that would become his life’s “mission.”

The 48-year old founder and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, the Zero Gravity Corporation (“parabolic weightless flights [for] the general public”), Space Adventures, Ltd. (flying private citizens on Soyuz to the International Space Station), Robotics Competitions for kids (among many more) talks about his risk-taking enterprises with total confidence. His impassioned, nonstop manner could be said to be the verbal equivalent of the speed of light. Others might be driven, Dr. Diamandis drives himself and loves the ride.

It was a ride that began in awe of other rides— specifically, the Apollo Spacecraft Program and earlier, Lindbergh’s “The Spirit of St. Louis.”

Space always thrilled him. He recalls a childhood poster contest for dental health care that featured a Saturn rocket: “Going away? Brush Three Times a Day.” And of course there were the movies that looked to the future. He “hates” looking back, he says. The Golden Age is always ahead, in science and technology, forty years ago is ancient history.

Of all his award-winning accomplishments,

have a new automotive standard, a “fundamental mind shift” about cars. And about space and the seas. Indeed, the ocean floor is now driving much of Dr. Diamandis’ thinking. We map only five percent of the ocean floor now. How can we pen-

etrate the rest and exploit ideas for new energy sources, clean up the Pacific’s “garbage patches” of nonbiodegradables, design new submarines to explore new depths? Is it surprising that another Diamandis enterprise is called Blast Off? #

Updates from the American Society of Clinical Oncology

Trustee Charlotte Armstrong

however, arguably the one that most exemplifies his goals is the X PRIZE, a ten-million dollar contest run under the aegis of the X PRIZE Foundation. “Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneureial spirits.” The Foundation, “an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for humanity,” took five years to become reality but the difficulty was worth it. It is more than a fascinating contest. It is meant to be an educational and intellectual model.

Dr. Diamandis wants youngsters to feel challenged in school, to dare fly in the face of norms, not to be afraid to take risks, to persevere in what they love. Today’s “crazy idea” may well become tomorrow’s discovery, he tells youngsters. If you love doing something, you’ll keep on doing it, and if you see that you can indeed succeed once, you’ll keep at it. He is appalled at the “boredom” he sees in school children, their lock-step socalled education to get through, to get by. “Our educational structure is 100 years old.” Kids love games, contests. Of course, so do grown-up “kids” like Dr. Diamandis. There is nothing amiss in “incentivizing” youngsters or adults with the prospect of wealth. Why not? Encouraging competition by way of monetary reward and a desire to be or do something significant sure beats motives such as fear or idle curiosity.

Although the X PRIZE website details various contests, the $10 million “Progressive Automotive X PRIZE,” scheduled to be awarded to the winner of a race to be run in 2010, may prove particularly fascinating, given the rising costs of fuel and growing attention to electric cars and hybrids.

Approximately 136 vehicles from 11 nations and 25 states have already asked to compete.

And it will indeed be a race—who can go the fastest, getting 100 miles to the gallon or more.

Criteria also include beauty, size, price, ease of manufacturing, safety. The heart of the enterprise, as Dr. Diamandis says, will be to get teams and the public watching the race to “rethink the idea of how cars and driving affect our lives.” Let’s

Join us for a discussion of the latest findings that come out of this meeting.

Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

NYU Langone Medical Center 550 First Avenue (at 31st Street) Alumni Hall A

Presenters Marc Ballas, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (Oncology) Deirdre J. Cohen, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine (Oncology)

To RSVP, call 212-263-2266 or email: NYUCIcommunityprograms@nyumc.org Please provide your name, phone number, the name of the lecture and the number of people attending.

Seating is limited for this event.

An NCI-designated Cancer Center

Understanding cancer. And you.

www.nyuci.org

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

Hubble Telescope Competition A recent Hubble telescope mission was geared toward fueling the next generation of future astronauts as they compete in the world’s largest rocket competition. The Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) national finals “fly-off” is in its 7th year and has a goal of sparking an interest in math and science amongst kids so they consider engineering-based careers as they enter college.

The Aerospace Industry Association, NASA, and U.S. Defense Department sponsor the competition because of the industry’s workforce crisis (extreme need for U.S.-born engineers to enter the aerospace industry). The workforce shortage has hit critical levels: nearly 60 percent of aerospace workers are over 50 years old. There is a need for 20 and 30-somethings in the aerospace workforce, and the industry needs to compete with high-tech companies like Google to acquire younger talent.

The competition helps make learning math and science fun. Math and science become less intimidating to learn when there are ongoing, practical, and less stressful goals.

Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, NASA, DOD, and The National Association of Rocketry, TARC engaged about 7,000 middle and high school students on 653 teams from 45 states and the District of Columbia as part of the qualifying rounds of competition.

The top 100 qualifying teams will meet for a final fly-off and a chance to win more than $60,000 in scholarships and other prizes. The contest presents teams with a dual challenge. Teams must launch their rocket as close as possible to an altitude of 750 feet with a flight time of 45 seconds. The raw-egg payload must return to the ground unbroken and be transported horizontally to mimic the position of an astronaut. #

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JUNE 2009

Time Passes… Seasons Change: Classroom Placement of Twins, Triplets or More

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TUTOR

By DR. GINA M. VERRONE-COFFARO As we close out the 2008-2009 school year a new season will be fast upon us. As an elementary principal, this coming September will bring an additional first for me. My triplets will be entering kindergarten. This brings excitement, anxiety and tears of separation and happiness for this wonderful first time experience. Parents of multiples can couple this with the very important question of, “To Separate or Not?” This question is becoming increasingly part of entrance dialogue by school officials and families and often a contemptuous debate between the parents and the school. School placement, while in the past was entirely left to the schools, has graciously included parents thanks to legislation supporting the very important concept of a collaborative partnership. Having the honorable opportunity to speak before the New Jersey Senate Education Committee in support of Assembly Bill A1671 my professional and personal background brought quite an enlightened perspective to the argument made for both sides. As an elementary principal, mother of five-year old triplets and a twin myself, my “triple” threat perspective opened many eyes.

Yes, administrators have a history of separating multiples. Majority of administrative arguments were based on, “This is the way we have always done it.” Parent requests were outwardly denied even when parents pleaded to keep their children together. With the surge of twin and triplet births across the country, many states, like New Jersey, are visiting resolution to this ongoing debate. By signing legislation making it “law” parents are given the right to determine the placement of their twins, triplets or higher order multiples. When Bill A1671 was signed into law last August, New Jersey was the eighth state to do so. A national organization that tracks such laws such as twinslaw.org, sites that legislation is being sponsored by legislators in at least 12 other states. I contend, that while legislation certainly provides the necessary support for parents, we must never lose site of the need for collaboration between the home and the school. Schools must be receptive to parent wishes and understand that they truly do understand their children best.

With that said the parents must also work with the schools and acknowledge the educational

expertise they can offer towards making the best informed decision on this subject. If schools collaborate with parents in deciding whether to put the children in the same or separate classes, then this wouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately, I have been involved in may professional conversations where educators feel that multiples generally do better apart because that allows them opportunities to be their own individual. Adding some humor to this debate all can be assured that most five-year olds have the instinctual natural way to express their own feelings regardless if they have a sibling the same age or not. Being an individual doesn’t necessarily come by separating multiples into separate classes. As adults, my twin sister and I are still often referred to as the “twins.” I take no offense to this and developed early on the ability to express my own individuality (miraculously even while being in the same classes with my sister). As an elementary principal, I am comfortable with multiples being together or separated. I never stop and worry that their individuality may be affected by their placement.

Often, they are on the same Little League Teams, in the same Dance Classes or Church Groups.

Legislation supporting parents in this area is comforting to me as a mom and even more comforting to me as an educator. This ensures that conversation and collaboration must take place putting aside educator’s personal feelings on the subject and making it about a partnership. I for one welcome the first day of school for my triplets this year and welcome even more the concept of them being in the same class so I only have to make 20 cupcakes instead of 60. In the words of Verna M. Kelly, “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they do when they stick together.” After all, isn’t that what education should be about-working together as a collaborative team to create the best learning environment and experience for all.# Dr. Gina M. Verrone-Coffaro is an elementary principal in New Jersey. She is a graduate of Columbia University, Teachers College where she received several advanced degrees. She completed her doctoral studies in 2007 at Drew University. She is married to Nick Coffaro and they are the proud parents of triplets, Francesco, Nicholas & Toriana.

JUNE 2009

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOLS

9

GRADUATION & REUNIONS AROUND THE NATION 2009

CARLOW UNIVERSITY HONORS HONORS AWARDED AT SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER LANDMARK COLLEGE PRESIDENT LYNDA KATZ As Carlow University celebrates its 80th anniversary year, it named several laureates for 2009. Carlow Laureates are recognized for their outstanding academic achievements and professional contributions.

Among the Laureates named, was President Lynda Katz.

President Katz holds her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counseling/Psychology, M.Ed. in Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling, and M.S.W. in Psychiatric Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently president of Landmark College in Putney, Vt., the premier college for students with learning disabilities and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Prior to joining Landmark College, she held appointments at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Education, and Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Dr. Florence Kavaler

Dr. Nieca Goldberg

Alums Celebrate

Dr. William Solomon

laws from the College of Education and Human Services; Kornel Terplan, a telecommunications expert, received an honorary doctor of letters from the College of the Arts.#

PAKISTANI S TUDENT S PEAKS AT TEACHERS C OLLEGE Since a Fulbright Scholarship brought me to Teachers College less than two years ago, much has happened in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, the first woman ever to head a Muslim state was shot dead. When my second semester at TC ended, so did General Musharraf’s nine-year military rule. As I speak to you today, the Taliban inches closer to the hearts of Pakistani cities… but more importantly, Pakistani schools. My six yearold daughter begins school this September in Quetta—a tiny city of sand-colored mountains, just miles from the Afghan border. That is where I will teach.

My favorite professor at TC once said to us, “Know that there will be trouble in your classrooms. Expect that there will be trouble. Rejoice when you find the trouble because when you can identify what is wrong, you know what to fix.”

Dear friends, next week I return to resume work in troubled classrooms. I know that curriculum can be a tool to teach certain ways of being, seeing and acting, and that a dangerous curriculum born of economic poverty and terror cannot be countered by drone attacks, it can only be fueled

Dr. Emanuel Stein

President Lynda Katz

MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY, NJ CELEBRATES 2009 COMMENCEMENT

Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker &Businessman John J. Cali Receive Honorary Degrees Montclair State University conferred 3,573 degrees in science and mathematics, humanities and the social sciences, business, the arts, and education. “This year’s Commencement celebrates our first class of graduates as Montclair State enters its second century,” said President Susan A. Cole. “Throughout its history, the University has granted more than 114,000 degrees, and we look forward to another 100 years of preparing students to lead productive, rewarding and responsible lives in society and the world.”

Newark Mayor Cory Booker received an honorary Doctor of Laws and Businessman John J. Cali received an honorary Doctor of Letters.

Additional honorary degrees were conferred at the 2009 school and college convocation ceremonies: Lucille E. Davy, New Jersey State Commissioner of Education, received an honorary doctor of

Dr. Herman Rosen

further. Ideas are defeated by ideas.

Education at Teachers College exposes us to some of the finest ideas to take home with us. We found that discussion is a way of teaching, that learning is a way of leading that listening can be a way of changing. I see in NYC schools that an ideological mission is begun with each batch of kids that walks in, that teachers are silent soldiers that make the most lasting of changes.

I understand, all too clearly, how curriculum is probably the strongest tool in enslaving or emancipating a child—a nation—a civilization.

And I carry this knowledge and this power forth with my fellow graduates here today, under the banner of Social Justice that Teachers College holds so high.

With our own memories of learning, we came to TC to learn together: Art. History. Music.

Physical Education. Philosophy. Psychology.

Applied Physiology. In the sculpting studio beneath Macy to the cozy stacks of Russell Tower—from the cushy sofas in the library to the groaning elevators of Grace Dodge, we have had conversations that will last a lifetime.

The Original Medical School

By DR. POLA ROSEN The impressive array of brainpower at a recent reunion of doctors of all ages at SUNY Downstate Medical Center (DMC) was only surpassed by the unwavering service to humanity and the humility demonstrated by so many attendees. In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “Never have so few done so much for so many.”

Among those singled out for master teacher awards were Herman Rosen, M.D., Special Recognition Award in Nephrology; Emanuel Stein, M.D., Special Recognition in Cardiology; Nieca Goldberg, M.D., Award in Women’s Health.

Florence Kavaler, M.D. received a Lifetime Achievement Award and William Solomon, M.D. was made an Honorary Alumnus.

Just a few blocks from the Marriott Hotel in downtown Brooklyn where the weekend festivities took place, amidst the pungent aroma of Arabic food and antiques stood the original medical school, previously known as the Long Island College of Medicine. Empty, still a strong architectural presence, the children playing and parents chatting in the adjacent playground were unaware of the historic medical roots nearby.

Amidst the graduates attending reunion were

doctors practicing in New Orleans without a hospital since Hurricane Katrina, doctors who were poets, doctors who were practicing at age 60, 70 and 80 without being induced to leave their patients by such trivial pursuits as golf or tennis.

Dr. Nieca Goldberg had written a best seller entitled Women Are Not Small Men; Dr. Florence Kavaler cited the paucity of women in her class of ’59, while many of the children of honorees who were present gave the ultimate testament to the power of their parents’ work by following the medical career path. Honoree Dr. William Solomon cited his late father’s influence on his career and that of his brother in pursuing medicine; Dr. Emanuel Stein and Dr. Herman Rosen who worked at adjacent tables in Gross Anatomy and studied together throughout medical school, shared personal joys and losses throughout the years. Dr. Arthur Wolintz, Chief of Ophthalmology at DMC, chaired the awards committee eloquently.

