The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Telling the true story of our nation’s history
“It was the course I never knew I needed.”
This is how Henry Abbott Technical High School senior Noelia Nunez describes the yearlong course on African American, black, Latino and Puerto Rican studies she’s taking from social studies teacher Adrian Solis.
“Mr. Solis’ class brought us back to the surface from other history courses and textbooks, where it felt like we were written out of history,” Nunez said.
Solis is one of a handful of high school teachers in the state offering a pilot version of the yearlong course, which will be offered more widely in the fall. Based on the interest he’s seeing from students in his other courses, Solis expects to be able to fill two or three sections of the course next year.
“These kids are thirsty for this,” he said. “Kids need to learn about themselves, not just the single narrative they’ve learned since kindergarten. This course means they’ll be able to have conversations and have empathy for one another.”
All public high schools in Connecticut will be required to offer the class as an elective by fall 2022. Some conservative publications have painted Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education and President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona as the architect of the course and a “pioneer” and “trailblazer” in the movement to require students to take courses that will indoctrinate them with a view of history “through the lens of identity politics,” one which they say characterizes all white people as oppressors. Where to begin?
First, Connecticut is hardly a trailblazer in this arena. Eight other states already require that ethnic studies courses be offered as electives or even required courses for graduation in K-12 curriculum.
Second, Cardona has had very little to do with advocating or implementing the law that established the course, which was adopted before he had been named as commissioner by Gov. Ned Lamont. It was passionate, engaged students like Nunez, “thirsty” for a historical narrative that does not erase them, along with dedicated educators like Solis, who lobbied state legislators and testified in Hartford on behalf of the legislation.
Gladys Labas, the Department of Education’s director of equity and language, said the involvement of students in lobbying state lawmakers and testifying in Hartford in support of the new course was unprecedented.
Telling the full story of American history is essential for all students. In Nunez’s words, the course “would be an eye-opener for nonminorities.”
The need to integrate historic narratives of oppressed communities into all American history courses, to go beyond the bold step the new state course represents, will become even more important as demographics continue to shift and nonwhite students make up an ever-greater percentage of the public school population.
To continue to teach a course titled “American history” that focuses solely on the narratives of white American is to perpetuate a narrative that has been revealed in recent months, perhaps more starkly than ever, to be a lie. In Solis’ estimation, current U.S. history texts and curriculum erase at least one-third of the country’s path from its origins to the present day.
For this reason, Labas said the committees charged with designing the curriculum have been working simultaneously to build out smaller units from the course that can be integrated into curriculum resources for teachers of the current required U.S. history courses.
“We wanted to connect the stories of POC to the story of the history of the U.S.,” she said, filling in the gaps that conventional texts and lesson plans have tended to gloss over.
Her colleague, state social studies consultant Stephen Armstrong, would like to see content on African American, Native American and Latino studies to be integrated throughout the curriculum, and to begin earlier than high school.
“The tragedy would be for teachers to think this can be separate, instead of realizing that this is a critical part of the American story,” Armstrong said.
Last Thursday, during a committee hearing that took place prior to former President Trump’s second impeachment trial, Cardona’s nomination for U.S. secretary of education was forwarded to the full Senate by a vote of 17-5. Despite some objections to his nomination based on his advocacy for students of color and transgender athletes, Cardona’s nomination is expected to easily pass the full Senate.
Lamont has not yet named Cardona’s replacement. Whoever he names, it will be up to them to oversee full implementation of the course as a required elective, and to determine where ethnic studies in Connecticut’s public schools goes from here.
“The elective is a start,” Solis said. “The end game has to be that this is part of the K-12 curriculum. This material has to be integrated within American history.“
Labas agrees: “This is not the end. This is the beginning.
It’s been an eventful second season at UConn for R.J. Cole, to say the least.
After sitting out last season as a transfer from Howard, Cole beat out sophomore incumbent Jalen Gaffney for the starting point guard role and has quickly learned the challenges that come with it.
A couple of good games to start got him off on a good foot. A couple of missed free throws in an overtime loss to Creighton showed him the pressures of being a starting point guard in the Big East. He even felt compelled to tweet out an apology to UConn fans after that game.
