Tag Archives: Education

Plagiarists and Frauds Posing as Intellectuals

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | Leave a Comment

Academic Fraud

(Photo Credit: Nanyang Technological University)

If you have had people to do your academic work for you, why are you acting like you’re a profound intellectual?  Why are you trying to belittle people now that you have your degree(s), especially when you received the grades you did because you turned in other people’s work?  If you were such a tremendous scholar, why have you or do you have to sit up and wait for someone to do your work for you?  It’s time to let you know that at many colleges and universities across the nation there are no statutes of limitations that prevent these institutions from taking your degree(s) away from you for committing academic dishonesty/academic fraud, especially for egregious cases of academic dishonesty/academic fraud.

While many people like to suggest that individuals who attend online universities are getting people to do their work for them, the truth is numerous students have and are getting people to do their work for them at traditional brick and mortar universities.  Before those who have attended and are attending traditional brick and mortar universities attack students enrolled at online institutions as plagiarists, consider the many people who attended or attend your brick and mortar institution and plagiarized, even possibly yourself.

The problem with having people to do your work for you is when you graduate you’re not able to meet the expectations of your employers that your grades and degrees suggest that you can.  Some people have allowed themselves to believe they actually have earned the credentials others have gotten for them.  If someone has ever completed work for you at school and you submitted it, you committed academic fraud; that is, you submitted work that was not your original work as your own. 

When you know you have not completed some, most or all of your work while attending college, do you not know that the knowledge, skills, and talent you lacked in college is going to come back to haunt you?  You may fool some people but you ultimately will not be able to fool your employer for long.  Your employer will eventually discover that you’re not the person you advertised yourself to be, even though you have the degree(s) in the appropriate field(s).

Okay, if you were able to cheat your way through school, shut up, close your mouth, and stop bragging about credentials you did not earn. Get your money and stop posing as the intellectual that you are not.  In fact, people find the posing as an intellectual that you do to be quite strange anyway: You present yourself in one way and they see you in a totally different way.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Wilcox County High School Students Host First Racially Integrated Prom

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 1 Comment

Integrated Prom

On Saturday, April 27, 2013, Wilcox County High School students hosted their first racially integrated prom.  Wilcox County High School is located in Rochelle, Georgia.  Steve Smith, Superintendent of Wilcox County Schools, Chad Davis, Principal of Wilcox County High School, and the Wilcox County Board of Education denied the request of 2 Black female and 2 White female Wilcox County High School students to host the school’s first racially integrated prom on the campus of Wilcox County High School.  Steve Smith, Chad Davis and the Wilcox County Board of Education continue to endorse racially segregated proms at Wilcox County High School.

Because of the great love and support numerous people of all races, ethnicities, and backgrounds from across the nation and world showed Stephanie Sinnot, Mareshia Rucker, Quanesha Wallace, and Keela Bloodworth, the four girls who led the effort to make history by having the school’s first racially integrated prom, many Wilcox County High School students were able to enjoy their first racially integrated prom.  They held their prom in a nice location in Cordele, Georgia.  The prom was a tremendous success and many media sources covered the prom, including CNN.

People across the world should continue to voice their outrage at Wilcox County High officials (Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox County Board of Education) who refuse to support racially integrated proms.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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5 Practical Uses of Social Media in the Classroom

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 2 Comments

Social Media

(Photo Credit: New York Times)

The purpose of this piece is to offer five practical ways in which social media can be employed in meaningful ways in the 21st century classroom.  Students are actively using social media while they are away from school (and while they are at school) and, therefore, incorporating social media as part of instructional activities enables teachers to increase student engagement in the classroom.  In no way does this piece attempt to suggest that these five recommendations are the only and most meaningful ways to use social media in the classroom.  For the teacher looking for ideas for including social media in his or her instructional activities, this piece presents five ways he or she may find useful. 

1.      Create Class Fan Pages on Facebook.  Classroom discussion activities and assignments can be posted and completed using Facebook Fan Pages.  This is truly an interactive, creative and fun way to have classroom discussions and to allow those discussions to take place beyond the classroom.  For those shy students who are afraid to speak up in class, they may be more comfortable participating in class discussions hosted via Facebook.  For those students who are more vocal in class, they will find that they have a space where they can have full freedom to express themselves without dominating the discourses by consuming too much of the allotted classroom time. Through a Facebook Fan Page, teachers can post announcements and assignments.  When teachers at home and find some interesting resources they want to get to their students immediately, a Facebook Fan Page makes this possible.  Teachers may want to offer students additional tips for assignments they may be working on and a Facebook Fan Page is a good medium to promulgate these tips.