Reunions are clearly a time to share reflections of the past, to pay tribute to great teachers, to appreciate the alma mater that nurtured and taught, and to look to the future for new frontiers to conquer.#

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

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JUNE 2009

GRADUATION AROUND THE NATION 2009

FIRST LADY PATERSON PRAISES NURSING GRADUATES

By STEVEN FRANK As first lady of New York, Michelle Paige Paterson receives some 200 speaking invitations per month. But as a mother of two with a full-time career in addition to her duties as wife of Governor David Paterson, she has to be very selective about which ones she accepts.

Given her lifelong commitment to healthcare and community service, there was one recent invitation Mrs. Paterson couldn’t resist: the chance to speak to the 383 students graduating this year from the New York University College of Nursing.

“We have a health care crisis in this country,” Paterson told Education Update. “So I thought that this was a good opportunity for me to speak to the nurses directly and let them know how important their role will be moving forward in shaping policy and helping to end this crisis.”

As one of the leading nursing programs in the United States, the College of Nursing offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Arts and Post-Master’s Certificate Programs as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in Research Theory and Development.

“We feel very privileged to have the First Lady speak at our graduation ceremony,” said Terry Fulmer, Dean of the College of Nursing. “Her lifelong commitment to healthcare and community services provides a valued example for our students as they prepare to enter this wonderful field.”

During the ceremony, Dean Fulmer presented First Lady Paterson with the Helen Manzer Award in recognition of exemplary leadership for the health of the state and nation.

As first lady, Paterson fuels her passion for health and wellness by championing a statewide program that she started in Harlem before her husband became governor. “Healthy Steps to Albany: First Lady’s Challenge” challenges middle school students to embrace healthier eating and fitness habits.

In the first round, nearly 270 upstate classrooms in five cities took on the challenge to increase their fitness by competing with each other over a six-week period. Student teammembers logged their minutes of activity, using the “Healthy Steps” website to convert various exercises into steps. Each team tracked its step progress on a map of New York, making its way around the State.

Winning classrooms lunch with the governor

and first lady, take a trip to a local organic farm and receive other prizes. The “Healthy Steps” challenge will engage 26,000 middle school students in 2009, but Paterson plans to expand it next year.

“I think kids going through the middle school years are going through puberty, they’re gaining weight, really not sure what’s going on with their bodies,” she said. “I was no different.”

It was during her middle school years that Mrs. Paterson herself became interested in healthy eating and exercise, developing a healthy lifestyle that she continues to this day.

After receiving a M.S. in Health Services Management from New York’s Milano Graduate School, First Lady Paterson began a career that focused on people’s health by working with both hospitals and healthcare providers.

Paterson is currently the Director of Integrative Wellness at Emblem Health, formally HIP. There, she focuses on evidence-based programs that promote healthy living with a focus on childhood obesity and stress-related ailments.

Paterson became first lady when her husband, David Paterson, was sworn in as governor after Eliot Spitzer resigned in March 2008. The Patersons married in 1992. They have a son together, Alex, 15, and a daughter, Ashley, 21, from her first marriage. #

High School Reunions: Music and Art, New York City

By DR. POLA ROSEN Originally, the “Castle on the Hill”, as its students called Music and Art High School in the 50s and 60s, occupied a lofty perch almost adjacent to The City College of New York, on 137th Street and Convent Avenue.

Comprised of talented and gifted students from all parts of New York City, from all ethnic groups, from all socio-economic levels, long before the concerted effort to integrate all groups became the education mantra, the school was an idyllic place for study and music. The dean, Mr. Kane, a walking lexicon of 8 letter words, was certainly not a figure to be feared. The string ensemble and violin teacher, Mr. Isidore Russ, was indelibly etched in the hearts and minds of his students. To this day, 40 years later, all his students can echo the familiar refrain, “make your fingers into little hammers and come down hard on the strings!”

Recently, graduate Steve Lubin, a Professor of Music at the Conservatory of

Music at SUNY Purchase, gave a brilliant performance of the Schubert Sonata in Bb and the Chopin Sonata No. 3 in B Minor at the Bechstein Piano Center in New York City. He ended with his own delightful composition called “Rag.” Composer, performer, intellectual, professor, he personifies the term “Music and Art High School graduate.”

Other students in the class were Erica Jong, Caroline Birenbaum, Paul Shapshak, Vivian Fenster, Gloria Stern and so many more.

“Meet me under Toscanini,” most students said to their friends, referring to the sculpture in the main lobby of the old building, which still occupies a place of honor in the relatively new quarters near Lincoln Center. Alumni can still echo the refrain as they meet after many years, devoted to the ideals and education that the school provided to its community of students.#

GRADUATION AT UNIVERSITY OF S OUTHERN C ALIFORNIA : PRESIDENT STEVEN SAMPLE & GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER Surprised and delighted by the pealing chimes of a newly restored university landmark, and inspired by honorary degree recipient Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “six rules of success,” more than 8,000 graduating Trojans cheered commencement today for the 126th time in USC history.

The festive occasion marked the return of the symphonic carillon in the Von KleinSmid bell tower, repaired thanks to the women of Town & Gown and soon to be upgraded with an additional gift from the graduating class of 2009.

The carillon’s music mingled with the cheers of graduates, relatives and friends in Alumni Park as a flock of doves was released to mark the official moment of graduation.

Earlier, President Steven B. Sample had opened his annual remarks with congratulations for the assembled graduates.

“You’ve made it! You are graduating from one of the world’s premier research universities,” he said. “As we pause today on the threshold of your future, we’re here to cheer you on.

“It’s true that you’re graduating in an uncertain economy. But I would encourage you to be positive, innovative and courageous. The world needs your ideas, your enthusiasm and your talent; it also needs your kindness, your curiosity and your desire to live a full and meaningful life.” He paused to remember one such life: that of posthumous salutatorian William Zarifi, who lost his battle with a brain tumor last October.

“He lived a thoughtful and ethical life, a life in which his determination, his compassion and his respect for others earned him the admiration of all who knew him and loved him,” Sample said to cheers from Zarifi’s classmates in the USC Marshall School of Business. In an essay discovered on his laptop after his death, Zarifi called the day of his cancer diagnosis “the luckiest day of my life.

“When you are on the verge of death, life changes. What is the meaning of life? I have no idea, but I do know that I want to make a difference before I leave.”

Valedictorian Paul VanWieren, a biomedical engineering major who earned multiple scholarships, including the USC University Trustees

Award, paraphrased Luke 12:48 in an appeal to civic responsibility: “From he to whom much is given, much will be expected, and we have been given much.”

Giving back was the sixth and final rule in the rousing commencement address by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The former movie star talked about being more excited to play chess with an inner-city kid than by a walk down a red carpet, and he honored the selfless example of his father-in-law, Peace Corps founder Robert Sargent Shriver.

The fifth rule, and the most important one, according to Schwarzenegger, was “work your butt off.”

“You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets,” he said, teasing those who claim to need more than six hours of sleep a night: “Sleep faster, I would recommend.”

“Don’t listen to the naysayers” was the fourth rule. President Barack Obama did not, the governor reminded the cheering crowd.

Schwarzenegger said that if he had listened to naysayers, he would still be in his native Austria instead of serving as “governor of the greatest state of the greatest country in the world.”

Illustrating the third rule, “Don’t be afraid to fail,” with self-deprecating humor, Schwarzenegger mentioned some of his boxoffice flops, such as Last Action Hero.

Schwarzenegger’s first rule was “Trust yourself.” Stop listening to your parents, he told graduates surrounded by their families, and look inside yourself to decide who you want to be and what makes you happy.

In a year of economic crisis, even Schwarzenegger could not avoid a mention of the challenges facing new graduates. But he quickly reminded the crowd that USC is “one of the greatest universities in the world” in “the greatest country on Earth with the greatest opportunities. “We’ll be back,” he said, “and we will be back stronger and more prosperous than ever before because that is what California and this country have always done.“ He added, “Never lose the spirit of Troy. You are USC Trojans, proud, strong.”#

JUNE 2009

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EDUCATION UPDATE

Quinn Bradlee: A Different Life

By STEVEN FRANK Born into a privileged family, Quinn Bradlee has had anything but an easy life.

During childhood, he was told he’d never be able to read a book let alone write one.

Against all odds, however, the son of former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee and best-selling author Sally Quinn has written a refreshingly honest memoir.

“A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures” chronicles his painful struggle with velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS), a genetic disorder that causes severe physical ailments and learning disorders.

Bradlee, 27, was born with a hole in his heart.

At just three months, doctors opened his chest to fix it. And that was just the beginning.

Quinn suffered epilepsy and a weak immune system that left him chronically sick with seizures, migraines and fevers. Four surgeries were required to repair a cleft palate.

His doctors were stumped. They said he’d never be able to read, write, go to high school, get a job or make friends. And girlfriends? Don’t even go there.

Finally at age 14, a researcher diagnosed velocardio-facial syndrome. VCFS afflicts 150,000 Americans. It is the second-most common genetic disorder after Down syndrome, yet most of us have never heard of it.

The exact cause of the incurable disorder is unknown, but many children diagnosed with

VCFS are missing a small part of chromosome 22.

Each person who has the syndrome has different mix of the 180 symptoms associated with VFCS, including scoliosis and distinct facial characteristics.

After attending Washington’s Lab School, Bradlee left home for The Gow School, a college prep boarding school for young men with learning disabilities (or as Quinn says, “learning differences”) near Buffalo, New York. He said the teasing at Gow was “terrible.”

“It’s hard going away,” he said. “But going to boarding school is the best way to learn about life because you can’t just run on home, you have to stay there and stick it out.”

By age 18, Quinn had fallen into a state of near-suicidal depression. But he refused to quit.

A fighter all of his life, he slowly climbed out of the “dark hole” was in.

“You can’t give up in life,” he said. “It doesn’t do anybody any good, if you really think about it in the long run.”

After graduating Gow with honors, he attended Landmark College and learned to “drive in the middle of nowhere and not get lost” and how to ask for help.

“I realized it doesn’t matter how powerful you are or who you are, you need help,” he said. “My mom has made me memorize the ancient Chinese proverb, ‘He who asks is a fool for five minutes, he who does not ask is a fool for life’ and I have

continued on page 19

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11

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Dr. Harold Koplewicz Interviews Ari Emanuel: Persistence Pays

Ari Emanuel

Dr. Harold Koplewicz

By STEVEN FRANK If you’ve struggled with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, one of the most powerful talent agents in the country says never give up. “Get over this bridge,” he says, “you’re going to make it.”

Ari Emanuel should know. Diagnosed at an early age as both hyperactive and dyslexic, he is now a Hollywood-based “superagent” to an A list of actors, writers, authors, producers and directors for film and television. He’s also the inspiration for the character of Ari Gold (played

by Jeremy Piven) in the HBO series Entourage.

Emanuel recently sat down with Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, director of the New York University Child Study Center, to discuss his struggles in school and successes in life at an annual lecture to

raise awareness about learning disorders.

Emanuel was raised in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Illinois. He followed two older and brainy brothers—Ezekiel, a noted bioethicist, and Rahm, now White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama.

Ari said he was “spectacular at math” and made friends by playing sports, but learning to read was an enormous task and his grades were invariably the lowest. “In my house, intelligence was whether I got an A or a C,” he told a packed audience. “Our grades were posted on the refrigerator.” In high school, Emanuel was placed in a special education program. His teachers told him he’d never graduate from high school. And he was mercilessly teased by fellow students. “You

continued on page 19

Contact Elizabeth OʼShea eoshea@rebeccaschool.org

12 EDUCATION UPDATE | JUNE 2009

GR A DUATION A ROU N

TEACHERS COLLEGE: MAYOR CORY BOOKER & PRESIDENT S USAN FUHRMAN

BARNARD COLLEGE: S ECRETARY OF S TATE HILLARY C LINTON & PRESIDENT DEBRA S PAR

(L-R) President Debora Spar, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton & Trustee Anna Quindlen

By JOY RESMOVITS Mayor Cory Booker

By JOY RESMOVITS uture teachers and education policy makers graduated from Teachers College of Columbia University to strains of organ music under the arched ceiling of Riverside Church in May. The Commencement Convocation ceremonies, which took place over May 19 and 20, marked the bestowing of awards onto Newark Mayor Cory Booker, previous Barnard president and anthropologist Judith Shapiro, and New York Governor David Paterson. According to the school’s Web site, more than 2,100 degree candidates from across the globe participated in the ceremonies.

Tuesday evening’s ceremony recognized candidates for degrees in Health and Behavior Studies, Human Development, International and Transcultural Studies, Mathematics, Sciences and Technology, and Organization and Leadership. The program also had Shapiro and Paterson on the docket to be honored.

Paterson, though, could not be in attendance because he was “called away on emergency,” Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman said as she addressed the graduates. This was the second year in which Paterson missed his appointment to speak at a TC convocation ceremony—last year, he missed it because he had a glaucoma that needed immediate treatment.

That time, he sent Andrew Cuomo, his attorney general, to testify about Paterson’s absence and to deliver his own speech on education. This year, Paterson sent no replacement.

In her speech to the graduates and their guests, Fuhrman emphasized the importance of education. “The world needs your skills, and never more than right now,” Fuhrman said. “Get out there and participate,” she said, in the “intensive social change” of the moment. She noted that the candidates in the room ranged in age from 20-60, and comprise a “diverse and diversely talented group.”

Frances G. Schoonmaker, professor of education, presented Shapiro’s medal, and noted that Shapiro was the first woman appointment in the University of Michigan’s department of anthropology, and the first Barnard president educated

President Susan Fuhrman

in public schools. She described Shapiro’s tenure as being characterized by “collegiality and supportiveness,” and highlighted her endowment and curricular development.

