Rich, Black, Flunking (Education Study)

East Bay Express ^ | SUSAN GOLDSMITH

[spodefly]

Perpetual Victims BUMP.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I was thinking of homework in terms of it being done in the home, under parental observation. And, if this is the case, then the only way a child could have the opportunity to not complete his homework in a timely manner would be with the parents' knowledge. If they bring the books home, the parents must see that the work is completed. I see no reason why a parent wouldn't insist that the work is completed, on a daily basis.

Now, if they don't bring the books home, of don't turn the assignments in, then I could see the school also getting involved.

[Amelia]

Our local public school has had teachers held hostage with screwdrivers....We need more money pumped into the system in the form of higher teaching salaries to attract better teachers.

I left a higher paying job because I wanted to be a teacher. HOWEVER, even more money wouldn't tempt me to teach in a place where teachers are held hostage with screwdrivers.

[Amelia]

My wife is a grade school teacher, and would largely back up your roommate's theory. She finds, though, that there are some parents who are heavily involved, but usually in making excuses for their child.

As a teacher, I agree with the parental involvement theory, too - with Drew's wife's modification. And, I find it works regardless of race or socioeconomic level...

[garbanzo]

There is much merit to this - it's not "acting white" per se, but rather the notion of "collective failure" - the idea that failures by blacks reflect on the entire black race and the converse that successes of blacks are in essence individual successes not related to the general ability of blacks as a whole. Contrasted with whites where failures are individual and successes are collectives. The recent example is Jayson Blair - the general meme on the right has made it a collective failure of blacks rather than the failure of an individual - something that didn't happen with Steven Glass for example.

This is idea of collective failure/individual success (especially among blacks) explains I think a lot of the hostility many blacks have toward the successful. If you see someone as successful because of some sort of dispensation of grace, especially someone who doesn't "give back" to the "less fortunate" that would certainly inspire a lot of jealously and resentment of someone who "lucked out" but pretends as if he deserved his position. If a close family member won the lottery but didn't give you a much as dinner, you'd probably feel some sense of resentment towards them.

On the flip side, if every failure of blacks is collective, you certainly have tendancy to "circle the wagons" when one of you fails. You pretend nothing happened or that the person was somehow wronged by larger forces, e.g. the rallying around OJ.

The tough question is how to reverse these attitudes. As a culture we have to start treating people as individuals, and seeing their successes and failures as individuals rather than as members of a race.

[blam]

" Hilliard, who is black, believes Shaker Heights teachers must not expect enough from their black students."

The black parents and the black students don't give a s#it, expectations are set and enforced by the parents, not teachers.

When the parents aren't involved, the results are similar for whites.

[Little Bill]

Good artical. I was and am a fan of the Summerhill School in England. My kids were raised to believe that the you deside what you want to do, collect garbage or design buildings.

One son, a Voke graduate makes a couple of hundred grand a year, said he was not a scholar, digging holes in the ground, a daughter teaches for small money, both are happy.

[judgeandjury]

His statement shows exactly where his head is, eating out of a govt supplied trough, like the slave he has made himself.

I find it interesting that most blacks will say that slavery was the worst thing that they've ever had to endure in this country, yet so many blacks today are more than willing to be "slaves" to various government programs, and by doing so, never allow themselves to rise to their full potential as human beings.

[bert]

Discrimination against young blacks in hiring seems to be justified. They seem to have no interest in life with responsibilities and it appears they don't learn that lesson till they approach 30.

[FreedomPoster]

Ping; In your backyard? ping.

[rdb3]

Used to be. I'm in Dallas now.

Doing bad things to bad people...

[green team 1999]

bump

[Richard Kimball]

What I found interesting is whites described their relationship with blacks as okay and blacks described it as tension filled.

If you're white, you'd better not have any problems with blacks, or you'll find yourself in a sensitivity class. Just say everything's fine and get away from the person questioning you about race relations.

Before this post gets deleted by the Admin Moderator, let me say that my relationships with people of other races are fine. It's just that some poor, misguided fools don't understand that questions of this nature are to help us get our minds right, not to persecute us.

[Jhensy]

It all comes down to reading, reading, reading. Are there bookshelves in the home? Do Mom and/or Dad read for pleasure? Do they discuss the facts and the wonders of this amazing planet with their children? Do they instill curiosity? Or do they assume schools will do the job for them? This of course applies to all races, not just blacks.

But comedian Chris Rock does a very disturbing routine where he advises that the way to keep black men from stealing from you is to hide your valuables in books. "Books are like kryptonite to (n-words). They won't EVER look inside there."

It's disturbing because the mostly black audience roars with laughter in recognizance of the fact.

[PMCarey]

The recent example is Jayson Blair - the general meme on the right has made it a collective failure of blacks rather than the failure of an individual - something that didn't happen with Steven Glass for example.

Nonsense. The general meme on the right is that it was a failure of affirmative action policies which make it politically and culturally difficult, if not impossible, to fire a black worker even when it is widely known that the worker is filing false stories, abusing expense accounts, and so forth. I have never read a single column in which the right attacks blacks as the culprit in the Jayson Blair case. Their vitriol has been reserved exclusively for the NY Times editors.

[cgk]

Their project yielded an unexpected conclusion: It wasn't socioeconomics, school funding, or racism, that accounted for the students' poor academic performance; it was their own attitudes, and those of their parents

(Still reading the article, but.. I need to ask... did they demand a refund? And why are many of us not surprised?)

[Imal]

May I suggest an alternative headline?

ANGRY BLACKS SHOOT MESSENGER

[Jorge]

I think one of the biggest problems among blacks teenagers is that it is considered "uncool" to be intelligent or to study....so why bother. It's more of problem of attitude than it is ability.

Yes...this has been a problem among a certain segment of the white community as well...and they also turn out to be losers in the end.

All we have to do is look at black rap videos to see that being stupid is considered cool. This anti-social attitude is nothing new.

[garbanzo]

The whole issue of affirmative action is one of race - that blacks only get jobs because of their race - it is impossible (in this view) for an affirmative action hire to be competent. While it is true that achieving diversity was a goal of the NYT (as a private employer this isn't of necessity a bad goal - employers should decide what is necessary and good for their business model) the issue as I see it isn't "imcompetent black kept on by affirmative action" but rather that of a charmer and suckup who wheedled his way around until he was caught. As we are seeing now, the issue with the NYT goes deeper than race and has more to do with a management culture. But race is at best a minor issue here although, it's become more of major issue especially on the right.

[ladylib]

Blacks say Standard English is being imposed on them," he says. "That's not what the Chinese say, or the Ibo from Nigeria. You come from the outside and you know you have to learn Standard English, or you won't do well in school. And you don't say whites are imposing on you. The Indians and blacks say, 'Whites took away our language and forced us to learn their language. They caused the problem.'"

Our newspaper recently featured an article about a Chinese girl who came to America not knowing a word of English in her freshman year of high school and is now her class's valedictorian.

She made sure she learned English and developed her own strategies for doing so.

She can go to college anywhere she wants to.