SOMETHING I JUST SUBMITTED TO THE SPARE CHANGE NEWS FOR PUBLICATION THE NEXT WEEKS POSSIBLY. IT IS A SHORT OUTLOOK AND PERSONAL ANALYSIS AS WELL AS CRITIC OF MY VIEW OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THE US, COMPARED TO OTHER PLACES IN THE WORLD.

EDUCATION IS THE INTRODUCTORY SUBJECT OF THIS PIECE, YET AS YOU READ ON, YOU'LL SEE HOW IT DEPICTS THE PHENOMENONS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS WHOSE INVENTIONS WERE NEVER TRULY AND OPENLY RECOGNIZED BY THE GENERAL AMERICAN PUBLIC AND THE GOVERNMENT AS A WHOLE.

AS YOU GET DOWN THE LAST PAGES, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW A FRAGMENT OF A HUGE AND LONG LIST PUT TOGETHER BY MS. PATRICIA SLUNY CARTER, A FORMER US TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS EXAMINER; WHOSE EXTENSIVE WRITINGS ON THE SUBJECTS OF THOSE GENIUSES NEEDING TO BE RECOGNIZED AND PRAISED FOR MOST OF THOSE LITTLE ELEMENTS AND THINGS WE UTILIZE IN OUR DAILY LIVES.

GOES TO SHOW YOU ALSO, HOW INSTITUTIONALIZED ISMS CAN REALLY RUIN MINDS, DEFER DREAMS AND STILL UNRELUCTANTLY COVER UP SOME WONDERFUL FINDINGS AND LESSONS THAT CAN ACTUALLY SERVE TO MOTIVATE A PEOPLE.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

THE FORGOTTEN GREATS:
AFRICAN-AMERICAN INVENTORS:
I have to start this piece by saying that some things, as they relate to the state or structure of Education as a whole in this country, will never seize to amaze me; although, truly we stand firm as one of the richest, most dynamic and versatile at most in the acquisitions of smarts in general. That, to say that I am a little confused and baffled about why such a great country would not invest enough in the learning process and the materials utilized by and for its students. It is almost pointless to spend and talk lots about the Education having been and being the primary and heightened system in the world when we are not keeping up with the rest of the world as a whole in the way things are being communicated and institutionally dictated and released to our younger generations. That is something of our big learning arena and educational Mecca representing it, where the central school system can do better; competing perhaps in a mainstream media fashion, with the entertainment industry, by upgrading the teaching materials, like the good old Humanities and Social or Civic programs, so to compete with the media's attraction and appeal, while blasting those same kids' ability and preference to memorize MTV or VH1 materials for instance; so basically targeting those younger groups using what is appealing to them these days, while being educational and entertaining at the same time (Edutaining, one would say). It is a mystery, and I have to say, not condescendingly however, that I have not been able to stop wondering "how come"? Why or how it is that I'm observing such humanistic degradations in such a wonderful and still rich country? It gives you a basic and striking sense that things are not as progressively or positively orchestrated at all, and that if the majority of the citizens think otherwise, then perhaps things pertaining the state of the American education system is not as clear and easily detectable to them as they should be. Or perhaps it is depending upon what social and economic side of the fence you may come from or be on. While certain impoverished third-world countries do the mix, pull their hairs and reach out big time to the elitist and grandiose conglomerates of the world, begging basically, to convince them to aid in the upbringing and educational future of their children and their countries, here, while we are viewed as supposedly representing the best brains in the world combined, we are still behind in this twenty-first century. It is time to make education in the U.S publicly and moderately worldly and versatile, for all of its young and adult learners. It is imperative to do so, to enable us to deal with an ever-changing racial climate as well as growing population, and also one diversified and still diversifying system. In my opinion, students who attend scholastic institutions, whether be in the United States, or in other places in the world, fact is, not knowing the concrete notion of History of the here and now and there, important memorable struggles, and such other important historical facts of the country we are taught in or out of is plain weird and not rationally or systemically advantageous to anyone as learner. It brings about a limited and narrow-mindedness to our cognitive developments as a whole. Students should be able to raise questions such as: who were the founding fathers and what were they about?
Old and new immigrant in the United States ought to know those facts because they have decided to live in and be a part of America. Although I have had tremendous holds-up in my life thus far, with my dream-like pursuit of happiness having been deferred for over eleven years, I was grateful all along to have been taught right from wrong and the power of a good education or studios discipline; still in my troubling and vagabonding times, I resorted to a variety of great psychological defensive methods, to keep up with some pains and my sanity, as well as the ability to reach out for knowledge generally. I was able to keep myself from going nuts in hard periods of hurdles and so forth when i could have been drastically detoured from my principle dreams. I got myself in a few local libraries. I had developed by my anticipating and roaming days, some good and also sufficiently bad habits in order to cope with the estranged journey I had unwontedly embarked on. And

that is thanks to a wonderful caring Jewish woman, temporary mother, one well efficient sweet and dedicated teacher and motivator; whom I can freely call my favorite mentor today, so much her vision and attention to my needs, as well as her tutoring and stimulating me with reading and critical thinking made me a better person; also in that making me a broader thinker of sort, one dedicated to developing an affinity for learning and sharp enthused curiosity of a wide array of life elements: all that while focusing on teaching me to speak and write in the American English ways. I’ve come to realizing that a lot of things are left out of scholastic curriculums due to Politics, Economics and Social assumptions that are societal and hierarchically said to not aid or be that valuable.

