MOTIVATION: Evocation of the past.

In times of challenge and controversy I often desire to call on my ancestral self to reconeptualize what it means to struggle and those who made the opportunity available to myself and others to struggle by choice and not necessity. At this time I have reflected on the words of W.E.B. DuBois in the notion of Double Consciousness in understanding my position in the road to equality and progress there in. Accept the following as my affirmation to his contentions and personal commitment to the collective identity through individual achievement and understanding.

I AM after the Egyptian and the Indian, the Greek and the Roman, the Teuton and the Mongolian, I AM the Negro, the seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world. I AM the future of reconciliation, the sympathetic understanding of the exotic other, the spiritual striving of Negro blood with a message for the world. I AM the remembrance of the foul and cursed, no longer spit upon by fellows, but swallowed pride rumbling in the bellies and proclivities of bigots. I AM emancipated, dangling the keys to the doors of opportunity, keeping forever faithful the promise in the repository of my breast, to shine so that the stars that follow will remain forever in their brightness long after I AM.

Copyright 2009 © Charles H.F. Davis III. All Rights Reserved.

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"

BACK TO SCHOOL: The Break Is Over

As many GSE students, the Thanksgiving break could not have come at a better time in the semester. For most the many readers following my journey, it has been quite obvious the rigor my personal schedule has placed on me this semester. After concluding four midterms, two work trips, an open house, filming for the Penn GSE Click-Submit campaign, and moderating the Penn Film Festival my November was SLAMMED with non-stop work. However, there were most certainly some memorable moments amidst the chaos and complexity that a month of diligence required.

After returning from a much needed break over the Thanksgiving holiday, I have picked up nearly where I left off. While I did not complete take the break as a separation from work entirely, I was able to realign my focus on the weeks ahead as the semester rapidly approaches a close. After receiving feedback from my professors on my midterm progress, I have been able to better position myself for the final exams in the next several weeks to ensure I remain in superlative form amongst my peers. This week I hit the ground running renewed and invigorated to finish strong at the remaining tasks.

Among them I had a research design follow-up with Dr. Harper to set in stone the direction of our paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Negro Education. In my post at the Department of Alumni Relations, I met with the Classes & Reunions team to discuss recommendations for our formal recognition of classes through a new administrative process. This will be presented Wednesday to the Alumni Class Leadership Council for adoption during the upcoming fiscal year for future classes to implement as minimum standards and guidelines. And of course, I had two classes this evening to wrap up a sound day of preparation and progress.

In addition I am in the process of applying to Doctoral programs ... Again. Look out for future posts regarding the schools I will be applying to in addition to staying here at Penn for the next several years to expand my research interests and scholastic experience.

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"

MIDTERMS: The Results Are In!

The results are in and we are doing just fine! After receiving my midterms back from my professors you will be glad to know that we are achieving academic excellence inside the classroom. For each of my classes requiring midterms (3 of 5), A is the grade of the day. While there could be a litany of rhetoric to follow, there isn't much more to be said than the work is just beginning. It's one thing to get an "A" and another to maintain it consistently!

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"

FRUSTRATION: The Implications of Critical Consciousness

Over the course of this semester I have read thousands of pages in hundreds of articles exploring the many and varied questions, explanations, and conversations surrounding the phenomenon known as education. To the end of many graduate students, the expectation as we have been socialized, is that school and schooling are to provide answers. However, as many first year graduate students come to learn as I did two years ago in my first graduate program, graduate school will only provide you with greater questions which we must identify and seek out the answers for ourselves. In that regard, the last few weeks especially, have drawn my mind to what I may consider the central question of my academic career.

Why is educational research preoccupied so intensely on explaining, contextualizing, and professing the problems and deficits of the educational system, specifically surround minority schooling?

The last several weeks have led me to an ultimate, though not permanent, disenchantment with the portrayal and focus of minorities as having an academic and social dysfunction with school and schooling that needs to be studied. I even found myself a victim of this pathology when beginning to probe my own research interest and only recently understood that I was situating myself to contribute to a line of research that does nothing but perpetuate its continuance. The deficit perspective is, in some ways, a necessary aspect of being critical of many things within society and academia. However, the abundance to which most of my classes propose the 'problems' of our study is quite unsettling. Where about the success stories? Where does education and minority achievement take place? Why is there limited, if any, research on those topics?

Suffice it to say that it is the human preoccupation, as a critical being, to problematize the world around him. Critical consciousness requires that a deeper, more profound, more terrifying examination must take place if sustainable change is to take place. In reference to my own path, I imagine it has been the identification of the academic deficiency surrounding what I will call achievement oriented scholarship that will assert my place as a future researcher. While there are most certainly problems, there too are solutions, that perhaps can only be best understood by studying more often the successes than the failures.

