The Day China was Bathed in Red

On October 1, 1949 Chairman Mao stood at the Forbidden City and announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China. As I've been reading Jan Wong's book Red China Blues I've come to a greater understanding of Maoist China. Wong grew up in a suburb of Montreal during the sixties and went to China at the age of 19 as a tourist in 1972. During her visit she was accepted into Beijing University for a year long stay. As a foreigner she was treated both with respect and distrust. She had grown to love Mao and his thought as an activist in Montreal and enjoyed taking part in the height of the cultural revolution, even if it did mean snitching on possible counterrevolutionary classmates and working in a factory and a field to experience manual labor and thought reform. When she went home, she still felt incredibly bourgeoisie.
Wong graduated from McGill then returned to China and enrolled again at Beijing University, where she graduated in Chinese History ten months after the death of the Great Helmsman. Along with the rest of her class Wong experienced months of physical labor and malnourishment while in school. After graduation she got a job with the New York Times Beijing office. After the Cultural Revolution fell apart and she threw away her Mao goggles it was easier for her to see the numerous human rights issues and every blemish in the system. She and her husband (an American draft dodger) moved to the States where she went to Columbia to get a masters (he got a Ph.D. in Physics from NYU). Eight years later she returned to China covering for the Montreal Mail and Globe. No better timing for a journalist.
The day mentioned in the title did not refer to the coronation ceremony of Red China in 1949. Rather the end put to the mass protests for regime change and democracy surrounding the death of an heir, and the Sino-Soviet summit attended by Mikhail Gorbachev. When asked what he would do about the protests, the Russian responded, "I would use democracy to resolve this confrontation." Deng Xiaoping responded with Martial Law, and--on June 4, 1989--bullets.
Wang went to Tiananmen Square to get statements from protestors and student leaders and left just ten minutes before the massacre began. She watched the rest from a 14th floor balcony of a fellow reporter at the Beijing Hotel.
As I read her account of the violence I sat horrified. I still find it hard to believe that so many soldiers were willing to kill their own countrymen simply to comply with an order from the head of government, who at this point had little control of anything in the country--except the People's Liberation Army. Apparently he thought the army could be best put to use at liberating the people from the confines of Tiananmen square where they had been peacefully protesting for nearly two months. On that day of bloodshed the Chinese government reported that they killed 241 people and wounded 7,000, although estimates from more legitimate sources report up to 7,000 deaths (NATO). It boggles my mind that when I was four years old the government of an industrialized country ordered their army, an army named for their duty to liberate the people and brainwashed to repeat the phrase 'The army loves the people, the people love the army,' to open fire on a significantly large group of peaceful demonstrators. Granted, the same type of thing happened just 13 years earlier on a much smaller scale and such action could almost be anticipated from the likes of the repressing Chinese dictatorship, it's still a wonder to me how this happened life went on all around the world. In the US groups staged protests and George Bush stopped all military sales to China. And everybody in China went back to work making our shoes, toys and office supplies. I guess a lot of change has happened since then, but I they're still a long shot from enough change. And when it comes, it might seem like it's a day late and a dollar short, but now's better than Mao and later's better than never. The Olympics looked nice the other year. The U.S. beat the Chinese is nearly everything but gymnastics. Oh, the irony to losing to China in a competition of flexibility.
That's really all I had to say. If anyone old enough to remember this could tell me their initial reaction to the massacre, that'd be cool.

