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I graduated from one of the top universities in the country, and I'd say I'm a bit of a jerk and I doubt my sanity. Attending a top school is not the be all and end all in life.
However the USA has a problem and that is that we don't have sufficient people with strong STEM skills. So as a society we cannot let any group lag, as we need all that we can get.
And of course you pay for jails and social programs that assist the poor, and I am sure that you wish you didn't have to.
Yet Vermont has one of the lowest crime rates out there and some of the highest graduation rates out there. For someone with such a valuable MBA you should realize that the NYT was strictly trying to make money off of a politicians statement. One thing for sure is that Vermonters probably can't dance.
If you cant dance go get lessons instead of bellyaching and displaying envy to those who can. Clearly it bothers you as you keep on incessantly on this topic.
NYT is speaking about a particular town where there is a growing problem of heroin addiction, which concerns people. Heroin and meth addiction is one of rural America, no longer urban. And given the increasing levels of displacement as many factories close down this is an issue that concerns many people in these areas.
Maybe you would rather have them ignore the problem until to does become a major issue.
Good for the people of that town that they aren't prepared to do so.
Now if you think that NYT manufactured a huge lie why not prove that this is what they did?
If you cant dance go get lessons instead of bellyaching and displaying envy to those who can. Clearly it bothers you as you keep on incessantly on this topic.
NYT is speaking about a particular town where there is a growing problem of heroin addiction, which concerns people. Heroin and meth addiction is one of rural America, no longer urban. And given the increasing levels of displacement as many factories close down this is an issue that concerns many people in these areas.
Maybe you would rather have them ignore the problem until to does become a major issue.
Good for the people of that town that they aren't prepared to do so.
Now if you think that NYT manufactured a huge lie why not prove that this is what they did?
I'm in that town on a monthly basis. I'm in all different NYC neighborhoods on a daily basis. As poor as the people in Bennington VT might be, as an area they do not have close to the problems that poor neighborhoods in NYC have. Their crime is much lower and their education is much better (which isn't saying much at all when comparing to bad NYC schools). Their drug addition problem is no worse than NYCs, it's just that NYC has so many additional problems that grab the attention of the media. Maybe the NYT won't manufacture a huge lie, but they for sure can magnify a story if it sells more papers. Why not worry about your own communities problems rather than belittle another communities problems, which frankly cannot even compare in severity? Don't blame whites and Asians just because blacks and Hispanics cannot test in.
BTW, come to think of it I'd put my money on the Vermonter vs. you in a square dance any day of the week.
Single parent homes in the AA community aren't new. Scores of AA mothers throughout the years for various reasons were forced to raise their children alone. Yes, not all turned into college graduates/professionals but a good majority did or at least got themselves a good enough education to hold down a job that put them in the middle class.
AA mothers used to be as strict as those from the Islands and Africa are today. They sat on their daughter's chests to keep them from becoming big with the belly out of wedlock and always stressed education all their children. There is a reason why you see so many nurses come from or have Caribbean backgrounds.
When the strong AA female model broke down you got the mess we find today in the AA community. The "Community" got really upset at the film Precious because it hung a lot of dirty laundry out for the world to see. Same as they did with the Colour Purple for the same reasons.
Go into any housing project and you'll find plenty of mother's like "Mary" (Precious's mother). It is all about gaming the system and or finding any man no matter how temporary the arrangement. Any young girl that has "ideas" about getting out of that situation is suddenly "stuck up", and needs to be very strong to resist the forces that will bring her down. Years ago AA mothers like Mary would have become maids, cleaners, work in a laundry or do whatever it took to earn money so they could do better for themselves and children. Today it is easier to sit at home in government provided housing and collecting funds from same. In the meantime keep on spitting out babies because yes, the government takes care of that as well.
It is sad that while AAs made substantial gains during the early years after the civil rights movement began in the 1960's, so much backsliding has occurred that even the long held goal of an African American president cannot reverse the trend. Gays took so many pages out of the AA civil rights play book and have gotten further in the past six years or so than blacks have in forty years. That sad commentary shows it just isn't "da Man" keeping them down but something else.
Your statement would make more sense if rather than classifying the AA community as a monolithic group, you focused on specific groups with problems. Female headed households are also high among Caribbean families, maybe just over 50%.
But I know single mothers, AA and foreign born, who have high demands of their parents.
Remember that many female headed households become so out of divorce, and I suspect those kids might be even more messed up than the ones who never had a father in their lives.
So it is up to the parent(s) to instill proper values. Being a female headed household does not give any an excuse to fail, and indeed the vast majority of black kids born out of wedlock do NOT fail.
It is amazing the tight family bonds that sometimes exist in those female headed households because every member of the family learns early in life that they all have a part to play if the family is going to work.
So not every single parent family is like Precious. Just go down into the NYC subway every rush hour and see the huge numbers of black women who work for a living, and who have no interest in gaming the system.
I can take care of myself and I have been in all sorts of communities in all sorts of places. Unlike you I don't have an irrational fear of the poor. Poor does not necessarily equal full of violent criminals. I was an exchange student in a pretty poor part of Paraguay and I loved it. I went to some pretty poor parts of Brazil and I enjoyed it. So again, I would not mind being in a poor part of the Caribbean if it was close to the beach.