Provost Thomas James read the medal citation, which mentioned Shapiro’s acceptance to the National Academy of Sciences and “pioneering and distinguished scholarly career and extraordinary leadership of Barnard College.”

Shapiro, in turn, emphasized the award’s meaning to her—her 95-year-old mother who spent many years working in New York City public schools would be proud. “This award is above all for her,” Shapiro said, calling her mother “the first and major reason I became a teacher myself.”

Shapiro described her tenure as Barnard’s president, saying that she tried to teach her colleagues “without turning them off, or boring them to tears.” She joked that she would often turn awkward interactions into anthropological fieldwork, ameliorating the tensions that regularly permeate administrative jobs in academia.

“Barnard and Teachers College are natural partners,” Shapiro said, addressing their concern for global issues of education. “It’s good to be a New Yorker—there’s so much to be done.”

Nisrin Elamin, an MA graduate in International and Transcultural Studies, spoke on behalf of the students. Elamin, who hails from Sudan, stressed the global crisis in literacy, noting that 74 million people worldwide cannot read.

Two thirds of these individuals are women, since “poverty, inequality, and war make school inaccessible.” In the United States, she said, 18 million adults don’t read well enough to earn a living wage.

Describing the plight of a girl who left an African farm to earn a degree in the U.S., Elamin said, “these stories inspired me to come to TC.” She called upon her fellow graduates to use their resources and degrees to help education worldwide.

Following Elamin’s speech, Tom Rock, executive director of enrollment services, called the names of all the degree candidates. They each stood up to be recognized before greeting their families to face life after school.#

t the end of her first year as Barnard College’s President, Debora Spar ushered the class of 2009 through their final moments as students with the help of a guest speaker—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called for “digital diplomacy.”

At the May 18 Commencement Ceremony, held on Columbia’s campus due to the construction of Barnard’s student center, Clinton received Barnard’s Medal of Distinction, along with lawyer and advocate Kay Crawford Murray, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, and anthropologist Irene Winter.

Spar introduced Clinton, saying that she “raised the mark, and surpassed the mark” for women in politics. “You have never settled in the middle,” Spar said, noting that Clinton attended Wellesley, a women’s college. “You’ve always loved history, and now, many times over, you’ve made it,” Spar said.

Decked out in robes, Clinton took to the podium, receiving rapturous applause. “I am thrilled to be here,” Clinton said, adding that attending a women’s college is “the best investment that I and my parents ever made.”

After delving into the history of Barnard’s founding, Clinton told the graduates, “you have been prepared for global citizenship in the interconnected world of the 21st century.”

She proceeded to explain how the terms of diplomacy have changed, from closed-door meetings and “pin-striped suits” to “21st century statecraft,” which is carried out in a variety of venues: “in barrios and rural villages … also church basements, hospitals, union halls, civic and cultural centers, and even in the dorms and classrooms of colleges like this.”

Today’s diplomacy, Clinton said, is “fueled by personal engagement and interpersonal connections” in an age of digital networking. Clinton called for a renewed “commitment to global service,” asking each graduate to be “a special envoy of your ideals.”

Specifically, Clinton urged the class of 2009 to address women’s rights. “As women with strong voices and strong values, you are in a unique position to support women worldwide who don’t have the resources you do, but whose lives and dreams are just as worthy as yours and mine,” Clinton said. “I have concluded after traveling many miles and visiting many places in the last decades that talent is universally distributed, but

opportunity is not. The futures of these women and girls will affect yours and mine. And therefore, it is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing.”

Speaking of women in the Middle East, Clinton said “the subjugation of women—the denial of their rights as human beings—is not an expression of religion or of God’s will. It is a betrayal of both.” To help combat these issues, Clinton cited the upcoming Virtual Student Foreign Service Internships that would connect students to embassies. Clinton concluded by stressing the importance of incorporating service into all sorts of careers and lifestyles.

Anna Quindlen, writer and chair of Barnard’s Board of Trustees, spoke on behalf of the Trustees. “Wow. Am I surrounded by strong women today!” she exclaimed. Addressing the enrobed graduates, she said, “at this moment, you are dressed for success. … You are Barnard women, and believe me, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Student Government Association president Sarah Besnoff addressed her class with a message of unity. “The greatest opportunity at Barnard is the chance to be surrounded by the most intelligent, diverse, passionate, dedicated women,” she said. “An amazing thing happens at Barnard: we forge a sisterhood.” She described the need to draw a “map of our joint experience.”

“We stand here today with the woman who put 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling,” Besnoff said, referring to the amount of votes Clinton garnered in her presidential campaign. “Well we, the Barnard College class of 2009, have been given the opportunity to break the damn thing.”

Dean Dorothy Denburg presented the graduates, calling upon each of the 625 women in the class of 2009 to cross the stage and shake the hands of administrators and Citation winners (with the exception of Clinton, who left immediately following her speech).

Spar then turned to respond to the graduates, elucidating the differences between when she graduated college and now, a time when a “palpable sense of possibility” lingers. Though the job market may not look promising, Spar said, a full forest view shows valuable opportunities for those just entering the workforce. “Very few generations have the luck to come of age during a massive inflection point in history,” Spar said.

“This time, your time, is one of those moments.

Seize it.”#

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T HE N ATION 2009 S ECRETARY S OLIS URGES HUNTER GRADS TO HARNESS “GANAS” AT 199TH COMMENCEMENT

President Jennifer Raab & Sec. of Labor Hilda Solis

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein

Borough President Scott Stringer

Senator Charles Schumer

By STEVEN FRANK magine yourself as U.S. Secretary of Labor during the greatest economic downtown since the Great Depression. Then on the very same day your department reveals that a record 6.79 million Americans are collecting jobless benefits, you find yourself standing before thousands of the freshest faces in the workforce. That was the daunting task Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis faced on May 28 at Radio City Music Hall. She was about to deliver the main address at the 199th Hunter College commencement ceremony.

How do you inspire some 3,000 college graduates and their families to keep striving given the dire state of the economy? First, confront the immediate economic situation with blunt force.

“I don’t have good news to share about that but I can tell you one thing, we will meet those challenges,” Solis said. “And I, as the labor secretary, will do what I can to put forward monies.”

Earlier in the day, Solis had joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a Workforce One career center in Jamaica, Queens, to announce that $32 million of federal stimulus will be spent for job training and placement services for about 10,000 New Yorkers over the next two years. Solis said even more money is coming to create public health and green collar careers. “And we want Hunter College to be in the middle of that,” she said. Solis acknowledged that unemployment hits minorities and young people hardest and that women still aren’t making as much as their male counterparts.

“My passion is to see that we help lift everybody’s boat,” Solis said. “And I think that our president (Barack Obama) has placed me and

other members in the cabinet that represent this room because we are all diverse.”

The daughter of immigrants from Nicaragua and Mexico, Solis said she was told by a high school counselor that she wasn’t college material and was best suited to be a secretary. But thanks to a friend’s advice, she applied for financial aid and become the first in her family to attend college.

“I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever care about the title of secretary,” she said. “But how does it sound to be a cabinet secretary of the Department of Labor?” And with ganas (the spanish word for desire), Solis promised graduates they too could go just as far.

Other highlights from the ceremony: former ballerina Corinne Vidulich, who graduated with special honors in biology and minors in art history and chemistry, gave the valedictory address.

She shared the valedictory title with two other graduates: Jorge Baquero and Alexander Cohen.

All three earned a 3.983 grade point average.

“There was no way to break the tie,” said Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab. “But that’s OK, the more the better.”

Hunter alumna and leading attorney Sheila Birnbaum received an honorary doctorate of law. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer received the President’s Medal. And Actor Tony Plana made a surprise appearance. The Cubanborn actor, who stars on the television show “Ugly Betty,” came to the U.S. as an immigrant who spoke only Spanish and had to struggle to make it through school.

“Dream big, dream difficult, dream challenging,” Plana told the graduates. “Find something that makes you want to get up in the morning.”#

13 JUNE 2009 | EDUCATION UPDATE

GRACE O UTREACH GRADUATES S PEAK

Angela Staton

Millicent Frimpomaa

race Outreach is a program for single mothers who aged out of receiving a high school diploma. The only road open is one of menial labor and hardship for their children and themselves. Margaret Grace, Esq. gave up her law practice to found Grace Outreach. By August 1st, 2009, Grace Outreach will have graduated well over 400 women. Recent graduates are presently attending the College Prep Program at Grace Outreach, CUNY Colleges or job-training programs. For more information: www.graceoutreachbronx.org ELIZABETH DIAZ All of us have faced varying degrees of adversity in obtaining our diplomas. Halfway through my senior year of high school, I suddenly found myself without a permanent residence. Believing that graduation was at that point impossible, I dropped out. By not finishing high school it was a crushing blow to everyone who knew me personally, especially to my family. They had held so many expectations for me, such as being at the top of my class and being the first person in my family to attend and graduate from college. My dream of being a teacher was also put on hold.

I spent the next three years in a sort of daze, going from bad job to worse job and working at minimum wage. Finally in February, after a long conversation with a family member, I was convinced to go back to school. But this time I was doing it for me. I found Grace Outreach’s website through Google and made the call that day. Almost 2 months later, after many weeks of work with the staff, I had that coveted piece of paper in my hands and I am truly amazed at how different I feel. Grace Outreach not only helped me develop the skills to pass the G.E.D., they also helped me realize that I am smart; I can do anything I set my mind to. Even go back to school. And thanks to Grace Outreach’s college preparation program, I will march on to Lehman College and then go back to high school, but this time, as a teacher.

MILLICENT FRIMPOMAA Obtaining my GED and going to college have always been my dream. I heard about the GED program at Grace Outreach from my sister who was a recent graduate. The moment I enrolled in the program, I knew it was going to be a blessing to me. I adhered to all the rules and regulations and made sure that I was always on time for my classes. I knew it was not going to be easy because English is not my first language and that was a struggle for me. I told myself that my toil at Grace Outreach will never be in vain.

Unfortunately, the first time I took the GED, I failed the math, but I did well in all the other subjects. I was not going to give up. It was my seventh month in the program and I could not wait to finish the program. It was crucial that I obtain my GED, as I wanted to enroll in college

in the fall of 2009. I really focused on my math with the help of my teachers; I knew that I could be successful. The teachers at Grace reminded me of the days I was in elementary school, where the teachers help the students to write their alphabets and numerals. Grace Outreach teachers are patience, lenient, and jovial, which help us as students to relax and feel comfortable.

The second time I took the test, I was really confident. This time I obtain my GED diploma.

I am now enrolled in the College Prep program at Grace Outreach, which will further help me be prepared for college. I will be attending Bronx Community College this fall where I will be pursuing a career in nursing.

MRS. ANGELA STATON Having been a resident in the United States for over a decade, I decided it was time to stay true to my promise to return to school. And so I did when a dear colleague recommended the GED Program that was being offered by the excellent Grace Outreach. Although a bit apprehensive initially, this was all forgotten and replaced with much elation upon receiving the welcome call to the program and the sincerest congratulations.

Nothing felt more fulfilling than my arrival on the first day of classes, as it took me back to the first day of my high school experience as a teenager.

It would be far from the truth if I said that I completed the program effortlessly and without any failures. Instead, I remember doubting myself especially when I was not able to grasp concepts and remember formulas. I remember moments when I dreaded asking questions when a point or a topic was unclear fearing that I would be perceived as slow or simply too old to be in the classroom. What I also remember was the support that was given by the teachers and faculty in general at Grace Outreach in these moments of doubt and uncertainty. The tremendous effort and time that is put into the curriculum makes climbing those five (5) flights of stairs so rewarding; because as a student you feel confident that when you enter the classroom you are being greeted by a team that looks forward to your success and achievement. Although I wasn’t successful in obtaining a pass in mathematics on my first attempt, my second time around I was successful and that was due to the assistance and encouragement I received from my teachers and family in general.

I therefore walk away today with more than a GED, I walk away with renewed confidence in my abilities and potential to be a strong competitor in the job market, and I could not have done so without the assistance of a driven team of educators. As I consider my next step toward obtaining a college degree, I will definitely approach this next goal with the skills and proficiency that I was able to develop having attended Grace Outreach. God Bless you all.

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spotlight on schools

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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JUNE 2009

CAREERS IN TODAY’S JOB MARKET

Athletic Trainer

Alison Deleget and Dance Student, Courtesy of Harkness Center for Dance Injuries

The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra

Berklee School of Music of Victor Gould

juilliard

Jazz Musician

by Lauren Shapiro

By Lauren Shapiro Dream Girls, Mambo Kings, the Boss—we do put our pop musicians up on a pedestal. But most of the time we put our jazz musicians up in the starving-artists-attic, along with the classical musicians, poets, ballet dancers and painters.

That attic is a great place to visit, but nobody wants to live there.

That’s why Juilliard’s jazz program is “designed to prepare students to make a living and sustain themselves once they’re out of here,” explains Carl Allen, Artistic Director of Jazz Studies at Juilliard. “We have world renowned musicians such as Ron Carter and Kenny Barron.” Twotime Grammy winner Ron Carter has received awards from various industry organizations.

Kenny Barron was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame. “The idea is to have faculty who are doing what the students aspire to do. We have five ensembles; we do quite a bit of traveling. This year we have tours to Costa Rica, Korea and Japan...” This will also be Juilliard’s fifth year of collaborating with Snow College, a junior college in Ephraim, Utah, for a Jazz Summit. The goal of the touring is to “bridge that gap between the life of a student and the life of a working musician,” says Allen.

