Page 84 - mcdanielfreepress2010-11

-------------------------~-- -:"'~"I"~~'.iI~~::I::1~~~:l-1."'C:.J~'~'::I~.'.!.'~~"_ Response to "The Wire" Co-Creater's. lecture CHARLES MULLIN Staff Reporter Burns polnred to both George w: Bush's No rlon's leaders, and the sooner they decide to take ing chOkes, story choices, inspirations for charac- Child Left Behind Act and President Obama's action, despite corporate and party influence, the rers, to what it was like to shoot in the Baltimore Race rc the Top as programs pushed into public better. City streets. For instance, Burns commented that education not to aid students, but TO twist schools It was apparent that the students and funs most of the inspiration for rhe popular charac- "Lambs to tm- sMughur here. ~- Marcia Donntfly into institutions obsessed with test scores and sea- of ulhe Wire~ enjoyed the lecture when Burns ter Omar was from an actual meeting during his risrics. Instead of learning to survive in the ~Big ended up answering questions foralmostan hour years as a Baltimore City Cop with a real stick- The: above is an example of an epigraph that pre- after the lecture. Specifically, when asked what cedes every episode of~The Wirc,n providing sub- Game" outside of schools, kids are taught to sur- one change he would make to education ifhe had up guy who was homosexual, held a moral code, vive a three hour exam. and never cussed. text and a theme: for the: episode. This spedfic "One child drops out of school every nine Overall, the lecture was enthralling in every one: is spoken by a character in the: show who is seconds," said Ed Burns. Because public eduea- the power to do so, he said that he would starr aspect and affected a lot of opinions and mi~ds an Assistant Principal of a Baltimore City Mid- dle School commenting on the: fate: of many of ~~~;:~~;e~b;;:sl:~t ;~~h;~: a~~dle~:~:~t~~~ II On e chiId drops out ~~;~:t~O~;' ;:rc~u~~~Z~~i~; :~ ::~~~! : the: children thar walk through her doors, only to of school every nine in having such a well-known figure in 'television come OUt the other end losr and forgotten. meets. Burns elaborated, saying that good teach- come to speak. . ers can make a difference in a child's life, but can On April 27, 2011, Ed Burns, the co-creator of "The Wire," came: to McDaniel College to lec- do little in the general scheme of things because of seeon ds.II But after the doers dose on Decker Audlro- ture: on public education and why he believes the corp~~::::t:7:nat~0:ui;i;~:eg;~:;::~~:~d this ED BU RNS :~:;;r~h:eu~~u~~ko~:~~a;::::n::i~t~'~sr~ insriturion is beyond repair. Decker auditorium was filled with both students in uThc Wire" SIS onslaught, Burns was eye-opening to many in the the statistics war of public education. We rnusr remember the kids that get forgotten, only to be room, especially me. He not only gave one of the class and others who were simply f:zns of the show, bur all were eager to hear what Burns had co say. best lectures [ have seen in my time at McDaniel, at the very beginning of a child's life by helping left on the streets to survive in the drug trade .. "In America we don't come for people," said but he also helped to change many students' opin- to educate mothers and futhers on good parent- Public edu-cation is not a perfecl institution Ed Burns. ~We forger about them," He conrin, ions on how public education should be viewed. illg. "Eighty percent of learning comes from fam- and the sooner we become aware of that as a n3- Education is the biggest tragedy of the Unir- i!y,~said Ed Burns. «Twenty percent of learning don the sooner we can make a change and help ued speaking abcur how our world is no longer a place based on reality, but, rather, built on myths. ed States and the marc aware we become of it, the comes from reachers," save' lives before they are lost. We must become The most importanr myth is that the current pur- better we can combat It. Although Burnsbeliev~s The love of the show was even more appar- aware chat in the war that rages in the d~rooms pose of education is for kids to learn. that public education is beyond repair now, l be- enr as students asked Burns all kinds of questions allover the United States, we are not survIvors ... !ieve that the change needs to start with our na- ranging from representations of charac~ers, cast- we are exceptiOns. Do Not Dread the Opportunity to Vo,~,~~y!~,~,~", KELSEY FRANKllN blr lflt1mldatmg). My basketball teammateSteph don't ever stan activities until after 9 p.m. now. forrnerPresld J d I f ochers. Wirh a Stoff Reporter and I sat at a t.able together with oUf.members, We laughed and ex~!ained to t~em but strangely Bu~aPo~tmca%:,s la~e:n ::~a:e experrlse in the Dotty and Chris, two w~men who r wtll remem- enough the same th!~gs they enJoyed some 40-50 ::~!ede ar;mem and it was working. . ber f~r the reSf of my life. ?nce .past t~e bland years ago we still enJoy now. Du~in dle hectic bour, r began conversation Getting an email from a coach ,advisor, orde3n quemons I wasalreadyannclpatmg, thlflgs gOt After lunch was over, we exchanged nurn- . man g cople Iwould n.ormall y h.ave never These ladies were grea: r;~ asking you to help volunteer with an event on inreresting. bers and emails. ~~~han op~:nuniry to .tllk WJ:;r~:~~:na~~b:au~ campus is nor always the email a normal col- We weren't asked about how grear it is here-- sources to have and they were more than ag th craorainary places ~hey h I lege smdent wants to get. Iknow J would rather we were asked what we completely dislike. Iwas to help us wiTh anything we may need. Satur- vis~t:~, their jobs and unIque facts about rem, sleep, hang OUtwith friends, or actually do some thrown off. Ididn't want to say anything bad in day came and unlike rr:O~T~IIIdents ~:,ca7e~~: was actually en!oyin g rn~:::and the ceremony school work during those precious couple hours fronroftrustees, but theywamed to know every- I was up bright and earlywlIh five!°h y ht was Once my Job Wa5 d here thinking about you are asked to give up. So, when J gotanemai! chingandthatstuckwithme.teammatesgettingr~ady.fo~ whar ar:i~U~ts for was about to scart, J stO: l~ J haa met, and the from my coach asking me 10 help with nOt one, Thesewornen want ro make McDaniel a bet- a rather strange job: robIng .hep p the wee~, aU the nle:~e !ade for [he furure. I ~~~~~&~l~nts during Inauguration week, I was ler place for us and they realize-rhere is room to the \n::~~a::a:'dy sure [he proper way [0 p~~ ~nn;:'~~l;u:h,~" numeroUS rimes that I'uon...J. nTh'" first "Yenr Was a \uneh~n with the &ard ~~~;:;~nA~;:r s~;:i~eho~~i~~::~s~~~~c:~:!:~ on those faney robes and was ne;th S b;~h~ :ay do:~ volunteering at "boring~ events and all the o . rusrecs. ! geated up for what! mought was :vere aU topics we touched on. We began to real- there is an exact way to do it an 0 . help people Imissed out on meeting. Icould have met gOing to ~e an awkw~rd time carrying On bland IZC how much in common the Class of '60 had don't mess up. With no