CLARKE WILLIAM GARRETT
Clarke William Garrett, accomplished scholar and author, distinguished professor of history, devoted husband, and beloved father and grandfather, died peacefully on March 2 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was 87 years old.
Clarke was born on February 26, 1935, to William Boyd Garrett and Margaret Clarke Garrett in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He maintained his love of Chicago and “all of Chicago”, including persistent and frustrating support for the White Sox, throughout his career.
lifetime.
Clarke loved music and played woodwinds in school bands from an early age. He graduated at the top of his class from Palatine Township High School and attended Carleton College, where he majored in history and played clarinet in the school orchestra. Clarke graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Carleton in 1956. A year earlier, he had met Peggy Davenport, a beautiful, intelligent and vivacious woman, at a church picnic. The two stayed in touch through numerous letters written while Peggy was finishing college in Illinois and Clarke was beginning graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. They married in the summer of 1957, beginning a happy and fulfilling relationship.
marriage that will last 63 years.
Clarke taught history at the University of Wisconsin, while working on her master’s and doctorate. In 1961 he went on to teach at Wake Forest University. Then, in 1965, he joined the history department at Dickinson College. By this point the couple had three daughters, Amy, Susan and Margaret, and settled down with their young family in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Clarke had a long and distinguished career at Dickinson College, where he became Charles A. Dana Professor of History and was named Professor Emeritus upon his retirement. While at Dickinson, he served as chair of the history department, championed the freshman seminar program, and worked extensively with student research and special collections. He was the first history teacher to participate in Dickinson’s Bologna program, and in 1969 he and his family spent a year in Bologna while he taught at the university there. This year in Italy had a formative effect on the Garrett family, introducing them to Italian food and wine, which was the start of their own love of gourmet cooking.
Clarke also took advantage of being in Europe to research his first book on the French Revolution. The following year he took a sabbatical to write this book, and since Peggy was accepted to Northwestern University to complete her master’s degree, the family has spent that year in Illinois. Later, Peggy would also teach in the English department at Dickinson and serve as assistant dean there. Clarke retired from teaching in 1997, after 32 years with Dickinson. In 1998 the couple moved to Santa Fe, NM.
A highly regarded scholar, Garrett has published four books and several dozen articles with particular emphasis on the intersection of religion and politics in the 18th and 19th centuries. In a surprising twist, after his critically acclaimed Respectable Folly: Millenarians and the French Revolution in France and England on the French Revolution, he turned his attention and research back to United States history and wrote Origins of the Shakers, Spirit Possession and Popular Religion: From Camisards to Shakers and the Pursuit of Pleasure: Recreation in Cumberland County in the Nineteenth Century. In recent years, Professor Garrett had discovered a collection of Shaker letters that he was trying to get published. In 2019, Johns Hopkins Press released a reprint of its first book Respectable Folly in paperback.
Throughout her life, Clarke loved music and the arts. He played all kinds of woodwinds, from the clarinet to all kinds of recorders. While at Dickinson, after learning that the orchestra needed a bassoonist, he picked up the instrument and joined the orchestra. He also starred in a number of college productions. A dedicated singer who could sing bass and tenor parts, he sang in the St. John’s Episcopal Church Choir, Dickinson Collegium Musicum, and Cantata Carlisle. After moving to Santa Fe, Clarke sang with St. Bede’s Episcopal Choir and was a member of the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus. Clarke has been active as a volunteer with the Carlisle Theater Project, Central PA Youth Ballet and the Carlisle Community Concert Series. He enjoyed cooking and traveling with Peggy, dining with friends and family, bird watching and listening to opera. He remained a prolific reader to the end, willingly reading and discussing anything with anyone. He was not afraid to express his opinions! Clarke was fiercely devoted to his family and he will be greatly missed.
Clarke is predeceased by his wife Peggy and his brother John. He is survived by his brother, Tom, his daughters Amy, Susan and Margaret, their husbands, John, David and Bruce, and four grandchildren, Daniel, Isabel, Juliet and Katya, as well as many loving nieces and nephews. There will be a memorial service at St. Bede’s Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, NM on April 23, 2022. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a donation in Clarke’s honor at your NPR station local.

