Dr. Mullins: Some lessons

So where to begin?  Well, today Mr. Mullins totally shattered almost all the preconceived notions I had of Mississippi before coming here.  Before I came here, I thought that the South's progress toward easing racial tensions had been stagnant at best and public education was doomed.  But, that is not the case at all.  Although Mississippi is home of some of the worst schools in the country, it also contains high nationally-ranked public schools.  Although racial tensions and de facto segregation are continual problems, racial reconciliation and education reform as seen with Mississippian leaders like William Winter and the 1982 Education Reform Act show that is not necessarily true.  The 1982 Education Reform especially suggests that Mississippi is not only progressing but is leading educational reform in this country. 

Other things that I found interesting are the portrait that Dr. Mullins painted of some of the schools that corps. members would be teaching in.  He mentioned that some students don't even know their last names, don't know to read from left to right, and even how to open a book.  In terms of discipline, Dr. Mullins emphasized the importance of being stern and having (or trying to have) complete command of the classroom.  The biggest lesson he said was to never use corporal punishment-- it can lead to all sort of legal problems that must be anticipated.

The most interesting part of Dr. Mullins' lecture are the predictors of student/school success.  The strongest predictor of a student's success is the education of his or her mother.  Second, the level of schools can be predicted by the effectiveness of their principles and of course, the poverty levels of the community.  These factors are important because it will guide educational and even general political policy in the future.  In fact, a prison in one state (I think Minnesota?)  predicts the amount of inmates based on the amount of students who cannot read by third grade. Wow!