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Please go read southbel's post. The Gullah communities are in the high ranking schools.
The Gullah themselves say they have been split up. Further, that does not touch on how the general culture of the place may have been affected by their cultural resiliency.
I don't know if I would agree with this completely as the poor performing schools seem to have a larger problem with fatherless homes and high crime neighborhoods more than anything else. However, I would say that the Gullah children, especially those raised in our Gullah communities, should be looked upon as ESL students because it's not a slang. Gullah is an actual language and some of these kids come into school with Gullah as their first and primary language.
Well, how they should be treated and how they are treated can and likely are two different things. They say their community has been enduring cultural and linguistic discrimination down there for some time now. I wonder how many people may be Gullah descendants who don't identify as such due to that but do reflect the speech patterns.
Does this mean Republicans will do something to help the black community?
(I doubt it.)
No-
It is a recognition that the black community can only help itself. How?
1. two parent families
2. support education and make it a priority
3. support a strong work ethic and break the bonds of welfare
4. reduce drug use in the black community
5. stop the culture of violence and gangs in the black community
No changes will occur unless the black community helps themselves. Witness the blacks in the US who support the above and you will eliminate any disparities in test scores and incomes and find very successful people. It is the CULTURE, not the color of the skin, that continues to plague many blacks in America.
EXPECT and CONDONE substandard academic performance and lack of adherance to cultural norms and that is what you will get. With strong parental support there is no reason as to why a black kid cannot do as well academically as a white kid. My youngest son's best friend is a HUGE black kid (this kid fills a door frame). He, however, has a two parent family, was a straight A student in high school, and is a 4.0 pre-med after his first year in college.
Oh goodness. Who is blaming the Gullah? Please take look what my posts are actually saying. The article is speaking about English specifically, and the thrust of my posts is dealing with how their patterns and preservational efforts may have affected that particular subject area.
I have just listened to accounts of how Gullah young people have been treated due to their language. One young lady said that from elementary school, teachers would be upset that they couldn't understand them and refusr to teach them. AND also, they would refuse to allow them in honors classes. If that is part of the school culture in Charleston, there is a bigger issue than what you describe above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by caribdoll
The Gullah themselves say they have been split up. Further, that does not touch on how the general culture of the place may have been affected by their cultural resiliency.
Having lived among and with Gullah for years now, as well as having my child educated alongside the Gullah, I'm pretty sure I can speak with some authority on the subject. Trust me, it's a little different living with and personally knowing Gullah versus listening to something on a youtube video. While my own family cannot be considered part of the Gullah community (my Dad's side is from a bit further down in Savannah), I have always been quite interested in the community because of how they managed to retain their identity, languages, and customs all of these years. Thus, my interest.
My point is that I do not think the Gullah patois has that large an influence in the failing schools in this district. If a teacher treated a Gullah student poorly, I think that's the sign of a bad teacher, not a sign of a larger district wide culture. My daughter was in honors classes with Gullah students so not sure where that nonsense about them not being allowed in honors courses came from. However, I do think the Gullah should be treated as ESL students upon entering school because this would help their English scores since they would receive extra instruction in English. There's nothing wrong with that - it would help them succeed so I think that's only to their benefit.
The Gullah is protected, quite aggressively, here in our state from everything to their livelihoods to their communities. The thing is, not every black in Charleston is a Gullah and in fact, the true Gullah numbers are quite small. The failing school district has a larger problem of too much crime and too little traditional families. I don't think it's a primary language issue that is causing this huge achievement gap. It's like many other failing districts - lack of parental involvement, lack of value placed on education, and too much crime that can both entice and entrap the students.
Yes, a large number of blacks in the Charleston metro area descend from the Gullah. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our Gullah, they are the descendants of the slaves in the region. They are somewhat unique in that they kept their language (which still is spoken today) and traditions alive even after all of these years. After the Civil War, the Gullah who remained in the area became the domestics of the white families. Their influence is a huge factor in the Lowcountry today. Everything from Sweetgrass baskets (which by law only Gullah are allowed to produce) to our cuisine have been influenced by the Gullah. If you're ever in Charleston, I highly suggest visiting many of local museums/attractions that will teach you about their rich and vibrant culture. However, to blame our educational woes on the Gullah might be a bit short sighted.
Now onto our schools here...
Here's the thing about this area which this article doesn't explain because it's targeted at locals. The school districts are very, very large county wide districts. This was required by the Federal government after desegregation. In this particular area, you have one of the worst schools in the nation (bottom 10) in the same district as one of the best in the nation (top 10). The area where the Title I school is located has been plagued with high crime, particularly due to drugs and gangs (North Charleston - a separate city from Charleston proper). Then there's the other side. The place where the very, very affluent live has one of the best schools in the nation. Million dollar plus homes there are not uncommon and the graduation rate/going to college rate is very, very high (on par with private schools). At their last graduation, they had 20 or so Ivy League bound children and scores of kids who were National Merit Finalists. So basically, you're taking a look at two total extremes in one district.