Eltaf Samim, a Mountain View High graduate, has traveled across six countries, completed seventh, eighth, and ninth grades multiple times in different countries, and taken classes in three languages ​​toward graduating from high school this year .

The Afghan refugee left his home country in 2015, after his father feared his work with the US military would put Eltaf and his four younger siblings at risk of being kidnapped.

“I remember it was very cold outside, my mother was packing, I said what was going on, she replied that there was no time for questions, pack everything and go to bed “, Eltaf said.

His family’s first stop was Iran, where they split into several cars and ‘pressed the gas’ when they saw police wanting to arrest them. They hid in a basement in a small village, where a guide gave them food and water and told them to be quiet.

Then, when night fell, it was time to walk to Turkey. In the dark. In the snow. “In very tight places where if you slip you’ll die,” says Eltaf. Six hours later, Eltaf and his group reached another border, with other police looking for refugees, who shouted at them to stop, then started shooting when they didn’t.

“I had a giant backpack, as an eldest I wanted to keep an eye on the younger ones,” says Eltaf. “I made sure everyone got through and then I did too.”

Once in Istanbul, it was again time to hide in another house. His family left Turkey in a group of 50 who traveled on water by airboat, just before a storm, battling large waves to land on the shore of Greece. Then to Macedonia, Austria and finally Germany, where Eltaf says he “finally found a bed to sleep in again”.

And Eltaf, who left Afghanistan after finishing ninth grade, re-enrolled in school, where he was told he would start in seventh grade.

“I showed up without any transcripts, some English, my own mother tongue and no German at all,” Eltaf said. “I finished seventh grade there, then eighth grade, and my grades were extremely bad because of my bad German, they said I had to repeat eighth grade again.”

So Eltaf did it. And then he finished ninth grade for the second time, this time in Germany. After completing tenth grade, her family was chosen for a special immigrant visa to the United States. And on March 31, 2021, they landed at Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia.

Last May, at age 20, Eltaf started at Mountain View High, an alternative school in the Fairfax County public school system. Mountain View is designed to accommodate students over the age of 18.

“I was so surprised, I came here, they gave me a username, a password and a laptop!” said Eltaf. “I thought, ‘This is amazing! “”

He wrote as many articles as he could for the school newspaper, encouraged by his teachers. Shortly after starting, Eltaf learned that Mountain View had two potential graduation dates: a February graduation and a June graduation.

“As soon as I found out about this February graduation, I said I was going to make it happen,” Eltaf said.

“But they said there were over 50 outstanding economics assignments that students had completed that had been there all year that I still had to do.”

“I set my alarm clock for 4am on Saturday morning and started to work. I returned them all on Monday. Nobody expected that.”

He started his final year at FCPS last August and in February Eltaf graduated, as he had planned.

Eltaf walks away with a high school diploma, a slew of scholarships to help pay for his tuition at Northern Virginia Community College next fall, and a sense of gratitude.

“When I was a kid, people used to say America is the land of opportunity, you go there, you get it all,” he said. “I found out it was, but you have to set a goal and work like hell if you want to be successful.”

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Starting in August, refugee middle and high school students will have a new learning option in Warren County.

Teranga Academy, a school dedicated to supporting teens and their families who are new to the United States, will be located at the Bowling Green Learning Center on Old Morgantown Road.

The academy is part of a joint effort between Bowling Green Independent Schools and Fugees Family, Inc., a network dedicated to refugee education, to provide students with up to three years of English immersion programs based on skills with trauma-informed and culturally appropriate practices. education.

Students will also have the opportunity to play football to serve as an international language of teamwork, perseverance and overcoming setbacks.

Additionally, classes will include reading, writing, math, and English.

“We really want to give these kids the opportunity to not only learn a language first, but also learn that basic content that they need to know so they can be successful in the classroom and open up when they walk into our middle or high school doors for them far beyond their high school experience,” said Bowling Green Independent School District Superintendent Gary Fields.

To be eligible, students must have been in the United States for three years or less, be multilingual, and have had their formal education interrupted.

Teranga will be open to students at Bowling Green Junior High School and Bowling Green High School beginning August 16.