Manhattan School of Music’s Justin DiCiocco, Assistant Dean and Chair of the Jazz Arts program, alludes to a three-leaf clover approach to prepare students to have a life in music: “One is a performer/teacher/composer. There are times when you’re writing more, so you’re teaching less, or you’re playing more.” But, he adds, “No longer is one just a performer. In the old days you learned by studying privately and jamming with people. Then, when you were good enough, you joined a band and went on the road and that was like finishing school.” However, “Times have

changed. The concept of jam sessions, of playing every night… that doesn’t exist anymore.”

Hence, “We’ve kind of brought the street, the University of the Road, into the conservatory. “ Allen says, “I think there’s always work. The question becomes the quality of the work. There used to be longer tours, you’d go out for 2-3 weeks; now you go out for a couple of days…”

Musicians have responded by putting together their own festivals—and teaching. “It used to be you taught because you couldn’t play or you played because you couldn’t teach...”

Traditionally, musicians began teaching as they got older because they didn’t want to travel as much; but now musicians “in their twenties are looking for teaching. I don’t care what institution you go to or how talented you are, the nature of this business is that not everyone will make a living playing. It’s just not possible.”

DiCioccio elaborates, “The level of playing today in conservatories is ridiculously high…

Just about every school has a jazz program and they’re graduating hundreds of students every year—where are they all going?”

One of the lucky ones is Victor Gould, a pianist who just completed his Bachelor of Music at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Gould got a job playing with “Nouveau Swing” bandleader Donald Harrison through networking. He sought out Berklee saxophone teacher Billy Pierce even though Pierce wasn’t his teacher. Gould admired Pierce: “I made sure to find out where his office was and play for him.” Pierce was impressed and recommended Gould to Harrison, who was performing at Berklee. “I guess Donald liked my playing and he called me for a gig.” But, despite his success, Gould understands the competitiveness of his field: “Even though I’m playing a lot now, I might want to teach later.” #

Body and Soul. The connection between the two has always fascinated. The Latin “Sit mens sana in corpore sano,” (a healthy mind in a healthy body) is the motto of both the Hargrave Military Academy and Teachers College of Columbia University. It was one of President Truman’s favorite quotations, proving its universality.

“In corpore sano mens sana,” (a sound body provides for a sound mind) is the motto of Indiana University’s School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.

Last, but not least, as gym wall poster wisdom: “Free your mind—tie your shoes.”

When body and soul are out of step, athletic trainers often step in.

Alison Deleget is one of several athletic trainers employed by the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries (/www.med.nyu.edu/hjd/harkness/).

Harkness’s mission is “To enhance the health, well-being and quality of life of dancers… by providing state-of-the-art, affordable medical care.” To that end, Harkness “offers many subsidized and free services… including clinics… and free injury prevention screenings and lectures.”

Deleget and her colleagues deliver those lectures. “We’ve gone to New Jersey and Connecticut. We’ve been in talks with schools as far away as South Carolina. We customize our fees if we have to travel. We hosted a group from Canada,” she says. Depending on the audience, lectures include such diverse topics as “nutrition, warm-up and cool-down techniques and how the changes of adolescence like growth spurts and puberty, affect the likelihood of injury.” She also discusses “proper-cross training ­ —when is it appropriate for dancers to do Pilates, yoga, aerobics.”

Harkness has sent Deleget to work for Broadway show dancers, Ballet Hispanico and Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) where she

was expected to do on site therapy—and teach anatomy. “I prepare the syllabus, and handouts.

It’s anatomy for injury prevention.” The focus is on “what they’re doing in dance that could cause injury.” For example “pointing the foot all day can lead to tension on the tendon. I have them do assessments on each other—feel the bones, joints, ligaments; do some movements so they can experience what I’m talking about.” When anatomy is presented in such User’s Manual form, it is “more effective.”

It’s also another career stream—”The therapy contract is between Harkness and DTH; the teaching contract is between me and DTH.” Deleget fell into athletic training at Indiana University. John Schrader was then developing the program, which he now directs (www.hper. indiana.edu). Deleget, who was then a ballet major, describes him as her “hero” and she is still in touch with him. He inspired her to earn two degrees—a B.S. in dance, and a B.S. in kinesiology with an emphasis in athletic training. Under Schrader’s leadership she earned her M.S. in athletic training.

As we are speaking, a dancer appears at the door “So what did you do?” asks Deleget. “I was in class and we had to do this split in second and go all the way down to the floor and when I reached the floor I heard that infamous pop.”

With more and more emphasis on sports and physical fitness, leading to more and more infamous pops, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports “…the best job prospects will be in the health care industry and fitness and recreational sports centers. Additional job opportunities are expected in elementary and secondary schools as more positions are created. There will be more competition for positions within colleges and universities as well as professional sports clubs.”

Median annual earnings of wage-and-salary athletic trainers were $36,560 in May 2006.#

JUNE 2009

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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COLLEGES & GRADUATE SCHOOLS

Professor Larry Singer: The Force Behind USC’s Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program (PPP): Career-Changers Welcome!

By EMILY SHERWOOD, Ph.D. While many students spend their college years pursuing a life-long ambition to become a doctor, taking the required science and math courses in linear progression and applying to medical school as seniors, it was only after Heather had graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles with a degree in French that she realized she wanted to be a surgeon. Enrolling as a “limited status” USC student in Professor Singer’s organic chemistry class, she sat in the front row, took copious notes, and earned an A in the course, capturing Singer’s attention.

Realizing that there were dozens of competent students who, like Heather, had pursued other areas of study in college but wanted to attend medical school, in 1998 he launched USC’s Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program (PPP), a three year program offering an opportunity for students with an undergraduate degree to fulfill their pre-med course requirements while taking part in outside clinical or research-based experiences that will help them prepare well-rounded applications for medical, dental or veterinary school. “We started with only three students that first year, and then it took off,” recalled Singer, explaining that there are now 95 students enrolled across a three year timeline. Coursework comprises the first two years of study; students use the third year to apply to medical school while deepening their hands-on experiences in clinical or research medicine. “We purposely draw it out so students have more time to do clinical work or research study. They pick up invaluable experience in large hospitals, small neighborhood clinics, international missions, and research labs,” explained Singer. “Two years of postbac work is just the tip of the iceberg. We encourage our students to make sure this is what they want to do so they don’t wake up in their third or fourth year of medical school realizing it was the wrong decision,” he added forcefully.

Like Heather, who successfully enrolled in USC Medical School and is about to begin her

6th year of a 7 year long residency in general surgery (she’s currently at Harvard, having taken 2 years in the middle of her training to earn a Master of Public Health degree and a research fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School), about a third of the USC PPP students enroll immediately after their undergraduate study. But a surprising two-thirds are career-changers, leaving vocations in acting, business, engineering, computer studies, professional athletics and a host of other seemingly unrelated fields to answer the call of medicine.

“One of our students had a 25 year career as a movie producer. He entered USC’s Keck School of Medicine at age 47. It’s never too late!” chuckled Singer. Career-changers often tell Singer that they’d been thinking about becoming a doctor for a long time, but became side-tracked: “Medical schools appreciate the motivation, commitment, added maturity, and additional life experience of the career-changers,” he reflected.

While there are now dozens of PPP programs across the country (Columbia University was the first, back in the fifties), there were only two others on the West Coast when Singer started the program at USC. And while there continues to be a strong demand (Singer even projects that applications may spike because interest in “stable professions” like medicine peaks during economic recessions), these programs are not cheap.

Tuition alone can amount to $45,000 for two-plus years of study, and that doesn’t include living expenses. “It’s a considerable financial burden for students,” admitted Singer. But the success rate is high: 75 percent of first-time USC PPP applicants get into medical school, and 85-90 percent of those who reapply are granted admission, matriculating at such schools as Dartmouth, Emory, Vanderbilt, UCLA, and USC. Singer is a strong advocate for his students: “I tell them that you don’t need all A’s to go to medical school.

You need to show an admission committee that you have the ability, and that takes many different forms,” he summed up.

Singer, who is revered by his students (“he’s

GUARNERI QUARTET BIDS A FOND FAREWELL AT ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

Michael Steinhardt, Guarneri Violinist

a guiding light...a mentor of mentors,” extolled Heather), continues to find ways to improve his own teaching of complicated chemical concepts after several decades in the college classroom.

He eliminated chalk board lectures early on in favor of power point-enhanced presentations, but he is adamant about the continued need for face-to-face interaction, where he can forge “an immediate connection with students and further develop ideas that need more elaboration.”

Like other master teachers, he’s proudest of his ability to reach out and change lives, adding humbly, “We are serving a need for people who are looking for their life’s work. If we can help someone get on that path, we have done our work well.”# The USC PPP website can be accessed as follows: http://chem.usc.edu/postbacc/index.html

Dr. Jess Shatkin Discusses Common Child and Adolescent Sleep Issues

By RAUL SILVA, M.D. This month we will share with you perspectives on child and adolescent sleep conditions from Jess P. Shatkin, M.D., M.P.H., one of New York’s leading child and adolescent psychiatrists. Dr. Shatkin is the Director of Education and Training, and Assistant Professor of the Child Study CenterDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine.

According to Dr. Shatkin, the most prevalent condition seen in younger age groups is called Behavioral Insomnia. Essentially, this refers to having trouble going to sleep. Some contributing factors may have to do with parental limit setting, the child’s fear of being alone, nightmares, or other difficult experiences they have at night, such as bedwetting, for example. This presentation may be less common in many non-Western societies where children often sleep with parents until they are older. In high school-aged kids, the most common problem is sleep shifting, or phase shifting. This is where a child’s sleep rhythm gets off track because they stay up later or have to get up early for school, which leads to complaints of feeling exhausted.

Dr. Shatkin also explained that a lot of kids have problems with sleep when they are affected

by Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/ HD). These children often have difficulty falling asleep and do not feel rested in the morning.

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of how to handle these problems. For Behavioral Insomnia, teaching a child how to learn to fall asleep often represents a developmental struggle. The first step is good common sense and establishing good sleep hygiene. Recommendations include setting up a bedtime routine, making sure that there is a typical pattern in Dr. Raul Silva Dr. Jesse Shatkin the evenings, be it taking a bath or some other relaxing Similar problems are encountered with children bedtime ritual such as a reading a story or singwho have mood disorders such as depression or ing a song. Fluid intake should be limited and anxiety disorders. An important consideration if caffeine restricted in the evenings; naps should there is a suspected sleep problem is to rule out be avoided for older children unless absolutely other contributing psychiatric or medical condi- necessary, and strenuous physical activity should tions. Sleep Disordered Breathing is a common not occur within at least two to three hours of medical problem seen in children who have sleep bedtime. For other problems, children should apnea due to large tonsils, and is often accom- be seen by their pediatrician to make sure there panied by snoring. Patients with this condition aren’t any other medical problems causing the may also present with features that look as if sleep disturbance, such as enlarged tonsils, for they had AD/HD; the subsequent lack of sleep example. Parents should know it is not common and the feelings related to lack of rest can lead to to treat the sleep problems with medications; inattention during school and even falling asleep however, children may receive medications for in class. other conditions that impact their sleep, such as Dr. Shatkin also offered a few suggestions AD/HD or depression.#

(L-R) Dr. George Reeke, Rockefeller U. & Alan Alda

Laura Maioglio Blobel & Dr. Gunter Blobel, Rockefeller University

(L-R) Alan Alda & Peter Wiley, Cellist

VISIT www.EDUCATIONUPDATE.com

for interviews with Michael Tree, Marilyn Horne, Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell, and many other music interviews.

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COLLEGES & GRADUATE SCHOOLS

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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JUNE 2009

Rutgers University: Women Artists Celebrate a Proud History

Art on exhibit

By SYBIL MAIMIN A beautiful and instructive exhibit of the work of female artists from 1889 to 2009 can be seen at The UBS Art Gallery this summer through July 31. Presented as a celebration of the 120th anniversary of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA), the show is also a chronicle of the evolution of art in this country, from academic formalism through current trends, and illustrates the talents and contributions of women as they interacted with major developments. The history of NAWA, the oldest active women’s art organization, is also presented.

NAWA was established in New York in 1889 in response to the lack of recognition and exhibition possibilities for female artists. Its founding mission was gaining equality with men in professional training, show opportunities, and market access. It was always meant for professionals—serious practitioners who were juried into membership.

The founders believed female artists could prove themselves and be taken seriously if significant amounts of their work were available to be seen by the public. Women did make progress, but it was slow. For a long time, standard art history textbooks did not reference women artists, and solo shows in museums and important galleries were rare. NAWA’s membership grew (it is 800 today) and extended its reach nationally. Members were involved in New Deal public art projects during the Great Depression, and actively aided the war effort in

Jeffrey Wechsler, Senior Curator, Rutgers U. the 1940s. The group reached out to influential figures for board membership, responded with support for important issues such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited employment discrimination, and organized international exhibition exchange programs and opportunities for members to present their work abroad. Wellestablished artists who were not members, such as Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisat, showed with NAWA, and some of NAWA’s own members, such as Louise Nevelson and Malvina Hoffman, began to achieve renown.

At the 100th anniversary in 1988, then-president Liana Moonie explained why a separate group for women was important: “…pride in a record of one hundred years of women working together, not selfishly to further our own ends, but to extend the fields of opportunity for women artists and to encourage those in out of the way places in maintaining a high standard in their creative output.” Pondering the same question at UBS in 2009, Moonie said, admiringly, “We women have gone ahead quite a lot, but still have a way to go. If you think about it, women usually do an awful lot—balancing work and family. But nowadays women can stand on their own.”

