Posted on 02/22/2005 12:32:58 PM PST by Pendragon_6
What we are seeing is the result of the toke-up drop-out anything goes theme from the Vietnam Era days. This teacher should be sacked for doing what he did.
However, there are many parts of the country where it is cheaper to live and families can afford to live on one income. Like anything else, living in New York is a choice. We used to live in CA where, as in New York, 2 incomes are almost a necessity for survival if you're a working class family. And yes the wages were "better" in CA than here in OR, but the cost of living far outweighed any advantages. We decided our children came first, we chose to have them, it was our responsibility to give them the best life we could. In OR, we were still a working class family, with working class wages, but could afford for me to stay home and homeschool. It's worth whatever you have to do to save your children.
Secondly, if NYC is taxing them to death perhaps its time they moved.
I'm just appreciating the realities of many of these famiiles' lives. Many are first or second generation immigrants who know nothing of U.S. life outside New York City, and rely heavily on an ethnic community for support in navigating the complexities of life here, and for finding work, and for getting help with child care from friends or relatives in a close-knit community. There's no way these people can realistically just pick up and move to Iowa and find work and take care of their children. And most parents who have their kids in NYC public schools are not remotely qualifed to homeschool -- many have very little English proficiency, and may even be completely illiterate, and most of the rest are, alas, themselves graduates of this pathetic school system.
Well you make an unassailable argument for these people to remain in poverty and having their kids be indoctrinated for generation after generation then. Given the fact that immigrants to this country who didn't speak a word of English did in the past break out of NYC and settle in other places also leads me to believe that it can be done and the only reason they don't is because of people like yourself who tell them they can't do it.
Most of the success stories you're referring to happened in a much different era, when people could simply "go West" and get free land, start farming, and make their own way. That just isn't an option anymore. Of course, some recent immigrants still do get out, but usually its the children who grow up and move away -- not the original immigrants. As for the native born losers, the only real answer is to bombard them with contraceptives and incentive to use them. Most of the parents in question had children long before they were realy equipped to raise them.
Man, what is it with you and your definitive "can'ts" and "isnt's"? Funny how all these Mexicans, Hondurans and Columbians can literally walk over the border, hitch a ride on a train, etc. and start a new life in just about any one of the 50 states. Yep, I guess these immigrants in NYC had better just sit back and watch those from the South pick their pockets.
VERY few of those people are doing anything but unskilled labor. They are certainly not homeschooling their children in any meaningful way, and nearly all who do bring their children with them (many do not) live in lousy neighborhoods with lousy schools, and do not have the financial or legal means to move to a better neighborhood with better schools. This is why most of their children grow up not knowing much English, having little academic achievement in any language, and remaining at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
I'm sorry, but while this mite be true for some lazy ethnic groups, your entire thesis fails when it comes to describing the success of the immigrants from numerous Asian nations. Many of my clients are Asian and they've overcome every obstacle that this nation has thrown up against them. It's about having a work ethic my friend. With the proper one a person can do ANYTHING if they want to.
Advice: Stop making excuses for those NYC people and start chastising them for not working hard enough. I see the Asians do it all the time in this nation.
Many first generation Asian immigrants are in NYC, and their children are the best performers in the lousy public schools, and often grow up to move away and/or put their children in private schools. But the parents are stuck here, usually both working long hours just to barely support themselves and their children, and they have no choice but to put their children in the NYC public schools.
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