Chauvin Verdict Wakeup Call Medicine and Public Health In a recent article, a Public Health professor at UC Berkeley– Denise Herd stated, “I am particularly disturbed that medical testimony was used by the defense to attempt to exonerate the police and blame George Floyd for his own death. This kind of testimony has been used repeatedly as we saw in the trial regarding Eric Garner’s death, by chokehold, to shield police officers from being accountable for murder. Rep. Peter King from New York summarized the perspective of the defense’s case for exonerating the police officer who killed Eric Garner by stating, “If he had not had asthma, and a heart condition and was so obese, almost definitely he would not have died from this.” I feel that this statement was something our BPLiving team and our entire staff should take note of. This is an example of how the medical and law professions misdirect blame by the public being miseducated. Bot medicine and education can hurt as much as they can help. If we peel back the onion skin one layer on Rep. Peter King’s summary what emerges is the toxic environment in many communities of color causing asthma and the marketing of lousy food loaded with sugar, fat, and salt causing heart conditions and obesity. So now, who is on trial for causing these conditions? Corporations? The Government? Our Schools? And, why doesn’t Rep King go there? This backstory is as much an educational issue as it is a medical issue. If we leave it to be both will produce miseducation and mismedicine.
Away we go…. Last week was the first meeting with schools from the Pacific Northwest about prototyping the International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC). According to the follow-up from Loren, we are moving ahead with plans to use it next year. This week, there was a meeting with the Aurora Institute – Susan Patrick and Eliot Levine. Yes, it produced a Wow! From them and yes, they are going to figure out how to help us get the word out to as many groups as they can who are involved in the assessment. Also, we presented the IBPLC at the BP board meeting. Our Board president Peter McWalters is a big fan. Once again, this is great work done by a great group of people from down under.
Our BPL board had a peek at a tiny peak at B-Unbound. So, did our Wednesday group. Today, Anthonette and I are going to present B-U at the BPL staff meeting I’m setting up a meeting with David Abel, Pam, Art Bilger– founder of Working Nation. Art is a big fan of Viktor Frankl and Pam is the co-founder of the Viktor Frankl Institute. She is producing a film on Frankl’s work called Man’s Search for Meaning. Tony Robbins and Prince EA are going to be involved as well. Working Nation’s vast database could give all of our internship/real-world learning a big boost if the meeting goes well.
Also, at our BPL board meeting, students and BPL staff presented HFF, BPLiving, Project InSight, LA Leaves to Learn, International work, and the IBPLC in small breakout rooms. To get the ball rolling on these presentations, we showed two videos. One was around how our international community is using the IBPLC and the other was from Harbor Freight Fellow Maddie while onboard the Tall Ship, Harvey Gamage. Maddie is on a 2 ½ month voyage sailing down and up the east coast. I’m including these videos in this TGIF. The IBPLC video discusses how the credential “recognizes and credits the knowledge of different histories and experiences.” In Maddie’s video, she challenges herself and the rest of us to fill the gap of sailors that are aging out with a new crop of diverse sailors.
This was yet another BPL board meeting that was not in-person. For me, the best things in life are improvised and I miss the improvisational nature of seeing everyone in one room together. More magic happens than what can be accounted for. I can’t wait for all of us to be able to gather in a place once again.
Andrea from FableVision and Isary put out The BP Living Advisory Guide in a week. We had a meeting. outlined the content, agreed on the look and feel, and in a few days something astonishing happened. It was done. The QR codes throughout the guide will take advisors and teachers to the BPLiving website to see student work and resources. Below is a sample page.
Be well!
--
Elliot Washor
Co-founder of Big Picture Learning
Comments