A stretch of inconsistent play ousted him from the starting lineup. Now, consecutive strong games off the bench — capped by Saturday’s season-best 24-point, seven-assist gem in a win at Xavier — present the dilemma of moving him back into the starting lineup, or keeping him in his role as a “Microwave” off the bench.
For Cole’s part, he’s fine either way.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” the 6-foot-1 junior insisted. “I’ll play whatever position my team needs me — come off the bench, starting, whatever it is. I just want to be here for my teammates. As long as I can provide my input, my spark, I’m fine, no matter what my role is.”
Cole started UConn’s first 11 games, averaging 11 points, shooting 35.7 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from 3. His assist-to-turnover ratio was about 2-to-1. Good, but coach Dan Hurley was expecting more.
After Gaffney had a career-best 20 points off the bench in a Feb. 6 loss to Seton Hall, Hurley decided to switch things up and insert Gaffney back into the starting lineup and bring Cole off the
bench. It certainly seemed to light a spark under Cole.
In Wednesday’s loss at Providence, Cole had 10 points and five assists at halftime as the Huskies owned a one-point lead. He didn’t do much in the latter half, however, with just four points and an assist, and PC rolled to a 70-59 win.
“He’s had really good halves,” Hurley noted, “and then he hasn’t given us that second half in games that could put us over the top.”
So, when Cole popped off the bench for another good first half on Saturday at Xavier (12 points, five assists), Hurley challenged him at halftime to keep it up.
“He’s been trying to push another gear from me,” Cole acknowledged. “Coach told me that you have to put a second half together now, this is the time to do it.”
This time, he came through. Cole scored a dozen more points in the latter half and hit 5 of 7 3-pointers overall in by far his best game as a Husky. It was a far cry from his best statistical game of his career — Cole averaged 23.7 points per game as a freshman at Howard, 21.4 as a sophomore and once poured in 42 points in a game against UNC-Wilmington.
But considering the level of competition and how desperate UConn was for a victory, this may have been the defining game in Cole’s career to this point.
“This is the best I’ve felt in a long time,” Cole said after the game. “I was just happy I could be there for my teammates today. It took me a while to get to this point, but I’m happy I could do that today.”
Added Hurley: “If you’re gonna win in a league like this, you need to have guys that have those types of performances.”
Now, the dilemma. Gaffney hasn’t played very well in his two games back in the starting lineup (seven points, three assists, three turnovers) and has played far less minutes than Cole in both games. Does Hurley switch things up again and bring the hot hand back to the starting lineup? Or does he keep Cole in his role as instant offense off the bench?
An interesting decision. Either way, R.J. Cole is fine with whatever role allows him to help his team win.
“I mean, to me, it’s basketball,” he said. “Big East, anything, it’s basketball.
You’ve been doing this for your whole life. Competition is what you want to be a part of. Just figuring out how I can fit in and try to incorporate myself into the flow of the game here, I think I’ve found it. I’ve been struggling earlier in the season to get that flow. I think I figured it out. It came down to my teammates and coaching staff believing in me, and me believing in myself.”
Bugs are tromped, stomped and sprayed to a fare-thee-well in this country. But around the globe, they’re often prized as a tasty food. It’s estimated that 9.5 billion caterpillars are harvested each year in southern Africa, bringing in $85 million in sales. And in Mexico, maguey worms can end up in a tortilla or at the bottom of a bottle of mezcal.
We’re advocating for another pair of “bugs,” Lactobacillus johnsonii and Lactobacillus gasseri that researchers from Oregon State University say are able to help prevent and treat Type 2 diabetes. These probiotic bacteria are just two of the scores of Lactobacilli that work to keep your gut, body and brain healthy. And these — johnsonii and gasseri — seem to have a special relationship with your liver cells’ power centers (mitochondria).
That special interaction allows them to optimize the metabolism of glucose and fats in your body. As a result, ingesting them is associated with a lower body weight and a better management of glucose levels after you eat something — two important factors in preventing or controlling diabetes.
These Lactobacilli are found in various probiotic supplements (read the labels) and you can increase your chance of ingesting them by eating a wide range of probiotic foods. One example is the fermented drink kefir which can contain up to 61 strains of bacteria and yeasts. You can also support their good works by feeding your gut bacteria prebiotics (they gotta eat too), such as Jerusalem artichokes, chicory root, garlic, onions and oats.
Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.