When Math Isn’t About Math

Missouri Colleges Examine Math Requirements

I remember after taking (and failing) Introduction to Algebra for like the sixth time, I had a full breakdown. I mean, I didn’t go to work or school for like an entire week. Every dream I had for myself slipped away because they all hinged on me successfully completing three semesters of algebra. I spent that week thinking to myself, “This is it. This is my life. It will never be any more than what it is right now. I’ll never be the person that I know I can be. Never.”

College algebra has been the general education math requirement for graduation for decades. For many students, that’s also meant sitting through remedial math, or taking algebra two or three times – Missouri could offer options to college algebra more relevant to students’ majors | The Kansas City Star.

I understand the critical thinking that math offers. I know how to look at a large complex problem and break it down into smaller components, gather my like terms, do my simple order of operations, and solve. I can do that and I use that math skill every day. But there’s no way to measure that math skill for someone like me. People think I hate math but I rather admire its logic (except for when previously established intransigent rules suddenly have no meaning). I may not be calculating the path to Pluto but I know how to tip appropriately. I know figure out if a BOGO Sale is really a sale. I know how to balance my bank account. I know how to pay my bills.

A committee appointed by the Missouri Department of Higher Education is recommending that two- and four-year public schools that require algebra instead give students the option of taking a class in statistics or another math subject more relevant to their field..

If the KC Star article was about reading or writing, I’d be sad because reading and writing are such joys for me. Yet, I also know that for some people reading is their math. Writing is their math. Public speaking is their math. If there are people out there who are living what they know for them is a meager life, a life short of their dreams, simply because of reading or speech or math, then we’ve got do to what we can to help them. That’s what college is all about.

“Students have been told, ‘You don’t think mathematically,’ because they struggle with algebra, but algebra is just one small aspect of mathematics.” 

Trust Miguel’s Top 5 for 2013

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s Trust Miguel’s Top Five:

5. Former JCCC Prez Finalist for City College San Francisco Chancellor
4. JCCC Trustee: Homosexuality is a Sin
3. Who Do You Want Me To Vote For?
2. JCCC Student Athlete Dies
1. Former JCCC President Seeks Top Job in Florida

Click here to see the complete report.

Former JCCC Prez Finalist for City College San Francisco Chancellor

Terry Calaway

After not making the cut for the Florida State College at Jacksonville president job, Terry Calaway is on the short list for the position of Chancellor of the City College of San Francisco.

Considering how diverse City College of San Francisco is, one wonders if they will have the same concerns staff at Florida State had about Calaway shutting down the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ODEI) when he was president of Johnson County Community College. Will CCSF’s Faculty Diversity Internship program continue? How about it’s Gender Diversity Project or the  Latino Services Network?

— Terry Calaway, 57, retired in August after six years as president of Johnson County Community College in Kansas, a school of 60,000 students. He grew enrollment by 8 percent and coordinated academics with four-year universities. His 36-year career in academia includes four as president of Central Arizona College.

In 2011, the college expelled four nursing students who posted photos on Facebook showing them working with placenta. A court ordered reinstatement of a student who sued.

Calaway holds a doctorate in education administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

via 4 finalists for City College S.F. chancellor’s job – SFGate.

The article recalls the Placenta-gate scandal that focused on Calaway expelling student nurses for posting photos on Facebook.

Calaway Faces Diversity Scrutiny

The Florida Times-Union reports that Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) has named six semifinalists for president. JCCC former president Terry Calaway, who retired earlier this year “to spend more time with his family,” has made it the second round.

However there are concerns from FSCJ that focus on Calaway’s decision  to shut down JCCC’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI).

In Calaway’s interview video for the FSCJ search committee, he highlights creating the ODEI as one of his accomplishments as president.

Trustee Morales? Yes, Please!

#JCCC names a new trustee in the coming weeks. I'm asking you to help and sign this petition. http://t.co/CG31clDtXk pic.twitter.com/l53fNPQxKU

— Miguel M. Morales #FarmworkerPortfolio is HERE! (@TrustMiguel) September 11, 2013

JCCC’s Diversity Legacy

https://twitter.com/FakeBenHodge/status/341333426953146368

https://twitter.com/FakeBenHodge/status/341334802101854208

JCCC Trustee: Homosexuality is a Sin

CLICK IMAGE to read more about Drummond’s role in banning “Annie on My Mind”

“Yes, I believe in what the Bible says about homosexuality. It is a sin.”

 – Bob Drummond.

This is why I have not and will not ever vote for Bob Drummond — or those who align themselves with him. When he served on the Olathe School Board, Drummond voted to remove a young adult book, Annie on My Mind,  from all Olathe School libraries. I have a problem with this for several reasons:

1. You all know how much I love libraries. I work the the JCCC Billington Library, for Pete’s sake.
2. I am a staunch advocate for the First Amendment having earned the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award for reporting on JCCC.
3. I am a Gay man — a Gay man who READS. When I first moved to the KC Metro, I spent hours in the library reading about the history and culture of the LGBT community.
4. There are LGBT youth in high school, believe me. Keeping information from them only puts them at risk.
5. I am a writer working on an YA novel that includes LGBT characters.