“A Parallel Presence: National Association of Women Artists, 1889-2009” was organized by the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and supported by a grant from UBS. Jeffrey Wechsler, senior curator at the Zimmerli and co-curator of the show, explained that his museum has over 300 NAWA

Donna Gustafson, Co-Curator, Rutgers University

pieces in its collection; many are in the current UBS exhibit. The connection between Rutgers and NAWA began about 15 years ago when Moonie broached the idea of a museum collection for member works. Rutgers included Douglas College, a women’s institution, and had a “tradition of showing less well-known artists who should be better known. It was a perfect fit.”

Wechsler organized the UBS show as a history exhibition. He explains, “It includes many early artists who are very good but not known now. It continues today. There are lots of good, unrecognized artists.” The show is arranged chronologically by decade, and presents many different styles and mediums, reflecting changing tastes and practices. It illustrates “how women have always

been part of the overall development of art.”

To represent the contemporary period, Wechsler “wants to show the variety of artists, their multicultural backgrounds, and how they fit into current trends.” Assemblages, installations, non-traditional materials, and videos are included. The artists presented come from all around the world. Co-curator Donna Gustafson, also a curator at the Zimmerli, writes in the catalog, “NAWA is an association of professional artists without a prescribed aesthetic or point of view; the members, past and present, share one trait—they are all women.”

The UBS Art Gallery is at 1285 Avenue of the Americas (between 51st and 52nd Streets). Hours are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. #

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Change Education.

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JUNE 2009

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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COLLEGES & GRADuate Schools

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Sarah Lawrence College Names New Dean: Jerrilynn D. Dodds

By Emily Sherwood, Ph.D. Saying that she is “thrilled to be part of... one of the few institutions of higher learning that is truly committed to progressive learning, an institution that molds the passion of individuals in an extremely vigorous way,” Jerrilynn D. Dodds prepares to become the next Dean of Sarah Lawrence College in August, replacing Pauline Watts.

Professor Dodds, who has spent most of her academic career at City College of New York (CCNY)—most recently as distinguished professor and faculty advisor to the provost for undergraduate education—will be making a rather dramatic transition from a sprawling public university on Convent Avenue in upper Manhattan to a small, private liberal arts college in tree-lined Westchester County. Among the many attributes that attracted her to Sarah Lawrence is its unique advisory program, patterned after the Oxford/Cambridge system in Britain, whereby each student is matched with a faculty “don” with whom he or she works closely to design an individualized program of study. Dodds also gave high marks to the “activist values” that are instilled in the Sarah Lawrence student body: “[Sarah Lawrence] doesn’t want to just give an education to their students; they motivate their students to want to go out and change the world, and they do that across disciplines,” she enthused with an incipient pride in her new institution.

Her departure from CCNY will be bittersweet.

Calling her mentors—provost Zeev Dagan and president Gregory Williams—“visionary leaders, dedicated to public education,” Professor Dodds added, “I’ve learned so much from them.” Her respect for the student body she will leave behind is equally vigorous. “A lot of [CCNY] students come from high schools where they have not had consistent preparation across the board” and there are often “intense financial difficulties” with “many first generation students from families who have never gone to college,” she reflected thoughtfully, adding,

permeable. The creativity used in the social sciences is the same kind of creativity that’s used in the visual arts,” she explained, adding that Sarah Lawrence President Karen Lawrence is a strong proponent of interdisciplinary education. Noting that the number of art history majors at City College increased substantially during her tenure, she pointed to the many career opportunities available to students whose passion leads them to the arts, including filmmaking, playwriting, advertising, public relations, digital arts, website design, and industrial design, not to mention painting and sculpting for those who wish to pursue “pure art.” “The key is that you nurture the desire of students to make art that reflects the ethics and values that are important to them,” she concluded thoughtfully.

It’s clear that Professor Dodds, whose own love of art was piqued while an undergraduate herself (“I was traveling in Provence, France, and I came upon these extraordinary Romanesque churches that were so deeply beautiful... it was a visceral aesthetic experience,” she recalled in awe), will bring her unique combination of scholarship, dedication to undergraduate teaching, and art appreciation to the undergraduate community at Sarah Lawrence. Remembering her Ph.D. professor and mentor, Harvard professor Oleg Grabar (“he was one of the great teachers… at a time when many were teaching Art History by identifying art and dating it, he was interested in the social and political meaning of the art”), she summed up with quiet conviction: “He made art thrilling to me. That is my life’s work.” #

Jerrilynn Dodds “They are often working, giving money to their parents, supporting themselves and others, and facing the unknown... nothing for me has compared to working with them because of their courage and bravery.”

A scholar of Medieval, Islamic, and Hispanic art and architecture (Professor Dodds’ resume is overflowing with numerous books and scholarly articles which she’s written and edited, in addition to prize-winning films and critically acclaimed projects she’s curated for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Newark Museum, and the Jewish Museum, among others), she is a fervent believer in multiculturalism. “There are over 100 mosques in New York City. In every office, every day, Muslims, Jews, and Christians are going to work together, having lunch together, and shopping at the Gap together...Why is this not better understood?” she asked rhetorically. She’s equally supportive of interdisciplinary studies: “There is not a wall between creative arts, social sciences, and writing, for example... It’s all very

Bank Street College of Education Awards Honorary Doctorates Bank Street College of Education recently awarded master’s degrees to nearly 300 students at its commencement ceremonies at The Riverside Church in New York City. The College also presented Honorary Doctorates to two major figures in the education field.

Susan Feingold, Director of the Bloomingdale Family Program for nearly 40 years, until her retirement last year, initiated and oversaw three major expansions of the nationally renowned program, which serves nearly 200 three- and four-year-olds. Its enriched early childhood curriculum addresses the specific abilities and needs of each child; classes are bilingual in Spanish and English, and all services are free. Parent involvement is encouraged, and Bloomingdale also provides services for them. Today, many members of the staff are parents who went on to earn degrees and credentials with Bloomingdale’s help. Throughout her career, Feingold has been a passionate spokesperson on behalf of all children and families. In the 1960s, Bloomingdale served as a model for Lyndon Johnson’s Head Start.

Feingold was also coordinator of the New York City Head Start Area Directors from 1970 to 1985. Feingold’s goal has always been to provide comprehensive services to traditionally underserved children and families, not only in New York, but all over the country.

Michael Spock, Executive Director of the Boston Children’s Museum from 1962 to 1985, revolutionized the way museums work

by pioneering the interactive exhibitions subsequently adopted by museums around the world.

Abandoning the traditional museum experience, he got objects out of cases and into children’s hands in exhibit areas where children could interact, experiment, and follow their own curiosity.

The goals that evolved from this groundbreaking work are now part of the missions and strategic plans of all children’s museums. However, he has extended an even broader influence by helping push the museum field toward presenting more interactive, visitor-friendly exhibits, supporting the growing commitment to experiential learning and the social mission of museums’ work. From 1986-1994, Spock also diversified the audience and rebuilt the public programs of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Since 1995, as a Fellow at the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, he has researched and written about learning in museums and other informal settings. He also serves as a consultant to numerous cultural and educational institutions.

The mission of Bank Street College is to improve the education of children and their teachers. Bank Street seeks to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which children and adults, in all their diversity, interact and learn. We see in education the opportunity to build a better society. #

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COLLEGES & GRADuate Schools

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EDUCATION UPDATE

JUNE 2009

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Teachers College Profile: Professor Pearl Kane, Klingenstein Center, Independent School Leadership

by Joan Baum, Ph.D. Though she holds a number of prestigious titles—Klingenstein Family Chair Professor of Education in the Department of Organization and Leadership at Teachers College Columbia University, Director of the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership, and Advisor for Master’s degree programs focusing on school leadership—not to mention being the recipient last November of honors at the European Council of International Schools, in Nice, and the National Association of Principals of Girls Outstanding Achievement Award, in February, Pearl Rock Kane hardly mentions her own accomplishments and speaks in a soft spoken manner about the significance of leadership for the country’s schools.

Of course, she has the Klingenstein Center mainly in mind, and, given its reputation for excellence, her faith in the continued high quality of students attracted to leadership programs for independent schools, is well placed.

Years ago, Professor Kane points out, school heads tended to have expertise only in an academic discipline. There was no formal training in education leadership. Teacher-heads may have been experienced teachers but they were not also trained administrators, sufficiently prepared, especially in the case of the independents, to meet the financial, management and visionary needs of the institutions they ran.

A graduate of CUNY, with a Master’s from Smith and an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Professor Kane had been teaching at Dalton when she was offered a fellowship to join Klingenstein and help augment what is now a 30-year enterprise “dedicated to improving the quality of independent school education by developing and strengthening leadership among teachers and administrators who work in and with independent schools in the United States and throughout the world.� At the time she became a Fellow, there was only one program for independent school educators at T.C., but its inauguration signaled an important moment for “the professionalization of education.� Now, the Center comprises four

Barnard College Barnard College graduates and trustees gathered for the unveiling of a new portrait of President Emeritus Judith Shapiro.

the two-summer 2009-2011 Leadership Academy Master’s program were received from 30 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, Egypt, Great Britain, Indonesia, and Switzerland; that applications for the 2009 Heads program were received from 23 states, and Australia, Cambodia, China, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Turkey; and that applications for the 2008 Summer Institute were received from 31 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and Great Britain.

Alumni now number over 3,500 and reflect the diversity of home communities. What’s special about Klingenstein Center? Professor Kane doesn’t miss a beat: courses in leadership, finance, law and marketing, and a spirit of collaboration.

Trustee Joan Freilich & President Shapiro Of the 75 students selected to participate in the Summer Institute, for example, a potential leader finds himself or herself with 74 colleagues, thus engaging in the kind of collaborative team work that has come to define the future of the workplace. “The John Wayne school of management� is no longer an adequate or effective model for today’s complex culture,� Professor Kane says.

Independent schools must serve their paying customers, the parents, so to stay alive an independent school must be well managed. This fact presents “opportunity as well as challenge.� The independent school has come a long way from its inception in the mid 19th century. Though independent schools have always coexisted with pub(L-R) Trustee Joan Freilich, Dr. Pola Rosen, lic schools, they tended to serve restricted popuTrustee Anna Quindlen, Dr. Sheila Gordon lations. Today, independent schools deliberately aim to recruit a diverse population. Professor Kane is particularly proud that Klingenstein graduates are imbued with a sense of social responsibility to influence the schools and communities they serve. “Graduates return to their schools with a zeal to make a difference, and many have spearheaded programs that use the independent school model of high expectations, personalization and academic rigor for programs Education Update aimed at improving urban education.� She September takes 2006 Issue P.O. #: 17897 seriously the Klingenstein mission “of shapingEducation Update 2006 Issue 5 ⠄ x 7October ⠄ the leaders who will shape the world.�

P.O. #: 18032Portrait of President Emerita Shapiro www.klingenstein.org.#

programs: a one-year Private School Leadership Program and an intensive Summer Leadership Program, both of which offer M.A. and Ed.M. degrees; a two-week Summer Institute for Early Career Teachers; and a Heads of Schools renewal program for mid-career school leaders. The summer institutes constitute a “kind of boot camp� for potential leaders while the renewal institute for school heads focuses on moral leadership, research and current issues in education.

The reach of Klingenstein is national and international. Admissions for all programs is highly competitive. Data show that applications for the Full Year 2008-2009 Master’s program were received from 16 states, the District of Columbia and Philippines and Taiwan; that applications for

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EDUCATION UPDATE

Playwright Carlyle Brown Fills in Gaps in African American History

by Lisa K. Winkler Playwright Carlyle Brown got his training in drama as an Outward Bound instructor on Hurricane Island, Maine. “I had 12 people on a boat for 28 days and I watched and saw human nature,” Brown told Education Update. “Writing is about watching people get what they want, said Brown, founder of the Minneapolis-based Mixed Blood Theatre.

Brown’s Pure Confidence, about a black jockey in the Confederate South, introduces audiences to a little known fact about early horse racingthat nearly all the jockeys were slaves. Brown maintains the setting was more a vehicle to explore the meaning of freedom than a specific play about black jockeys and horse racing. “If someone owns the horse and the jockey, and is making money off their greatness, what does that relationship look like?” The play examines the complex relationships between slaves and owners, between slaves, and between owners and their families.

His plays feature aspects of African American history to “fill in the gaps” overlooked in textbooks and popular culture, and to emphasize that the existence of African Americans in history, is not peripheral to American society, but central to it. “There isn’t anything we have or anything we do that would exist without the presence of African Americans.”

Other works have explored the Civil Rights Movement, black minstrels, Matthew Henson, Langston Hughes, Buffalo Soldiers, and more.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Brown grew up in New York City, attended school in Kentucky, though never completed college, was a grass roots activist in the 1960’s, and joined Outward Bound—a summer job that lasted 20 years. Then he worked as a captain of tall schooner ships, further exposing him to the vagaries of human nature and providing more fodder for his plays. A writing fellowship brought him to Minneapolis, where, he says, keeps him from returning to the sea. “There’s an old saying, when a ship captain retires, he puts an oar over

his shoulder and when he’s far enough away for someone to ask ‘what is that thing?’ he knows he’s far enough away,” Brown said.

He founded Mixed Blood in 2002, as “an act of rebellion” because he wanted to do things that “were not being done” in American theater, and he wanted to experiment as an artist, as well as provide African American actors a greater range of roles.

Pure Confidence—the title is the name of the horse, and also what Brown believes his jockey, Simon Cato exudes— exemplifies the American spirit. “If a great story is about the lowest of the low reaching the heights of dignity and human worth, that’s the slave who strived for freedom.

Maybe now all Americans can look at these stories and say that could be me; it’s a story we share. It’s the American character that gets up and works as hard as he can.”

