\r\n \t
  • Abigail Henry examines the concerning implications of recent legislative attempts to whitewash and restrict the teaching of Black history.<\/li>\r\n \t
  • How can you support Black history education that is equity-based, truthful, encourages critical thought and does not center the feelings of white people?<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Learn more about teaching kids about Black history<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","intro":null,"content":"Dear Fellow Socially Conscious Teacher,I\u00a0have been thinking about you so much, what you and I are going through, and how to be there for each other. Florida\u00a0Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019\u00a0decision\u00a0to ban\u00a0AP African American Studies\u00a0in his state has made me think of the writer James Baldwin\u2019s powerful 1963 speech\u00a0\u201cA Talk to Teachers.\u201dSpeaking in front of a group of educators, he stated:...you must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society, you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance. There is no point in pretending that this won\u2019t happen.In this speech, Baldwin goes on to say that educators should encourage Black students to seek liberation. His warning about resistance and his strong desire for teachers to uplift students of color couldn\u2019t be more relevant today.An\u00a0African American History\u00a0teacher in West Philadelphia, I learned of DeSantis\u2019 ban after a long day of planning how to teach\u00a0Reconstruction\u00a0\u2014\u00a0my most challenging unit. (Philadelphia, for its part, requires high school students to take\u00a0an African American history course\u00a0to graduate.) Upon hearing the news out of Florida, I asked myself: Why would a leader deny Black students a chance to learn about\u00a0the origins of the KKK, read a\u00a0speech by Hiram Revels, the first Black U.S. Senator, and compare and contrast the Supreme Court decisions in the\u00a0Dred Scott case\u00a0and\u00a0Plessy v. Ferguson.And why is the assumption that any teaching of African American History involves some sort of forced discussion of white privilege on white students?The current discourse prioritizes a false need to protect some students at the expense of the education of Black students (and teachers of color). I\u00a0wrote\u00a0about this unfortunate phenomenon for the Pulitzer Center, where I had been part of the inaugural cohort working to incorporate Nikole Hannah-Jones\u00a0\u201c1619 Project\u201d\u00a0into curriculum.","html_content":"

    Dear Fellow Socially Conscious Teacher,<\/p>

    I\u00a0have been thinking about you so much, what you and I are going through, and how to be there for each other. Florida\u00a0Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019<\/a>\u00a0decision\u00a0to ban<\/a>\u00a0AP African American Studies<\/a>\u00a0in his state has made me think of the writer James Baldwin\u2019s powerful 1963 speech\u00a0\u201cA Talk to Teachers.\u201d<\/a><\/p>

    Speaking in front of a group of educators, he stated:<\/p>

    ...you must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society, you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance. There is no point in pretending that this won\u2019t happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>

    In this speech, Baldwin goes on to say that educators should encourage Black students to seek liberation. His warning about resistance and his strong desire for teachers to uplift students of color couldn\u2019t be more relevant today.<\/p>

    An\u00a0African American History<\/a>\u00a0teacher in West Philadelphia, I learned of DeSantis\u2019 ban after a long day of planning how to teach\u00a0Reconstruction<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0my most challenging unit. (Philadelphia, for its part, requires high school students to take\u00a0an African American history course<\/a>\u00a0to graduate.) Upon hearing the news out of Florida, I asked myself: Why would a leader deny Black students a chance to learn about\u00a0the origins of the KKK<\/a>, read a\u00a0speech by Hiram Revels<\/a>, the first Black U.S. Senator, and compare and contrast the Supreme Court decisions in the\u00a0Dred Scott case<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Plessy v. Ferguson<\/a>.<\/p>

    And why is the assumption that any teaching of African American History involves some sort of forced discussion of white privilege on white students?<\/p>

    The current discourse prioritizes a false need to protect some students at the expense of the education of Black students (and teachers of color). I\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0about this unfortunate phenomenon for the Pulitzer Center, where I had been part of the inaugural cohort working to incorporate Nikole Hannah-Jones\u00a0\u201c1619 Project\u201d<\/a>\u00a0into curriculum.<\/p>","excerpt":"African American History teacher Abigail Henry on what DeSantis\u2019 AP African American History ban means \u2014 and what teachers can do about it.","byline":"","author":"Josh Wojcik","author_bio":null,"author_img_url":null,"publisher":"Chalkbeat","type":"post","image":null,"gc_medium_image":"https:\/\/cdn.www.hbhuluo.com\/images\/categories\/featured-category-education.jpg","has_featured_image":false,"img_alt":"","img_caption":"","gc_selection":false,"url":"\/\/www.hbhuluo.com\/article\/the-harms-of-restricting-the-teaching-of-black-history","is_gc_original":false,"is_evergreen":false,"footnotes":null,"audio":false,"pdf":null,"video":false,"date_added":"Feb 2, 2023","date_modified":"Feb 2, 2023","categories":[{"id":44,"name":"Education","slug":"education"},{"id":76,"name":"Human Rights","slug":"human-rights"},{"id":110,"name":"Region","slug":"region"},{"id":111,"name":"North America","slug":"north-america"},{"id":160,"name":"Race and Ethnicity","slug":"race-and-ethnicity"},{"id":33092,"name":"Education (Other)","slug":"education-philanthropy"}],"_date_added":1675296000,"_date_modified":1675296000,"_categories":["education","human-rights","region","north-america","race-and-ethnicity","education-philanthropy"],"_tags":[]},{"id":214448,"title":"Recent Legislation Shrinks Community Colleges","summary":"

