David Safier

“Crack babies,” “Super predators” and prisons

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by David Safier

Remember crack babies? They were children who were said to be permanently damaged because their mothers smoked crack when pregnant. The infants held their bodies at weird angles, didn't respond to affection, had no attention span and would be hanging around clogging up our prisons and social service systems for the rest of their lives. All because their mothers smoked crack. Not powder cocaine, crack. That's one of the many reasons given for making five grams of crack result in a five year mandatory minimum prison sentence while it took 500 grams of powder cocaine to yield the same punishment. We've got to think of those poor babies.

Except the "crack baby" scare was basically a crock, as discussed in an article in today's Star. Most of the overblown effects on children born of crack-smoking mothers stemmed from other factors, and studies have shown those children are similar to other children from similar socioeconomic circumstances, minus crack, now that they're grown up.

Crack was mainly a ghetto drug — black and urban. More expensive powder cocaine was often a plaything of the white and wealthy. Crack enforcement in the black community was the War on Drugs on steroids.

Remember super predators?

“Ain’t kids today awful?” and other timeless (un)truths

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by David Safier

When I was on Robin Hiller's State of Education radio show yesterday, a caller complained about how uneducated today's high school graduates are. He said they make lousy employees in his business. He or another caller said these kids don't know how many people are on the Supreme Court, or any of the Justices' names. We knew much more when we were kids, they were sure.

Adults suffer from selective amnesia concerning what we knew and didn't know when we were young. We love to moan, "What's wrong with these kids today? Why, when I was a boy/girl . . ." Well, I was a good student who attended a fine high school in the 60s, and I was far more concerned about social and political issues than most students. But did I know how many people were on the Supreme Court, or any of their names, or the term length of Representatives and Senators, or the names of my Representative and Senators? Maybe. But very possibly not, even though I took a Civics course where we read the Constitution along with Plato and Locke. I probably "learned" those facts (except for the names of my Reps and Senators, which I'm sure I didn't know), but did they stick? Did I care about numbers and names? And I was a motivated student from an educated family going to a school with students from similar backgrounds, which, I imagine, put us at least in the top 10% of high school students. Most students at the time didn't have nearly the advantages or the background I had. Did they know the civics-related facts and figures I may, or may not, have known? It's unlikely many of them did.

Quoting Pope Francis

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by David Safier I'm not one to quote popes, but these words from Pope Francis deserve to be spotlighted as a positive indication of the man he may be and the tone he might set. “If investments in the banks fail, ‘Oh, it’s a tragedy,’ ” he said, speaking extemporaneously for more than 40 minutes … Read more

What, letting kids use their bodies stimulates mental energy? Who knew?

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by David Safier

This one's for you, Steve Gall, and the boundless energy you expend in the pursuit of promoting physical exercise for grade shool kids. From today's NY Times editorial:

EDITORIAL
Exercise and Academic Performance

As schools everywhere strive to improve the academic performance of their students, many have cut physical education and recess periods to leave more time for sedentary classroom instruction. A sensible new report from the Institute of Medicine, a unit of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how shortsighted this trend can be. It found that exercise can significantly improve children’s cognitive abilities and their academic performance, as well as their health.

Students who exercise have lower body fat, greater muscular strength, and better cardiovascular and mental health. While admitting that the studies are limited, a panel of experts assembled by the institute says that “a growing body of evidence” suggests children who are more active are better able to focus their attention, are quicker to perform simple tasks, and have better working memories and problem solving skills than less-active children. They also perform better on standardized academic tests.

Going on the State of Education radio show Saturday

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by David Safier I'll be on Robin Hiller's The State of Education radio show Saturday, 11am, on KVOI (1030 on your AM radio dial). The focus of the show this week will be myths and realities about public education, which, interestingly enough, will be a running feature on Education: The Rest of the Story — … Read more