The play runs through July 3 at 59E59 Theaters.

VISIT www.EducationUpdate.com to hear Dr. Richard Kogan, psychiatrist and pianist, perform!

Quinn Bradlee

continued from page 11

lived by that.”

After Landmark, Quinn attended American University and the New York Film Academy, where he studied directing and editing films.

Bradlee soon went to work producing short documentary films about children with learning disabilities and rare genetic syndromes. And with Health Central, he launched FriendsOfQuinn. com, a social network for young people with learning disabilities and their families.

Bradlee’s memoir (written with Jeff Himmelman) allows us to walk in his shoes as he struggles and triumphs with VFCS. And with breathtaking honesty, he reveals intimate moments such as when he lost his virginity to a prostitute.

More than anything, Quinn writes, he just wanted a girlfriend. So, how’s that working out?

After a long struggle with dating, he is engaged to be married to a yoga instructor he met in January.

“Life is a joyful pain,” Quinn says. “You have to suffer a little bit, but it makes life sweeter.” #

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Music, art & Dance

The Music & Art of Violin Making

by Lauren Shapiro “Thirty years ago I was practicing and my cello cracked unexpectedly,” says Thurmond Knight.

“I took it to be repaired and I was fascinated.

I’d done work with wood, never anything with an instrument,” His fascination led him to study under German Master Maker Karl Roy at the Violin Craftsmanship Institute of the University of New Hampshire, Durham. Now, Knight has his own shop and founded his Vermont School of Violin Making (www.violinviolacello.com).

Knight’s four students will build four violins, and one viola in two years. “It takes months to make a beautiful hand-crafted instrument,” he explains. A third year, studying cello-building and violin restoration, leads to a certificate and letter of introduction.

Although most students are hobbyists, Knight says “there is plenty of work available, even in these lean times.” He believes that large shops, like Reuning & Son Violins in Boston, may not be selling many instruments in this economic climate, “but they’re repairing old instruments like crazy.” They also offer services in certification of an instrument’s authenticity, origin and maker and appraisals of the instrument or bow for insurance There’s also an elite group of “musicians who would never consider buying a mass produced instrument,” says Knight, and “Occasionally a concert violinist wants a copy made of their ten million dollar Stradivarius, because they don’t want to carry it around.”

New York City’s master violin-maker Emmanuel Gradoux-Matt puts his museumquality Stradivarius and Guarneri violins into the hands of young artists every Monday for his “Strad for Lunch” concerts. It’s a rare opportunity for artist and audience alike. (www.gradouxmattrareviolins.com). other concerts include the

Ari Emanuel

continued from page 11

put on a really hard face at school and you beat the crap out of people and then you come home and start crying,” he said. “And you encounter all these dark voices in your head: ‘Maybe I should kill myself.’ ‘Am I ever going to be successful?’”

But Emanuel said his mother, Marcia, wouldn’t let him fail. She spent hours helping him to read, visited the principal’s office “nearly every week” and was adamant: “you’re going to college.”

“There are two things you can do for your kids—unconditional love and a good education,” Emanuel said. “And it’s OK to be tough on your kids. Love is not just giving in.” Emanuel said his parents also taught him to take risks. In class, he developed alternative abilities to read people and remember which desk was which. Ritalin helped calm him down and organize his thoughts (but also caused periodic stomach pains). His grades suddenly improved by his junior year in high school. nd not only did Emanuel go on to graduate from New Trier West High School, he

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got a scholarship to go to college.

After graduating from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1983, Emanuel spent a year in Paris, then moved to New York and went to work as an assistant to the veteran agent Robert Lantz. He headed off to Los Angeles in 1987 and founded the Endeavor Talent Agency.

He read scripts for people like Martin Scorsese, Larry David, Conan O’Brien and Aaron Sorkin.

And after the merger with William Morris, he’ll become co-CEO of Hollywood’s second-largest talent agency.

Emanuel and his wife, Sarah Addington, have three children. The two eldest, aged 12 and 10, are dyslexic. But he’s optimistic about their future, saying people with these challenges often have a “great creative ability,” a drive and an energy that enables them to overcome many obstacles.

“I don’t think the same way other people think,” Emanuel said. “I don’t look at the world as other people look at the world. And I’m not afraid to take a risk. Those two combinations—and also understanding how to read people—have enabled me to be successful.”

Emmanuel Gradoux-Matt

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Vermont Violin School

JUNE 2009

“Concert Ysaÿe’ “(after the famous violinist) series. Concerts on the last Sunday of each month, include one piece by a living composer ( wmpconcerthall.com).

Annabelle Avenier, Vice President of the WMP Concert Hall, explains that 17th and 18th century Italian violins are still the reference point.

Over the centuries, violin makers “didn’t change anything on the construction of the instrument because it was already perfect. They tried to use the same varnish, the same measurements. The violin of the 18th century sounds very warm, beautiful, very deep.”

“It’s exciting to have a violin that belonged to a famous person” she says. “Although instruments are built the same way today we don’t know today how it will sound in 200 years. I come from Europe and I would say the weather changes a lot here in New York City. Especially, it’s very humid, and because the violin is made of wood and it’s very sensitive, with the weather it will change. In summer or winter it will not sound the same because the wood is moving w the weather; and in many years, and why they’re so expensive, is they start to be always better and better. It’s not like a piano.”

Why? “We don’t know,” says Ms. Avenier, “Stradivari or Guarneri was not expecting that their violin will sound like this. When they made them the sound was not the same as it is now. The wood is still alive, and the sound is changing and as it is played regularly and you take care of the instrument, it always sounds better.

Despite researching the wood, the varnish, “we still don’t know; we have no explanation” for the almost other-worldly sound. “Violin makers like Mr. Gradoux-Matt build violins and it’s research for them. They try to find something new, maybe in the wood. The method is the same for two centuries, its still hand made, but we have different technologies and they use their imagination.”

It is, as art always is, a mystery.#

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COLLEGES & GRADUATE SCHOOLS

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EDUCATION UPDATE

JUNE 2009

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TOURO COLLEGE: NEW ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM TO ADDRESS LACK OF RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE TRAINING Dr. Bernard Lander, president and founder of Touro College, together with Dr. Michael Williams, dean of Touro’s Graduate School of Business, have announced a unique adult education program in residential real estate to be launched this June.

The non-credit course of study, which will result in a Certificate of Completion for those that complete the program, will be directed by Esther Muller, co-founder of the Academy for Continuing Education and a professor at Touro College’s Graduate School of Business. The program aims not only to re-educate those currently making their living in a constantly changing field, but also to instruct those first entering the field as a result of career change or job loss.

The Graduate School of Business’ Residential Real Estate Entrepreneurship Certificate of Completion’s professional and academic curricula differ from other real estate education offerings by colleges and universities throughout the United States, Dean Williams said, pointing out that other real estate programs focus on commercial real estate, not residential.

“Our primary goal is to elevate the practice of residential real estate from a mere transactional relationship, to one where practitioners are true advisors to their clients’ needs, providing them with relevant data, sound investment strategy, and valuable industry information,” said Dr. Lander.

Dr. Lander, Dr. Williams, and Ms. Muller also envision the Graduate School of Business— located at 65 Broadway, in the heart of New York’s financial district—as becoming a critical hub of the bustling area.

“We see our efforts as part of President Obama’s stimulus agenda,” Dean Williams said. “Our energies are focused on an underserved population which, in the past, might not have had the opportunity to explore educational pursuits that will open countless doors for them. We are training today’s workforce for tomorrow’s jobs.”

He added that the School of Business’ exceptional practitioner-oriented faculty, high-tech business school center, and unparalleled location on Wall Street position it as an international, urban business school of choice.

The lobby of the building at 65 Broadway has undergone a major, two-year renovation, featuring huge sunburst windows, grand marble walls and flooring, and a new state-of-the-art computer lab with two closed-circuit, large-screen televisions for lecture purposes. The Grand Opening for the new lobby occurred in May. “The Grand Opening represents the next phase of the School’s growth, positioning it as a catalyst in the downtown area’s renaissance,” Dean Williams said, adding the celebration will coincide with one of several “Urban Retreats” the

financial planning program at Fordham University and held teaching appointments at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education, Iona College’s Hagen School of Business, DeVry University’s Keller School of Management, and Northeastern University.

Ms. Muller has been educating real estate professionals for more than 15 years at the Academy.

In the late 1970s, she was working with major developers in Connecticut and had started her own firm to facilitate the conversion and sales of rental units to co-ops and condominiums.

In 1980 in New York, she discovered a vast untapped market for conversions and expanded her operations to Manhattan. She was involved in converting dozens of buildings throughout the city, including such residential landmarks as the Ansonia, Leonori, and Parc Vendome condominiums. Ms. Muller has been a top broker at Sopher and Prudential Douglas Elliman, the largest real estate company in New York City. In addition to her expertise in the real estate market, she is an acclaimed lecturer on entrepreneurship and real estate investing. #

school has been offering, which include practical workshops, topical seminars, and hands-on breakthrough sessions.

The Residential Real Estate Entrepreneurship Certificate of Completion will consist of four courses addressing market topics, such as “Trends and Issues in the 21st Century Global Real Estate Markets”, “Technology and Real Estate”, and “Real Estate Finance for Real Estate Professionals”. Other professional programs are planned as well.

“We have found that there are huge gaps in the degree of professionalism in the residential real estate industry because there are gaps in the schooling one needs to enter this field,” Dean Williams said. “Our goal is to help raise the educational standards so that the profession is looked upon more admirably.”

Dean Williams added that the program is invaluable for those currently working in residential real estate. “The rules of the game have changed,” he said. “You cannot conduct business as if you were still in the 20th century and continue to be successful. The public trust has changed.

The way the banks and mortgage brokers do business has changed. Everyone is demanding more accountability and transparency.”

The Touro College programs will instruct students to act as real estate advisors for the long term, rather than merely advising homebuyers on

Calendar of Events JUNE 2009

Medical Lectures NYU CANCER INSTITUTE

http://ci.med.nyu.edu/outreach/calendars NEWS & EVENTS - 2009 Please call 212-263-2266 or e-mail NYUCIcommunityprograms@med.nyu.edu for more information and to register, unless otherwise noted.

THE MANY FACES OF BREAST CANCER Saturday, 6/6 10:00 am - 12:00 pm NYU Langone Medical Center 550 First Avenue (at 31st Street) Farkas Auditorium Join us for the exciting new patient event that is coming to New York City for the first time! Come explore and discuss the needs and issues that directly affect 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the US today with a panel of NYU Cancer Institute medical experts, breast cancer survivors and advocates.

UPDATES FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY

Did you know

Dr. Bernard Lander

Thursday. 6/11 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm NYU Langone Medical Center 550 First Avenue (at 31st Street) Alumni Hall A Join us for a discussion of the latest findings that come out of this meeting.

Open House TOURO COLLEGE NEW YORK SCHOOL OF CAREER AND APPLIED STUDIES 1870-86 Stillwell Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11223 Phone: 718-265-6534 x1015 Fax: 718-265-0614 Location: West 23rd Street New York, NY 10010 Every Tues. & Thurs. from 10: am - 7 pm, Sun. 11:00 am - 5:00 pm. at 27-33.

Telephone: 212-463-0400 ext.500

one-time transactions, Dean Williams said. The programs will also focus on the financial aspects of real estate, including mortgage payments and business plans.

With the downturn in the economy, many people are seeking to get real estate licenses, according to Ms. Muller. “These are people who previously worked in the financial industry and lost their jobs, those looking for a second career for more stability, or moms who must now go back to work to help support their families,” she said. “It’s a large cross-section of our society. We want to help them make that transition.”

Dr. Williams joined Touro College in 2008 after having served as faculty chair of the Human Resource Management, Leadership, and Organizational Development graduate programs in the Graduate School of Business and Technology of Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also served as the director of the

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RESOURCE & REFERENCE GUIDE BOOKS Bank Street Bookstore 112th St. & Broadway ; (212) 678-1654 Exceptional selection of books for children, teachers and parents. Knowledgeable staff.

Free monthly newsletter. Open Mon-Thurs 10-8 PM, Fri & Sat 10–6 PM, Sun 12–5 PM. Logos Books 1575 York Ave, (@84th Street); (212) 517-7292 A charming neighborhood bookstore located in Yorkville featuring quality selections of classics, fiction, poetry, philosophy, religion, bibles and children’s books, and greeting cards, gifts and music.

Books can be mailed. Outdoor terrace.

High Marks In Chemistry 1-877-600-7466; www.HighMarksInSchool.com Over 95,000 books sold. HIGH MARKS: REGENTS CHEMISTRY MADE EASY BY SHARON WELCHER (College Teacher, Chairperson atnd teacher of high school review courses). This book is your private tutor-Easy review book for NEW regents (second edition) with hundreds of questions and solutions, Get HIGH MARKS $10.95.

Available at Leading book stores or call (718)271-7466.

COLLEGES COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND 2800 Victory Boulevard Staten Island, NY 10314 For more information, call 718.982.2019 or email teachersabbatical@mail.csi.cuny.edu Visit our Website at www.csi.cuny.edu/teachersabbatical TEACHERS ON SABBATICAL PROGRAM Specially Designed Graduate Courses (8 credits)

in 15-week Sessions Apply Now for Spring 2009!

The College of Staten Island (CSI) is a senior college of The City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s leading urban university. CSI’s 204-acre landscaped campus, the largest in NYC, is fully accessible and contains an advanced, networked infrastructure to support technology-based teaching, learning, and research. CSI offers 43 undergraduate and 15 master’s degree programs, and participates in the doctoral programs of The City University Graduate School and University Center.