Trust, Risk and Learning

Granpa's trade is whiskey making and considers himself pretty good at it. Since it's the only trade he knows, he teaches this trade to Little Tree (five years old at the time). Leaving the still one day, a couple of men were set out on the path and they had to hide the still and split up so Granpa could get away with the bulk of the wares. Little Tree was confronted and chased by the men, but made it back home safely to find Granpa and Granma waiting for him. In another chapter Little Tree bought a calf from a "Christian man" for $.50, which died on the way home from town. Granpa explained that if he would have stopped him from buying it, Little Tree would have always looked back on the day feeling sore at Granpa. If he would have told him to buy it, he would have blamed the calf dying (and losing the $.50) on Granpa. "Ye'll have to learn as ye go."
The close call coming back from the still and the poor trade with a Christian really cemented Granpa and Granma's teaching methods for me. They knew that Little Tree would encounter these situations in life and did not hide from it. In fact, I believe that they expected him to find him self in a similar jam later on in life and that he would need to make a decision then as well. Although only five years old, they were not going to sheild him from the world, they were willing to let him experience it. It's hard to believe that you can give a kid money and not expect him to spend it. Or give him responsibility in an illegal whiskey operation and not expect him to run into trouble at some point. Granma and Granpa knew the risks associated with allowing Little Tree to be an active participant in their family; to be his own, really. I take them as folks who can assess risks in life. The way they let Little Tree learn was not without risks, but the most protective way of learning doesn't come without risks itself.
We have no choice as health educators but to teach according to the political safeguards made by policymakers, local education administrators and school boards. This makes it difficult sometimes to be as effective as we'd like. We must trust that there is enough education going on in the home, church or other auxillary institution that our teaching is not necessary. But really, the only subject safeguarded in sexuality education, and we have free reign over the rest of the course. We aren't the parents and cannot protect them from the real world even if we wanted to. Many high schools are more like the real world from which some of kids are being protected than the city streets are. This is why it's important to teach health effectively and efficiently in the junior high and high schools, because parents may not be enough to prevent unhealty lifestyles, and in some cases promote them.

New Year, New Reading List

I think it's perfectly normal to keep a journal of what you read on your blog. I'm pretty sure people do this on other blogs and have entire book clubs where you can participate by commenting on the lead reader's post of a chapter. In fact, I'm doing this in one of my classes this semester. In my Practicum and Curriculum class we're reading the book The Education of Little Tree (Forrest Carter), and for every reading our professor makes a post and we all post comments of something we learned from the readings on it as part of a pass/fail assignment. I like this because I'm sure that I'd do the same thing on my own while reading the book. The book is written about an orphaned five year old Native American who goes to live with his grandparents out in the mountains. The book is great, and I'd recommend it to any and all. I figure I might as well share what I'm learning on my blog, too, because that's what I usually do when I'm not excited about concerts or complaining about sports, politics and the politics of sports.

So the book consists of Little Tree recounting experiences and learning moments with Granpa and Granma. You can tell right off that Granpa is the star of this book. From the second page when Little Tree says, "Granpa seldom spoke in a crowd, but when he did, folks listen," you knew that he would be saying things that you'd want to remember. So far that's been the extent of everyone's posts on our class blog, words of wisdom from Granpa, as well as his incredible ability to teach powerful lessons based on simple observations of nature and society.
In chapter two, while catching turkeys together, Granpa taught Little Tree about The Cherokee Way. I was impressed with Granpa's assessment of Little Tree learning The Way. He told Little Tree how animals in nature select their prey, and how in doing so they can support their livelihood in the future. After explaining the principle he then allows Little Tree to select the turkeys they would take home with them. As teachers we must teach and not just test, but help our students understand that their understanding of the subject will effect the way they make decisions in life (something a geometry teacher rarely has the opportunity to do). In addistion, we must also let them feel capable of making decisions based on what we have taught them. After teaching Little Tree, he expressed his good faith in Little Tree's understanding of The Way in giving him an opportunity to live The Way.
This type of teaching is especially important to us as health teachers. The quality of our teaching is not so much based on the grades our students get on tests, but on the number of sexually active or pregnant students in the school, or the percent of students who drink, smoke or use drugs, or their body image and nutrition. We must be able to not just effect a student's academic acheivement, but also their lifestyle. Granpa shows a good example of this by letting Little Tree make the choice himself.

I also would like to post entries on other books I'm reading this semester. One that I'm reading right now is called Red China Blues by Jan Wong. Expect to hear about that one until the end of the month when a report on it is due. But it doesn't end there; I had to buy over a dozen books for this semester and only a handful are pure textbooks, so I've got some good material for postings.