Neither the state nor the school district has ignored the problem. The low ranking high school, for example, gets about $15K per pupil whereas the high ranking high school only gets about $3K per student. For the low ranking schools, they've brought in specially selected teachers (they're allowed to do that since it's a low performing school), allowed total Federal government oversight, and have multiple community outreach programs aimed at preparing students for school (e.g. Headstart and the like). If teachers agree to teach there, the state will pay for their entire college education. They get extra salary to teach there as well. They've also made a huge effort to crack down on crime in the area, which has been quite successful of late. However, some say too successful as it's now an area undergoing gentrification from Northerners and Westerners who are moving to the area. There are certain neighborhoods that are protected by state law though. Those are primarily Gullah communities that have been Gullah since settling there right after the Civil War. However, most of those Gullah communities are actually in the very high ranking schools. Thus, I question the validity of saying Gullah has much to do with poor performance in schools.
If anything, this district has shown that throwing money at the problem is not the answer. Of note, our Senator Tim Scott graduated from this same failing high school. He visits quite often to speak with the students to show them there's another way besides crime, etc. If you ever get a chance to read Tim Scott's story, it's quite fascinating. He really is a role model for our young black students from that area. I'm not sure what the answer is to solving this problem. However, I can tell you that it's not either a lack of funding or a lack of attention from the state and/or Federal government.
Just thought you would like to know the context of the area which you are discussing. As usual, it's not always so black and white (pun somewhat intended).
Excellent post. Thanks for shedding light on the problem. We have those same issues in Houston as well. High performing schools and low performing schools in the same districts, even the same incentives to work at certain schools and get student loans paid off.
Does this mean Republicans will do something to help the black community?
(I doubt it.)
Here is the problem.
The black communities are going to have to help themselves and fix their problems from within. Government can only take freedoms in order to control.
Like the drug addict. You cannot force them to quit, they have to really want to quit.
Does this mean Republicans will do something to help the black community?
And this is why "the black community" fails. If it waits for either parties or both to come help them, rather than doing for themselves, they have nobody to blame but themselves.
50 years of legislative help has already gone their way...has it helped?
Money has been thrown at the problem in greater numbers respective to them than any other demographic....has it helped?
Political correctness, self-esteem, meritorious advancements based on age, and scholarships/affirmative action entry into college based on skin color have been thrown at them more than any other demographic...has it helped?
Clearly, waiting for someone or some group within the political establishment to come magically fix everything has not worked, has it? But once more, a legitimate topic of concern comes up, and the first rebuttal is "well, what are the Republicans going to do to fix it?" 50 years of Democrat and Republican solutions together haven't solved anything and if anything, have made things worse. Seems like the answer isn't a far away federal one, but a grassroots, low level individual one, eh?
It is...but it seems like this language has been targeted in order to eliminate it, from what I am learning. So it would not be surprising if the general population is more resistant and clings to its linguistic patterns. There needs to be a strong movement to preserve culture and language while participating in general American society.
Strong movement? What if a Gullah marries a Gaelic speaking Irishman from Ireland? WHICH culture gets to be rammed down their kids' through and which culture's allowed to die? I'm talking about here in the US. Otherwise what you're saying smells like Jim Crow.
Excellent post. Thanks for shedding light on the problem. We have those same issues in Houston as well. High performing schools and low performing schools in the same districts, even the same incentives to work at certain schools and get student loans paid off.
Yes, our huge school districts in the South can have very highs and very lows even within the same district. I know parents who have moved here from up North are quite suprised by the size of the districts. Since that is under Federal control and unlikely to change anytime soon, it's something that will consistently be an issue for Southern school district specific ratings. Money is not solving the issue. There's been loads and loads of money thrown at the issue. I agree with a previous poster that only a grassroots effort will be the ultimate solution to achievement gap between minorities and whites. We need more Neil DeGrasse Tyson role models in the black community and less Kanyes.
Yes, our huge school districts in the South can have very highs and very lows even within the same district. I know parents who have moved here from up North are quite suprised by the size of the districts. Since that is under Federal control and unlikely to change anytime soon, it's something that will consistently be an issue for Southern school district specific ratings. Money is not solving the issue. There's been loads and loads of money thrown at the issue. I agree with a previous poster that only a grassroots effort will be the ultimate solution to achievement gap between minorities and whites. We need more Neil DeGrasse Tyson role models in the black community and less Kanyes.
Yes, less Kanyes. I agree with Obama on that one, the guy's a jackass. An endless self-promoter who embraces all the worst aspects of today's culture - swagga'. It's good to have self-confidence, but too much is a huge turn off. Then again, I'm counting pennies and Kanye probably has too much money to even count.
I like Neil DeGrasse Tyson though.
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