Monday, January 27th, 2014

Day One in Rwanda

We arrive in Kigali under cover of darkness, and awake the next morning to a stunning view of ochre earth hills adorned with verdant green.All the students are healthy, rested, enthusiastic for our explorations ahead.Our first excursion is to the Kigali genocide museum.  Students questions are thoughtful, their observations sincerely revealing of active inquiry.  Noah remarks that the propaganda cartoons… [Read Full Article]

Friday, January 24th, 2014

And They're Off! Harvard Westlake Students Travel to Rwanda

Harvard Westlake students gather prior to departure for Rwanda.Harvard Westlake Upper School students are embarking on a one-of-kind educational trip to Rwanda.  For ten days the group will explore the beauty, healing and fascinating stories of Rwanda, a country preparing to recognize the 20-year anniversary of a genocide which claimed nearly one million lives. [Read Full Article]

Wednesday, January 22th, 2014

Workers of the World, Faint!

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Just over two years ago, at the Anful Garments Factory in Kompong Speu Province, a young worker named Chanthul and 250 of her colleagues collapsed in a collective spell of fainting. They had to be hospitalized; the production line shut down.Two days later, the factory was back up, and the mass faintings struck again. A worker… [Read Full Article]

Tuesday, January 21th, 2014

Martin Luther King Jr. and the Common Core A critical reading of “close reading”

Proponents of the Common Core have likened the struggle to implement it to the Civil Rights Movement.1 As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the height of that movement, we must consider how these standards and the related testing are threatening students' rights to education, not upholding them. As one critical example, the Common Core's strict interpretation of “close reading… [Read Full Article]

Wednesday, January 15th, 2014

What Rwanda Did Right

Nineteen years after the genocide, Rwanda is one of the least corrupt countries in Africa. How did it happen?I almost didn’t see the roadblock in time to stop. It was early afternoon, but it was dark as dusk in the rainforest, with low inky clouds hovering over the treetops, releasing a wild downpour. The windshield wipers couldn’t keep up. It… [Read Full Article]