Have you ever thought of what it would be like to be a college student again or maybe a college student for the very first time, to walk across a campus; to go to the library; to sit in a classroom; to sit in the student union and listen to groups of students talking about their assignments; or just sitting quietly looking around you…?

Lawmakers across America are helping to make the dream become a reality, by passing laws which allows seniors the privilege of going to college without having to pay tuition. In Texas, for example, the State Legislature amended the Education Code to read as follows:

Texas Education Code-Section 54.210. Senior Citizens
(a) In this section SENIOR CITIZENS means a person 65 years-old or older.
(b) The governing board of any state supported institution of higher education may allow a senior citizen to audit any course offered by the institution without the payment of a fee, if space is available.
(c)The governing board of an institution of higher education may allow a senior citizen to enroll for credit in up to six hours of courses offered by the institution each semester or summer term without payment of tuition, if space is available.

As I researched “Home Schooling in Black America,” I came across an obviously humorous yet disturbing piece of historical information:  In 1871, the United States Commissioner of Education, Edward James, published a report entitled: “The Relationship of Education to Insanity.”  He concluded in part that “Too much education leads to mental disorders…a person’s health can easily be destroyed if one ‘over stimulates’ the mind through education and too much learning.”

California and Texas are some of the states that determine how many prison cells to build for the future by how many third grade boys can read. Two thirds of students who can not read proficiently by the fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
Only one out of every six African-American and one out of every five Hispanic high school seniors are proficient in reading. At least 50% of unemployed persons in America are functionally illiterate. Youngsters whose parents are functionally illiterate are twice as likely as their peers to be functionally illiterate themselves (bbd houston.org, 2008). According to Webster, the word “Illiterate” refers to a person who can not read nor write; whereas, “Functional Illiteracy” refers to an individual who can not read or write well enough to deal with everyday life. 

Dear Students,
No matter which setting you’re in … home school, elementary school, high school, college or university, trade schools, and/or schools for offenders (prisons), you will be assigned by the teacher, (or you may elect) to read, write, research, debate, do a presentation to the class, or to prepare an essay say, on the topic of:  Mothers and Babies Living with the  HIV Virus,  Pros and Cons of Chemotherapy, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, President Obama’s Economic Stimulus, History of Prison Systems in America, Child Rearing Practices of Gay Couples, or  Teaching to the Test in Public Schools. The topics are endless. Staying ahead of the game, you turn the pages, began to read with highlighter in hand, and suddenly, Bingo! Presto! pages suddenly turn pink, green, yellow or blue.

In Part I, Transforming the Rhythms and Swings of Student Learning to Deep Learning Outcomes (African-American News&Issues, Vol. 14 Issue 14, May 6-12, 2009), the major focus was that of  defining “Assessment and Evaluation,” as the first step, toward an understanding of educational concepts needed in order to teach students how to achieve higher levels of reasoning and  intellectual understanding across subjects. Educators in all subjects imagined, are in constant search of answers to the question:  “How do I help students to reason through content and to achieve intellectually deep and lasting learning? Superficial learning is almost always “Lost in Translation.”

Reasoning and Deep Learning outcomes of students is a top prority in prescribed by the US Department of Educatio. Assessment and Evaluation are key concepts toward ensuring higher levels of education as oppose to superficial learning.