Writing a commencement speech -- from prison

"Being inside, I can't really refer to other graduation speeches." [View this email online]( [NPR]( LA Johnson/NPR Writing a graduation speech can be tricky. Should you be funny, or sincere? Tell a story, or offer advice? For Yusef Pierce, a graduating senior in California, the job of putting together his public address was a bit more challenging. "Being inside, I can't really refer to other graduation speeches," Pierce said. He spoke to NPR by phone from inside the California Rehabilitation Center, a medium-security prison in Norco. "I was just trying to come up with what sounded like a graduation speech." Pierce is the first person to graduate with a bachelor's degree from the Inside-Out program at Pitzer College, a liberal arts school outside Los Angeles. In a normal year, the school would bring traditional students by bus to the prison to take classes alongside the students who are in prison. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, those classes happened online. Pierce shared his Zoom square with 10 other guys, all wearing the CRC's blue uniforms and seated at those classic classroom desks, where the chair and the table are attached. This spring, his classes included topics like feminism for men, microeconomics and mass incarceration. In one of those classes on a recent evening this spring, professor Nigel Boyle went around asking each student what they were looking forward to doing that week. Pierce replied: "I'm looking forward to doing a lot of homework!" "Every professor wants a Yusef in your class," said Boyle, who leads the Inside-Out program and taught Pierce's Wednesday night class about mass incarceration. "You want that student who's bright, does the work, but is also helping to bring along the others." You can read more about Yusef Pierce, and listen to his final graduation speech, [here](. [Read More Here]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- On to the news… As Republican lawmakers across the country advance state bills that would limit how public school teachers can discuss race in their classrooms, educators say the efforts are already having a chilling effect on their lessons. In Oklahoma, where one such bill was recently signed into law, teacher Telannia Norfar said she and her colleagues had planned to discuss a schoolwide approach to help students understand current events – including the murder of George Floyd, family separation at the Mexico border and the use of racist terms such as the "China virus." "We need to do it, because our students desire it," she said. "But how do we do that without opening Oklahoma City public schools up to a lawsuit?" [Read more here.]( — [Adrian Florido]( NPR National Correspondent New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is promising a full reopening of the nation's largest public school system in September. That means in person, five days a week, with no remote option for students to attend school exclusively online. [Read more here.]( — [Jessica Gould]( WNYC Education Reporter Colorado has become the first state to do away legacy admissions in public colleges. On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a ban on the practice into law. The governor also signed a bill that removes a requirement that public colleges consider SAT or ACT scores for freshmen, though the new law still allows students to submit test scores if they wish. [Read more here.]( — [Elissa Nadworny]( NPR Ed Reporter & Editor Howard University has named its newly reestablished College of Fine Arts after one of its most famous alumni: the late actor Chadwick Boseman. Boseman was a proud Howard alumnus, and was the university's commencement speaker in 2018. Privately, he was already battling colon cancer. He died last August at age 43. [Read more here.]( — [Anastasia Tsioulcas]( NPR Arts Reporter And before you go, something to give you hope. LA Johnson/NPR It's been more than a year since teachers were handed an unprecedented challenge: Educate students in new ways amid the backdrop of a pandemic. For months, we’ve been illustrating one educator's story each week. This week is our final installment: Alvaro Salas discusses the challenges of starting his teaching career in a school year that was unlike any other. He teaches middle school social studies at Bonham Academy in San Antonio. [Read the whole series here.]( See you next week. --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. 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