To start off with...

"We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems." ~Margaret Mead

I am quite excited to embark on a journey to the unknown in my education class "Public Work in Urban Schools and Community Sites." Well, things are not entirely unknown. I will learn what it means to be involved in a Public Achievement initiative and how that can apply to educational settings. I will be working with a group of fellow education majors to take on an issue that we feel needs to change.

Part of me really wants to start this as soon as possible. Another part of me has no clue what that issue will end up being or what we will do to ensure that it becomes. That in itself is what can really make it an educational experience. We have to define the problem and what will be create a step towards an adequate solution. While doing so, we must create our own tools as we go.

I will feel more comfortable as I learn each of the primary concepts of Public Achievement, which we will do over the next few weeks. Having only one class so far, I really have enjoyed meeting my classmates. I have previously met many in my class, which really makes it feel pretty cozy. The best class I have ever had at MCTC was a public speaking class where we all got to know each other extremely well, which I assume will happen this semester also.

Anyone who gets to know me well likely knows I care about a great many issues. These would include issues on the environment, labor, and human rights. The reason I became active in politics was because I felt things needed to change - and they still very much do. So let here are of some potential things my group could take on:

1) Gathering support for a carbon tax.

Why would anyone support a tax when it seems like we are in a very anti-tax political environment? In Washington, austerity may be the name of the game, but we in Minnesota need not play. Our state an federal government can't seem to balance the budget without seeking to balance it on students and the poor. This is occurring while global CO2 levels rise at a relentless rate, risking catastrophic climate change. Why not seek a solution that even economists will agree resolves two issues at once?

A carbon tax could fund things that do not currently have dedicated funding in Minnesota, like transit. Depending how significant it is, it could pay back money currently being borrowed from our public schools. Minnesota is also very energy dependent on other regions. We could reduce our consumption of fossil fuels and use some funds to support renewable energy and electric car infrastructure. At the federal level, these same arguments for supporting a carbon tax can be made. There are plenty of ways a carbon tax could greatly benefit our state and nation.

2) Pedestrian crosswalks

I live in south Minneapolis and spend some of my time as a pedestrian. Likely many of those who own cars even spend time crossing streets from time to time. Yet somehow, all of the paint for crosswalks has vanished. It has been several years since any have been repainted.

This is not a new issue to me, as I have wondered about it since Franklin Avenue was repaved this spring. I spoke to a city employee who informed me that south Minneapolis was scheduled to have its pedestrian crosswalks repainted sometime this summer. It hasn't happened yet and summer is nearly over. The problem I was told was funding. Yet all the paint for cars and even bike lanes have been painted on these streets. Shouldn't pedestrians be part of the picture?


3) Sweatshops

I consider sweatshops a form of modern slavery. Workers in foreign countries get menial pay for products we pay top dollar for in harsher work conditions. I'm not sure what to do about it exactly but think something should be done. If nothing else, informing consumers in our country of how to circumvent the worst purchases would be one solution.

4)?

Who knows what other issues my classmates will bring up. Many will likely be superior to what I have brought forth. So I will want to jump on board of something amazing! Anyone else out there have any thoughts or ideas?

This blog will focus on my time learning about and then enacting a Public Achievement project within educational settings. Some questions I will be pondering during this endeavor is how Public Achievement fits within education. Should it be as my subtitle assumes, an integral part of education?

I believe that Public Achievement projects can implement and enhance what we learn in the classroom. Learning facts and figures is important, but so is doing something with them. Further, students who have a passion for resolving something will be more apt to learning new things that enable them to do so.

As out instructor let our class know, there are philosophical reasons for using Public Achievement in the classroom. It is not  traditional to America's dominant education philosophies of perennialism or essentialism. Rather, it would fit within a social reconstructivist philosophy which has a focus on societal change. So, this blog could also be seen as my journey trying out a new theory in a hands-on way.

So, readers, let me know what you think and ideas you have as time goes on!