The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.

Now that black history month is over, it’s the perfect time to discuss the idea that it shouldn’t exist. Or rather, it shouldn’t have to exist. Black history month is just one example of how the history and culture of minority communities are still separate, even if we’re no longer pretending that they’re seen as equal.

It’s important to recognize the achievements and backstory of different cultural groups and I understand why history months exist at the moment. Unfortunately, it feels like they are too often used as an excuse not to talk about the history or culture of specific minority communities during the other 11 months of the year.

People who lack an understanding of the reasoning for black history month ask why there isn’t a white history month. Their ignorance actually hits on an interesting point. There isn’t a white history month because that’s what the norm is. That’s the history that is taught in classrooms, and plenty of white people are recognized for their achievements year-round.

At the point that all people are given equal spotlight and recognition for their contributions to modern society, democracy, justice or just the overall history of the world, there wouldn’t need to be a separate spotlight month. But because there’s a dominant image of who shaped the world, everyone else needs the curtain drawn back for them. But we could just put them on stage from the beginning.

Education and conversation about such topics should be integrated into every part of the year at all levels of education. But it’s not just about timing, it’s about how it’s taught or not taught. There are African American History elective courses for example, but that material should be integrated into the broader curriculum of History. Prominent literature from African American authors should be in general literature courses.

Many people with other ethnic backgrounds don’t even have the option to take classes that are geared toward exploring their history. Latinx people might get a surface-level exploration of Latin America in Spanish class, but no more than that. But that’s okay because there might be a few days spent talking about Simón Bolívar in September.

Whether there’s a day to recognize indigenous people or a month to recognize Asian and Pacific American heritage, there’s an unfortunate side effect. That recognition starts to feel out of place outside that designated period. Even writing this article, there’s an idea that it isn’t “timely,” because black history month is over; it’s time to put black history back on the shelf. That’s exactly why I decided to write the article now.

In addition to sidelining minorities, focusing on the “history” of cultural groups during their designated month, especially regarding their struggles, makes it seem as though the issues aren’t still alive and kicking. It’s important that we do more than pay lip service to equal treatment of people’s cultures and histories. These days, or weeks or months are only a stopgap measure.

Setting aside time to recognize people who aren’t given a voice isn’t a bad thing, but the ideal situation would be to make sure that everyone has a voice from the beginning.

The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.

This past winter, at age 21, I was diagnosed with ADHD. And in some ways (those dots I connected later), I was almost the poster child for “severe ADHD symptoms.” So why did not a single teacher from my 12 years in grade school ever mention the possibility? Because I got good grades.

The process of getting diagnosed began with going to a psychologist to take a number of diagnostic tests. Three weeks later, and with calculated data, she showed that while I was very bright, I had extreme issues with focusing, paying attention and completing tasks. 

I was somehow both shocked and unsurprised. I had clear issues with concentration and sitting still for a while, but my school experience never seemed like one of a child with ADHD. Weren’t they supposed to be diagnosed in, like, middle school? And didn’t they have bad grades? And uncontrollable hyperactivity? I had never really experienced any of those things. 

By sixth grade, I was reading at a college level. In seventh grade, I attended a math competition and became the first girl from my school to make it to the next round. In my sophomore year of high school, I joined different activities and earned good grades in my magnet classes. I continued all this through high school, through my first year of college, until I hit a number of roadblocks and had to take a gap year.

Still, though, I had recovered nicely. I had graduated with my associate’s last year and was now in my junior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. How could someone who had only received A’s and B’s their whole life have “severe” attention issues?

In class, I was always talking. Whether it was to my friend, the random kid next to me, the teacher and even myself sometimes, it didn’t matter. I didn’t care how many times I got into trouble, I physically couldn’t stop myself from talking. Usually, it was about the lesson, but I would also go off about the last movie I had watched, basketball practice after school or my plans for the weekend. 

I would constantly jiggle my leg. Sometimes both. I found it hard to find time to shower or go to sleep, and when I did find the time, I was too wired to do either. I could barely even finish a full sentence in a conversation, and I would lose track of the topic while in the middle of my thought.

Since middle school, I would alternate between different classes’ homework when I got bored with one assignment. I had an alternating sleep schedule, sleeping when I needed it and doing homework when I was awake. 

And yet, not a single teacher had thought to consider that I might have any mental health problems because of my good grades, the psychologist told me. My “linguistic ability” was very high, which meant that reading comprehension, literary analysis and other similar classwork came easily to me. Additionally, she pointed out that I had developed my own coping methods to deal with my attention deficit.

I don’t say all this to brag. I say all this to say: my teachers never suggested, whether to me, my parents, by way of a footnote on a report card, comment during a parent-teacher conference, nothing, that I had any problem with hyperactivity, lack of concentration or attention issues. Obviously, I did. 