Flying Kangaroos, Dustland Fairytales and Kraft Dinner

3 Venues. 3 Bands. 3 Shows. This is a review of the fall concerts I attended. They all were awesome, and all were very different.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show
September 3, 2009
Venue: USANA Amplitheater
Playlist
Speak to Me
Breathe
On the Run
Time
The Great Gig in the Sky
Us and Them
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)
Welcome to the Machine
Pigs
Sheep
Keep Talking
Learning to Fly
...
Wish You Were Here
Money
Another Brick in the Wall
Goodbye Cruel World
Hey You
Is There Anybody Out There?
Nobody Home
Vera
Bring The Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb
Encore:
Run Like Hell

I found out about the show through a radio station promotion selling $10 tickets. I was able to convince Courtney to go with, along with Todd, Andrew & Hilary, Steve, and Paul. The show was amazing for anyone who a)Loves Pink Floyd's music and/or b)Loves the art of engineering rock music. Pink Floyd's music is incredible to listen to, but even more amazing is watching the artist make the music. The Pink Floyd sound is very intricit and takes a lot of work to produce on the stage. Each guitarist had about three different pedals to get all the effects they needed for the concert, they even switched to a slide guitar at one point. Watching them use the voice guitar in Sheep was a treat and he saxaphone solo in Us and Them, switching from alto to a baritone saxophone in, like, a half a rest was also pretty impressive. Overall I was just blown away by the musical talent of the original Pink Floyd even more so than I already was because I got to see it materialize on a stage in front of me. Aside from the music, The Australian Pink Floyd Show also provides the same visual shows the original Pink Floyd used. Lots of lights and lasers and a large round projection screen behind the stage featuring wild and crazy animations for each song. Great show. The venue helped, too. There's nothing like an outdoor concert. I give it 5 out of 5 marching hammers.

The Killers
September 26, 2009
Venue: The E-Center
Playlist
Joyride
Human
For Reasons Unknown
Shadowplay
Bling
A Dustland Fairytale
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
Losing Touch
Read My Mind
Mr. Brightside
All These Things That I've Done
Encore:
Sam's Town
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
When You Were Young

Courtney surprised me with tickets to this concert for my birthday. I really wanted to buy tickets for this show in the spring, but decided no to because I didn't feel like spending the money. I'm lucky my wife loves me so much. That was the take home message from this concert. Courtney wasn't feeling well but still came to the concert with me after she had worked a full day, justDe as she had done for the Pink Floyd Show. Such a great concert. The E-Center isn't the greatest venue, but Brandon Flowers sure puts on a show. He provided unlimited energy and vocal solos throughout the entire show. I was also impressed with the bassist Mark Stoemer; his energy and the fact that he looked like Paul McCartney. Guitarist Dave Keuning shared a resemblance to a muscular Robert Plant, but didn't carry quite as much energy. The highlight of the night was probably the outstanding Dustland Fairytale, ending with a guitar lead in to I Can't Help Falling in Love With You. I couldn't have picked out a more rocking encore set than the one they did, and I loved All These Things That I've Done. I give this show 4.5 out of 5 guitars.

Barenaked Ladies
December 14, 2009
Venue: The Depot
Playlist
Get in Line
What's So Maybe About Katie
The Old Apartment
Blame It On Me
God Rest Ye Marry Gentlemen/We Three Kings
New Song
Go Home
New Song
It's All Been Done
New Song
Pinch Me
One Week
If I Had $1,000,000
Encore:
Green Christmas
Feliz Navidad
2nd Encore:
When Doves Cry

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about this. I have been to one of their shows before, but now that Steven Page is gone I worried about how the songs he sang lead vocals for (nearly all of them) would sound. I have to say that everyone's picking up the slack quite well. And I mean everyone. Jim's sharing the load with Ed a lot, and sounds pretty good, although nothing can quite compare to Page's amazing vocal chords. I always love going to a concert that features an accordian, too. Kevin's great with the squeeze box and behind the keys, too. Anyways, the music is only half of why to go to a BNL concert. The other half is the outrageous antics of the band. Signature to any BNL concert are a number of ad libs ranging from SLC's new In-N-Out to geneology to how much Ed loves Kevin from the depths of his heart. The band is still hilarious. And feliz navidad was great with Tyler at the mic, but nothing was as great as When Doves Cry with an accordian, bass and maracas. And The Depot is a great place for a concert. This show gets 5 out of 5 Chinese Chickens.