FOSTER CARE & ADOPTION 1-888-611-KIDS Help rebuild a family in your community today!

ESS Foster care and Adoption Children and Teens: Manhattan and Bronx Teens only: All boroughs 1-888-611-KIDS GRADUATE EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOR GRADUATE STUDIES www.iugrad.edu.kn (888) 989 - GRAD (4723) IUGS is an accredited and recognized twenty-eight year old University which offers only master’s and doctoral degrees. All relevant graduate credits including approved continuing education credits are accepted in transfer. Visit our website at www.iugrad. edu.kn or call (888) 989 - GRAD (4723).

MEDICAL NYU Cancer Institute 212-731-5000; www.nyuci.org Understanding Cancer. And you. At the NCI-designated NYU Cancer Institute, we provide access to the latest research,

treatment options, technology, clinical trials and a variety of programs in cancer prevention, screening, diagnostics, genetic counseling and supportive services. Visit www.nyuci.org or call 212-731-5000.

SPECIAL EDUCATION The Sterling School (718) 625-3502 Brooklyn’s private elementary school for Dyslexic children offers a rigorous curriculum, Orton - Gillingham methodology and hands-on multi-sensory learning. Oneto-one remediation is also provided. If your bright Language Learning Disabled child could benefit from our program please do not hesitate to contact Director: Ruth Arberman at 718-625-3502.

Special Education Teachers Wanted Call: 718-436-5147 Fax resume to: 718-436-6843 E-mail resume to: abcdinc@verizon.net Visit our website: www.abcdnyc.net Associates for Bilingual Child Development Inc. is Seeking Mono/Bilingual Special Ed Itinerant Teachers, Bilingual Certified. Teach Preschoolers 3-5 years of age, Full-Time and Part-Time Opportunity, Competitive Salary and Rates. Call: 718-436-5147. Fax resume to: 718-436-6843. E-mail resume to: abcdinc@verizon.net. Visit our website: www.abcdnyc.net SCHOOLS Lycée Français de New York 505 East 75th Street; NY, NY 10021 212-439-3834; Admissions@LFNY.org www.LFNY.org The Lycée Français de New York is a multicultural, bilingual institution with students from fifty nations (preschool-12th grade).

The school is an American, private, nonprofit school chartered by the NY State Board of Regents, and accredited by the French Ministry of Education.

JUNE 2009

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FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

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EDUCATION UPDATE

21

THE PET CORNER

Dogs, Dogs, Those Adorable Dogs: Interview with a Dog Trainer and Spa Owner

Little & big meet on the street

INTERVIEW AND EDITING BY GILLIAN GRANOFF AND DANIEL LEWIS Naresh Jessani is owner of the New York Dog Spa and Hotel. Andrea Arden has a separate business, Andrea Arden Dog Training, and uses space at Naresh’s business. Dr. Pola Rosen and Gillian Granoff sat down with them to talk about their careers, their approaches to their work, and some common misconceptions.

Education Update (EU): What prompted you to start working with dogs and cats?

Andrea (A): I grew up in New York City, and I became obsessed with animals; my parents, luckily, let me indulge in that passion. I actually took a dog to a training school here in New York City, and then I started working with a dog on my own.

As luck would have it, I was walking down the street one day and met Naresh.

R: When you were in high school, did you have a great love and did you want to do this?

A: I didn’t necessarily think I’d be a dog trainer, but I wanted to be involved with animals—I used to ride horses—so yes, at a very young age I loved animals and dreamed that I would have this as a profession.

R: Did you ever consider being a vet?

A: No, because, to be honest, my skills are not in the classroom.. One of the great things Naresh and I do, though, is that we get to be around animals, but we also get to be around people.

R: What experiences did you have that particularly stand out in your mind that helped to shape you in this direction?

A: It sounds a little corny, but my father had a huge influence on me. He was an intense businessman, and didn’t really spend that much time with us as kids. But since he was so obsessed with animals, the time he did spend with us got us interested in animals too. I think probably at the core that’s where it came from.

Gillian (G): When you thought about this as a career, what was the most rewarding part for you, or one of the biggest surprises?

A: I think when I started, because I’d grown up in Manhattan and gone to a private school, I was intimidated almost to tell people at first what I did, But ultimately I realized that working with animals was my passion … I feel very lucky. I think that is why I’ve become successful. I may not be a multi-millionaire, but I’m successful in the sense that I make a good living, I’m really happy with what I do and I’m never bored.

G: Do you have an overall philosophy or particular approach to how you train dogs?

A: I think in a lot of ways it’s similar to how

Andrea Arden, dog trainer

people now are thinking about raising children. I think rather than focusing on letting a dog make mistakes, and then punishing it, why not say, let me focus on setting this dog up for success to begin with so it has as few opportunities to make mistakes as possible. In terms of the actual training or teaching, how you teach a behavior to an animal that doesn’t speak your language is like speaking to a child who speaks a foreign language. Find ways to show behavior, reinforce that behavior, and then reward it. For example, if I wanted a dog to stop at a doorway when I walked out, the old fashioned approach would be to walk to the door, yank the leash or push the dog’s rear down and correct it without teaching it anything. All you’re doing is just saying, “Do it now, or else.” The approach we like to take is to show the dog something you know it wants, and just wait and give the dog a chance to become a problem solver and figure it out in a non-stressful way. When you’re yelling at the dog and it’s looking at you going, “I don’t even know what you’re saying,” it’s hard for the dog to think because it’s stressed. If you just stay calm and wait, the dog will eventually do what you want; then you can say, “Yes!” and mark the behavior and give it reinforcement.

G: What do you do with a dog that’s really stubborn?

A: Again, it’s no different than children. If you have a dog who you are calling stubborn, hard to motivate, why don’t you set it up so that the times you are working with the dog are times when he’s more easily motivated, like when he’s hungry, or when he hasn’t played with his toys for two hours, or when he really wants to go out for a walk. “Want to go for a walk? Ok, I’m going to teach you how to sit to go out for a walk.” Many dog owners spoil their dogs, giving them every single thing they want, and these dogs often are harder to train. I probably wouldn’t be motivated either because I’d be thinking, “I get everything I want for free, why would I work for you?”

R: Are there certain breeds that are easier to handle than others?

A: I tend to be a little careful about making breed generalizations because I think it gets dogs into more trouble than it helps dogs. It’s really easy for people to label dogs in negative ways, and then as a result have a hard time labeling them in positive ways. For example, you’ll often hear, “You can’t train an Airedale because they’re so stubborn,” or “You can’t train Labradors because they’re so hyper.” Let’s not forget that humans have bred dogs over hundreds

Pets play at the NY Dog Spa

if not thousands of years to have specific physical and mental characteristics that are stronger in some dogs than others. A good teacher should recognize that a dog may have certain traits, but you need to figure out ways to work with him and bring out the best in the dog.

At the same time, though, you can’t expect something from the student that’s unrealistic.

I wouldn’t expect, for example, an ex-racing Greyhound not to be stimulated by fast-moving little objects. That’s unrealistic: the dog has not only been bred for it, but also trained for it. At the same time, I do know that I can figure out ways to get the dog more focused on me so that it becomes more controllable.

R: Naresh, you have been working with Andrea for about ten years. Do you have any comments or observations?

Naresh (N): I’m basically a business person. I run this business, which is taking care of people’s

LITERACY

dogs as if they were our own. We do boarding, daycare and grooming here. It’s a lot of responsibility taking care of other people’s dogs because they are basically their children.

I just wanted to add something to what Andrea was talking about earlier. When we started this business, the predominant way people did dog training was to correct a dog using a choke. If you watch the TV shows on dog training at the time I remember there were famous Barbara Woodhouse shows demonstrating this tactic. The approach that Andrea uses is seemingly a lot more humane right off the bat because she is using rewards and motivation rather than punishment. We have a lot of people who come in here saying that doesn’t work, but we find that it does. It’s not only better for the dog but it’s better for the person, too. Who wants to be yanking the dog with a chain or punishing the dog by instilling fear? The dog wants to please you most of the time.#

AND THE

By LISA K. WINKLER “There are big dogs, and little dogs, fat dogs, and thin dogs. My dog is a Labrador.” So began My Dog, a favorite book of our three children.

By the time they were 9, 7, and 4, asking for a Labrador had become a mealtime mantra.

We adopted Willy, a one-year-old yellow lab, who had been returned to his breeder for behaving too much like a dog- accidents on the carpet, chewing furniture and shoes, and tussling with other pets. To us, he was loveable- tolerant of all the poking the children bestowed on him, rambunctious, and fun. And what’s more, we were convinced he could read. Jacob, the eldest, placed signs around the house: “come, sit, and walk.”

And from there, his skills took off-- like a dog chasing a squirrel.

In walks around the block, Willy followed Jacob, who never goes anywhere without a book.

He’d read while walking Willy, much to the concern of several neighbors, worried that Jacob wasn’t watching traffic.

Willy loved bedtime stories. He curled up on the floor or on the children’s beds if I didn’t notice, and listened. When my husband Matthew read Nathan’s favorite, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of Rings trilogy aloud, Willy absorbed the saga of friendship and triumph over evil. With us, he fretted when the slimy Gollum attempted to wrest the ring from Frodo and rejoiced when Aragon came

LABRADOR

to the rescue.

Willy appreciated the countless dog stories read to Lydia, the youngest, relishing the pictures we showed him, noting how no dog was as handsome as he. Harry Potter soon mesmerized Lydia and Willy, with Matthew reading the first five books to Lydia before she could read the rest herself. Willy walked to the town library often, waiting outside while the children searched for books. To show his appetite for library books, he even chewed a few, which I had to replace.

Our dog sitter, a retired German schoolteacher, further nurtured Willy’s love of words. Our nextdoor neighbor reported she overhead Willy being read the New York Times and the New Yorker while sitting in the back garden.

As years past, we moved, and put Willy’s bed in Matthew’s book-lined study. Preparing to leave for the day, we’d remind Willy to do his reading: he had ample selections of history, political, and economic books to choose from. We’d tell him how “smart” he was and give him a list to read while we went to work and school. Modest, he never shared what he read during our absences.

Willy, our 14 1/2 year old yellow Labrador retriever, had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago.

Gone are his bowls and bed; collar and leashes; and extra bags of food and bacon strips. And gone is a dog that loved reading. #

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BOOK REVIEWS

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EDUCATION UPDATE

Logos Bookstore’s Recommendations

By H. Harris Healy, III, President, LOGOS BOOKSTORE 1575 York Avenue (Between 83rd and 84th Sts.) New York, NY 10028 (212) 517-7292 Fax (212) 517-7197 www.logosbookstorenyc.com June is bursting out all over at Logos Bookstore.

By the time you read this. Logos will have hosted a Garden Party on Monday, June 1, 2009, 6 P.M. onwards celebrating the opening of the garden patio as well as the music of noted Russian pianist, Katya Grineva` with a special appearance by her to talk about her upcoming June 12 concert at Carnegie Hall. CDS of her music will have been available that evening and are still available for purchase at the store.

On Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 7 P.M., Kill Your TV Reading Group (KYTV) will discuss Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connnor. Literary agent, Richard Curtis will lead The Sacred Texts Group in a discussion of the concluding chapters of the Gospel of Matthew on Monday, June 8, 2009 at 7 P.M. And cabaret singer, Joan Bender, will sing in the garden patio Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 7-8:30 P.M. (Rain date: Thursday, June 18, 2009, 7-8:30 P.M.).

It is a good time to shop for Graduation and Father’s Day. Logos has several books on baseball, history and current affairs as well as greeting cards and gift items for the occasion.

Also featured in one of the wooden display racks next to a section of children’s books is a section devoted to comic books like Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts, Ziggy by Tom Wilson, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, Gary Trudeau’s Doonsbury, the Dilbert books by Scott Adams, the Tintin books

of Herge and the Asterix books of Goscinny and Uderzo among others. Come celebrate late Spring and the beginning of Summer at Logos Bookstore!

Upcoming Events At Logos Monday, June 1, 2009 6 p.m. onwards Garden Party and the music of Katya Grineva, come meet and greet the artist.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at 7 P.M., KYTV Reading Group will discuss Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor.

Monday, June 8, 2009 at 7 P.M., The Sacred Texts Group led by Richard Curtis will discuss the concluding chapters of the Gospel of Matthew.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 7-8:30 P.M., cabaret singer, Joan Bender will perform in the Garden Patio.

(Rain date, Thursday June 18, 2009, 7-8:30 P.M.) Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 7 P.M., KYTV Reading Group will discuss Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Children’s Story Time led by Lily is every Monday at 11 A.M. Transit: 4.5.6 subways to Lexington Avenue and 86th Street, M86 Bus (86th St.), M79 Bus (79th St.), M31 Bus (York Ave.), M15 Bus (1st& 2ND Aves.) .

POETRY AT DOWNSTATE REUNION

Lighting up the Amygdala

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JUNE 2009

REVIEW OF Manga High—Literacy, Identity And Coming Of Age In An Urban High School Manga High—literacy, Identity And Coming Of Age In An Urban High School

by Michael Bitz, Foreword by Francoise Mouly Published by Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, MA, May 2009. (196 pp)

By MERRI ROSENBERG Figuring out how to reach hard-to-reach kids is quite possibly the Holy Grail of dedicated inner-city teachers who are confronted daily by challenges unimaginable to those working in more secluded precincts.

For Michael Bitz, an educator who brought the Comic Book Project as an after-school activity to Martin Luther King Jr. High School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 2004, the students’ enthusiastic embrace of the initiative was, simply, astounding.