If you want to know more, Teranga will organize parent evenings from April.

Children of Krishna and Uma Balakrishnan have many questions. They are only 11 and 8 years old. So it’s relatively simple so far. Why do they go to the temple? Why do their friends go to church?

The Bloomington couple know these questions are only going to get tougher as their children grow into teenagers and young adults. They will start dating. Choose a college. Decide which career to pursue.

“Some questions we never asked our parents,” Uma said. “But we are also looking for answers. For an 11 year old and an 8 year old, I want to make sure I give at least the correct answer. But they expect clear answers. That’s a big difference in parenting.

Krishna and Uma are among the many East Indians in Bloomington-Normal who navigate life as parents and first-generation immigrants. No parent has it easy, but it takes a special blend of courage and resilience to raise children to thrive in a culture you’re learning too. Added to this level of difficulty is the desire of many Indian parents to find practical ways to keep their children connected to their Indian culture – and to ensure that they can converse with Grandma and Grandpa at 8,000 miles away.

“It is very different now,” Krishna said. “We are constantly learning with them, trying to improve and be better parents as much as they try to adapt between worlds.”

Uma added, “They are American Indians, so they see each other in both worlds. They are not in bubbles.

Krishna and Uma grew up in southern India. Their journey to Bloomington-Normal is unique to them, but also echoes the experience of many other Indians who have found a new home here.

“My parents put me on a one-way flight to a country no one had been to before,” Uma said.

They earned advanced degrees in computer engineering, and it was State Farm that brought them to Bloomington. Uma thought they would be here 6 months. They stayed for 14 years. They now own and manage the Parke Regency Hotel on the east side of Bloomington.

Krishna and Uma enjoy the quality of life here, especially the commuting. Their children can take classes and extracurricular activities, even on weeknights, while still having quality family time.

“While I was at State Farm, (Uma) would call me at night and say, ‘Hey, can I make you some tea? And by the time she makes tea, I’m home. It’s a luxury you can’t get anywhere else in the world,” Krishna said with a smile.

Krishna and Uma’s children grow up surrounded by American culture. But they’ve also invested a lot of time in making sure their kids stay connected to their Indian heritage.

They only cook Indian food at home so they are nothing new when visiting India. They celebrate all the holidays. And they went so far as to start their own non-profit language school six years ago, called Abdul Kalam Tamil Palli, helping their children and more than 80 others learn their mother tongue (Tamil).

Language

Normal’s Jay Tummala said the language was a big consideration for his family.

Before going to school for the first time, many children of Indian origin in Bloomington-Normal speak their family’s native language at home, Tummala said. For his family, it is Telugu.

“Once they start going to preschool and kindergarten, there’s your identity crisis,” Tummala said. “Because when you go to school, everything is in English. And when you come home and try to be 100% in your native language, it’s going to be very confusing for a lot of kids. And most children will automatically switch to English and their families will give it up too.

But it is a problem if there are grandparents in India who want to get to know their grandchildren. It’s expensive and time-consuming to bring your whole family back to India for visits, Tummala said. So that makes phone calls and now video calls important, he said.

“Our family has been there. That’s when we noticed…oh my god, the kids are not able to communicate properly with the grandparents because of the language difference,” Tummala said.

So, about 10 years ago, Tummala helped start a language school for Telugu.

“Unfortunately, not all languages ​​have this opportunity (in Bloomington-Normal). Only a few have it, and we are lucky to have it. And I feel like it helps them at least be able to communicate with their extended family back home,” said Tummala, whose two children are now in middle school and high school.

The rapid growth of Indians in McLean County around 2000 facilitated those cultural ties, said Archana Shekara of Bloomington, whose children were born in the late 1990s.

“There was a sea of ​​Indians in this town. And it was to our advantage. All of a sudden, we felt noticed. We felt like, yes, the community was growing. And there were so many opportunities for my children to learn about our culture, our traditions, our music,” she said.

Her daughter spent years learning Indian dance. His son took a real interest in Indian classical music.

“This is how we keep our cultural traditions,” Shekara said. “It’s so important for kids today to understand who they are and feel good about themselves. Because there are fights. I saw my own kids struggle in elementary school and middle school. It was then that they discovered colorism and sought a community within the school. And it was hard for them. »

Shekara was still learning about American culture herself when, at age 25, she became a mother.