Here's a movie of Feliz Navidad. Don't miss Tyler's scat in the middle.

Todd, Cindy, Courtney and I at the concert.

The Moral Dimensions of Teaching

I feel like I write too much about education, but on the other hand, I'd rather write about education than my other areas of interest. All the world needs is one more sports blogger. I'm not about to post up pages and pages of statistics and shock jock opinions about what happened in the Toronto-New Jersey basketball game last night. Every once and a while I will see the need to roast somebody, but that time is not right now. Similarly worthless is a political blog. Aren't there enough Hannitys and Coulters and Frankens and Limbaughs to make the world vomit already? Nobody should have to read that stuff when it's already filling the airwaves TV listings. But just like sports, every once and a while I'll see something that I feel inclined to write about. Another subject I could write about is my own life. I'm sure everyone who reads my blog would love to see pictures of me at ESPN's gameday when they came to Provo, Courtney and I going camping and our cat Spock donning the Cone of Shame following her declawing and spaying. As much as I'm sure about that, I'm not that sure of that, so I don't post it. (Not here, at least. I post albums on facebook, and I don't like doing it twice unless it's something really entertaining or important).
To be honest, what I write directly correlates with what I read (although correlation does not infer causation; I read a whole lot more than I write about, and you ought to be glad, what with all the comparative politics studies and adolescent development crap I've read this semester). Two weeks ago I picked up a great book from the Jerome library book sale for $1. It is titled 'The Moral Dimensions of Teaching," and caught my interest because the teacher education program at BYU teaches the importance of the moral dimensions of teaching. A few years ago this agency was going to deny accreditation to BYU''s teacher education program because they did not teach the moral dimensions of teaching as addressed by John Goodlad (the editor of this book). In a couple of months they scrounged together a plan that incorporated Goodlad's ideas and started educating future teachers in its ways. The result is S.A.N.E., BYU's version of Goodlad's teachings. S.A.N.E. stands for Stewardship, Access to knowledge, Nurturing Pedagogy, and Enculturating democracy. I was first taught this in my teaching class earlier this semester, but it came up on the first day of my second block teaching course (adolescent development). From then I could tell that it's pretty important, which is why I bought the book.
The book is a collection of chapters written by Goodlad and some of his buddies. I finished the first one earlier this week, written by Goodlad, titled 'The Occupation of Teaching in Schools.' The focus of this chapter is to describe teacher education and to identify the disconnect between teaching in the classroom, policymaking in the boardroom, and administrating in the Principal's office. At the end, he introduces the moral dimensions of teaching as necessary to describe the mission of teaching, and thus create a uniform basis of training teachers across the country.
The problem all began when a famous historian was hired by Harvard for an exorbitant salary, and he was allowed to not teach his first year at the university. From that point on universities became houses of research first, and education second. "By the 1980s," Goodlad wrote, "professors in these schools, if involved with future teachers at all, were more likely to be studying them than preparing them to teach." The conditions were rocky in the teacher-administrator relationship at this point, too. Before my great-grandpa Vern died in 1990, my father visited him on his deathbed. Coach recalls this about their conversation: "Grandpa Vern asked how teaching was going and I said fine. He responded with, 'Be sure to keep those damned administrators out of your classroom.'" The preparation for administrators in schools focused more on management techniques and less on education. However little the principal actually knew about education, it was generally assumed from the outside that they have authority in regard to the evaluation of teachers, when in fact, they knew very little about what goes on (or is supposed to go on) in a classroom. These administrators are the ones that go on to write the policy that outlines what should happen in the classroom. Luckily this is in most cases, not the situation of today. Most schools offering a masters of educational administration require at least three years of teaching, making for more prepared administrators founded in principles of teaching and education.
Goodlad mentions the appeal of teaching as a calling. He brings up examples of future teachers he interviewed who recalled disappointed parents, teachers trying to talk them out of it, and friends who think they're crazy. Many, however, described teaching as "exceedingly important and potentially satisfying--as a calling." According to Goodlad those who take upon themselves this calling--where good judgment and exceptional skill is involved in order to be effecient--must abide by a set of normative principles he calls the moral dimensions of teaching.
Enculturation: Educators must provide their students with "critical perspectives on the nature of democratic societies." As a poli sci nut, I couldn't agree more. This is necessary for the "induction of the young into our culture."
Access to Knowledge: Every young person deserves an equal shot at being educated. As much as many Americans believe this is actually carried out by our great nation, it is not, and to them I refer Jonothan Kozol's Shame of a Nation or Savage Inequalities. "Opportunities to gain access to the most generally useful knowledge are maldistributed in most schools, with poor and minority children and youths on the short end of the distribution." How could this be the case? "Casual, misguided, decisions with regard to grouping and tracking students, apportioning the domains of knowledge and knowing in the curriculum, allocating daily and weekly instructional time, scheduling, and other practices often distribute access to knowledge unfairly and inequitably." Teachers carry the responsibility of recognizing programs that do this within the school and standing up for the fair and equitable distribution of access to knowledge.
The Teacher and the Taught: Teachers must realize that their students are in a compulsory setting and that they did not choose to be there. Anything we can do as teachers to bring the subjects we teach into the students' realm of importance will give them more motivation to succeed. Students are only motivated in the core subjects (English, mathematics, social studies and sciences) when they aspire to more schooling. Teachers must be focused on making the subject matter important for the individual.
Renewing School Settings: There is an overwhelming trend in the nation calling for reform in schools and requiring results. When positive results of one reform aren't seen immediately, another reform is enacted to "fix the problem." Goodlad says, "If schools are to become the responsive, renewing institutions that they must, the teachers in them must be purposefully engaged in the renewal process...'School renewal' becomes a nonevent, one more in the cycle of nonevents that characterize the school improvement enterprise.
More teacher involvement in the reform/renewal process requires more time. "Teachers employed for 180 days and required to teach 180 days simply will not renew their schools. It is ludicrous and self-deceiving to believe that they will. Further, such an expectation borders on the immoral. The answer...is 180 days of teaching and 20 or more additional days of institutional renewal. We can begin to look seriously at teaching as a profession when it no longer is a part-time job. Teaching will become a full-time occupation when the public sees the need for it." Nationwide reforms will not provide all the answers for every single school because the contextual factors for every school are different. It is up to the teachers to provide insight into how the school should adjust to best meet the needs of the school's unique conglomeration of students--not some suit in DC. Any teacher could tell you this is true, yet, like Goodlad said, to ask teachers to effectively do this in the amount of time their given every year is more than slightly ridiculous.
The opening chapter provided an excellent hook for me, and I hope the rest of the book is as good as this.

