Yesterday, we went to church. The first reading of the day was from Ecclesiasticus. It is that wonderful section that begins, “Let us now sing the praises of famous men.” It talks about the great variety of famous men, leaders, musicians, writers, and others of home there is no memory. It is a great reading for the Sunday after All Saints Day; a reminder that we are all in this together, the rich and the forgotten.

It is also provided the title for James Agee and Walker Evans monumental book, “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”. That book was written about poverty in the south during the Great Depression. Now, over seventy years later, we have others to now praise famous men.

John Edwards, as part of his “American Heroes Week” spent last Saturday with a bunch of supporters helping rebuild home in New Orleans. We still have poverty in our country, and Hurricane Katrina briefly blew away the façade that had been hiding it.

Yet many of us are afraid to look poverty in the face, so the façade was quickly replaced. Part of Sen. Edwards campaign has been to constantly pick at that façade.

The issue of poverty isn’t just one limited to the south. Today’s Hartford Courant has an article, Schools: A Shift Of Views On Sheff. The article notes that “Hartford's schools still have a population that is predominantly black, Hispanic and poor.”

Checking out ConnCan, we find that 14% of high school students in Hartford are “within goal range across all subjects”. The state average is 47%, and the best school is at 83%. Digging deeper, we find that for low income students, this number remains at 14% for Hartford, but the State Average is 19%, and even the best school in Connecticut only has 62% of low income students within goal range across all subjects.

We can argue whether the goal ranges make sense. I’m not a big fan of standardized testing. I’m not convinced that the goals are the right goals for the 21st century, but as one Legislator said as she argued for standardized tests, these tests represent a real minimum of what should be taught. Even as such a minimum, they illustrate how bad the situation with our educational system is.

We can argue whether magnet schools or mandatory busing would better integrate the schools. But what should be clear to everyone is that what we are doing is not working. It is not working for the poor in Hartford. It is not working for the poor in the rest of the state, and, I would venture to guess, it is not working across our country.

What then, should we do? I am a technologist, and I would love to see innovative programs using technology. Let’s have students create business plans in Word. Let’s see them create Powerpoint presentations to argue for their business plans. Let’s have students participate in mock courts to learn how to defend their civil rights. (Let’s have that just a mock court, however!) Let’s encourage students to write novels during the month of November. Let’s use sites like Second Life to foster creativity and innovation.

I’m on a mailing list of Second Life educators. Recently, someone asked for a good review of what is going on for education in Second Life. It was suggested that the person visit various classrooms in Second Life, which led to a discussion about education going on in Second Life, outside of traditional classrooms.

I added the famous line from President Garfield, "The ideal college is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other." This line has been used to argue for student centric teaching and for spending more money on great teachers than on brick and mortar.

The same applies with technology. We don’t need to be spending our money on new technology programs. We need to be spending our money on teachers that can use whatever they have, whether it be a log, or an avatar, to create a caring relationship with students, on that helps transcend poverty, racism, and so many of the ills that face our nation. We need to reach out and care for the people around us. That is what has always made our country strong. It goes back to our roots in Ecclesiasticus. It goes to history of great books, like “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”. It goes to Robert Kennedy in Appalachia, John Edwards in New Orleans, and hopefully it is something we carry with us to the polls when we elect new leaders.

(Cross posted at DailyKos)