This week I handed out 20 copies of our first commercial at the American Educational Research Association's annual meeting. The piece was the result of collaboration between a film maker, photographer, and a scholar.
Borrowing from Freire, this video is a "codification" that presents a contradiction to various publics. It also responds to the first point in our petition: NCLB misdiagnoses the causes of poor educational development, blaming teachers and students for problems over which they have no control.
We do not deny that many students suffer from poor schools and poor teaching, but policy makers cannot respond to the very real crisis in our schools while at the same time ignoring issues that will not be helped by increased test scores.
If you received a copy, I gave it to you in the hopes that you would help us make more. We would like a codification for each point of the petition as we believe that we cannot replace NCLB with legislation more conducive to life, liberty, and happiness without using media to do so.
The simple truth is that many people do not respond to the written word, but they are quite capable of "reading the world."
45 seconds cost us $3,000, which is a steal. If you have a copy, and it resonated with you, it would help us out greatly if you contributed to our organization. We cannot make more of these videos until we raise money to do so. For the record, your contribution is tax deductable.
Finally, if you did receive a copy of the film, I ask that you pass it on, ideally to an elected official, as we need to change the language they employ to describe reality. The problem, arguably, is not the "achievement gap," it is the fact that we ignore all of the other gaps between white, black, and brown children.
• The incarceration gap, where six times as many African Americans are behind bars compared to their white counterparts;
• The homeowner gap, where 72.7% of white Americans own their homes compared to 48.2% of African Americans;
• The healthcare gap, where 71.4% of white Americans are insured compared to 53.9% of African Americans;
• The earnings gap, where white Americans average over $20,000 more a year than African Americans;
• The poverty rate gap, where 8.7% of white Americans live at or below the poverty line while 24.7% of African Americans do so;
• The unemployment gap, where 5.7% of white Americans are unemployed while 13.2% of African Americans are without work;
• The happiness gap, where 72% of white youths say they are happy with life in general compared to 56% of their African American counterparts;
• The murder gap, where 49% of murder victims in the United States are African Americans, who make up 13% of the population.
You passing the video on helps us inform others about the gaps outside of our schools that must be narrowed if we want all children to develop into critical, caring, reflective, and engaged adults. Said differently, close these gaps, and there won't be an achievement gap.
