The Bernard C. Watson Endowed Chair in Urban Education Annual Symposium

Policy, Pedagogy & Partnership: Education in Urban Societies
Friday, September 25, 2009

Article and video of the event, which featured speakers Dr. Bernard C. Watson, Dean C. Kent Mcguire, Dr. A. Wade Boykin, Michael T. Nettles and more...

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Inaugural Watson Chair Symposium Explores Urban Education

Last fall nearly 100 guests attended the College of Education’s inaugural Bernard C. Watson Endowed Chair in Urban Education Symposium. Held in Walk Auditorium on September 25, the event featured insights from a wide array of voices in the field of urban education – including Watson.

While at Temple, Watson was a principal founder of the College of Education’s Urban Education Program, which has provided much needed fellowships for future policy makers and leaders in urban education and has been a vessel of outreach for children and adults in North Philadelphia and throughout the Philadelphia region.

To honor Watson and further his commitment, in May 2008 the College of Education announced the establishment of the Bernard C. Watson Endowed Chair in Urban Education – the first endowed chair in honor of an African-American in Temple University’s history.

Following a warm welcome from Dean C. Kent McGuire, PhD, Watson opened the event by pointing out the vitality of education as a part of public policy.  Likening the importance of education in society to that of health care, Dr. Watson quoted Pres. Lyndon Baines Johnson, who said, “I’ll go a hundred million or a billion on health or education.  I don’t argue about that anymore.  I don’t argue with Lady Bird about buying flour.  You’ve got to have flour and coffee in your house.  Education and health: I’ll spend the goddamn money!  I may cut back on some tanks, but I won’t cut back on health or education.”

Using Temple’s class of 2013—the most highly qualified class in the school’s history—as an example of the positive outcomes that result from effective early learning, Watson pointed at the audience of educators and spoke bluntly:  “The future of this country relies on the kinds of people you create today.”

The symposium’s first panel, consisting of Dean McGuire, Michael T. Nettles, PhD, senior vice president at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., and Wade Boykin, PhD, a professor and director of the graduate program in the Department of Psychology graduate program at Howard University, tackled several broad educational topics, including the cultural achievement gap that plagues childhood education in America.

Conceding that the issue “defies easy and conventional solutions,” Boykin believes that the gap, and the factors perpetuating its presence, are much more complex than simply the availability of resources. 

Later, lamenting the widespread paradigm that finds urban schools kowtowing to bureaucratic testing, rather than embracing more personal forms of education, Boykin stated, “the testing tail cannot wag the educational dog.” He called for a number of “transactional” approaches to educational reform, such as schools investing more in human capacity building, teachers maintaining active roles as adult learners, and parents participating as informed advocates for the betterment of their children. 

Focusing on the culture of the classroom, the second panel featured the associate professor of mathematics education, and Temple doctoral students Joy Barnes-Johnson, of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and Robert M. Hobbs, of the Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in Education Department.

When an audience member questioned the distinction between a “highly qualified teacher” and a “highly effective teacher,” Barnes-Johnson responded by referencing the essential shared humanity that binds both teacher and student: “Teachers go through the same identity issues as our students.  Efficacy comes from embracing those similarities rather than the dynamic that suggests ‘I’m the expert and you’re the student.’”

Michael Smith, PhD, of the Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in Education (CITE) Department, Temple undergraduate student Jessica Reed and Temple alumna Abigail Reikow, currently a graduate student studying social work and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania, made up the third panel, which focused on the importance in the classroom of “the three Rs”—rigor, relevance and relationships.

The fourth panel, which focused on gender in the classroom, consisted of James Earl Davis, PhD, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, York Williams, PhD, assistant professor of special education at West Chester University, and Temple doctoral student Camika Royal, of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. 

During the question-and-answer session that concluded the symposium, an audience member asked about the role that relationships and cultural identity play in education.  The question generated passionate insights for half an hour from Smith, Reed and six audience members. One spectator referenced her own difficulty being a white woman from Philadelphia’s suburbs and struggling each day to relate to young children of varying ethnic backgrounds living in the inner city.  Panelist Jessica Reed responded by speaking of her own cultural identity as a black woman from Anchorage, Alaska, and pointing out that everyone comes from his or her own unique background and that race does not equal identity. 

For more information on this event feel free to contact Valerie V. Gay at (215) 204-4649 or send an
E-mail to almuni.ed@temple.edu

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Click here to view video on I-Tunes: Bernard C. Watson Symposium

Click here to view photos at MyOwlspace: Bernard C. Watson Symposium

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"Chair of the People"

We are calling the Bernard C. Watson Endowed Chair in Urban Education the "The Chair of the People," because it has the potential to impact every sector of our community, and we need the support of many to realize the goal of establishing this Chair.  Bernie Watson is an educator, administrator, philanthropist and leader who is deserving of this honor, but we cannot achieve this feat alone. To honor Dr. Watson's accomplishments in urban education, and to extend his legacy to future generations of educators and students, please consider supporting the Bernard C. Watson Chair in Urban Education at Temple University’s College of Education.  All gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

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