 

2.      Have Twitter Chats.  Teachers can use Twitter to have class discussions and engage others who are across the world in the discussions using hashtags and “lists.”

 

3.      Use YouTube Videos to Supplement Instruction.  Instead of always doing a lecture or explanation yourself, use one already available on YouTube or post one of your own on YouTube.  This helps to disrupt the monotony of how lectures or explanations are traditionally delivered.   

 

4.      Have Students to Create Their Own Blogs.  Assign students to create a blog with frequent assignments to be completed using their blog.

 

5.      Use Facebook Instant Messenger for Student and Parent Conferences.  For parents who may not be able to meet with teachers in person, a conference via Facebook Instant Messenger is a viable alternative.  Instead of always having face-to-face conferences with students, teachers can use Facebook Instant Messenger to conduct conferences with students.  This is also a way students and teachers can connect with one another when outside of the classroom when students may need clarity and help with assignments.   

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Social Media Apprehensions in Public K-12 Education

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 3 Comments

21st Century Classroom

(Photo Credit: nscollegeprep.cps.k12.il.us)

Although higher education professors and instructors are increasingly embracing and implementing social media in the classroom, many public K-12 teachers have been highly averse to employing social media in the classroom.  K-12 teachers understand they are responsible for ensuring student safety.  Many teachers contend it’s too difficult to monitor all activities that transpire on various social media platforms, and they see the inability to supervise all activities that can occur via social media as creating numerous potential safety risks.  It can be quite challenging to explain to administrators and parents why the use of social media in the classroom is worth potential safety risks.  If something undesirable happens involving one or more students using social media as part of instructional activities, then many administrators and parents will pose serious questions about whether teachers had the best interests of students in mind during instructional planning.  Many public K-12 teachers fear the probing scrutiny that may be involved when they use social media in the classroom.

Higher education professors and instructors face little to no legal liabilities when incorporating social media into the classroom, however.  Their students are adults and they are, therefore, legally released from most institutional and legal liabilities associated with potential problems with the use of social media in the classroom.  K-12 public school teachers are dealing with minors and have to ensure they guard themselves from legal and institutional liabilities associated with the use of social media.

Many K-12 public school administrators see little to no value in the use of social media in the classroom and they discourage or forbid teachers from incorporating social media into instructional activities.  For K-12 school administrators to gain a greater understanding of the value of using social media in the classroom, scholars and teachers who understand the power of using social media in the classroom must do a better job of arming them with research that evinces the true worth of social media in the classroom.  These individuals will need to work to dispel many of the frightening myths about social media that have been promulgated in multifarious media venues.

Teacher education programs should train new teachers on how to incorporate social media into the classroom and establish best practices for implementing social media in the classroom.  When more teacher education programs make training in social media a part of their curriculums, it will help to buttress the perception among more public K-12 administrators that the use of social media in the classroom is a “professional” pedagogical practice.  To be fair to those K-12 administrators who discourage or prohibit teachers from employing social media in the classroom, many teachers who use or have a desire to use social media in the classroom do not have a strong sense of how to use social media in a way that promotes high academic achievement.  Numerous teachers see incorporating social media in the classroom as enabling them to advance higher student engagement, considering social media is wildly popular with young people across the nation and globe.  While elevated student engagement is important, teachers need to know that the specific way(s) they implement social media is effective in leading to expected student learning outcomes.

Higher education professors and instructors have greater flexibility to experiment with social media in the classroom than K-12 public school educators.  If things do not work well with their use of social media, higher education professors and instructors face little to no serious consequences.  Unfortunately, public K-12 teachers do not enjoy the same liberties.  If things do not work well in the classroom with their use of social media, they can receive backlash from students, parents, administrators and the community.

In short, public K-12 teachers have to weigh the risks and rewards in using social media in the classroom.  Many of them contend that the risks outweigh the rewards.  Higher education professors and instructors do not have to devote much attention to the risks of social media in the classroom, so they are experiencing how social media in the classroom has the potential transform the way in which we think about classroom instruction.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Wilcox County High School and Racially Segregated Proms

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 13 Comments

Wilcox County High School

(Photo Credit: nydailynews.com)

