Fruit for Thought: the Intersection of Education, Culture, and Performance

I believe the GOP and their loyal followers - who refuse to send their children to school for fear they might listen to President Obama’s “Stay in School” message - are not only ignorant, lacking mental acuity, but they are part of the problem and the reason this country is in shambles. If you object to his message and his philosophy that perfectly fine, but please, please be prepared to share your own solutions. Otherwise, in the words of elementary school teachers around the country with absent students, " if you do not have anything construct to say, be quiet ." Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is one of the guilty parties who he stepped up to criticize President Obama for targeting the classroom by saying it “is no place to show a video address from Obama.” Interesting. Well, Gov. Pawlenty, what do you say to Laura Bush who supports President Obama saying, “There’s a place for the president of the United States to…encourage schoolchildren” and what about those thousands o...

I vowed I would stay out of it. Since everyone took sides on February 9 – namely the side of the attacked, condemning the attacker – I felt I did not need to say anything. Instead, I kept my mouth shut. While I sat back and took it all in, celebrity after celebrity after celebrity after celebrity quickly ran to the defense of Rihanna and saw her as the “victim” while labeling Chris Brown as the “bad guy.” I waited to see how many celebrities would be peer-pressured into saying something one way or another. Waited to see which personality would be next to bash Chris Brown . To see how emotions influenced people to rush to judgments without getting the entire story and hearing all sides. So I waited and my opportunity presented itself when Larry King was given the first Chris Brown interview . In has knack for pushing the issue, Larry King tried to get Chris Brown to tell what happened for the sake of his audience who wanted to know the truth from the mouths of the parties involved....

The draft has come and gone. All the hype about potential players has died down and teams are preparing to debut these rookies in hopes that their presence will help the team. Well, all except one. The Timberwolves are still licking their wounds after Ricky Rubio (their 5th pick) decided he needed a couple more years in Spain to prepare for the NBA . Maybe, in this Post-NBA Age Rule Era , Rubio thinks it is too complicated for a 19-year old European to make that big of a transition right now. This news just adds to the continuing disappointment the NBA has experienced since the anticlimactic, five-game NBA Finals. Everyone expected or at least hoped for the Lakers and Magic to go seven games especially after both Conference Finals Series went six. And kudos to Nike (three Kobe-centric commercials featuring an at home Lebron) and Vitamin Water ( Dwight Howard debating with himself over who he think is better) for doing a decent job recovering from their botched campaigns. The ensuing ...

The past is a daily occurrence existing the second after it happens. Occasionally, those past moments become history-making events that will forever stay etched on the mind. So much so, can recall - with accuracy and great detail - where you were and what you were doing when it happened. - September 11, 2001 I was two weeks into my third semester at Howard and already I did not care for my early Tuesday morning (11am) Accounting class. I did most of my studying and videogaming during the wee hours of the morning. So naturally I was a night owl who hated being awakened for anything less than an emergence. When my roommate barged in, woke me up and turned on the TV, I knew something was wrong. - August 29, 2005 My second day on the job as an Assistant Japanese English Teacher. The fourteen-hour time difference made it challenging to keep up with family, friends and the news. As I did every morning before classes, I browsed the top news sites so I could stay in the loop from 7,000-plus mi...

ESPN took my idea. Yeah, I said it: the subsidiary of Disney STOLE MY HEADLINE!!! Well, not really. My gears were turning the moment Y.E. Yang won the PGA Championship . I had planned on using Yang’s name in a clever play on words. I guess I was not the only one with that idea. Darn you ESPN, you and your team of ingenious sports writers. I, along with most golf followers, pretty much counted everyone else out. The numbers – as complied by ESPN – are never wrong: 5 – the number of PGA Championship wins Tiger will have after Sunday (tying him with Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagan). 15 – the number of career majors Tiger will have collected after Sunday (will be three behind Nicklaus) & the number of wins Tiger will have when he is leading after the first three rounds. 48 – the number of win Tiger will have (out of 51 tries) when he is at least tied for the lead after 54 holes. 1 – the number of losses Tiger will maintain when leading by two strokes or more in any tournament (36-1 reco...

From Falcons to Eagles, Michael Vick is flying high again . The only thing better than one scrambling QB is two scrambling QBs. I find it very interesting how Vick’s comeback has been foreshadowed for weeks. 8/4: Vick practices for the first time with the Landstown High School Eagles. 8/9: Vick’s mentor, Tony Dungy, said: "He's talked to a lot of people, and I don't know why I say this, but I think something will happen this week. All you need is that one team. That is our prayer -- that he finds that one team and that he finds the best opportunity to make it work." Source: NBC Sports 8/11: When Chris Mortensen asked Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid if would consider Vick, Reid said that he believes that Vick deserves another chance, but he is happy with his quarterback situation. The Eagles’ front office kept their plot under wraps until they felt the time was right: their first preseason game against the Patriots. “PETA and millions of decent football fans arou...

For all the 47 million (and counting) Latinos in America, this has been a historic week and one would be ignorant not to acknowledge the 17% (and growing) majority minority pride. Please hold all applause until I finish announcing all the awards. First, Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Latino Supreme Court Justice . Though her opposition  is concerned with “her statements and rulings on hot-button issues such as gun control, affirmative action and property rights” and think she is “intent on reinterpreting the law to conform with her own liberal political beliefs,” her summa cum laude from Princeton, editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Studies in World while at Yale Law School, 11 years on the Court of Appeals (Second Circuit) and several other impressive lifetime accomplishments make those 31 naysayers feel pretty intellectually and professionally inferior. Second, George Lopez, “one man, no water, no towel, no stool, one kidney sold out the AT&T Cent...