What was even more striking was that when these students were presented with the project—to write and illustrate comic books around the theme of environmental awareness and protection—the designs and narratives produced echoed Japanese manga, rather than traditional American comic book styles. An off-shoot of 12th century Japanese pictorial scrolls, manga captivated Japanese imagination after World War II, when American soldiers shared their own culture’s comics.

“These high-schoolers were passionate about the manga stories and the characters contained therein,” Bitz wrote.

What was it about manga that resonated so deeply with these students? Unlike traditional comics, with their somewhat remote superheroes, “manga’s commitment to the mundane

WCS’S NEW YORK AQUARIUM PUBLIC EVENTS 2009

The Histology and Pathology slides were absolutely fascinating.

The wildness of the malignant cells was a sight to behold.

Was I the only one afraid I had cancer?

In the hospital world of withered bodies, shattered lives, blood and bones, Hungry growths, the stench of flesh decayed— That was where we learned our trade.

The New York Aquarium provides an enjoyable and educational experience for the whole family to enjoy. All events run from noon to 4:00 p.m. and are free with paid admission.

Terrible Twos – celebrating the 2nd Birthday of our beloved Baby Walrus, June 13–14 Join us in a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday for Akituusaq, our baby walrus, as he celebrates his second birthday! Face painting, walrus workshops, costumed characters, and music all add up to an experience not to be missed. Kids get to sign and draw their special birthday greeting on the Aquarium’s Wall-rus giant greeting card.

Mermaids of the Deep, June 20–21 A fantastical weekend showcasing myths and legends of the high seas. Mermaids, Nemo, Poseidon and Aquaman! The Aquarium rolls out the carpet in Coney Island style with music, games, face painting, and crafts throughout

It wasn’t much better when we met all those microbes.

“You arrogant young people want to eliminate all pathogens!

We suffered with the suffering. We slaved until we dropped.

Dante’s Inferno could not have been worse.

But it was GREAT! Don’t you agree?

_____________ Martin A. Silverman is a psychiatrist in Maplewood, NJ reminiscing about his medical school days.

By MARTIN A. SILVERMAN, M.D. My lab partner worked so carefully that time seemed to run backwards.

But he made up for it by running our cadaver for class treasurer.

He came in second.

Ah, the joy of memorizing the Encyclopedia Medico-Surgica.

Thank goodness for scatological mnemonics (the nastier the better).

Who of us will ever forget the lingual nerve!

Why did I put that cork in the beaker I was warming gently to sort its ingredients?

The flying glass shot the guy behind me in Biochem lab squarely in the back.

Like Queen Victoria, he was not amused.

If we wanted to learn, we had to be willing to be guinea pigs.

Why did I have to have such prominent veins?

And that poor guy who chose the milk diet!

Remember when we attended our first autopsy?

Three of the students fainted dead away.

They all became surgeons.

You can’t get rid of them. You have to learn to live with them!”

How about the Hematology Professor who called me an idiot?

“Sickle thalassemia in a black child?

Thalassemia’s a Mediterranean disease!”

Then she wrote a paper on it.

We asked why they worked us so hard when we got to the clinical years.

“They made us do it, it’s your turn now,” we heard in brusque reply.

I didn’t know you had to be a lab technician before you could become a doctor.

We walked asleep; we talked asleep, delivered babies in our sleep.

I fell asleep once standing up, on one of those tedious morning rounds.

“Thank you, John; you caught me just before I hit the ground.”

A study in contrast was Hillman and Hellman, Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde.

I gave answers for nearly four hours. Then the slightest Of errors loosed an acid barrage.

and the ordinary that spoke to the students in the club at MLKHS,” said Bitz He added, “This was not a convenient escape from reality—it was authentic engagement in language and literature. From an educator’s perspective, this is extraordinary. As we struggle to engage children in reading, the youths at MLKHS were engrossed in books. They were reading on their own time and of their own volition, and they were doing so at an insatiable pace…It was uncanny how much the students loved to read, especially considering the poor grades that most of them received in their English language arts classes.”

Through manga, and the Comic Book Project, these students gained other benefits. They forged stronger social relationships with one another, enhanced their skills at crafting compelling narratives in storyboard form and learned how to use Adobe Photoshop to produce visually sophisticated manga books.

As Bitz said, “The students were as amazed as anyone at what they had created. They were proud of themselves, and pleased that other people were so impressed by their work. For many of the club participants, this was the first time that they were celebrated for their accomplishments in school.”

How poignant—that it took an after-school club, centered on comic books, to provide these students with a sense of pride in their work.

Reading through the individual student narratives that Bitz shares here is humbling, and inspiring. No wonder the MLKHS students have become a model for other students around the country. This project is certainly worth replicating.#

the day.

Halloween at the A-scarium, October 31November 1 Dress up the family and join us for this safe, fun, and educational Halloween tradition. Learn all about the monsters of the deep while you enjoy face painting, games, prizes, and arts and crafts. Experience the thrill of our new “Haunted Pavilion” and our special 4D Halloween ride. #

JUNE 2009

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FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

GUEST EDITORIAL

Addressing the Lack of Parent Access in Our School System

By WILLIAM C. THOMPSON, JR. Parents are essential stakeholders in our public education system. There is no group more invested in the success of our students. Yet too often in our city recently, our parents have been told to sit quietly on the sidelines as others make the critical decisions about their children’s education.

Clearly, a well-run education system needs and depends upon the input, passionate commitment and insight of its parents for success.

In New York City, there are three key ways for parents to become involved in education policy decisions affecting their children: through local district Community Education Councils (CECs), school-based leadership teams (SLTs) and through Parent Associations (PAs).

My office just released a report—available at http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/—exploring the nature and quality of parental involvement in those bodies through discussions with officers of 24 of the City’s 32 CECs, members of SLTs, PAs and other parent leaders. What we found was deeply troubling.

Designed to represent elementary and middle school parents at the community school district level, CECs are effectively blocked from exercising the powers and duties given to them by the Education Law. SLTs likewise are of very limited effectiveness, while far too many schools do not even have a functioning Parent Association or Parent/Teacher Association.

At least 10 different provisions of the Education Law governing Community Education Councils currently are not being followed by the City’s Department of Education (DOE). Most significantly, CECs are not consulted by Tweed before the opening, closing or reconfiguration of schools in their districts. At the same time, CECs have been largely unable to evaluate the Superintendents in their districts because the Superintendents have been reassigned to spend up to 90 percent their time working to improve achievement in schools outside of the district.

This has all occurred as a direct result of DOE decision-making. In fact, the CECs have at times needed to resort to court action to maintain paren-

tal powers codified in state law.

For instance, it took a lawsuit to prevent the DOE from eviscerating CEC authority to approve proposed changes in school zone attendance lines in Harlem andBrownsville. And the just-filed District 2 CEC lawsuit states that DOE created zones for the two new schools now under construction in lowerManhattan without seeking CEC approval or even consulting the CEC, a disturbing illustration of DOE’s disregard for CECs. Additionally, many schools across the city do not have functioning SLTs. And, with respect to parent associations, State Education Law requires that every school have a PA or a PTA, but unfortunately, the most recent data suggests that close to 18 percent of our public schools have either no parent association whatsoever, or an association with so few parent officers it cannot effectively function.

While parents have struggled to play a meaningful role in all of these bodies, the increased time spent by superintendents out of their home districts has left them unavailable to assist parents.

Understaffing at the Office of Family Engagement and Advocacy has stymied its ability to fill the gap. There are at most only three Family Advocates per district, and some districts have only one. Because they report to Tweed rather than the district superintendent, their ability to resolve parent concerns is limited.

To clarify and strengthen the role and authority of parents serving on CECs, SLTs and in PAs, district superintendents should work primarily in their home districts, as the State Legislature intended and a State court has ordered. Also, State law should be amended to ensure that principals fully collaborate fully with SLTs to prepare comprehensive education plans and assure the SLT has complete input into the school-based budget.

We must also upgrade the training required by law for parents who serve on SLTs and CECs, and amend Education Law to ensure that CECs are notified and have ample time to advise and be consulted before significant actions are taken that affect a district school or schools.

Further, superintendents must be in charge of District Family Advocates. And, we should streamline the current structure for parent

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EDUCATION UPDATE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR PROVIDENCE, RI Dr. Norman G. Levinsky: A Great Teacher Remembered Forever To the Editor: This eulogy and article is a work of art. Norman was my role model, teacher, mentor and hero. I always think of how he would conduct or critique an experiment or design a study and interpret it honestly and without bias no matter what the outcome (good or bad). I thank you for publishing this article.

Marc S Weinberg, MD, FACP, FASN LYNCHBURG, VA Can Employees Express Political Views in Public Schools?

To the Editor: I strongly agree that everyone is entitled to his or her own political views, but promoting a teacher’s viewpoint to a captive student audience is wholly inappropriate. I recently attended a school play that was not only politically offensive, but the children involved were promoting their teacher’s political agenda, not their own views. It was appalling to see children exploited in this way, especially in a public school.

Lynne engagement, and publicly disclose basic information about which schools have functioning SLTs and parent associations, along with data regarding the performance of CECs; and Implementing these measures would go a long way toward giving parents the kind of meaningful role in the development and implementation of education policy that they deserve and to which they are largely already entitled under current law.

The Department of Education must fundamentally rethink its view of the role of parents in our city’s education system and ensure that parents feel that they are welcome partners in it.# William C. Thompson, Jr. is Comptroller of New York City. He is a former Board of Education President.

IN THIS ISSUE Guest Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Spotlight on Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8 Medical Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

HARLEM DREAM AWARD 2008

Special Education . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-15

23

EDUCATION UPDATE Mailing Address:

695 Park Avenue, Ste. E1509 New York, NY 10065 Email: ednews1@aol.com www.EducationUpdate.com Tel: 212-650-3552 Fax: 212-772-4769

PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF: Pola Rosen, Ed.D.

ADVISORY COUNCIL: Mary Brabeck, Dean, NYU School of Education; Shelia Evans-Tranumn, Assoc.

Comm. of Education, NYS; Charlotte K. Frank, Ph.D., Senior VP, McGraw-Hill; Joan Freilich, Ph.D., Trustee, Barnard College & College of New Rochelle; Andrew Gardner, Technology Teacher & Advisor, The School at Columbia U.; Cynthia Greenleaf, Ph.D.; Augusta S. Kappner, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Bank St. College; Bonnie Kaiser, Ph.D., Director, Precollege Program, Rockefeller University; Harold Koplewicz, M.D., Founder & Director, NYU Child Study Center; Ernest Logan, Pres., CSA; Cecilia McCarton, M.D., Dir., The McCarton Center; Eric Nadelstern, CEO, Empowerment Schools, NYC; Alfred S. Posamentier, Ph.D., Dean, School of Education, CCNY; David Steiner, Dean, Hunter College; Adam Sugerman, Publisher, Palmiche Press; Laurie Tisch, Chair, Center for Arts Education

ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Heather Rosen, Adam Sugerman, Rob Wertheimer

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Dan Lewis

ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Shara Grau

GUEST COLUMNISTS: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Dr. Carole Hankin, Martha McCarthy, Ph.D.,Dean Alfred Posamentier, Raul Silva, M.D.,Martin Silverman, M.D., Willliam Thompson, Comptroller, Dr. Gina VerroneCoffaro, Charles Yurgalevitch, Ph.D.,

STAFF WRITERS: Jan Aaron, McCarton Ackerman, Jacob Appel, J.D., Judith Aquino, Joan Baum, Ph.D., Adam Bloch, Alberto Cepeda, Dorothy Davis, Steven Frank, Gillian Granoff, Richard Kagan, Sybil Maimin, Martha McCarthy, Ph.D., Joy Resmovits, Lauren Shapiro, Emily Sherwood, Ph.D., Marisa Suescun, Lisa Winkler

COVER STORY . . . . . . . 9-10, 12-14

BOOK REVIEWERS:

College Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Harris Healy III, Merri Rosenberg, Selene Vasquez

PRESENTED TO

Colleges & Grad Schools . . . . . . . 14-21

MEDICAL EDITOR:

Dr. Pola Rosen

Theater Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

MODERN LANGUAGE EDITOR:

Harlem Children Ա Society

Music, Art & Dance . . . . . . . . 4, 16, 19 Pets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Herman Rosen, M.D. Adam Sugerman

MOVIE & THEATER REVIEWS: Jan Aaron

MUSIC EDITOR: Irving M. Spitz

ART DIRECTOR: Neil Schuldiner

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EDUCATION UPDATE

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FOR PARENTS, EDUCATORS & STUDENTS

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JUNE 2009

Summer in the City:

2009 Classes at 2008 Prices

The most summer courses in New York City at CUNY campuses in all five boroughs.

WELCOME!

Summer Academic Calendar

Summer on Campus

Summer is the perfect time to jumpstart your education, your career, and even your leisure-time activities at The City University of New York. CUNY’s colleges offer thousands of courses... >>

Courses offered at 18 CUNY Colleges in sessions of various lengths from May 26 to August 13 to fit your own summer schedule.

Find special offerings and events at each campus.

Summer Events Performing arts, lectures, readings, activities: more than enough to do this summer at CUNY.

Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor

Online Baccalaureate You've always wanted to complete your degree.... now’s your chance! Busy adults have the opportunity to obtain a high-quality bachelor’s degree.

Adult & Continuing Education

Kids & Teens

Opportunities

More courses and opportunities than any other leading institution in New York City.

Make CUNY your first stop this summer.

Prepare your children for life-long success at CUNY this summer. Students of all ages can benefit academically, socially, and creatively.

• College Now • Worker Education • Study Abroad

Apply to CUNY • Open Houses • Undergraduate Admissions

Copyright CUNY 2009 • Security/Privacy Policy • Accessibility • Terms of Use • Site Map

www.cuny.edu/summer Find your course at our one-stop-shopping site!