Despite meaningful racial progress across the nation, vexing vestiges of the Jim Crow Old South still exist at Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia.  Although nearly 50% of the student population at Wilcox County High School is composed of Black students, there’s only one Black teacher at the school.  Last year, there were two minority teachers at the school but they both were terminated.  It was last year when Steve Smith, Superintendent of Wilcox County Schools, led the effort to oust a highly popular Black male teacher who was adored by his students, parents, and the community (see “Citizens Want Teachers Back Next Year” published in The Cordele Dispatch; see also “Racial Discrimination and Free Speech Violations at Wilcox County High School” and “Unfair Termination Hearing for Wilcox County High School Black Male English Teacher”).  This is the same school where Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis made the decision to forfeit the first round of the state playoffs for the all-Black varsity boys basketball team in 2012 for a minor off-campus incident that directly involved only one of the players; none of the team members’ parents were consulted before this decision was made and some of the players’ parents stated that Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis are racists (see ““Wilcox County High School Boys Basketball Team Unfairly Forced to Forfeit Playoff Game”).  The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported about how minority students are not being adequately prepared academically for higher education at Wilcox County High School.  Historically, Wilcox County High School has been a site of great racial problems.

On April 3, 2013, various Georgia and Florida news sources reported the fact that Wilcox County High School has always had and continues to have racially segregated proms, and Black and White female students at the school are joining forces to fight to have the school’s first racially integrated prom.  The students have requested to use campus facilities to host the integrated prom, but Wilcox County School officials have denied their request.  Wilcox County School officials have not made any substantial efforts to end racially segregated proms.  They have adopted a hands-off approach, arguing that they leave decisions and organization of proms to students and parents.  A hands-off approach to the problem of racially segregated proms is an endorsement of the status quo (which does not accommodate students’ desire to host an integrated prom on campus).

The failure of Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox Board of Education to allow students to use campus facilities to host the school’s first racially integrated prom ostensibly means they support racially segregated proms.  Most schools across the nation sponsor school proms.  Is it possible that Superintendent Steve Smith and the Wilcox County Board of Education are not sponsoring a school prom to avoid explicitly having to state that they don’t want racially integrated proms at Wilcox County High School?  This is certainly possible.

Before last year, all aspects of Homecoming were racially segregated but it was decided to elect only one Homecoming court this past Homecoming.  In the past, there was a Homecoming court elected for each racial group.  The Homecoming dances are still racially segregated and the school has not made any substantial efforts to end racially segregated Homecoming dances.

Last year, when a biracial Wilcox County High School student attempted to attend the “White Prom,” he was prevented from attending by police officers.  Yes, this happened in 2012—no need to get your eyes checked!

Superintendent Steve Smith is also a Church Pastor.  Under his leadership, racially segregated proms and Homecomings are taking place, however.  It’s time for Superintendent Steve Smith to ask what would Jesus do in response to racially segregated proms.  Jesus would not support racially segregated proms and he would not deny students the right to host an integrated prom on campus.  In addition, Jesus would not simply leave decisions about proms in the hands of students and parents, especially when those proms have continued to remain racially segregated.

If Wilcox County School officials were really sincere about their claims to be Christians and their claims to do what’s in the best interests of the students, then they will no longer continue to deny students the right to host a racially integrated prom on campus, and will not continue to take a hands-off approach in responding to racially segregated proms.

If you support the effort of Wilcox County High School students to have a racially integrated prom on the Wilcox County High School campus and disagree with the decisions of Superintendent Steve Smith, Principal Chad Davis, and the Wilcox County Board of Education to not allow a racially integrated prom to take place on campus, then call and/or email Superintendent Steve Smith at (229) 467-2141 and smiths@wilcox.k12.ga.us and call and/or email Principal Chad Davis at (229) 365-7231 and davisc@wilcox.k12.ga.us to let them know how you feel.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Perceptions of Black Male Student-Athletes on Predominantly White Campuses

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 1 Comment

Black Athlete

(Photo Credit: sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

In “‘Athleticated’ Versus Educated: A Qualitative Investigation of Campus Perceptions, Recruiting and African American Male Student-Athletes,” C. Keith Harrison (2008) conducted a study to explore students’ narratives about the college recruitment of high-profile Black male high school student-athletes.  Harrison had participants to watch a scene about college athletic recruiting from The Program (1994).  The research questions posed in this study are as follows: (1) Are the recruiting visit perceptions by students about student-athletes based on stereotypes and athlete biases?  (2) How will students respond to images that represent the intercollegiate athletic ritual(s) to sign major recruits in revenue sports (i.e. football and/or basketball)?  (3)  What type of discussion and dialogue about academics and athletics does the qualitative data (narratives) reveal?