“It was very difficult,” she said. “It was like, how do you trust? How confident are you to send your child to a sleepover? Because that kind of culture didn’t exist when I was growing up. How do you let your child go to someone else’s house – who you really don’t know who they are – and have a slumber party? … My children would say, ‘Everybody does that, and we don’t!’ »

Parenting Styles

Mustafa Jawadwala from Bloomington half-jokingly wishes there was an official parenting manual. Her children are 8 and 3 years old. And like the children of Krishna and Uma, Mustafa asks a lot of questions.

“I think that’s the age we’re in: kids are much more analytical. They don’t hesitate. They will ask you questions. And then it makes you think about how you respond to them. A lot of things have changed,” Mustafa said. “(Being a parent is) a very personal experience. I know they say you should learn from the experience of others. But this one is, like, so personal that it gets really hard.

Mustafa grew up in Mumbai and came to Bloomington 11 years ago. He works in information technology – a life his own parents played a key role in shaping.

“A lot of the decisions that were (made) for me were because my parents thought it might work well for me. And that’s how I am who I am today. A lot of what I am educationally is an investment, a decision, a conscious effort on the part of my parents,” Mustafa said.

WGLT asked Indian parents, like Mustafa, what influence they want to have on the career paths of their own children. Indians are among the most educated groups in the United States, with 75% of those 25 and older having earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the Pew Research Center. It’s only 33% for all Americans.

“For me, a lot of decisions were made based on my parents. I would definitely like to provide the support system for my children, but at the end of the day I want them to choose what makes life more fulfilling or what makes them happy,” Mustafa said.

Archana Shekara, mother of two young adults, knows this question well. When she was younger, she felt pressure from her father. First, he told her she would be a housewife. When she insisted on going to work, her options were limited: she could be a doctor, or a teacher, or take the civil service exams.

Archana came to the United States and, with the support of her husband, found and pursued her passion: art. When she came to Bloomington-Normal and was working in graphic design, she didn’t feel her work was respected within the Indian community here. But that changed once she got a job at Illinois State University, where she’s now an associate professor of graphic design.

“Because academia is considered super respected. It is a highly respected profession,” she said.

Her experience – and all that time spent with students – shapes her approach with her own children. Her son was recently deciding when to pursue higher education. Archana advised him to take a few years off from school – “go get a job, do something else. Don’t study.

“He came back to me and said, ‘I’m so surprised you’re saying that, mum. Being an Indian parent, I thought you were going to say go straight to medical school and finish and don’t lose your time. And I was like, ‘You know what: life is not a checkbox,'” Archana said. “I went to graduate school at 36. You can do the same. Its good. We do not care. No one is evaluating you.

Krishna and Uma’s children are young, but they feel a similar attraction.

One day, their 11-year-old daughter approached them – almost in tears – and told them they were holding her.

“It kind of broke our hearts,” Krishna said. “We said, ‘What are you talking about? We give you everything you want. You are well cared for. How are we holding you back?'”

Their daughter was looking for independence. So they let her choose her own activities outside of school. She chose singing and gymnastics.

“We understood that it was his passion. And we saw that when we sent her to class we wanted her to go, that passion was not there. I feel like we give them that independence to choose: OK, if that’s your passion and your path, we want to show them that everything has consequences and that you have to work hard and you can be the best at whatever you want make.

It’s kind of a blend of their two cultures, Uma said: High expectations in pursuit of your passion.

“We can survive thousands of miles from home because we understand the importance of education and how things are done in different parts of the world,” Krishna said. “You can only get that through education. I don’t see any other skill that can fill this gap.

Like many people, Carol Lansing is looking forward to it being safe enough to travel to Italy again. What makes her unique is that when that longed-for day arrives, she won’t just fly off to another continent. She will also time travel.

The UC Santa Barbara history professor won’t be spending his time on Lake Como or a Venetian canal, but rather in libraries and archives, examining legal documents and other artifacts from the 13th century.

