OUR PLACE AT STEP

13 responses so far ↓

• 1    msrich // Feb 27, 2008 at 6:36 pm

  Please note that the discussion started in the post below, so see the “Einstein” post for the first comment from Miriam. Comments on this new Election Post should go here. To help the discussion already started in which I asked for responses on the issue of education, here’s a link (I hope it works) with information on the candidates’ views.

  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/02/27/25dems_ep.h27.html?tmp=1355409275

  Ms. Rich

• 2    msrich // Feb 28, 2008 at 2:01 am

  Miriam Lovett says:

  “I really like what Senater Obama has to say about the high cost of college education and how he wants to help defer the costs. He wants to offer a $4,000 tax credit applied to a students college tuition, but the student would have to pay back for this benefit by donating their time in some sort of community service activity (volunteering their time at a homeless shelter or food-bank, tutoring/mentoring services, etc.). I think this is a great idea and a win-win situtation for everyone. A college student will get the financial help they need to go to college without taking out a loan thus being burdened with having to pay it back, but can now get involved in their own communities and helps those less fortunate. Senator Clinton also has ideas on how to offset the cost of college tuition but she doesn’t offer as much money. (she offers $3,500) Both democratic candidates want to reform early childhood education. But I also like the fact that Senator Obama want us parents to be accountable also! I thought it was a refreshing idea for a Presidential Candidate to sort of put us parents on notice!! He feels we should be more pro-active in our households by turning off the T.V.’s and taking away the video games that so easily distract our children from their school-work and their studies. I haven’t heard any of the other candidates mention the need for parental involvement (in addition to Federal aid to schools) in order to help our younger students excel before they even get into high school and eventually college.”

• 3    msrich // Feb 28, 2008 at 2:03 am

  I think this is really exciting. Imagine our children joining the throng of community activists now being birthed by “the movement” Obama has started. It will now be “cool” again to serve in the community and to sidle up closer to the real problems of urban decay, putting their book knowledge to practical use. I intend to make Service-Learning a big part of the STEP math and science curriculum next year. Our students will be prepared for the comittment necessary to step into the role of “givers” instead of “mere takers” .

  With respect to the TV and video games – well you know my feeling about that! I strongly concur. Bill Cosby must be feeling vindicated now that his admonitions to parents to use that “off” button more is coming not from an old “fuddy-duddy” but a young, charismatic leader who knows the formula for academic success includes more intellectual stimulation.

• 4    Ken Schwarz // Feb 28, 2008 at 2:11 am

  This old fuddy-duddy concurs.

• 5    Miriam Lovett // Mar 4, 2008 at 5:04 pm

  WOW!! Can the Democratic campaign get any more negative!!! I wonder just where is this coming from and why now before another “Super Tuesday”!!!???!!!

• 6    Ken Schwarz // Mar 5, 2008 at 6:25 pm

  The Democratic campaign can get much more negative. I guess I’m biased, but in my view the negativity flowed in only one direction, i.e. from Clinton against Obama. Guess what? It appears to have worked. What does Obama do now? Does he now begn to make an issue of Clinton’s failure to disclose her tax returns, Bill Clinton’s presidential papers, or contributions to the Clinton charitable foundations? There are other things that can be mentioned. In return, Clinton will undoubtedly escalate issues such as Obama’s dealings with Tony Rezko, etc.

  But that’s not the kind of politician Obama claims to be. If the candidates spend the rest of the campaign slinging mud against each other, then Obama will have surrendered the high ground upon which his campaign is based. Rather than being able to argue he is a new kind of politician, Obama will show he is just a traditional run of the mill politician who is the same as Hillary Clinton.

  So what does Obama do? How does he deflect Clinton’s mud without throwing mud of his own? How does he avoid being on the defensive for the rest of the campaign?