      \r\n \t
    • Wendy Brill-Wynkoop reports on new laws which provide simple solutions for complex issues and have the impact of shrinking community colleges.<\/li>\r\n \t
    • How can more nuanced legislation address the systemic issues with transfers from community colleges to state universities?<\/li>\r\n \t
    • Read about improving gender equity in community college transfers<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","intro":null,"content":"Assembly Bill 928, legislation from the 2021 legislative year, was one of several recent bills developed by corporate-funded advocacy organizations that mandated oversimplified solutions to complex issues. The results often have unintended consequences that manifest themselves in the months and years after the law is implemented.In the case of\u00a0AB 928, the consequences are shrinking colleges.The overarching aims of this particular bill were to reduce the time of transferring and obtaining a degree, as well as to improve course transferability and efficiency. In theory, this intention seemed sensible. In practice, however, it created new barriers and amplified existing challenges.The bill had three objectives:Rebooting the\u00a0California Postsecondary Education Commission\u00a0with a new oversight committee to streamline and improve coordination in California\u2019s higher education systems.Calling for a single general education transfer pattern from the community colleges to both the Cal State and University of California systems.Mandating the automatic placement of students in the Associate Degree for Transfer programs, which provide students with guaranteed admission to a CSU (but not necessarily their CSU of choice).While students, faculty, administrators and the community college chancellor\u2019s office expressed concerns about AB 928 at various points in the legislative process, the bill moved forward without substantive amendments, and the governor ultimately signed it.","html_content":"

      Assembly Bill 928, legislation from the 2021 legislative year, was one of several recent bills developed by corporate-funded advocacy organizations that mandated oversimplified solutions to complex issues. The results often have unintended consequences that manifest themselves in the months and years after the law is implemented.<\/p>

      In the case of\u00a0AB 928<\/a>, the consequences are shrinking colleges.<\/p>

      The overarching aims of this particular bill were to reduce the time of transferring and obtaining a degree, as well as to improve course transferability and efficiency. In theory, this intention seemed sensible. In practice, however, it created new barriers and amplified existing challenges.<\/p>

      The bill had three objectives:<\/p>

      • Rebooting the\u00a0California Postsecondary Education Commission<\/a>\u00a0with a new oversight committee to streamline and improve coordination in California\u2019s higher education systems.<\/li>
      • Calling for a single general education transfer pattern from the community colleges to both the Cal State and University of California systems.<\/li>
      • Mandating the automatic placement of students in the Associate Degree for Transfer programs, which provide students with guaranteed admission to a CSU (but not necessarily their CSU of choice).<\/li><\/ul>

        While students, faculty, administrators and the community college chancellor\u2019s office expressed concerns about AB 928 at various points in the legislative process, the bill moved forward without substantive amendments, and the governor ultimately signed it.<\/p>","excerpt":"The unintended consequences of oversimplified solutions to complex problems are harming California's community colleges; we need foundational and systemic shifts to fundamentally improve student success.","byline":"","author":"Josh Wojcik","author_bio":null,"author_img_url":null,"publisher":"EdSource","type":"post","image":null,"gc_medium_image":"https:\/\/cdn.www.hbhuluo.com\/images\/categories\/featured-category-education.jpg","has_featured_image":false,"img_alt":"","img_caption":"","gc_selection":false,"url":"\/\/www.hbhuluo.com\/article\/recent-legislation-shrinks-community-colleges","is_gc_original":false,"is_evergreen":false,"footnotes":null,"audio":false,"pdf":null,"video":false,"date_added":"Feb 2, 2023","date_modified":"Feb 2, 2023","categories":[{"id":44,"name":"Education","slug":"education"},{"id":45,"name":"Higher Education","slug":"higher-education"},{"id":61,"name":"Advocacy and Policy","slug":"advocacy-and-policy"},{"id":110,"name":"Region","slug":"region"},{"id":111,"name":"North America","slug":"north-america"},{"id":259854,"name":"Democracy","slug":"democracy"}],"_date_added":1675296000,"_date_modified":1675296000,"_categories":["education","higher-education","advocacy-and-policy","region","north-america","democracy"],"_tags":[]},{"id":214399,"title":"Lung Cancer Rates Are Decreasing for Men But Not Women","summary":"