As I looked around and ventured, passing time at the local libraries, a specific subject hit me quite harshly; this mainly because being a long time resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts; with those great neighboring institutions in the likes of Harvard and MIT, no one has ever heard the real story behind the real McCoy. Even I have to admit that I have a lot more to read and learn about the man and the politics and visions behind his creative and innovative abilities. “The Real McCoy” The innovator of the early 1800’s not the boxer, but Elijah Mc Coy. As one of the many and plenty of first class Americans who contributed very much to the things we use, consume, utilize and consider so vital in our society today, his basic creative and inventive tale does not often come up. Elijah McCoy (1843 or 1844-1929) was a mechanical engineer and inventor. McCoy's high-quality industrial inventions (especially his steam engine lubricator) were the basis for the expression "the real McCoy," meaning the real, authentic, or high-quality thing. Elijah McCoy, however, is one in a multitude of those American inventors never quite mentioned; he is one black man, and while also in his own subgroup of inventors, hundreds and hundreds of Afro-Americans who were still pretty much referred to as either one of the demeaning “n” words, and fighting the pressure points of the color lines, the bigotries, Slavery and other injustices still remaining unreformed and unsupervised to this day, but rather institutionalized with the peculiarity of a world renown high tech achiever and star.
I went through a book by Patricia Carter Shelby:
PATRICIA CARTER SLUBY is a Registered Patent Agent and a former United States primary patent examiner. She is also a lecturer and freelance writer who has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss minority inventors. She is the past president of the National Intellectual Property Law Association. Her book Creativity and Inventions: The Genius of Afro-Americans and Women in the United States and Their Patents (1987) details the inventive nature of minorities in America. ) Of her book, “The Inventive Spirit of African Americans”, Ms Patricia Carter Ives Sluby received some great praises:

Review Quote:
"This would be an excellent book for a high school collection that focuses on science, African-American history, or both... (The material covered is impressive. Recommended.) Library Media Connection.
Unpublished Endorsement:
"Bringing the eye of a patent examiner to the record of American innovation, Patricia Carter Sluby gives us the fullest picture yet of African American inventiveness. It is a stirring account, showing the toughness of the human creative spirit in the face of a hostile environment." ~Arthur Molella Director Lemelson Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Besides her great literal accomplishments and the many other things she ever wrote on the subject, Ms Patricia Carter Ives Sluby, has taken the time in each written expose on what I call the “African Americans Greats Forgotten”, to lay out the names, dates, number-references and inventions of each of the many hundreds of black African-American inventors she could gather:
-Sample of the list 1-10 of 144 names to be found at website: Http://www.swagga.com/inventors.htm: 1 A.P. Abourne Refining of coconut oil. July 27, 1980 2 A. B. Blackburn Spring seat for chairs. Patent# 380,420 April 3, 1888 3 A.C. Richardson Casket-Lowering Device. Patent# 529,311 November 13, 1894 4 A.C. Richardson Churn. Patent # 466,470 February 17, 1891 5 A.E. Long and A.A. Jones-- Caps For Bottles And Jars 1898 6 A.L. Lewis Window Cleaner 1892 7 A.L. Rickman Galoshes 1898 8 Anna M. Mangin Pastry fork March 1, 1892 9 Alexander P. Ashbourne Biscuit Cutter November, 1875 10 Alexander Miles Elevator and also safety device for elevators. Patent No. 371,207 October11, 1887

By Laetitia Aby

1 A.P. Abourne Refining of coconut oil. July 27, 1980
2 A. B. Blackburn Spring seat for chairs. Patent# 380,420 April 3, 1888
3 A.C. Richardson Casket-Lowering Device. Patent# 529,311 November 13, 1894
4 A.C. Richardson Churn. Patent # 466,470 February 17, 1891
5 A.E. Long and A.A. Jones-- Caps For Bottles And Jars 1898
6 A.L. Lewis Window Cleaner 1892
7 A.L. Rickman Galoshes 1898
8 Anna M. Mangin Pastry fork March 1, 1892
9 Alexander P. Ashbourne Biscuit Cutter November, 1875
10 Alexander Miles Elevator and also safety device for elevators. Patent No. 371,207 October11, 1887

KVB

Attachment	Size
Bill Moyer At PBS.JPG	10.91 KB
AUDRE LORDE PIXEL.jpg	2.07 KB
04obama650.2.jpg	126.06 KB
Spread III.JPG	5.41 KB