Spencer Bowley
First of all, happy birthday to my fellow intern, Andrea! Yesterday was her birthday, and here at the office we had some pizza and some cake to celebrate. Unfortunately, Andrea's birthday wasn't the only reason for this party.
Yesterday was Andrea's last day working here, and tomorrow will be my (official) last day. I will still work some with YPP even after this week, however, and will post on my blog some as well. Andrea left town this morning, heading down to New Orleans for about a week before returning home. I'd like to say thank you to her for making this a great and fun internship. You can check out her most recent blog for a pretty good summary of what we've been doing here. I would like to talk about one event in particular.
Last Tuesday, a panel was held on the Jackson State University campus on the topic of "Finishing the Dream," discussing how the struggles of the civil rights workers in the 1960s and beyond impact today's world, and what we need to do to ensure that their work is continued today. Among the panelists were Clarion-Ledger investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, civil righs activist James Meredith, and YPP's very own Albert Sykes, who stole the show. Albert received applause for pretty much everything he said, so get ready to see him running for mayor in the next few years, because it's clear people like him and he has good, smart things to say.
I'm going to leave this blog with a question for my readers (if any of them are out there): What do you think is the single biggest problem facing public education today, and why? Is it teacher ability/performance? Is it underfunding? Is it lack of parental involvment? Or is it something else? I'll respond to any comments I get, plus give my opinion in my next post. Thanks!