A mixed-method research design was used.  202 students at a highly selective Midwestern university participated in this study.  73.6% of the participants are White, 13.4% Asian, and 9% Black, 3% Hispanic, and 1% identified as “Other.”  Visual elicitation was employed to stimulate a discourse between the interviewer and the interviewees.  A survey questionnaire was used.  Hierarchical content analysis and inductive analysis were employed to analyze open-ended responses to questions posed on the survey questionnaire given to each participant after viewing only one scene from The Program.  Participants’ responses emerge from viewing this one scene.

The findings of the study indicated that both Black and White students identified Black male student-athletes in the film to be more athletic or “athleticated” than educated.  Both Black and White students viewed the Black male student-athletes on the film as sex objects.  For Black participants, two dominant themes were found: “athleticated” and “sex object.”  For White participants, four major themes were determined: “athleticated,” “sex object,” “media stereotypes,” and “unrealistic depiction.”  The most prominent themes for both Blacks and Whites were “athleticated” and “sex object.”

Harrison (2008) found important gaps in the professional literature about their being limited empirical investigations of the recruiting inventory of the student-athlete and how the general student body views the student-athlete’s recruitment process.  Since this study extended knowledge about the two aforementioned gaps in the literature, it helps to give some understanding of them.

Harrison (2008) does not offer the reader an understanding of whether this was each participant’s first time viewing the film, which is crucial to understanding potential influences on their responses to questions posed.  One significant weakness of the study is the scholar did not allow the participants to view the entire film, which impacts their ability to properly contextualize the scene the study engaged.  The study does not offer specific details about the responses Hispanic, Asian, and “Other” participants divulged.

Future research needs to resolve how the views of the recruitment of Black male student-athletes of the general student population impact their educational experiences at predominantly white higher education institutions.  Additionally, future research should be devoted to understanding how the perceptions of the recruitment of Black male student-athletes impact their interactions with faculty at predominantly white higher education institutions.  Finally, future research needs to replicate this study and allow students to watch the entire film and then ask them questions about the particular scene used by this study.

Reference

Harrison, C.K. (2008). “Athleticated” versus educated: A qualitative investigation of campus perceptions, recruiting and African American male student-athletes. Challenge: A Journal of Research on African American Men, 14(1), 39-60.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men: A Review

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 9 Comments

The Black Man Can Journal

Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men (2012), penned by Brandon Frame of The Black Man Can, is a powerful journal specifically designed for Black boys and men to engage in critical thought and reflection.  In the 284 pages of the journal, Black boys and men have an opportunity to create a vision and plan for ameliorating their own lives in their own language.  Never has there been a personal journal produced solely for Black boys and men.  Through this journal, they are provided with space to express their thoughts on a range of issues and respond to essential questions.  Powerful quotations from accomplished Black men have been carefully selected and masterfully deployed by Brandon Frame to inspire critical thought.

An extensive body of empirical research has evinced that Black male students throughout the educational pipeline academically underperform all students.  In the face of this reality, tools must be available to militate against the factors that contribute to Black male academic underachievement.  Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men is one of those innovative and valuable resources we need to help Black boys and men to progress academically, professionally, socially and personally.  The issues and questions they will confront in the journal offer them opportunities to face what they must do to make a significant change in their lives.

Too many Black boys and men are allowed to read and internalize negative narratives about themselves—primarily verbal and written narratives from Whites who do not wish them well.  Harper (2009) contends that Black males must have the opportunity to tell their own narratives in their own voices to offer meaningful and necessary counternarratives to the dominant extant narratives about them—the dominant narratives about them are mostly untrue, demeaning, and racist.  Through this journal, Frame empowers Black males with opportunities to write their counternarratives.

A growing body of professional literature demonstrates that mentoring Black male students leads to higher academic achievement and motivation.  Frame’s journal equips those who mentor with a resource that can be used to aid them in the process of transforming the lives of Black male students.  For those who mentor Black men, it gives them a tool to facilitate proper guidance and support.

Black fathers and sons now have a serious means through which to share and learn from one another.  I envision this journal helping to form Black male virtual and non-virtual communities and spaces where important ideas, challenges, problems, and solutions are discussed, shared, envisaged and implemented.  Additionally, I can see multifarious conferences and think tanks developing from those who read and use this journal.

I highly recommend this journal.  It can be purchased here: Purchase the Journal Here.  For only $15.00, you could save your own life and/or the life of a Black boy or man by buying this journal.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Boredom Can Lead to Trouble

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 12 Comments

Bored

On Facebook and Twitter, I often read about how “bored” many people are.  With as many tasks I have to complete each day, I have a difficult time envisaging how any individual who is in middle school and beyond can experience boredom.  Why not read the numerous great books available?  Why not start a blog?  Why not invest more time into studying your core academic subjects, especially those that pose the greatest challenges?  When you feel like you’re bored, this is simply a sign you’re not devoting your time to enough important phenomena.  While you may not feel inclined to make lifestyle changes, I want to warn you that I’ve witnessed too many people get themselves into serious trouble by being “bored” too often.