Its aim, as it has been for decades, is to better understand life in the Middle Ages, particularly how gender issues played out in pre-Renaissance times.

His distinguished working life has now earned him a prestigious honor. Lansing was made a member of the Medieval Academy of America, a status granted to less than 5% of the organization’s membership. His induction will be formalized at a ceremony at the University of Virginia in March.

“Professor Lansing is particularly deserving of this award because she is one of the most distinguished historians of medieval Italy,” said Sharon Farmer, professor emeritus of history at UCSB, who will testify to Lansing’s achievements at the ceremony.

“She has made significant contributions to the fields of religious, gender, and political history, as well as to the emerging field of the history of emotions,” Farmer said.

Lansing’s reaction to the honor is a bit more perplexing. “It used to be an old boys’ club, but now the girls are getting into it,” she laughs.

Lansing has broken down barriers his entire life. Her father, an economics teacher, had a passion for archaeology, and when she was a junior in high school, he took the whole family on a bus trip from London to Mumbai, stopping to admire various cathedrals and ruins. .

“People weren’t used to seeing young American girls wandering around that part of the world,” Lansing recalled.

Inspired by such trips to study history at the University of Michigan, she was lucky enough to find a female mentor: Sylvia Thrupp, a well-known scholar of the medieval period. Lansing went on to earn a Ph.D. in medieval history from this same school, and gradually directed his research towards Italy.

This decision was, in part, practical: she notes that a number of Italian towns keep “a surprising volume of archival material” that dates back to the Middle Ages. But it also reflects the richness of that particular time and place.

“It was in Italy that the first autonomous municipalities were formed,” Lansing said. “It was the first time that collectives of individuals created their own autonomous cities.

“They struggled to figure out how to do it and had some really interesting conversations about what it takes to live a nice, peaceful life in an urban community. Their struggles and the solutions they found still resonate today.” today.”

As an example, Lansing cites laws that restricted how people could mourn at funerals. “I was working in a beautiful little Italian town on another project when I came across a whole bunch of court cases in which hundreds of people were convicted for breaking funeral laws – almost all men,” he said. she declared.

“They were fined for going to the streets, crying, tearing their hair and tearing their clothes as a sign of solidarity and grief,” she said.

After doing a lot of research, “I eventually came to think that it was an obligation for men to grieve histrionics. But it came to be seen as something that could inspire violence – vendettas and even a civil war.

“So a whole new discourse was created in which it was something that women did, but men didn’t. There’s a dramatic transformation in the late 14th and early 15th century. It’s a moment really interesting ambivalence about powerful emotion and the nature of masculinity.

This revelation led to even more research into the status of women at the time, including the paradox that in some respects poor women had more freedom than rich women, who were supposed not to dishonor their families by speaking.

When she was in college, Lansing recalled, “People kept pushing me to get into what was then called ‘women’s history,’ because I was pretty much the only one local woman. I asked, ‘Why do I have to study women’s history just because I’m a woman?’

“I’ve since changed my mind. Now I’m obsessed with it.”

Lansing’s students, she says, have little problem connecting with this ancient culture, especially when she lectures on current topics such as how authorities have dealt with the plagues: “There has things they find in the distant past that help them think about possibilities in the world. gift.”

The research itself involves spending countless hours reviewing legal documents, court records and private contracts, most written on parchment in abbreviated Latin. “It’s like a big puzzle,” she says. “It’s fun if you like that kind of puzzle and don’t mind sitting in a library for really long periods of time. For me, it’s a treasure hunt.

While this search for gold sometimes proves futile, there are welcome diversions along the way.

“Notaries who register this stuff got bored and scribbled,” Lansing said. “You never know when you’re going to come across a doodle in these docs – a photo from a joust, or the guy’s girlfriend.

“Sometimes there are lines of poetry. Especially in Bologna, which was the center of the book trade, some of these guys created beautiful drawings.”

Overall, “I love what I do,” she said. “I am so privileged.” And she is eager to return to Italy to continue her research on her latest book, on the lives of poor women of that time.

But if you think having a broader historical perspective makes Lansing more optimistic about today’s issues, think again. Yes, some conflicts come back, but it’s the newer ones like climate change that she finds terrifying.

