CHESTER, VA., Nov. 26, 2006
Finding The Good News
So Often, Mainstream Media Focuses On What Is Going Wrong, But Here Are Some Small Things Going Right
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Principal Barbara Adderley works with a student at Stanton elementary school in North Philadelphia. (CBS)
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The Stanton elementary school in North Philadelphia is also spreading some good news even though, years ago, it was so troubled it became the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary, "I Am a Promise." Today, some of Stanton's fifth and sixth graders still remember what it was like.
"Food fights, fist fights, arguments with teachers, kids hitting the teachers actually, hurting the teachers. It was just like a school, no, a horror movie," said a student at Stanton named Hanif.
Since then, things have changed a lot and these days the school is known around the neighborhood for the education it's providing and the accolades for academic excellence it's receiving.
In the past three years, changes have been dramatic: reading and math proficiency levels jumped -- so much so that the tests were scrutinized and double-checked in 2004. By 2005, there was no denying the progress. And now there's something else undeniable too: Students are proud of themselves and actually like school.
"Me and my friend Justin are very smart gentlemen," Hanif said.
"I get As and Bs," said a Stanton student named Kiana.
"I'm loving it right now and the report card is coming out so I know I'm getting a lot of stuff for Christmas," Justin said.
The kids give credit to Barbara Adderley, their principal for five years.
"I love it. I love my job," she said. "They're not where they should be. So, we have to work harder to get a 100 percent for all the children in both areas, in reading and in math, and we're moving into science. I'm accountable."
For her part, Adderley says it is a group effort, involving support from the state and city, as well as from parents and teachers. But the key, she says, is something more academic.
"The data. We keep the data in front of us at all times," she said. "Data is the key."
Some of that data, in the form of various test scores, adorn the hallways and class rooms, so students can gauge their own progress ... and also check-out how the other guy is doing.
"I like seeing our scores up on the wall so like we can see where we at," Mykera, a student at the school, said.
"The scores motivate you to get where you're supposed to be so by the end of the year you're where you're supposed to be, or past," Justin said.
Adderley says different people will attribute her students' successes to various influences, but she says the lesson is clear and always the same:
"I believe that all children can learn at high levels. And I do mean that," she said. "All of them with no exceptions."
The kids couldn't agree more.
"There isn't a doubt. No ifs ands or buts about it, I am going to go to college," Justin said. "I am going to get my Masters degree."
"I wanna go either to Temple, Yale or Princeton," Stanton student Deanna, said.
"We won't give up," Hanif said. "We're gonna persevere and we're gonna follow our dreams."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
Cortez Simpson
I taught at Stanton School 37 yrs. ago and last year I watched the movie I Am A Promise. I cried to know that in all these years, things hadn't changed all that much until your segment today. What a joy to see the improvements in educational standards, test scores and children who are excited to learn. Maybe all schools in poorer neighborhoods can learn a lesson from Principal Barbara Adderly! What ever the formula, she is giving the children a chance to develop all that they have been given and now they are the promise!
Quoting the segment, %u201CE.P.A. had warned that coal-fired power companies had to decrease the amount of pollutants released into the air or face penalties. Other companies fought it, but not Dominion; the company voluntarily made changes before the E.P.A. made it.%u201D
The segment neglects to mention that Dominion has fought against Clean Air requirements at their Possum Point station (approx. 30 miles outside of DC) and were finally forced by court order to upgrade from coal to natural gas in 2003-4.
Since passage of the Clean Air Act, Dominion has had almost 20 years to begin some process of cleaning the dirtiest of their %u201Cgrandfathered%u201D plants (power plants originally exempted from Clean Air requirements) or to phase them out of operation permanently.
That they have only now begun upgrading, and only in one of their seven major power plants in the area, may pass for good news today given the state of the nation and the world, but you do a disservice to your viewers when %u201Cgood news%u201D segments act less to provide thorough information and act more as corporate spin to improve the image of an archaic industry stuck in the past.
Please do not praise these companies for taking baby steps to finally address their legal responsibilities - responsibilities which they have fought tooth-and-nail against for decades. Thanks for your time!
Here is my email address:
bearsandraggedys@yahoo.com
Phyllis
The world needs more people like Tom Farrell who rose above legal advice that could have indefinitely postponed costly compliance with federal guidelines and simply did what is right by acting for the public good rather than the self-interest of short term political or fiscal expediency. Mr. Farrell's committment to protect the public from the serious, if seldom acknowledged, invisible threat to public health from coal-fired energy plants is nothing short of heroic.
I would like to see a lot more Good News if this week's segments set the template for future stories!
USAF MSgt Retired.
If only the terrorist could realise how we see ourselves as blessed, they might be able to see past our governments sometimes fairly earned preception of arrogance and understand the true ambitions of our good people. We are a people of givers and doers and enjoy the benefits of freedom. I enjoyed your three stories of the postive in all corners of our country.
Our cup is way more than half full....Please share more Positive pieces.
Thank You!
John
Please make this a prominent feature of your Sunday morning show and all your other broadcasts. We owe it to ourselves and our children. Thanks so much!
- by stop20 November 26, 2006 12:56 PM EST
- Thank you! Finally someone has figured out that there is not enough GOOD NEWS reported. Now, any way you can start a trend in reporting GOOD NEWS? Great stories!
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