About my blog

Welcome to my new blog where I will be discussing issues related to education policy in K-12 classrooms throughout my home state of Mississippi and the nation as a whole. Coming from a long line of Mississippi educators, I believe that education is our greatest investment and that a free and sound education is one of our fundamental rights as citizens of the United States.

First of all, a little note about myself. I am going to be that little old lady who buys everybody books for birthdays, Christmas, Valentines Day, and Arbor Day simply because I think everybody should have a healthy supply of literature. As you can probably tell, I am an English major about to begin my final undergraduate year at Mississippi State University. I became interested in education policy when I began working as a student researcher at the John C. Stennis Institute of Government on campus. I like to see how the policies implemented by our legislature and local school boards are affecting all the brilliant young minds around me. Sadly though, many of our children in Mississippi are not given the attention and the opportunities they deserve, and it pains me to see an entire generation idolizing Lebron James and Hannah Montana rather than Huckleberry Finn and Nancy Drew.

I decided to give my blog the title “Marginalia” because I feel that the marginalia blotted on the tiny space between the text and the edge of the page is where education begins- those sparks of ideas in the margins of the textbook that stem from the mind of the student, not just reiterations of the opinion of the author. No, education begins when the pupil starts to think beyond what he/she has just been told and apply it. Also, I thought marginalia would reflect my research style of printing pages and pages of articles and scribbling all over them. This blog will largely consist of my thoughts and reactions to these articles and pieces of legislation which I will often link or cite. Fair Warning: as an English major, I may be tempted to throw in some quotes or poems when I feel they are appropriate and illustrative.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy reading this blog as much as I will enjoy writing it.