About

 What is the Yellow Block Wall?

The Yellow Block Wall is the barrier too many people come up against after they have followed the yellow brick road of education in the U.S. It is also a surface for examining assumptions about higher education and economic well-being.

My friends and relations will recognize the subject matter of Yellow Block Wall. For years, they’ve been listening to me rant about education. Certainly one purpose for this blog is to give me a place to unload ideas that I’ve been thinking about since college.

But I have other purposes, too, and other audiences besides friends and relations. I want high school and college students to understand that they have options that they may not be hearing about. I want their parents to see that those options can lead to success. I want educators to share ideas about how to make our educational system better. I want people who have found success following alternative career routes to share their experiences.

This is a huge issue with wide implications, and I can’t explore it alone. I will be soliciting guest blogs, and I will be very interested in your replies to my postings.

Because I have some complicated intentions, I have enlisted the help of Dennis and Ann Ngo, who are managing technical matters. We know this project will change as it grows. We hope to add video clips. We appreciate feedback on design.

What do I bring to this project, besides passionate conviction? I have a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis and a Master’s degree from California State University, Sacramento. I have over two decades of experience teaching English in middle school, high school, four-year college, vocational college, and the workplace. I’ve worked with thousands of young people and mature adult students, heard their stories, seen their frustrations, and admired their successes.

And I have twin daughters of my own who have gone through the system we’ll be examining here.

–Jane Wagner-Tyack