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"

Hitting The Books

Needless to say it has been some time since I have been able to post a blog detailing the happenings of my life here at Penn, but as you probably guessed it's a critical time in the semester. Over the last two weeks I have had a TON of work to complete! With the many and varied readings assigned each week, critical engagement of the texts are important to informing class discussion. As previously mentioned, these can easily increase to nearly 500 pages per week and that has not changed in spite of mid-terms and draft papers being due the last several weeks. In a matter of 7 days, I had four papers / midterms due to include my Master's Thesis Prospectus, School & Society Mid-Term, Anthropology & Education Mid-Term, and Conceptual Models in Education Administration Mid-Term. As if that in and of itself was not enough, readings proceeded, many of which are FULL TEXTS not articles of 200+ pages.

However, one thing that I can say from my upbringing is that there is no replacement for hard work, perseverance and diligence. As I was once told by my brothers, diamonds are rare and made under pressure, and that is a motto that has empowered me to thrive in times of impossibility. I have used these last few weeks, not only to rise to the occasion, but affirm my rightful place as a leader and source of inspiration for others. For the ultimate measure of my best work is not the result of where I stand in times of comfort and convenience, but in times of controversy and challenge. I am truly enjoying this critical engagement in my intellectual maturation and it are the nights burning the midnight oil that separate "the good from the great", "the haves and have-nots", and the "if I's" from the "when I's".

The heights by great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight but, while their companions slept, they were toiling upward in the night.

-William Wordsworth

On deck this week is my Evolution of Assessment Term Paper [DRAFT] due by Wednesday as well as a number of readings which, luckily, I was able to conquer this past weekend while traveling for work. Rest assured that the best is yet to come and though the struggle is hard, the victory is certain!

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"

FACULTY PROFILE: Dr. Shaun R. Harper

When I accepted the offer to attend graduate school at one of the nation’s top institutions of higher learning, I considered the opportunities I would be afforded and the resources available to increase my knowledge and understanding. I gave account to the intellectually charged classrooms full of promising students and future scholars, world-class researchers in various fields, and supportive faculty and staff to assist the aims and purposes of the university. What was least expected was the level of commitment an individual professor would make to support my aspirations to become a future tenure-track faculty member. While the faculty, as a collective, undoubtedly seeks to personify this model, one professor took special interest in me, for which I am humbled and thankful.

Dr. Shaun R. Harper, faculty in the Higher Education division at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE), is the quintessential archetype of an educator. As a leading authority on diagnoses and prescription for Black Male Achievement within higher education, Dr. Harper’s research has had a direct impact in the communities in which he operates. In addition, Harper is an often-sought out liaison for students in Higher Education and beyond. As a personal mentor, Harp – as he is called – has helped me gain focus in the classroom and research arenas through constructive criticism, research development strategies, and reassurance of my personal abilities to achieve my goals.

Dr. Harper’s foresight has also led in the groundbreaking of a new initiative at the Graduate School of Education (GSE), the Black Male PhD Prep Academy. This academy, which has selected the nations best and brightest collegiate African American males, was designed to support college juniors who desire to pursue doctoral study immediately following completion of their baccalaureate degrees. In conjunction with GSE Dean Andy Porter, Dr. Harper’s initiative is a historical benchmark for a grass roots approach to increasing the number of African American PhD’s within the Academy. Seeing it fit for an opportunity to engage students, Dr. Harper offered me the opportunity to work with this outstanding program as a mentor and liaison for this year’s candidates.

When looking for a true representation of progressive scholarship in action, I need not look further than Dr. Harper’s example. His model of education through inspiration assuredly sets the tone for, not only creating an environment for emulation, but the opportunity for myself and others to develop the intellectual creativity necessary to establish an academic legacy within a field of research. To these ends, I am proud to have gained such an astute scholar and practitioner within these college walls. While my experience has been brief, it is undoubted that his mentorship thus far has shown great promise for what more is in store. Under his unbridled leadership, I am rest assured that the best is yet to come!

*NOTE: Students wishing to take a class with Dr. Harper can register for Critical Race Theory and/or Qualitative Modes of Inquiry in the Spring 2010 semester.

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"

Academics: Raising the Bar Part II

cont ...


As many of you may know, my passion for speaking and leading seminars over the last year and half has been supported by my small- business VOCAL Speakers. I can not express enough how that experience lends itself quite handily in the classroom. Orchestrating presentations has really been a breeze with prior experience as well as putting together lesson plans similarly structured as workshops done previously.

In another class a study group report was due to reflect on the overall reflections of readings, class discussions, and direction of classes for my Conceptual Models in Educational Administration class. Dr. James H. Lytle, one of the most knowledgeable practitioner scholars in education, gave remarks when evaluating are group as busting the curve. This, as the aforementioned comments, was INSPIRING to hear and really gave me a sense of reassurance about being on the ball. As mentioned in the last edition, the quality of students at Penn is exceptionally high, and to be recognized by my professors as a top performer is powerful and humbling.

Until next time, onward and upward!

/ hf

"Education is one of life's greatest and most noble of all human callings. It moves individuals from passion to purpose and the gifted to greatness!"