The answer to being bored is not drinking so many alcoholic beverages you end up attempting to drive your car and then foolishly run into someone on the road and kill him or her.  This can cause you to end up incarceration and then you’re really going to know what boredom truly is.

Although you may live in a small town where there’s not many places to visit to offer you entertainment, you need to learn to gain satisfaction from appropriate things you can do with your time.  For those of you in middle or high school, I would encourage you to participate in as many extracurricular activities as you can.  Join as many clubs as you can.  If there are not clubs or organizations on your campus that interest you, see if there is a faculty member who would be willing to start a formal organization or club that interests you and others.  If you cannot get a faculty member to help you to start the type of organization or club you desire to be a member of, then partner with other students and form the club or organization.  You will find that there’s nothing wrong with having an informal club or organization.

Make the most of your time.  Life is too short for you to waste most of your time talking about you’re bored.  One of the best ways to terminate boredom is to find things you can do to help others.  Your life will be more rewarding when you give some of your time to helping others.  Many people are always bored because they are empty on the inside.  When you share some of your time assisting others, your life will have more meaning.

Allowing yourself to be bored can cause you to make poor choices; choices that may impact you for a long time or forever.  Be the master of your own behavior.  Don’t let your body control you—you control your body.

If you’re a college student and you find yourself bored, this means you’re wasting valuable time that you could be investing in increasing the prospect of you obtaining a job after you graduate or improving your chances to gain adequate funding for graduate school.  It may be useful for you to get a part-time job to occupy some of the time you believe needs to be filled, and this will enable you to make some needed money.

Don’t let your idle mind be your tragic flaw.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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The Need to Improve College Readiness

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | Leave a Comment

Black College Student

Although increasing the number of minority students in higher education is essential, we must ensure they are prepared for college when they enter.  Too many students are entering in colleges and universities across the nation unable to meet the academic challenges they face.  In efforts to ameliorate diversity in higher education, we have to devote more attention to improving the quality of education students receive before they enroll in college.  While it’s certainly vital for more minority students to enroll in college, we don’t want them to enroll without the proper preparation.  Serious efforts to boost the number of minority students in college will be purposeless if we don’t send them to college with the academic preparation essential to empowering them to stay in college.

In our education reform discourse, let us be mindful about how important it is for us to discuss the significance of college readiness for all students.  Take a look at this piece that vividly articulates the impact of college unpreparedness: Unprepared for College.

What needs to be done to help students to be better prepared for college?  What will it take to make college readiness a national priority?

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Accreditation and Fake Online “Universities”

By Antonio Maurice Daniels on | 2 Comments


Accreditation

Diploma mills and fake online “colleges” and “universities” are increasingly rising (Noble, 1998; Noble, 2002).  A number of phony online “institutions” advertised online are unaccredited and defrauding people.  Revolutionary Paideia has reported about one of these fake “institutions,” Rochville University.  The accreditation and reaccreditation process is engaged in to protect the public’s trust in a degree.  Many online universities are legitimate accredited higher education institutions.  Two examples of legitimate accredited online higher education institutions are Walden University and Capella University.

Before you invest your time and money in obtaining a degree completely online, be sure to check with the United States Department of Education and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to ascertain if the online institution of your choice is accredited by the Department of Education and/or one of the legal accrediting bodies (which one can find out by going to the CHEA website).  On the CHEA website, one can find papers, videos, resources and etc. about accreditation and diploma mills.

Additionally, Craig Mayfield has published a valuable explanation of accreditation at http://www.onlinemba.com/guide/.  Once on the site, scroll down and you will find his work on accreditation under the section, “All About Accreditation.”  You will be pleased with the information Craig Mayfield provides about accreditation.  He even provides information about the legal accrediting agencies.  Legal accrediting agencies determine which institutions will be accredited and which will not be accredited.

It’s important for degree-seekers to understand they cannot receive a legal accredited degree by receiving all, most, or a substantial credit for “life experience.”  When you see “life experience” advertised in exchange for a degree, you need to know someone is attempting to scam you.  Don’t be fooled!  Too many people have contacted Revolutionary Paideia about being scammed by fake “universities,” so please don’t become the next victim.

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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