          \r\n \t
        • An oncologist explores why and how women are now at higher risk of developing lung cancer than men and the factors contributing to this trend.<\/li>\r\n \t
        • How can this research help change public health policy and health prevention screenings?<\/li>\r\n \t
        • Learn more about women's health<\/a> and what donors can do.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","intro":null,"content":"When many people think of an average lung cancer patient, they often imagine an older man smoking. But the face of lung cancer has changed. Over the past 15 years, more women, never smokers and younger people are being diagnosed with lung cancer.In fact, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women, and more women die from lung cancer than breast, ovarian and colorectal cancer each year. The American Lung Association reports that while lung cancer rates have risen by 79% for women over the last 44 years, they decreased by 43% for men. And for the first time in history, there are more young women than men diagnosed with lung cancer.As a thoracic oncologist at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System, I have seen many younger women and never smokers walk into my clinic with a new diagnosis of lung cancer. Particularly for never smokers, lung cancer is unexpected for both patients and their doctors, which can often lead to delays in diagnosis. Researchers have described this trend of increasing lung cancer rates among women in different parts of the world and are starting to understand why cases are on the rise.Lung cancer in womenThe first explanation of why rates of lung cancer in women have increased is that many started smoking later than men, pushing back their peak in smoking-related lung cancer diagnoses.Women also started smoking in the years when filtered cigarettes were most commonly used. This led to an increased risk of a type of cancer called adenocarcinoma due to the way cigarette filters distribute tobacco smoke to the outer parts of the lungs. Some studies suggest that women are more susceptible to the carcinogenic effects of exposure to tobacco and cigarette smoke, including second-hand smoke, and may develop lung cancer after fewer years of smoking compared to men.However, it is important to note that most people diagnosed today with lung cancer are not active smokers. About 20% of women with lung cancer have never smoked \u2013 higher than for men with lung cancer who\u2019ve never smoked.Lung cancer risk factorsBesides smoking and secondhand smoke, there are several other lung cancer risk factors. These include a family history of cancer and exposure to asbestos, radon and air pollution.Exposure to carcinogens in the workplace in the form of inhaled chemicals such as arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, silica and nickel is still a concern in some parts of the world. The potential lung cancer risk of e-cigarette and marijuana smoke is still under study but of potential concern.Recently, researchers have also found that genetics can play a role in lung cancer risk in some patients with a strong history of lung cancer. Studies of these families have helped identify potential susceptibility genes for lung cancer and environmental risk factors.Like BRCA1 and BRCA2 in breast cancer, alterations in genes that promote or protect against tumor development can contribute to lung cancer development. Researchers have yet to identify specific mutations that may predispose individuals to lung cancer. However, studying familial genetic predispositions can help elucidate how lung cancer develops and lead to new biomarkers for early cancer detection in high-risk groups.Lung cancer screeningIn 2021, the United States Preventive Services Task Force updated its lung cancer screening guidelines to include younger patients with less smoking history. Now, lung cancer screening is recommended for adults ages 50 to 80 who have smoked at least one pack per day for 20 years, current smokers and former smokers who quit smoking within the last 15 years. Women at risk for lung cancer can talk to their doctors about ordering a low-dose CT scan for lung cancer screening.Nationwide, more than 70% of eligible women undergo breast cancer screening but less than 6% of all eligible smokers pursue lung cancer screening. Researchers estimate that these new screening guidelines will increase the number of women eligible for lung cancer screening by 40% by including those at a younger age who have less smoking exposure.Lung cancer diagnosisIn recent years, increasing understanding of the genetic changes that can lead to cancer and how to harness the immune system to treat cancer has led to new targeted therapies and immunotherapies that have improved the prognosis of patients with lung cancer. Women tend to have a better lung cancer prognosis than men, especially if they never smoked and have tumors with molecular changes that can be treated with targeted therapies.However, lung cancer symptoms may go unrecognized in women. Symptoms of lung cancer can include coughing, shortness of breath, overwhelming fatigue and pain in the back, chest or shoulder, which could be confused for other ailments. Because women tend to be slightly younger when diagnosed than men, patients may be able to tolerate symptoms longer and delay seeking medical attention. Physicians also might not attribute these sym...","html_content":"

          When many people think of an average lung cancer patient, they often imagine an older man smoking<\/a>. But the face of lung cancer has changed. Over the past 15 years, more women, never smokers and younger people<\/a> are being diagnosed with lung cancer.<\/p>

          In fact, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women<\/a>, and more women die from lung cancer than breast, ovarian and colorectal cancer each year. The American Lung Association reports that while lung cancer rates have risen by 79% for women over the last 44 years, they decreased by 43% for men<\/a>. And for the first time in history, there are more young women than men<\/a> diagnosed with lung cancer.<\/p>

