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See what I mean by this program encouraging a form of racism:
'Most of those black children don't know a single person who goes to or went to college' ? 'The importance of school is far removed from their reality' ? 'They have zero role models in their lives ' ?
No lawyers, dental hygienists, social workers, doctors or nurses, school teachers, physical therapists, engineers, etc., etc., etc..
The notion that an 8 year-old child's future in that context will be altered by the school taking him/her to visit a black stranger who goes to community college is preposterous.
Yes, I do.
I think this little stunt will bring forth far different consequences than what were "intended."
This seems to be a "Stunt" to endear themselves to other races and make the races "come together".
It might work, stay tuned.
As one mother said "Why errrbody not going?"
If I was one of the black kids I would feel like a special needs kid who lacks the sense my white classmates have to understand the concept of why this is taking place. The child's parents should feel the same.
I honestly don't think the white kids care at all, I see no harm at all. They're just trying something to solve a problem. If the problem is black kids not having higher educational goals, tell me how that problem can be addressed if we're not allowed to focus on who is having the problem, i.e. the black kids.
3rd grade is important, because by 10th it's too late...they need to have goals to focus on now, especially if they live in an area where gangs are out trying to recruit kids younger and younger. In many cases these kids don't know a single black person in college, not in their family, not in their neighborhood. They might not see why school is important because it's so far removed from their reality..so they are bussing the black kids to where the black college students are, in order to show them there is an alternative to what they are surrounded with in their everyday lives. The white kids most likely already have people in their family and social circles who go to or have gone to college, it's not necessary to show them that college is a viable option even though they're white, they already know it is. Again, the college enrollment numbers of white kids backs that up.
Would you feel better if the white kids got to watch a movie while the black kids go on the trip? Honestly I don't think you're giving kids enough credit though. If I told my nephews the other kids were going because they don't have role models in their lives, they are compassionate enough to understand that. Again, they're not going to an amusement park. They're not going to be emotionally scarred because they're not going....IMO it's only the adults injecting pettiness and resentment into this situation.
Seriously, take ALL the kids to see college students. It's not that difficult of a concept.
This is a stupid idea. They are segregating the kids that are not doing as well from the other kids to take them on a special field trip?
If they want ot inspire the black kids to try harder in school why don't they just show them a photo of Obama. Love him or hate him he is a smart guy with drive and he made it all the way to the White House. The sky is the limit with these kids all they need is determination.
I would teach them black history including the scary bad parts which schools in an attempt to be PC seem to gloss over.
Give them a perspective on how far their people have come in American History and how far they have yet to go.
Give them Pride to be black and to be a positive member of society.
Kids Hit the Books. You have more options out then sports or music.
Agreed! Positive reinforcement and not a field trip merely because they are black and falling behind. Get to the root of the problem and motivate them by showing them public figures just like them, who are successful in STEM related occupations and not just rappers and basketball stars. It irks me to my core that more children of color, mainly Americans are not as encouraged to enter those fields.
Then you get immigrants of color like myself who may have come from countries that albeit may be predominantly black, but void of luxuries such as grants and scholarships. My former pastor (from Africa) had four kids and they all skipped 3-4 grades. All are going into medical and science fields. He himself was a doctor and his wife a teacher. When we came here, it was for a better life and to become well-educated and work hard. This is the often the immigrant's mentality. This isn't to say some don't fall by the wayside but for the most part, we are taught the value of diligence and education from a young age. I wish I saw this more often in the black American culture. Instead I went through hell growing up, when we lived in predominantly black neighborhoods because I valued education and hard work so much. First it was an issue having an accent and when you drop the accent, and become articulate, then you are still an outsider because you speak differently and have different cultural values. Thank goodness we moved to the burbs with more like-minded people of all colors.
I agree with your statement. When I was in the Black Student Union in high school we didn't even exclude other races.
And these are the things that will end discrimination. You can't fight exclusionary practices with exclusionary practices; that builds walls instead of bridges.
This is my frustration with the contemporary social justice movement. It seems that it has taken to shaming over educating, and embraced the same exclusionary tactics that it had previously sought to dismantle. The whole crux of Jim Crow was that a black person was of lesser value than a white person, that their opinion mattered less, that they lacked the ability to correctly function in society or contribute to it, and so they needed to be segregated and told what they could or couldn't do. now, we have a movement that seeks to segregate minorities from the majority, for their own benefit? Please... whatever happened to "black culture is american culture?"
If kids are taken on a field trip to a local college and get to meet a young, cool guy who is full of enthusiasm for learning and makes college seem cool and fun, that's gonna resonate with all the kids, no matter what race he is. At the elementary school I mentioned which I went to, they had two guys from the Mariners come in to extol the virtues of staying in school and playing college ball to get to the big leagues... they were both white guys, and recent draft picks... but that didn't matter to the kids - they played for the Mariners!! The kids soaked up everything they said and asked for autographs. We had assemblies where they'd have a black performer playing traditional music and then invite kids up to play instruments... I got to play the hand drums and immediately wanted my parents to get me a set of them. I volunteered at inner city schools in Boston, LA, and SF to teach "fun" art - comics and the like - and it never seemed to matter to the kids that I'm white, just that I was funny, friendly, patient, and encouraged them. Kids just need role models and people to stoke their interests in general.
This doesn't appear to be about black racism. It's the people running the South Bend, Indiana school system, most of whom are likely white, being a little too blatant with their liberal silliness when it comes to race. Like all school systems in America with black students, they have a problem with black underachievement. So they went out and hired a black PhD to be in charge of uplifting the black kids. That in itself must be a pretty big expense, and I doubt there is a PhD specifically tasked with raising poor white kids' scores.
They started this kind of thinking in Toronto a few years back, and it has resulted in an "Afrocentric" high school program for at-risk black youths:
It was supposed to start last fall, but the program only ended up with 6 applicants. I suspect that was because a lot of black parents would prefer to keep their kids away from "at risk" youth as much as parents of any other ethnic backgrounds would.
College/university wasn't the destination I was expecting.
My sons Boy Scout troop took a tour of the County Jail at about the age of 12. Not a bad tour to motivate kids. In this case inner city kids should probably go around the age of 8-10.
What I want to know is who is in charge of determining who is "black" enough to go on this field trip? I mean, does the one drop Jim Crow rule apply? If you look "white" but have your DNA test that shows you have west African ancestry, can you still attend? What about people who aren't of African descent but have very dark skin? Are they "black?"
Sheeze.
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