It is not a secret that the American school system is severely lacking the mental health support system that growing kids so desperately need. Many fall through the cracks, either because the teachers don’t have enough time, brain space, energy or care to help them succeed. Accusations of “teaching to the test” can’t easily be fixed, since the majority of teacher’s pay increases are tied to their students’ performance on standardized testing. 

This grade-based definition of success forces teachers, who are by and large overworked and underpaid already, to focus on certain students and ignore others. If certain students are doing well academically, the teacher feels more comfortable taking time and attention away from them to focus on a student who is struggling more, for whatever reason. 

The only problem is that I also struggled. I was always high-strung. I fought and stressed over the fact that I physically could not bring myself to do my homework, walk my dog, read a book or write a poem. Yes, when push came to shove, I could always slide through by the skin of my teeth, but it was hard.

It’s difficult to truly say how an ADHD diagnosis would have changed my life. If I had been diagnosed in middle school, I certainly could have had a better support system. I could have had doctors who knew I had trouble focusing, or a legitimate reason for extended deadlines, or extra time on tests or even medication. But the thing I do know is that I wasn’t diagnosed, even though I clearly should have been. 

The teachers I had in elementary, middle and high school were amazing, intelligent and caring people. However, the environment in which they work on a daily basis is simply not one conducive to identifying the needs of each and every student and helping them individually with their issues. I understand why I was overlooked in grade school (and high school) in order to support those who more clearly needed it, but I also was a student in the system who was struggling.

Whether by decreasing class size or increasing support administration in schools (public and private), the American school system needs to really try to understand the diverse number of problems any student could experience that could significantly impact their lives in ways that are not necessarily reported in their grades. Good mental health is a crucial aspect in the turbulent life of a young, developing human, even in kids who manage to get good grades.

❌ Canceled: UMBC Data Science Meetup:
Rapid Data Exploration with Apache Drill ❌

5:30-7:00 pm 11 March 2020, UC 310, UMBC

Join Charles Givre for a hands-on introduction to data exploration with Apache Drill. Becoming a data-driven business means using all the data you have available, but a common problem in many organizations is that data is not optimally arranged for ad-hoc analysis. Through a combination of lecture and hands-on exercises, you’ll gain the ability to access previously inaccessible data sources and analyze them with ease. You’ll learn how to use Drill to query and analyze structured data, connect multiple data sources to Drill, and perform cross-silo queries. Study after study shows that data scientists and analysts spend between 50% and 90% of their time preparing their data for analysis. Using Drill, you can dramatically reduce the time it takes to go from raw data to insight. This workshop will show you how.

UMBC University Center, Room 310
March 11, 2020, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
(5:30 – 6:00 pm) Social
(6:00 – 6:50 pm) Workshop: Rapid Data Exploration with Apache Drill
(6:50 – 7:00 pm) Question and Answer Session

Register on the Meetup page.

Note that we formally end our Q&A session at 7 pm (so that graduate students can catch their classes starting at 7:10 pm) but in our previous events we’ve seen that one-on-one and group discussions with the speaker(s) continue even after Q&A session

Speaker: Mr. Charles Givre works as a manager at JP Morgan Chase. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Givre worked as a Senior Lead Data Scientist for Booz Allen Hamilton for the last seven years where he works in the intersection of cybersecurity and data science. Mr. Givre taught data science classes at BlackHat, the O’Reilly Security Conference, the Center for Research in Applied Cryptography and Cyber Security at Bar Ilan University. One of Mr. Givre’s research interests is increasing the productivity of data science and analytic teams, and towards that end, he has been working extensively to promote the use of Apache Drill in security applications and is a committer and PMC Chair for the Drill project. Mr. Givre teaches online classes for O’Reilly about Drill and Security Data Science and is a coauthor for the O’Reilly book Learning Apache Drill. Mr. Givre holds a Masters Degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Brandeis University, as well as a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s of Music both from the University of Arizona. He blogs at thedataist.com and tweets @cgivre.

Complimentary food, such as pizza and chips, and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided

Visitor parking spaces are located at Administration Drive Garage upper level, Commons Garage first level, Walker Avenue Garage upper level, Lot 9 and Lot 7 on Walker Avenue. Visitors do not need to pay for parking after 4:00 pm.

Join the UMBC Data Science Meetup group and register for this event here.

The post ❌ Canceled: UMBC Data Science Meetup: Rapid Data Exploration with Apache Drill ❌ appeared first on Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

https://mdcourts.gov/careers

In the bottom left-hand corner of the page you will see the “External Applicants” section and you can click on “Find Your New Career”.

The current positions are titled “Seasonal Temporary – 5778” and “Seasonal Temporary – 5779”. If you have any questions regarding these openings, please contact Stephanie Zell at stephanie.zell@mdcourts.gov