http://statenews.com To push themselves and each other to obtain diploma, about 300 students have gripped markers and signed an MSU student group’s banner intended to increase graduation rates among black students. en-us Foundry4 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:15:32 -0500 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:26:41 -0400 webmaster@statenews.com http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15039/view “signing in permanent ink” Wow, permanent ink. I’m so impressed by the seriousness of these students. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:12:05 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15039/view http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15042/view No need to do homework tonight—they should party to celebrate the good feeling of their new resolve. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:19:02 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15042/view http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15093/view “You have to embrace your own self-drive and graduate because it’s important to you…I signed it as a written proposal to myself…The banner sets a standard within the black community.” Verbal swagger signifying nothing. “You have to embrace your own self-drive”—this tiny blizzard of words is English? How about, “You have to work hard.” “a ‘proposal’ to myself”? Did the speaker mean, “a promise to myself”? Words have meaning, not just sound. Possibly this is no longer taught, and students can’t be blamed for not knowing it. “The banner sets a standard”—I love that one. A vacuous phrase from TV commercials. “Toyota (or whatever) ‘sets the standard.’” Probably two things are missing at this school: teachers who understand what is clear thought and clear expression, and students who are willing to do the HARD WORK required to learn from such teachers. Blacks whose desire to learn is deeper than a momentary flutter of excitement might find some help in John McWhorter’s book, “Losing the Race.” He’s a black professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley who has put into his book his observations from many years of teaching black students. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:46:18 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15093/view http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15196/view ““I didn’t sign the banner because someone told me to,” said Eason, a studio art sophomore who is black.” I can believe that. Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:26:41 -0400 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/15196/view