The people she studies, she notes, “did not have the ability to destroy their environment.”

Morgan Sindall Construction is expected to begin work on the school in May 2022, with the school due to open in September 2023.

The school will be located on the site of the former Pembroke School in Bush Hill, near Henry Tudor School.

Rob Williams, Regional Director of Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “We are extremely proud to be playing a part in building a school that will support Welsh language education.

“We will work together with the council and the Welsh Government to deliver a school that reflects the need for state-of-the-art educational facilities in the 21st century.

“Having worked extensively across the region on educational institutions, we know how important schools are when it comes to nurturing and inspiring young people and helping cities and towns stay vibrant. .”

Pembrokeshire County Council Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Guy Woodham, said: “We are really delighted that this project is progressing and has been granted planning approval.

“This is great news for Pembroke and the surrounding area and will go a long way towards expanding Welsh language teaching locally.”

“In 2023, we hope to open Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Penfro, replacing the double flow supply at Ysgol Gelli Aur.”

Cllr Cris Tomos, Cabinet Member for Environment and Welsh Language, added: ‘Children educated in Welsh in primary school have a wonderful life skill – the ability to communicate in two languages ​​– as well as the enjoyment of a whole Welsh-speaking world. culture and great career opportunities when they are older.

“It’s a great gift and I’m delighted with the progress made.”

Morgan Sindall Construction is also currently working on the £48.7million Haverfordwest High VC School in Prendergast, which is due for completion in the summer of 2022.

The high school will accommodate 1,500 students aged 11 to 16, as well as 250 sixth-grade students.

Cindy Anderson, an English teacher at Culbreth Middle School, has worked with students from diverse backgrounds, many of whom are new to the United States and have come from non-traditional educational paths.

When English learning moved online during the pandemic, Anderson said, it became difficult for teachers and students.

“It’s put (the students) at least a year behind, if not more, and trying to get them to a certain level at this point is very difficult,” she said.

English language learners often aren’t able to get as much help outside of school as other students, Anderson said. This lack of support can hurt them academically.

“Some of our better-off students can get a lot of help, our kids can’t,” she said. “Maybe they were home alone while mom and dad worked, or mom and dad slept during the day so they could work at night.”

As the pandemic and associated staffing shortages have taken their toll on North Carolina school districts, English teachers like Anderson have faced many unique challenges.

Emily Lewis, ESL facilitator for Orange County Schools, said in an email that the broader teacher shortage has affected the ESL curriculum for the school district.

Lewis said that at one school, several kindergarten teachers had to learn how to deliver language lessons to students due to a lack of available ESL teachers.

“Truly the teachers are stretched and doing their best, but we all know we could do more if we were full,” she said in the email.

Lewis supervises, provides instructional coaching, and monitors the effectiveness of the ESL program. This work, she said, has been directly and significantly affected by the pandemic.

Along with other ESL teachers, Lewis has been forced to learn how to navigate remote learning during the pandemic. She said she provided lessons and support directly to students due to teacher shortages caused by the COVID-19 quarantine and isolation.

Sashi Rayasam, director of K-12 English learner services for Durham Public Schools, said in an email that the pandemic has also had a significant effect on ESL teachers for the DPS.

She said that although the pandemic has affected English learners, there have been no significant vacancies for ESL teachers.

“Teachers had to adapt to virtual delivery of the curriculum, ensure students had access to technology, and manage student access to social/emotional support,” Rayasam said.

Fight against the shortage

To make up for the lack of certified teachers, Lewis said the OCS has added English tutors to its ESL program. She said this opportunity has allowed English learners to receive more one-on-one support.

Carrie Doyle, president of the Orange County Board of Education, said OCS’s ESL programs are working “reasonably well” despite the pandemic and associated staffing shortages.

“Specifically for ESL teachers, we currently have one part-time position at the primary level that is vacant and one full-time position at the middle level that is vacant,” she said. “We don’t have any vacancies in high school.”

However, she said it was difficult to find people involved in translation and family outreach services, which led to these specific shortages in some schools.

To address these staffing shortages, the district has established Parent Academies for families whose first language is not English. These programs are designed to provide parents with a better understanding of how to access services such as the college application process and online education programs for their students.

