The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 26, 2010 Page: 2 of 52
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1 THURSDAY 26 AUGUST ZD 1 □
THE CANADIAN RECORD
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WRE FPmAJ^JK^ HOiE
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RECORD
ESTABLISHED 1393
INCORPORATEDFEBRUARY 1993
PD Bdx 393, Canadian, TX 79314
Phone: 33B.323.B4Bt
Fax: BDB.323.573B
BEN EZZELL Publisher/Editor
Publisher IS4S-SS33
NANCY EZZELL Publisher
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NEWS/FEATURES
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Laurie Brown, Jason Turner,
Cathy Ricketts, Alan Hale
CONTRIBUTORS: Mary Jane McKinney.
Esab Rogers. Ruth Beasley,
Robin Mitchell
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FOR COURAGE. TENACITY B INTEGRITY
IN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
The mother of all amendments
A Guest Editorial by Robin L. Mitchell
NINETY YEARS AGO today, the 19th amend-
ment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing
women the right to vote was ratified. To say that
chapter of American history is colorful is like
characterizing the pain of childbirth as mildly
uncomfortable. As New York Times' columnist
Gail Collins wrote recently, "It has everything
Adventure! Suspense! Treachery! Drunken
legislators!"
It would be nice to think that almost a centu-
ry after this nation's founding, the powers-that-
be looked at each other, smacked their collective
male foreheads, exclaimed, "Of course, half our
population should have a political voice. What
were we thinking?" and immediately rectified
the situation.
Sadly, it was a 72-year battle from the 1848
Seneca Falls Convention in New York where
women's voting rights were first formally pro-
posed to the amendment's eventual ratification.
That political labor-and-delivery process in-
volved pain, was messy and in the end, required
a note from someone's mama.
Gail Collins' droll account (New York Times,
Aug 13. Google it.) chronicles the trudge from
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's ini-
tial salvo at Seneca through roadblocks thrown
up by conservative Southern senators to Presi-
dent Woodrow Wilson's eventual capitulation
and the measure's 1919 adoption. Ratification
by 36 states was the apogee of the tale and, man,
it was a doozie.
Opposed by well-organized and funded men
and women, passage was not as my Grandad
would say a "lead-pipe cinch." The liquor in-
dustry took a vehemently anti-suffrage stance,
fearing that women would use their nascent
political muscle to prohibit the sale of alcoholic
beverages (they totally called that one right—
eighteenth amendment, anyone?)
Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan were quick
to jump on the ratification bandwagon. Georgia
and Alabama rushed to reject the legislation.
State by state, 32 others voted aye. The battle
culminated in The Volunteer State. Proponents
for and against the issue descended on Nash-
ville, Tennessee, with distillery lobbyists bear-
ing samples of their wares:,
"Both suffrage and anti-suffrage men were
reeling through the hall in an advanced state
of intoxication," Carrie Catt, head of the Na-
tional American Woman Suffrage Association
reported.
The amendment's allies had a one-vote mar-
gin of support in the Tennessee House until the
speaker, counted on as a "no," reversed his posi-
tion. Collins tells the story this way:
I lovethismmmnt. Women's suffmgeis&ed
to the railroad track and the train is bearing
dawn,fast when suddenly... Harry Burn, the
youngest m e m be r of the Ho use, a M-year-old
"no" vote from East Tennessee, got up and an-
nounced that he had received a letter from his
mother telling him to "be a good boy and help
Mrs. Catt." "Iknow that a mother's advice is al-
ways the safest for a boy to follow," Burn-said,
switching sides.
Yep, he was literally waving a missive from
his mother, Mrs. Phoebe (Febb) Ensminger
Burn. On that ironic note—so sweet it makes
your teeth ache—the deed was done. Sort of.
Anti-vote backers with a laudable "never say
die even when you're dead" tenacity employed
parliamentary delaying maneuvers hoping to
convert votes to their side eventually failing
On August 26th, 1920 this amendment offi-
MOTHER DF ALL AMENDMENTS...CONTINUED DN NEXT PAGE
Texas loses
race to the top
A Guest Editorial by Mary Jane McKinney
NINE STATES JUST WON Education Lotto! The Race to
the Top winners that will share $3.4 billion are: Florida, Geor-
gia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Car-
olina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. Tennessee
was an early winner in June receiving $400 million. So was
Delaware ($200 million).
Which states lost out in the Race to the Top? Back in June
the District of Columbia and 20 states were finalists. The
unhappy losers are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois,
Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South
Carolina. Texas was eligible for $750 million in Race to the Top
funds but did not apply The only other state that did not apply
was Alaska.
To win the jackpot state legislatures had to lift caps on
charter schools and install new accountability policies for
teachers. In addition, states had to develop reforms to make
low-performing schools successful. They also had to prove that
they were committed to innovation and overall reform of school
structure and policies. The winning states all adopted the new
Common Core State Standards developed by the Council of
Chief State School Officers and the National Governors As-
sociation.
States had to do more than pay lip service to "out with the
old, in with the new." They had to show that they were will-
ing to take action. Washington, D.C. is really the poster child
for innovation where Superintendent Michelle Rhee has fired
union teachers who were considered "bad," and put the entire
faculty on notice that it is up to them to improve test scores.
Joel Kline, New York City Superintendent, also caused teach-
ers' heads to roll, as did some school boards in Rhode Island.
To their credit, teachers in the winning Race to the Top
states voted against entrenched union policy and for innova-
tion and reform. They bravely opposed powerful unions like
the American Federation of Teachers that claimed the re-
forms established unfair performance standards. Teachers
chose loyalty to their communities and states over toeing the
union line. Even Massachusetts, a state with one of the high-
est-rated public school systems in the country, went along with
the teacher accountability reforms, the ambitious innovation,
and the Common Core Standards that were not as high as
Massachusetts state standards.
What does it mean that Texas didn't even apply for Race to
the Top funds? It means that Texans weren't paying attention.
It means that school administrators and school board mem-
bers who were aware of what was at stake did not speak out.
It means that Texans are either apathetic or prefer to be bam-
boozled by politicians^who call the shots. Texas had an excellent
chance of winning $750 million in Race to the Top funds. The
legislature raised the cap on the number of charter schools and
Texas is a non-union state, so those obstacles did not exist. But
,.. the Texas Education Agency would have had to come clean
about the "real" drop-out rate and the "real" passing rate on
the TAKS test.
Education is not a hot button issue in our state unless it
touches that hot button: Sports. No pass/no play is a prime ex-
ample. Refusing to apply for the funds would not have won or
lost votes. Not applying for the funds when we had an excellent
chance of winning was a mistake. Now we know that Texas is
not on board with reform and innovation, and Texas is not a
leader in education. Worst of all, Texas can't financially sup-
port the educational rut it's stuck in.
Race to the Top was a great opportunity and Texas sat on
the sidelines while other states that didn't need the money as
badly as we do crossed the finish line.
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 26, 2010, newspaper, August 26, 2010; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220854/m1/2/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.