Equality in education is achievable by decree but 55 years after civil rights we still don't have it. I'd bet that the policymakers who short-change black schools aren't even aware they're doing it sometimes.
But the other classes you mentioned are almost certain to fail because they require candor in admitting to problems and you need t…
Equality in education is achievable by decree but 55 years after civil rights we still don't have it. I'd bet that the policymakers who short-change black schools aren't even aware they're doing it sometimes.
But the other classes you mentioned are almost certain to fail because they require candor in admitting to problems and you need to overcome that before anyone will sign up. I foresee financial management classes with one or two students in the room. Getting people to avail themselves of this kind of help would require a massive public information campaign. It would need hard-hitting ads delivered by people who look and sound like their audience, and we don't have that many Maxine Waters,
The stigma against education is crippling. I remember in the USA going to visit a Vietnamese family; it was a Saturday night and the kids ranging from elementary to high school were all sitting at a table studying with their father there encouraging them. It didn't appear forced. OTOH this isn't all that common here in Vietnam.
From the sound of things a black student who studied diligently would be regarded as some kind of weirdo. That is so wrong.
Parental involvement is critical. With each of my daughters on different occasions I had to teach the math lessons to make them comprehensible to them. While living in Saudi Arabia in the 80s (international school) I was informed that one of my daughters was far behind in learning her multiplication tables. I wrote a math game on a Commodore 64 which made it fun. She mastered all of her times tables before the other students.
When we adopted our orphaned niece a gave her an ABC Elmo doll to play with on the flight to America. The Thai language does not share our alphabet. First year, I did her homework, explaining with my broken Thai while she helped. Second year, she did the homework and I helped. Her English was already better than my Thai. Third year I checked her work. She was getting together with the other Asian girls from her school to study.
Having a parent capable of helping is huge. Having a study ethic is huge. My daughters had a double whammy. My thing was, don't come home with a report that you were capable of better. I didn't expect perfection, just honest effort. Their Asia mother expected A's. Motivation and help when needed.
The thing is, what if your parents have two jobs or you have one parent? I was a poor child of a single mother, I get it. What if your subculture doesn't value study and striving for good grades? Can a disadvantaged child go against the bad odds of poverty and a toxic subculture? Some do. If you are my age, going into the military was a way out. If you didn't get killed in Vietnam, you may have received technical training and there was a GI bill which gave education assistance, so your student loans were more manageable. I saw a bunch of that. It worked wonders for a lot of young black men in particular.
Schools have been fully integrated for a long time. I went to a vocational non-neighborhood high school where I was the racial minority before integration was common. There were black kids from the projects there to learn a trade so they could get a decent job. When my children came along, we lived in Georgia where there was no bussing because the neighborhood was integrated. My children went to the same schools with the same teachers and books. The only inequality was perhaps in the home. I realize in big cities where there was white flight the schools are not the same or equal, but there is no universal inequity by race, but rather by locale.
I don't write that to point a finger of damnation at anyone, but how do we fix "why you studyin'? You tryin' to be white?", "Math is racist" and other crabs in a barrel horseshit? Some of that is straight out of social justice warriors who infantize black people. SJWs need to do some self-examination. Are they venting or trying to solve a problem? Why try if you think the system won't let you succeed? I know that people want to go on and on about the system, but does putting that in young people's head help or harm? Can government or money fix this, or must we? If we are going to, we must do better.
It's not wrong. It's just not optimal. It's reactionary and dysfunctional and gets in the way of solving the problem.
Maybe your cynical take is true but we still have to try. I know there are human beings in poverty culture who haven't given up and would welcome something hopeful. Maybe only 5%, let's say. But if we help that 5% and they are able to bloom, that might inspire others.
And, if you don't like my ideas, how about we canvas the black community to get their ideas about what they feel would work? How about create a coalition or partnership of majoritarian money partnered with black cultural insight to develop a path forward?
One thing's for sure. Sitting around and wringing our hands or slinging barbs at each other has gotten us nowhere. And just throwing cash at it hasn't worked either. We need some creativity to solve this problem. We need to figure out what would spark people into caring about their lives again.
You can't move people from complaining and feeling helpless to a commitment of time and energy like taking classes, even if the classes are free. It's a good idea but it has to be done in a series of steps. Starting with convincing people that they can take some control over their own lives.
