rf, don’t go overboard. Recent immigrants might be self-selected as “go-getters”, but no-one today was kidnapped and brought here. The historical consequences of slavery are real, but confusing the present of one group with the past of another just makes things muddy.
quote:
DH, there are many reasons, but one thing is perception. If you put a group of random Asian kids in a room with a room of random black kids, most people will assume that the Asian kids will be smarter, and harder working. They will also assume the black kids will be subpar, and probably trouble. All the Asian kids could be gang members and all the black kids members of a church choir, and people will still assume what they assume.
Until we can look at a bunch of kids of varying races and ethnicities and backgrounds and only see kids, there won’t be an even playing field.
And too many black kids are not intellectually challenged at home or at school. I am not saying black people do not have to step up, we most certainly do, in addition to the overall playing field being made equal.
quote:
i totally agree with everything MM just said there (shocker, i know). this is probably massively irrelevant, but in my high school the battle of valadictorian and (salutatorian?) anyway second place up was between an asian and a recent to the country hispanic immigrant. seriously. i dont know why i find that funny but i do. most of the honor society in my high school consisted of minorities (many of them recent immigrants) while the white kids were outside smoking weed listening to pearl jam. n9ot this was a NYC inner ring suburb in jersey and there was a lot of emphasis put on education even tho overall it felt slightly ghetto. i also feel this was for the most part a time where not everyone had to feel like they needed to join a gang and prove something. maybe focus on that for a bit? the need for kids to belong.. find a niche, our school had a gazillion after school activities you could join and even the hoodrats always wanted to be president of some club! are there even that many opportunities these days for kids in urban high schools?
Happy Yom Kippur!
“SHELTER FROM THE STORM” – Bob Dylan – lyrics
“Come in”, she said
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm”.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+dylan
/shelter+from+the+storm_20021197.html
Thought I’d repost this ref if anyone is interested. Should have done it up there someplace ^^^, when slopefarm mentioned it.
BxGrl/Dona And MM really summed it up very nicely about education and our kids
Brooklyn Tech is also an ace school, most students don’t get to schools as good as that.
Rob, Brooklyn Tech has something like 75 teams and afterschool clubs and activities.
http://www.bths.edu/apps/departments/clubs.jsp
Of course it also has 5000 students!
rf, don’t go overboard. Recent immigrants might be self-selected as “go-getters”, but no-one today was kidnapped and brought here. The historical consequences of slavery are real, but confusing the present of one group with the past of another just makes things muddy.
I’m off to cook dinner, have a good weekend, PLUSAs!
Thanks for ‘splaining it, Gem. I was fer-hoodled.
quote:
DH, there are many reasons, but one thing is perception. If you put a group of random Asian kids in a room with a room of random black kids, most people will assume that the Asian kids will be smarter, and harder working. They will also assume the black kids will be subpar, and probably trouble. All the Asian kids could be gang members and all the black kids members of a church choir, and people will still assume what they assume.
Until we can look at a bunch of kids of varying races and ethnicities and backgrounds and only see kids, there won’t be an even playing field.
And too many black kids are not intellectually challenged at home or at school. I am not saying black people do not have to step up, we most certainly do, in addition to the overall playing field being made equal.
quote:
i totally agree with everything MM just said there (shocker, i know). this is probably massively irrelevant, but in my high school the battle of valadictorian and (salutatorian?) anyway second place up was between an asian and a recent to the country hispanic immigrant. seriously. i dont know why i find that funny but i do. most of the honor society in my high school consisted of minorities (many of them recent immigrants) while the white kids were outside smoking weed listening to pearl jam. n9ot this was a NYC inner ring suburb in jersey and there was a lot of emphasis put on education even tho overall it felt slightly ghetto. i also feel this was for the most part a time where not everyone had to feel like they needed to join a gang and prove something. maybe focus on that for a bit? the need for kids to belong.. find a niche, our school had a gazillion after school activities you could join and even the hoodrats always wanted to be president of some club! are there even that many opportunities these days for kids in urban high schools?
*rob*