          As a thoracic oncologist<\/a> at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Health System, I have seen many younger women and never smokers walk into my clinic with a new diagnosis of lung cancer. Particularly for never smokers, lung cancer is unexpected for both patients and their doctors, which can often lead to delays in diagnosis. Researchers have described this trend of increasing lung cancer rates among women in different parts of the world<\/a> and are starting to understand why cases are on the rise.<\/p>

          Lung cancer in women<\/h2>

          The first explanation of why rates of lung cancer in women have increased is that many started smoking later than men<\/a>, pushing back their peak in smoking-related lung cancer diagnoses.<\/p>

          Women also started smoking in the years when filtered cigarettes were most commonly used. This led to an increased risk of a type of cancer called adenocarcinoma<\/a> due to the way cigarette filters distribute tobacco smoke to the outer parts of the lungs. Some studies suggest that women are more susceptible<\/a> to the carcinogenic effects of exposure to tobacco and cigarette smoke, including second-hand smoke, and may develop lung cancer after fewer years of smoking compared to men.<\/p>

          However, it is important to note that most people diagnosed today with lung cancer are not active smokers. About 20% of women with lung cancer<\/a> have never smoked \u2013 higher than for men with lung cancer who\u2019ve never smoked.<\/p>

          Lung cancer risk factors<\/h2>

          Besides smoking and secondhand smoke, there are several other lung cancer risk factors<\/a>. These include a family history of cancer and exposure to asbestos, radon and air pollution.<\/p>

          Exposure to carcinogens in the workplace in the form of inhaled chemicals such as arsenic<\/a>, beryllium, cadmium, silica and nickel is still a concern in some parts of the world. The potential lung cancer risk of e-cigarette<\/a> and marijuana smoke is still under study but of potential concern.<\/p>

          Recently, researchers have also found that genetics<\/a> can play<\/a> a role<\/a> in lung cancer risk in some patients with a strong history of lung cancer. Studies of these families have helped identify potential susceptibility genes for lung cancer and environmental risk factors.<\/p>

          Like BRCA1 and BRCA2<\/a> in breast cancer, alterations in genes that promote or protect against tumor development can contribute to lung cancer development. Researchers have yet to identify specific mutations that may predispose individuals to lung cancer. However, studying familial genetic predispositions can help elucidate how lung cancer develops and lead to new biomarkers<\/a> for early cancer detection in high-risk groups.<\/p>

          Lung cancer screening<\/h2>

          In 2021, the United States Preventive Services Task Force updated its lung cancer screening guidelines<\/a> to include younger patients with less smoking history. Now, lung cancer screening is recommended for adults ages 50 to 80 who have smoked at least one pack per day for 20 years, current smokers and former smokers who quit smoking within the last 15 years. Women at risk for lung cancer can talk to their doctors about ordering a low-dose CT scan<\/a> for lung cancer screening.<\/p>

          Nationwide, more than 70% of eligible women<\/a> undergo breast cancer screening but less than 6% of all eligible smokers<\/a> pursue lung cancer screening. Researchers estimate that these new screening guidelines will increase the number of women<\/a> eligible for lung cancer screening by 40% by including those at a younger age who have less smoking exposure.<\/p>

          Lung cancer diagnosis<\/h2>

          In recent years, increasing understanding of the genetic changes that can lead to cancer and how to harness the immune system to treat cancer has led to new targeted therapies<\/a> and immunotherapies<\/a> that have improved the prognosis of patients with lung cancer. Women tend to have a better lung cancer prognosis<\/a> than men, especially if they never smoked and have tumors with molecular changes that can be treated with targeted therapies.<\/p>

          However, lung cancer symptoms may go unrecognized in women<\/a>. Symptoms of lung cancer can include coughing, shortness of breath, overwhelming fatigue and pain in the back, chest or shoulder, which could be confused for other ailments. Because women tend to be slightly younger when diagnosed than men<\/a>, patients may be able to tolerate symptoms longer and delay seeking medical attention. Physicians also might not attribute these symptoms to lung cancer due to a patient\u2019s younger age.<\/p>

          Recognizing the early symptoms of lung cancer, expanding lung cancer screening eligibility and testing for genetic biomarkers to select the best therapy are some of the steps that could help address the global epidemic of lung cancer in women.<\/p>

          Estelamari Rodriguez<\/a>, Associate Director of Community Outreach in Thoracic Oncology, University of Miami<\/a><\/em><\/p>

          This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>. The<\/span>\u00a0Conversation<\/span>\u00a0is a nonprofit news source dedicated to spreading ideas and expertise from academia into\u00a0the<\/span>\u00a0public discourse.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>