“A lot of people come from different countries with different understandings of public school, and so it’s as much the language (as) the way the American education system works that we offer families,” Doyle said.

Lewis said in an email that although many families struggled during remote learning, the return to in-person learning has helped ESL teachers better reach their students.

“This partnership between schools and families has continued beyond remote learning and I am proud of our ESL team’s continued efforts to help families become essential members of their respective school communities,” said she declared.

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@DTHCityState | city@dailytarheel.com

Despite a nationwide move away from standardized testing amid the pandemic, experts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education are divided on the future of college admissions and K-12 testing.

After initially waiving its testing requirement in June 2020 due to Covid-19, Harvard announced in December 2021 that it would allow applicants in the Class of 2030 to waive ACT and SAT grade submissions.

The move comes amid a trend toward elective or blind admissions, with colleges across the country, such as the University of California system, taking similar steps. The College Board also decided in 2021 that it would permanently discontinue its SAT subject tests, as well as the SAT essay component.

Education experts are divided on whether the changes would move the college admissions process toward equity or away from it.

HGSE graduate Toby N. Romer ’94, who is the assistant superintendent of Newton Public Schools, noted that moving away from standardized testing can “level the playing field” among high school students.

“In fact, the college admissions testing industry was created to intentionally disadvantage certain groups of students,” he said. “So getting away from that is just good news.”

Romer added that he believes “a diverse sample” of Newton public school students have benefited from elective or blind testing policies.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of good data to show that college admissions tests have been a good predictor of student success at selective colleges,” he said.

But two HGSE professors pointed out that a lack of standardized test scores would lead admissions officers to put more emphasis on other parts of the application.

HGSE Professor Andrew D. Ho said letters of recommendation, personal essays, extracurricular activities and a student’s academic record can be weighed more heavily in the absence of test scores.

“If you imagine a five-legged stool or a five-legged table and you take one of the legs off, well, everything just rests on the other four,” he said.

HGSE Professor Thomas J. Kane said other application components, such as after-school programs, can lead to more inequity and are highly dependent on the resources available to students. He added that elite high schools may be able to provide more opportunities for student leadership positions.

“Even though SAT scores are correlated with family background, family income, they may be less correlated with family background than some of these other metrics that colleges should rely on in a world without test scores,” Kane said. .

The debate over the future of standardized testing extends beyond the college admissions process. The effects of Covid-19 on learning loss in elementary and middle schools remain somewhat unknown, creating demand from educators and government officials to test the data.

“There is an ongoing need to have some kind of comparative indicators that tell policy makers – and taxpayers for that matter – whether or not students from different districts in the state are learning at a level that prepares them to enter the society as successful workers and citizens,” said HGSE professor Paul Reville.

Reville also said the costs of scrapping standardized tests altogether could have a huge impact on disadvantaged students, pointing to “grossly inequitable outcomes” before schools began administering standardized tests.

“We know who loses in this,” he said. “The poor kids lose. Children with special needs lose. English language learners lose. Students of color lose.

Despite the potential pitfalls of revising current standardized testing practices, Ho said he was optimistic about his future.

“I think this calculation of educational tests will, on average, improve equity in education,” he said. “But it will take a long time, and in the meantime the results will vary.”

—Editor Paton D. Roberts can be reached at paton.roberts@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @paton_dr.

