The Lost Language of Integration

Posted by John on Nov 15, 2016 in Articles, Featured, Human Rights |
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0 comments In a recent This American Life episode, investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones discusses the perils of America’s segregated school system. She points out that there has been only one proven way to narrow the performance gap between African-American and white schoolchildren, and it has nothing to do with magnet schools, or Teach for America, or any of the newfangled efforts to right a...
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The Three Mistakes of Transition

Posted by John on Feb 12, 2015 in Blog, Eastern Europe, Featured |
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5 comments Start with a failing economy. Throw in a team of inexperienced politicians, people in fact who had spent their careers deliberately avoiding official politics. Add a population with the highest possible expectations. And, as a wild card, introduce an international community that was not offering very much in the way of financial assistance. This was the situation in Poland in September 1989 when...
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How to Launch People

Posted by John on Jan 5, 2015 in Blog, Eastern Europe, Featured, Uncategorized |
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6 comments Most NGOs focus on building and winning campaigns. They might have specific legislative goals. Or they might serve a watchdog function. Or they might amplify the concerns of a marginalized segment of society. Stocznia, which is Polish for “shipyard,” is a different kind of NGO. It functions like a university. It focuses on transforming people. And in that sense it’s an educational...
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A Commitment to Children

Posted by John on Oct 22, 2014 in Blog, Eastern Europe, Featured, Uncategorized |
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0 comments They are called the decret generation. During the Communist era in Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu issued Decree 770 in 1967 making abortion and contraception illegal except under certain circumstances. The Communist leader wanted to radically increase the population of the country. People with money or political influence found a way around the regulations. But those who did not expect or could not...
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Rescuing Rural Schools

Posted by John on Oct 21, 2014 in Blog, Eastern Europe, Featured, Uncategorized |
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0 comments In the early 1990s, Poland began an overhaul of its political system that transferred considerable authority to local authorities, including ownership and management of the public schools. Local governments were suddenly responsible for paying for education from local funds. In many of the smaller, less densely populated areas, there wasn’t enough money to keep the schools going. As a result,...
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