Saturday, May 17, 2008
Postal Service Improved?
Saw this headline from WBBM-AM's news feed a couple of weeks ago.It referred to the quality of postal delivery in Chicago, a recurrent topic.
What it reminded me of was my childhood in Easton, Maryland.
212 S. Aurora Street.Those days, back in the 1940's, the postman came twice a day.
I remember when he started coming only once a day, but I can't give you a year.
So, whether Post Office delivery has improved or not depends on your starting point.
Labels: 212 S. Aurora Street, Easton, Maryland, Post Office, Postman
Friday, September 07, 2007
School board Member Immigrant from Mexico Criticizes Bilingual Education
Imagine my surprise at the West Chicago school board president strongly criticizing bilingual education.
When I was in first grade (the only first grade class, Miss Callahan’s) in Easton, Maryland, in 1948 two really big girls joined us after school started.
After a while we saw them in the hall mixing with another class. I think it was the second graders in Miss Sullivan’s class across the hall.
Later they went to still a third teacher and then, they disappeared into the upper levels of elementary school at the front of the building.
I learned they were called “displaced persons,” “DP’s” for short.
The point of this little story is that there was no bilingual education in 1948-49 and these two girls presumably did fine.
Fast forward to 1975, I think, when Boris Antonovych, a Republican Ukrainian American in the Illinois House was sponsoring a bilingual education bill. He sat behind me next to Roger Keats. Both had been elected the same year.
We had the bill beaten when Boris prevailed upon his seatmate Roger to switch his vote from “No” to “Yes.”
The bill ended up passing.
I think it was later that I verified my early personal experience by talking to Gil Johnston, a professor at John Marshall Law School.
Before that he had headed legal aid in Hawaii.
Gil told me that the native Hawaiians who went to the native speaking schools generally “didn’t make it.” Those who attended English-speaking schools did.
Now, the Sunday Daily Herald’s lead story is about another immigrant, one from Mexico, who is now president of the West Chicago School Board.
55-year old Tony Reyes told reporter Rupa Shenoy:
And, here’s a tid-bit from far down in the long article:
How different from the Waukegan experience where a teacher was fired because she couldn’t speak Spanish.
When I was in first grade (the only first grade class, Miss Callahan’s) in Easton, Maryland, in 1948 two really big girls joined us after school started.
After a while we saw them in the hall mixing with another class. I think it was the second graders in Miss Sullivan’s class across the hall.
Later they went to still a third teacher and then, they disappeared into the upper levels of elementary school at the front of the building.
I learned they were called “displaced persons,” “DP’s” for short.
The point of this little story is that there was no bilingual education in 1948-49 and these two girls presumably did fine.
Fast forward to 1975, I think, when Boris Antonovych, a Republican Ukrainian American in the Illinois House was sponsoring a bilingual education bill. He sat behind me next to Roger Keats. Both had been elected the same year.
We had the bill beaten when Boris prevailed upon his seatmate Roger to switch his vote from “No” to “Yes.”
The bill ended up passing.
I think it was later that I verified my early personal experience by talking to Gil Johnston, a professor at John Marshall Law School.
Before that he had headed legal aid in Hawaii.
Gil told me that the native Hawaiians who went to the native speaking schools generally “didn’t make it.” Those who attended English-speaking schools did.
Now, the Sunday Daily Herald’s lead story is about another immigrant, one from Mexico, who is now president of the West Chicago School Board.
55-year old Tony Reyes told reporter Rupa Shenoy:
“By the end of the first day, he and the rest of the Mexican kids had learned at least one English phrase: ‘Miss, may I be excused?’His success story adds a third point in my belief that English immersion is the way to go.
“’It came out more like, “Miss bees cues?”
“‘It was like a rhyme,’ Reyes said. ‘If you didn't learn it, you wet your pants.’"
And, here’s a tid-bit from far down in the long article:
“test scores seem to indicate something is working. As the school's Latino population increases, standardized test scores have improved.”And,
“In reading, 21.1 percent of Latinos met AYP goals in 2004. The next year 32.6 percent hit the mark, and in 2006, 43.5 percent did so.”Any local high school able to show that kind of progress?
How different from the Waukegan experience where a teacher was fired because she couldn’t speak Spanish.
Labels: Bilngual Education, Boris Antononvych, Displaced Persons, DP's, Easton, Gil Johnston, John Marshall Law School, Roger Keats, Tony Reyes, West Chicago High School
Friday, July 27, 2007
Message of the Day – A Tee Shirt
At the McHenry Marlins victory splash party, I saw an intriguing tee shirt about dodgeball.I have fond memories of playing dodgeball with Tommy Callahan, Stan Johnson, Bill Hill, Leroy Miller and Timmy (whose last name I can’t pull up, but who was the fastest runner, even though he was the shortest). We did it in a circle on an asphalt playground at Easton (Maryland) Elementary School, a three-story building with outside fire escape for the 5th graders on the top floor. It’s now the site of the Talbot County Health Department.
My son says that Crystal Lake’s South Elementary School won’t allow the kids to play dodgeball.
Or tag.
Or soccer.
No roughhousing.
But McHenry’s Fiesta Days have no such compunction.
In fact, the festival held its first dodgeball competition this year on July 14th.
I talked to a swim Dad who works in the McHenry County Jail.
He told me that basketball courts were used at the new middle school across from the McHenry Drive-In Theatre.
Just imagine.
Grown men standing in two lines across a basketball court throwing balls about the size of ninepin bowling balls at each other.
Only softer.
It was described as a big nerf ball.
21-year olds versus much older guys.
And having a ball.
The tee shirt that caught my attention said,MADAIgnoring the obvious, as I with a Rockford YMCA tee shirt, I asked,
McHenry Area
Dodgeball
Association
“What does ‘MADA’ stand for?”The swim Mom said, “It stands for ‘McHenry Area Dodgeball Association.’”
Dah.
And, on the back of the tee shirt, you can see there are even sponsors.
The swim Dad said some of the guys on the Sheriff’s patrol were a bit miffed that they hadn’t been invited to form a team.
My guess is the second year of this contest will be much bigger than the first.
I found the National Dodgeball Amateur Association web site and, lo and behold, there are all sorts of program--48 in all--including ones in Crystal Lake and Algonquin.
And, the McHenry Parks and Recreation program has a MySpace web site.
Labels: Dodgeball, Easton, Fiesta Days, McHenry, South Elementary School