Who Do You Want Me To Vote For?

Today my best friend asked me the question he asks every two years: “Who do you want me to vote for?”

You see, it’s usually around this time that most JCCC employees (and some students) get asked that question or one similar to it.

While most people in Johnson County are familiar with the community college, many aren’t aware of the issues affecting it. Nor are they aware that in this particular race there are four openings on the JCCC Board of Trustees.

Since there are six candidates (two challengers and four incumbents), each registered voter has the opportunity to cast up to four votes.

But that’s not what I’m asking my friends and family to do.

Remember That One Time JCCC Respected Hourly Employees Enough to Put One on the New President Screening Committee?

This email was sent 8:39 AM, Monday, August 28, 2006:

TO: Full-Time Regular and Part-Time Regular Office & Technical, Maintenance & Service and Hourly Technical Staff

FROM: Office of the President

SUBJECT: JCCC New President Screening Committee

As you are aware, the college is beginning the search process for its new JCCC President.  As part of this plan, a Screening Committee is being formed to provide input into this search process.  A position is available on this Screening Committee for an hourly-paid JCCC staff member.

We are currently seeking the names of hourly staff interested in serving on this New President Screening Committee.  If you have an interest in participating in this role or wish to nominate a peer, I request that you submit your name or nomination through our on-line nomination process.  This information must be received by Tuesday, August 29, 2006 at 9:00pm in order to receive further consideration.

To access the on-line nomination process:

1) Access the college home page (http://www.jccc.edu)

2) Login to MyJCCC

3) Click on the JCCC Applications tab

4) Click on Human Resources

5) Click on the Screening Committee link

On Thursday, August 31, 2006, an alphabetical list of eligible names submitted will be sent to you and your hourly peers for a vote to select the person to be appointed to this committee.  Any names or nominations received for active Office Personnel League (OPL) members will not be included in this list because the OPL membership has a seat on the Screening Committee and will have a separate selection process.  If this process results in a tie vote, there will be a run-off vote held to select the member for this committee.

The New President Screening Committee will be co-chaired by two Board of Trustees members, Elaine Perilla and Ben Hodge.  Working with Dr. Jeff Hockaday, the college’s search consultant, the responsibilities of this Screening Committee will include attending three scheduled lunch meetings and one evening public forum of approximately 90 minutes each 1) to develop a job profile to be used for screening the applicants for President; 2) to review and screen the credentials and video presentations of candidates brought forward for this position; and 3) to determine a slate of up to 8 candidates to be sent to the full Board of Trustees for their further consideration.

As you can see, the person selected for this committee will play a very important role in screening candidates for the position of new JCCC President.  I hope that you will give this invitation your serious consideration and submit your name as indicated above if you wish to be considered for this assignment.  The selected hourly staff member will be announced after the conclusion of the voting process.

If you have any questions about this process, contact Dorothy Friedrich at college ext. 3268.  Thank you for your consideration.

Fred Krebs, My Unexpected Friend

Fred Krebs, 1946 – 2012

I met Fred Krebs when I worked as a reporter for The Campus Ledger. Fred, dressed as Benjamin Franklin,  sat at a table in the Commons building handing out copies of the US Constitution.  He saw me coming down the steps from The Ledger offices and said, “You need to have one of these.”

I thought he was one of those annoying guys handing out Gideon bibles.

Looking closer, I saw it was a pocket-size US Constitution. I thanked him and took it. I continued to walk down the hall then I turned around and went back into The Ledger office.

“There’s a guy handing out little mini-Constitutions in the COM. Get a photog out there,” I told the photo editor. “Oh, and tell everyone to get one of those mini-Constitutions and bring them to the staff meeting.”

That was the beginning of our annual Constitution Day feature story and Fred was always our “go to” source.

As an employee of the library, I’d seen Fred a few times as he scheduled classes with the librarians. When I became a Diversity Fellow, I started to see more of him as he collaborated with our director, Carmaletta Williams on projects, most notably on The Souls of Black Folk.

Sure, I still thought he was kinda crazy for dressing up as all those historical figures but, everyone has their thing, right? And his wasn’t hurting anyone, in fact, people enjoyed it. He was helping them understand history.

When Fred’s mother, Virginia Krebs, stepped down from the Board of Trustees, I submitted an application to fill the vacancy. I guess word got around and Fred came into the library and said, “I hear you applied to fill my mother’s seat on the board.”

Oh geez, was I really gonna get a beat-down in the library from Benjamin Franklin?