  Ken Schwarz

• 7    Miriam Lovett // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:46 pm

  I say Obama should bring out the “big guns”! He’s been too kind and on the defensive too often. He needs to start being more aggressive and force Hillary to stick to the issues and not all the negativity!! Unfortunately many people were gullable and fell for her false accusations of Obama in order to win her vote. But with all of the money and resources Obama has (much more than both of his opponents), he should start using it to get out his message like more ads on TV, newspapers, flyers, etc – I would even like to see another debate. He was brilliant on the last one!!! With Obama’s intelligence and the fact that he surrounds himself with intelligent people, I’m sure something is brewing up in his camp and it won’t be long before it comes to fruition and we see the results. But we must all keep in mind that Obama is still winning this race! He has won more states and still has more delegates than Hillary. This is truly where the rubber meets the road! But I think if it goes any further, the democratic party is going to be vastly divided – especially if the results were done unfairly or the candidate won through trickery! (remember Florida in the last presidential election!)

• 8    Miriam Lovett // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:58 pm

  I just saw the CNN national poll and it shows Obama ahead by 50%, Clinton has 40% and the undecided is 10%! I know a few friends of mine here in New York told me they HAD voted for Hillary in the primary election, but after all of the negativity on her part and hearing more from Obama, they’ve changed their minds and now support Obama! I think the fact the Obama is such a gifted orator, he should somehow get his message on the airwaves on a national level (commercial, debate, talk-show, etc.), so that more people can hear what he thinks he can, and will do, for our country.

• 9    msrich // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:18 pm

  Many hours have passed since this commentary by Mark Whitaker Senior VP NBC news was posted on the MSNBC website. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23470919

  As yet there are no responses. Are our communities missing and unaccounted for in the important debates of our times?

  Footnote:: I went back to the site and read the instructions properly and I take back my quick assumption that there were no responses. Responses will be posted in April. MSNBC will collect them in a more structured method than I’ve become accustomed to on a blog. So, instead of a free-for-all they will take responses that answer their specific questions. That’s good, because from what I have been seeing recently on the blogs since an Obama win appeared possible, it seems like the disease of ignorance, fear of the unknown, and racial bias in our country is terminal.

• 10    Ken Schwarz // Mar 6, 2008 at 12:18 am

  Let me take a shot at commenting upon Marva’s message within the context of the article on political involvement.

  What does Obama want to “change?” Maybe there are many right answers but two immediately come to mind. The first is that change must come from each one of us. It will not be handed to us on a silver platter. The injustices in this country can only end if we all work to bring them to an end. One way to start is by making our voices heard. There are certainly many other things that need to be done, but that’s a good place to start.

  The second example of what Obama wants to change is the way we try to solve our problems. The old ways don’t work. New leaders are needed to provide new solutions to old problems. You don’t have to go any further than te recent news that one in every one hundred Americans is incarcerated in prison. Of those incarcerated, a very high percentage are minorities. That one in one hundred number demonstrates that our educational systems have failed, our policies in addressing inner city problems have failed, our economic policies have failed and that racial bias is alive and well in our country.

  Come on STEP parents. Get angry. Your children deserve a better world. Do something.

  Ken Schwarz

• 11    Miriam Lovett // Mar 24, 2008 at 4:59 pm

  Yeah for Richardson!

• 12    Ken Schwarz // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:06 pm

  The Richardson endorsement was important. After the tough week Obama had with the Rev. Wright statements, the Richardson endorsement shows that segments of the Democratic establishment still have faith in Obama.

  By the way, what did everyone think of Obama’s speech in Tuesday of last week?

• 13    Miriam Lovett // Apr 4, 2008 at 6:15 pm

  I heard his speech on the economy and loved it. I also saw him last night in an open forum setting with students at West Chester University in Pa. It was televised live on CNBC. Once again, he was cool under pressure – just what we need in a president. The students got to ask various questions and Obama handled them with ease, he even made a few jokes. (They even brought up the Rev. Wright issue – AGAIN!) I just found out he received 40 million dollars in contribution funds last month!! For a candidate who isn’t doing well (allegedly as per the media), why are people still sending him money for his campaign??!! Many of these contributions are from first-time donors too. By the way, can anyone tell me why, if your vote is supposed to be done in secret, how can all of these polls tell you the age, ethnicity, gender, etc, of the voters? What are these pollsters doing, watching us vote over our shoulders?? I mean, how do you know what percentage of working-class males are voting for Hillary rather than Obama, or how can you tell the percentage of the Jewish vote, and it’s done right after an election? They also never tell you how many people they sample or call to get their results. I mean, they could have stopped 20 people on the streets and got their opinions to formulate the results of their polls. (I guess I’m getting tired of all of these polls……….)

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