It’s Annoying But It Works: How Africans and Caribbeans Push Their Kids To Get A’s

The Black Home School ^ | June 9, 2014 | Krystle Crossman

[grundle]

Students all over the country are in a state of excitement. It is the end of the school year, and for many, the end of high school. Graduations are being celebrated in every state. Proud parents are posting photos of their children in caps and gowns, shopping for their prom outfits, and doing senior activities. Yearbooks are floating through classrooms, filled with heartfelt goodbyes and “keep in touch” messages. All of their hard work has paid off and many have their parents to thank for their good grades.

Parents in African and Caribbean cultures are doing something new to make their kids study harder so that they will get better grades. They are posting hilarious Youtube videos that show how parents in these different cultures get their kids to take their education seriously.

1. Nigeria – A video from a parent in Nigeria shows his son coming home with a 90 on his report card and the father is not happy about it. He tells his son that it is not good enough. The son says that it’s the best grade in his class but his father tells him not to compare himself to others. He then tells him that for dinner he is making him eat Ghanaian jolof rice. This is throwing some history in as when Nigeria’s economy dipped, they needed to get rid of workers from Ghana. Those from Ghana were forced out carrying only what they could fit in a medium grocery bag.

2. Jamaica – This video shows a father who is upset about hearing that his son is misbehaving in music class. He tells him that he worked too hard to bring his son over to America for him to squander the education that he is getting.

3. Quintessential African parent – The final video shows a mother in a meeting about her daughter with the art teacher. She has no interest in what the teacher has to say about her daughter’s skills and asks where the “real” teachers are. This serves to show the struggle that many are facing with education reform as more time is taken in the core studies and it pushes essential studies such as the arts out of view.

Here is a funny video of a Nigerian Dad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24TArrpkwjE

[CondorFlight]

It’s not true that black people cannot study or cannot excel in school. Black people DO excel, but in other cultures—even when they have schools with dirt floors, few books, NO COMPUTERS, and poorly-educated but dedicated teachers.

In Africa in some places there is only ONE BOOK per classroom—which is kept in the hands of the teacher.

But the students WANT to learn, and they have TWO PARENTS (including a FATHER in the house) who want them to learn.

Contrast that with the “African-American” “culture”...

[cripplecreek]

One of my favorite twitter pals is a Nigerian girl living in Texas. She calls herself libertarian but aside from drug policy she appears to be pretty solidly conservative. Calvin Coolidge is her favorite president.

[SamAdams76]

I don’t get it. The video was not funny at all. It looked staged and rehearsed. Like a pilot for a bad sitcom. And why was the father dressed like some overweight housewife?

[ottbmare]

That was my father! Exactly! Word for word! Except forty years ago and white and with a Central European accent.

[I want the USA back]

Africans are happy to get the education. Unfortunately, the left has trained descendents of Africans to become dependent on government, and not to have to put out any effort.

[RoosterRedux]

A guy from Nigeria used to manage a convenience store near a loft I lived in (in midtown Atlanta). Nice guy, very hard working and ambitious. I used to go there for a cup of coffee after a run in the mornings.

He used to complain that American Blacks were lazy and worthless...no ambition.

And they (customers of that group) didn't like him either.

He told me "America is a dream of my family...we plan to put it to full use. But I am ashamed of my fellow Africans who waste this opportunity."

This is the fault of Democrats...and their drug, entitlement.

[Tennessee Nana]

. This serves to show the struggle that many are facing with education reform as more time is taken in the core studies and it pushes essential studies such as the arts out of view.
___________________________________

Readin Ritin and Rithmetic will get you a job

Art Class wont..

how can Art be more “essential” than learning to read ???

[latina4dubya]

Art Class wont.. how can Art be more “essential” than learning to read ???

in our homeschool, literature, writing, mathematics, geometry, music, art, history, science, Latin and Greek are all essential... they are all part of what it is to be human... and i believe they offer a glimpse into the mind of God... grammar, logic, rhetoric--in essence, truth, goodness and beauty...

my desire for my boys is that they become lifelong learners... not simply trained in a vocation, but fully educated... not just an education that is utilitarian... educated along the lines of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Monroe, Abraham Lincoln, even Doc Holliday... George Washington did not receive this type of education, but he desired it for his grandchildren... :)

[Lorianne]

Yes!

Thank you.

I have seen it first hand.

[A_perfect_lady]

I have had students from Africa and South America. They are polite, prepared, and hard-working. It’s the ones who are born here that leave me in despair.

[Dr. Sivana]

how can Art be more “essential” than learning to read ??? Learning different things, and using different skills help form the whole growing child. Certainly the classrooms of the 50s had art and music classes, and the children still learned to read and write. There is also evidence tat children who learn a musical instrument wind up doing better in EVERYTHING else, including reading and math. Elementary education is NOT just about getting a job. That's the Soviet attitude towards education.

For most of us, Chemistry in high school won't be used for a job, but it is still worth learning.

Don't pick on art, music, chemistry or biology class. Pick on the sex ed, teaching for the test, using our kids as guinea pigs for every new approach meant to replace that which worked before.

[Free Vulcan]

Think Jews are obsessed with education? They got nothing on Africans. In an African family, the family scrapes to get the first child to college.

When the first gets out they get a job to send the second to college. Same for the second supporting the third, and so on. They choose fields like doctor, lawyer, engineer, banker, etc., not sociology or women’s studies.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

This is throwing some history in as when Nigeria’s economy dipped, they needed to get rid of workers from Ghana. Those from Ghana were forced out carrying only what they could fit in a medium grocery bag.

It seems we could learn something from the Nigerians.

[Tennessee Nana]

yes but this author appears to be saying either this subject or that one and says art is essential while ignoring reading and Math...

[Tennessee Nana]

yes we had all those subjects in my 1950s classrooms but more time was spent on reading etc

they were considered more essential..

[latina4dubya]

oh yes, i do realize that... i was responding to both your comment and his comment...

[grundle]

I agree with you that the video looks like it was staged. But I think it made it’s point pretty well.

[grundle]

I agree with you that education in art and music is important.

[Dr. Sivana]

they were considered more essential..

I understand, and agree. But today's kids are often asked to give up recess and full lunch periods (which we also had) and running around outside time and to start school in AUGUST to get an edge in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top tests.

My own daughter (who is homeschooled) struggles in math but has natural artistic talent. When we let her use that talent, she does better in the reading (which she is already good at) and math as well. we could simply replicate the traditional curriculum, and excuse entirely those children who don't match up with traditional behavior (drawing guns okay, threatening teacher bad, hitting girls bad) and we'd have a better result.