I guess you fear the poor so much because that's really where you come from and what you really still are., You're so desperate to hide behind a facade that's not you it makes you miserable.
As for people like you needing more help, if you're as "brilliant" as you claim, you should be able to figure things out for yourself. No help should be needed. You should be able to skyrocket pass everyone. Of course, it's rather obvious that you're bull****ting everyone.
You make assumptions, accuse me and others of making statements we never did and then try to spin our points. When I put forth a statement with substance and links to back up what I did state, you ignore it. Kudos to your Ivy league education! Like I said before, I see it did wonders for you.
When did I say I'm brillant? When did I say I feared poverty? Instead of looking at poverty as a inhibiting factor, why won't you look at it as a motivating factor?
I pointed out the statement you made about living in a slum if it was close to a beach. I pointed out there are flaws because you ignore many other important factors such as violence and crime. There are other issues also like clean water, availabity of water, food, sewage, sanitary conditions, etc. Maybe your experience in Paraguay wasn't bad, but to use that as a measuring stick is kind of foolish when there many factors come into play.
Anyway, great way to derail a thread. How about sticking to the topic and addressing it. I provided numerous links, thus backing up my points! How about you back your BS
Last edited by Mistertee; 03-15-2014 at 04:55 PM..
As for why an Asian CEO of Indian decent rather than say Chinese? I'd say it has something to do with the British educational system in India.
A major problem that people have is assuming that ethnic groups are a monolith.
Vikram Pandit came from an elite background in India, and his father headed a major chemical company in that country.
When one looks at people from various groups, one must look at WHO from within that group migrates. What is commendable about the Chinese is that large numbers of them come from humble backgrounds in China and do their best to get their kids to at least CUNY.
Many Indians come from elite backgrounds and are highly educated. So can one compare the kid of a CEO of a major company with the kid of a restaurant and garment factory workers?
So clearly Pandit would have arrived with a highly developed notion of how to succeed, going beyond holding a degree from a prestigious university.
Clearly the kid of a restaurant worker would not have had any notion of this, and then would hit a wall when he realized that so many people have prestigious degrees and its the ability to build a productive social network that would guarantee success in the corporate world.
My only issue is why do AA and Hispanics get special scholarships, easier admissions to colleges due to lower standards and special quotas to univerisities? WHat is the basis for it?
I think that you missed the news. Colleges are no longer allowed to use race as a criteria to base admissions on, so no blacks and Hispanics no longer get special privileges.
Any case the kids from the slums of Mumbai aren't trying to get into NYU. Its the kids whose fathers are wealthy doctors and business men who are.
However the USA has a problem and that is that we don't have sufficient people with strong STEM skills. So as a society we cannot let any group lag, as we need all that we can get.
And of course you pay for jails and social programs that assist the poor, and I am sure that you wish you didn't have to.
Sure, we can and will let any and all groups lag. It's an individual choice to pursue STEM skills. And the society does not need that many people with STEM skills. Most people work ****ty jobs, and this will always remain the case.
STEM skills would only pay well if they are relatively rare. The jobs that can be done by everyone pay the minimum wage. It's actually in the best interest of people in STEM to restrict entrants into the field. And restrict they do.
Have you been to an American University, Carib? A big percentage of people who in their freshman year say they are going to be STEM majors. Most drop out.
Why?
In your classes (this was true for even the humanities at Cornell), grades are either curved up or curved down. You have to be better than the average person (ideally much better) in your freshman classes in order to move up in your major to graduate (much less go to grad school or med school). Many just don't make the cut, and that's a DELIBERATE process.
Most people who are pre med undergraduate don't make medical school. The AMA actually restricts the supply of doctors.
Not only have no new medical schools be allowed to open in 30 years, the AMA actually had substandard medical schools shut down if you read that Forbes article. By restricting the supply of doctors, it made physician salaries increase.
Every field out there that pays well has substantial barriers to entry, because if everyone could do it, it would only be worth what's paid working in retail (at or near the minimum wage).
I think that you missed the news. Colleges are no longer allowed to use race as a criteria to base admissions on, so no blacks and Hispanics no longer get special privileges.
Any case the kids from the slums of Mumbai aren't trying to get into NYU. Its the kids whose fathers are wealthy doctors and business men who are.
Many poor kids all over the world try to get a college education if they can. Plz take a look at how Asian MINORITIES are not considered minorities. I posted numerous links above in one of my posts. As for your post on the elite and education, it is true. Color and race make no difference, only wealth because it gives you more access to a variety of educational tools.
As for race not being used as a criteria for admissions, read this link
Of course you don't care about the Black "youth". You are happy being in your little bubble and there is nothing wrong with that. Why not just let people respond to this thread that actually give a damn instead of filling up space with meaningless opinions.
I am an individualist. I don't believe in the concept of race. I believe it's every man for himself.
The people who claim to give a damn about Black youth are practicing kitsch. Kitschy causes are popular, tacky, shallow causes like caring about the environment (when you drive a gas guzzling SUV everywhere) or claiming to care about inner city youth (when the reality is many of those claiming concern about these "youth" actually despise them). I notice the allegedly concerned people on this thread are not content to let the "youth" speak or think for themselves, instead they presume to make decisions for them. That's not concern at all. It seems you want to bully them into being what you want them to be.
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Attending a top school is not the be all and end all in life.
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