Watching for Credits

I'm taking some fairly interesting classes this semester, including Human Biology and Theories of Comparative Politics, but the first half of this semester (now coming to a close) I've spent an exceptional amount of time for one class in particular--Exploration of Teaching. For two weeks we met in class every day and talked about what we like about the idea of teaching as a career and things we would have to do as health teachers. We read from a really good textbook written by our professor and her husband and watched Cipher in the Snow (sooooooo depressing, yet somewhat necessary for people who are going to work with children). Then everyone in the class was assigned two schools in Utah valley to go to and observe the health teachers. For the past month I've been to American Fork High School and Springville Junior High School watching a couple of teachers from different sides of the spectrum teach health and love doing it. It may seem silly to have a class where all you do is watch someone teach, but I learned more about teaching in these five weeks than I did in my Sociology of Education and Foundations of Education classes combined...okay, I don't know if that's exactly true, because I absolutely LOVED going to those two classes and doing my work for them, but I have learned more about teaching in the classroom watching someone teach than reading about the sociology of education or discussing the foundations of education.
American Fork High School is a very impressive high school. They have lots of technological resources and lots of money and a new looking school. The health teacher, Anne Johnson, has been there for 42 years. The students like her class and respect her. She showed me a file cabinet filled with folders of stuff she's used over the past 40 years to teach health, all organized in folders for every lesson of the year. And the first pages in every folder are prints of power point presentations she has made and presents for each lesson. As much as I got tired of the blonde jokes she told at the start of every class, she does a good job with those kids, and I hope that I can still love to teach just for the interaction with the students like she does when I'm her age.
Springville Junior High is an old building with an old intercom system and probably some asbestos. Teachers still had access to technology, though, and all classes are electronically connected so teachers can actually help students study what they need to during their advocacy period. Ryan Chambers played outfield and pitcher for BYU and did some time in the minors pitching in the Cubs' organization in 2005 before coming back to Utah to teach health. He's in the process of getting a masters in sports conditioning and performance online from SUU. It's his first year in junior high after three at Payson High School, and he loves how much more excited the kids are to learn at this age. He has the kids work on activities making brochures and pamphelets to internalize the information. His favorite part as well is the interaction with the students.
Both Ryan and Anne are excited to be teaching. Anne after 42 years and Ryan after spending a summer with Single-A Boise, and being lights out in rookie league. I hope that I will have no regrets when I start teaching; that I can be as excited as Ryan and Anne about what I'm doing. I wish that I could watch all of the health teachers in the Utah valley and see what I like and dislike about each of them so I can shape my teaching style even better. A year from now I'll be in the classroom, by myself, everyday, teaching health to young people; I feel too far away from being adequate to teach to be this close to needing to be ready, but I guess I don't have any say in when the time comes, only in my level of preparedness.