Well, then maybe start with that free therapy idea. Or free possibility seminars. I get where you are coming from but we have to hold space for possibility if we want to see change.
Equality in education is achievable by decree but 55 years after civil rights we still don't have it. I'd bet that the policymakers who short-change black schools aren't even aware they're doing it sometimes.
But the other classes you mentioned are almost certain to fail because they require candor in admitting to problems and you need to overcome that before anyone will sign up. I foresee financial management classes with one or two students in the room. Getting people to avail themselves of this kind of help would require a massive public information campaign. It would need hard-hitting ads delivered by people who look and sound like their audience, and we don't have that many Maxine Waters,
The stigma against education is crippling. I remember in the USA going to visit a Vietnamese family; it was a Saturday night and the kids ranging from elementary to high school were all sitting at a table studying with their father there encouraging them. It didn't appear forced. OTOH this isn't all that common here in Vietnam.
From the sound of things a black student who studied diligently would be regarded as some kind of weirdo. That is so wrong.
Parental involvement is critical. With each of my daughters on different occasions I had to teach the math lessons to make them comprehensible to them. While living in Saudi Arabia in the 80s (international school) I was informed that one of my daughters was far behind in learning her multiplication tables. I wrote a math game on a Commodore 64 which made it fun. She mastered all of her times tables before the other students.
When we adopted our orphaned niece a gave her an ABC Elmo doll to play with on the flight to America. The Thai language does not share our alphabet. First year, I did her homework, explaining with my broken Thai while she helped. Second year, she did the homework and I helped. Her English was already better than my Thai. Third year I checked her work. She was getting together with the other Asian girls from her school to study.
Having a parent capable of helping is huge. Having a study ethic is huge. My daughters had a double whammy. My thing was, don't come home with a report that you were capable of better. I didn't expect perfection, just honest effort. Their Asia mother expected A's. Motivation and help when needed.
The thing is, what if your parents have two jobs or you have one parent? I was a poor child of a single mother, I get it. What if your subculture doesn't value study and striving for good grades? Can a disadvantaged child go against the bad odds of poverty and a toxic subculture? Some do. If you are my age, going into the military was a way out. If you didn't get killed in Vietnam, you may have received technical training and there was a GI bill which gave education assistance, so your student loans were more manageable. I saw a bunch of that. It worked wonders for a lot of young black men in particular.
Schools have been fully integrated for a long time. I went to a vocational non-neighborhood high school where I was the racial minority before integration was common. There were black kids from the projects there to learn a trade so they could get a decent job. When my children came along, we lived in Georgia where there was no bussing because the neighborhood was integrated. My children went to the same schools with the same teachers and books. The only inequality was perhaps in the home. I realize in big cities where there was white flight the schools are not the same or equal, but there is no universal inequity by race, but rather by locale.
I don't write that to point a finger of damnation at anyone, but how do we fix "why you studyin'? You tryin' to be white?", "Math is racist" and other crabs in a barrel horseshit? Some of that is straight out of social justice warriors who infantize black people. SJWs need to do some self-examination. Are they venting or trying to solve a problem? Why try if you think the system won't let you succeed? I know that people want to go on and on about the system, but does putting that in young people's head help or harm? Can government or money fix this, or must we? If we are going to, we must do better.
It's not wrong. It's just not optimal. It's reactionary and dysfunctional and gets in the way of solving the problem.
Maybe your cynical take is true but we still have to try. I know there are human beings in poverty culture who haven't given up and would welcome something hopeful. Maybe only 5%, let's say. But if we help that 5% and they are able to bloom, that might inspire others.
And, if you don't like my ideas, how about we canvas the black community to get their ideas about what they feel would work? How about create a coalition or partnership of majoritarian money partnered with black cultural insight to develop a path forward?
One thing's for sure. Sitting around and wringing our hands or slinging barbs at each other has gotten us nowhere. And just throwing cash at it hasn't worked either. We need some creativity to solve this problem. We need to figure out what would spark people into caring about their lives again.
You can't move people from complaining and feeling helpless to a commitment of time and energy like taking classes, even if the classes are free. It's a good idea but it has to be done in a series of steps. Starting with convincing people that they can take some control over their own lives.
Well, then maybe start with that free therapy idea. Or free possibility seminars. I get where you are coming from but we have to hold space for possibility if we want to see change.