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CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

Caliifornia State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: August 31, 2001
Latest Update: September 9, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

This essay is based on a Los Angeles Times article from Wednesday, September 5, 2001:There Is No Greater Force of Nature Than Unbridled Naivete by Steve Lopez: Points West. p. B1. backup

The article recounts the story of Johnathan Williams and Kevin Sved, who "were all of 25, and didn't have two nickels between them." They were teaching in an L.A. City school, and dreamt that they could educate better in the school of their dreams. So they went after those dreams, and they succeeded.

Topics for Discussion:

1. Did they have the requisite skills for starting a school?

   From the article: "Hanlon and his partner agreed to fly down and discuss the application. But it was so amateurish, they weren't even willing to leave the vicinity of the airport. Besides, the average Wells Fargo grant is $7,500. These poor fools wanted $200,000."

2. What made up for their lack of administrative and fund-raising skills?

   From the article: "They submitted one of the worst grant requests I've ever seen in my whole life," says Hanlon. "It was incomplete and naive. But as bad as it was, there was a kernel of passion."

3. Can you think of a parallel in the U.S. Supreme Court in which the greatest Court in the land heard an appeal that was sent to them scribbled on plain paper with a pencil?

   The book, Gideon's Trumpet, and it's movie, celebrate the case. A poor man, Gideon, who was sent to jail for a robbery he claimed he did not commit said he had been falsely imprisoned. The Supreme Court investigated the case and handed down the famous ruling that no person who may suffer as much as one year in jail can be sentenced without benefit of an attorney. As I recall, it happened in Florida.

Related References:

• Muting Gideon's Trumpet: The Crisis in Indigent Criminal Defense in Texas A Report Received by the State Bar of Texas from the Committee on Legal Services to the Poor in Criminal Matters.

• Lesson Plan on Teaching Gideon's Trumpet National Constitution Center ". . . the NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER's (NCC) web site. The NCC was established by Congress through the Constitution Heritage Act of 1988, as an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. NCC was established to increase awareness and understanding of the US Constitution, the Constitution's history, and the Constitution's relevance to our daily lives so that all of us -- "We the People" -- will better understand and exercise our rights and our responsibilities."

• The Justice Project: Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform

  • Neither Equal Nor Just: The Rationing and Denial of Legal Services to the Poor When Life and Liberty Are at Stake By Stephen B. Bright. New York University School of Law. Annual Survey of American Law. Volume 1997, page 783 (published in 1999). Copyright © 1999 Annual Survey of American Law; Stephen B. Bright.

• Add citation to Paulo Freire's statement that once a teacher decides that he/she "knows" what the learner should learn, he/she ceases to be a teacher. Nag me to locate the reference. jeanne