Why do I do this?

I sometimes find comments on facebook that I feel need a little expansion/correction. This one is from today. (Names and most photos have been censored to protect the individuals' privacy)

Lisa Empey Hall (my mom) is having trouble paying medical bills because her preimum sucks to much money out of the paycheck. Somethings not quite right here.

7 hours ago · Comment · Like / Unlike

Unnamed
I'm waiting for a big bill from my hubby's two stents the past month..,one bill was 32,000.00 bucks don't know what my protion will be...thankful we met our deductable & out of pockect this year!

6 hours ago

Unnamed

Well, we soon could be going to socialized medicine, where you don't have to pay anything. Except sky high taxes. But, just remember, you get what you pay for. The taxes go to pay the administrators, and everyone else gets bubkes.

6 hours ago

Keith Hall

Actually, the only people who would be on the 'public option' (not socialized medicine, which sounds like everybody gets free prozac, viagra and percoset), called the National Health Insurance Exchange would become availible to everybody, but if you like your current plan you can keep it.
The catch is, yes, your tax dollars will be going into the NHIE even if you aren't in it. So while the new plan is supposed to foster competition, it makes private health care more expensive for everyone just by entering the market. That sucks.
The taxes do go to pay administrators, just like your premium does. Health insurance, be it from the state or from the private sector, is a lot of paperwork and administration. In the end, paying for health insurance sucks, which is why so many Americans don't have it.
Under the NHIE millions of people who cannot afford insurance will gain some sort of minimal coverage, and we're all paying for it.
The question we're all asking now is why this is a good idea. It's not a good idea for people who already have insurance, just for those who don't. The Dems wanted to do this for them. Aren't you mad at them? Don't we all believe that they're all just waiting for a handout? They don't work hard enough, do they? Maybe if they'd get off their butt and food stamps they could afford some health care. Maybe if they didn't drop out they would have gotten a job and a hc package, but no, they don't deserve it now. This is the land of opportunity---one opportunity. "You only get one shot do not miss this chance to blow this opportunity comes once in a lifetime," in the words of a great American. Those people who are denied coverage based on preexisting conditions should suck it up or make more money so they can afford coverage and treatment. ... Read More
Of 304m Americans, 40+m don't have coverage. That's
13%. Who's letting the minority have a say in this legislation? Doesn't the majority rule? Or in this case, the Haves? (pardon my Marx, I couldn't resist)
Whatever, it's gonna happen. And you know what makes me mad, we're raising taxes in a recession. What an idiot! This never would have happened if Mitt wouldn't have lost all those votes to an optimistic cutthroat anti-Mormon Mike Huckabee (what a schmuck).

6 hours ago · Delete

Keith Hall

Yes, I just did that.

6 hours ago · Delete

Lisa Empey Hall

Thanks alot Keith. This is what you education is doing to you. I am still not sorry that I complained that my health insurace sucks.

5 hours ago

Keith Hall

Rest assured that at least you aren't paying for my education

5 hours ago · Delete

Lisa Empey Hall

Well, I do pay tithing.

5 hours ago

Touche mother.