BARRETT Frederick Taylor Barrett December 12, 1927 – February 20, 2022 Col. Frederick Taylor Barrett, U.S. Army (Ret.) of Arlington, Virginia passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 20, 2022. He was 94 years old. Born in Long Island, New York, he joined the military at age 17, requiring parental consent. When his mother refused to sign the age waiver, he convinced his older sister to sign his mother’s name, thus launching his 33-year military career. He began his military life in basic training in 1945 as World War II drew to a close. He then served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In 1946, he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Army Signal Corps. From 1946 to 1950 he served in the occupation army, Yokohama/Tokyo Japan where he met Gladys Saleeby. In 1949, Gladys was working as a missionary for the Episcopal Church in Shanghai, China. She was evacuated to Tokyo, Japan, after the Chinese communist takeover. Although they lived two blocks from each other in Brooklyn, NY, and attended the same high school, they never spoke to each other other than the occasional hello. It was a chance meeting in an American cafeteria in Tokyo, Japan that started their romance and 70-year marriage. His career highlights include 1951-1952 he attended the US Army Language School in Monterey, California for Korean. From 1952 to 1953, he served as a Regimental Prisoner of War Interrogator, 25th Infantry Division in Korea. 1953-1955 Special Agent, 441st CIC Detachment, Japan 1955-1956 Student, US Army Intelligence School, Fort Holabird, MD 1956-1959 Staff Officer, HQ. US CONARC, Fort Monroe, VA 1959-1960 Student, US Army Security Agency School, Fort Devens, MA 1960-1961 S2, US Army Security Agency, Hawaii 1961-1962 US Army Element, Joint Support Group, Seoul, Korea 1962-1966 Counterintelligence Staff Officer, OACSI, DA, Washington, DC 1966-1968 Commander, Collection Detachment, 502d MI Bn., Seoul, Korea 1968-1969 G2, 1st Cavalry Division, Vietnam 1969-1972 Commander , 116th MI Group/Director of Operations, USAFAC, Washington, DC 1972-1973 Student, Department of State, Foreign Service Language Institute, for Turkish 1973-1976 U.S. Army Attaché/Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy United, Ankara, Turkey 1976-1979 Commander, US Task Group, Fort Meade, MD During his 33 year career in the military, he received numerous medals, decorations, citations and commendations. Most notable are the Bronze Star, World War II Victory Medal, Legion of Merit, Air Force Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Korean Service Medal, Vietnam service and many more. In addition to his military decorations, he was fluent in Korean and Turkish. His military career was followed by 12 years as a regional security manager for Mobile Oil. His work at Mobil included time in London where he traveled extensively overseeing Mobil Oil’s security in Africa, Turkey and the North Sea. He and Gladys returned to the United States where they lived in Dallas, Texas for six years. When Mobil Oil moved its headquarters to Fairfax, Virginia, they moved back to their Arlington home until he retired from Mobil. After his retirement, Fred always had the desire to be of service. At the end of the Balkan Wars, he volunteered as an international election observer for several of the newly formed countries that were once part of the Republic of Yugoslavia. His other volunteer services included work at the National Archives, volunteering for Arlington County elections, and assistant treasurer of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. He remained active for many years and played tennis until his 80s. Between deployments, career obligations and raising a family, he continued his college education. He received his BA in Political Science from George Washington University (1964) and his MSc. in Business Administration from George Washington University (1972). Although the army was his life, he was proudest of his immediate family. He and Gladys had four children whom they raised in various army positions and overseas postings throughout his career. He is survived by his wife Gladys Saleeby Barrett, his children Alice, (Brendan), Kathryn, (Craig), Gale, Fred, (Denise), five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews . A funeral service will be held Saturday, February 26, at 11 a.m., at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 2609 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA 22207. A service with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Fisher House Foundation and Army Emergency Relief. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Fisher House Foundation and Army Emergency Relief.

Published by the Washington Post on February 24, 2022.

Six high school students from the medilinguistic high school of Senigallia (Ancona) will work as interns at the Penny Wirton School for Foreigners, teaching Italian a few hours a week to foreigners.

The initiative will start in March and is part of the PCTO program, which stands for “Transversal Skills and Orientation Pathway”, also known as “school-work alternation”.

Initiative to help young people grow

“We believe that the agreement with the Lycée Médilinguistique shows how it is possible to intertwine fruitful relations between the world of school and society, not based solely on the labor market, but also able to help young people to grow and mature in a friendly and fruitful environment, in a context of civic development, without distinction between high schools and professional institutes,” declared the organizers.

Share languages ​​and interactions

The Penny Wirton School in Senigallia is one of 50 such schools in Italy, made up of volunteers who teach Italian to foreigners without lessons or grades “in an individual relationship between those who teach and those who learn”, have organizers said.

Thus “not only linguistic and grammatical exchanges are created, but also human relations, sharing of knowledge and sensations, discoveries and unexpected encounters”.

“Learning to live together means fighting racism,” the organizers said.