tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post7530260832232614104..comments2023-10-16T02:46:52.844-07:00Comments on palosverdesblog: Parsing the Achievement GapBill Lamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02092428206818183253noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-53942728865861001192007-04-07T23:17:00.000-07:002007-04-07T23:17:00.000-07:00Don't forget for 300 years they were forced into i...Don't forget for 300 years they were forced into ignorance....now you want them to act like white people...they don't want to meld into a psychologically sick society and I don't blame them...Brown vs Board of Education came 80 years too late.......Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-6929065459783793542007-03-26T08:46:00.000-07:002007-03-26T08:46:00.000-07:0003 26 07Bill it isn't Black culture. It is poor cu...03 26 07<BR/><BR/>Bill it isn't Black culture. It is poor culture. The culture of poverty is entrenched among many, regardless of race but hits Blacks particularly hard. This doesn't mean that acting like an ass and making poor life choices is part of Black culture, no more than whites who make poor choices aren't reflecting white culture.<BR/><BR/>I think we should get away from racial or ethnic classifications when discussing education because nine times out of ten it depends upon mindset. If someone is poor but has motivation and their family values education, they will suceed. The generation of my Grandparents and great grandparents is a testament to that.<BR/><BR/>I think the first commenter was closest to the truth; there was a shift in the sixties somewhere. The focus became "getting over" on the government, rather than doing FOR the government.<BR/><BR/>When we moved to Modesto in 1989, I had never seen so many poor whites up close before. This is because the whites that I was exposed to in the Bay Area were often affluent and lived in another part of town. But in Modesto, I met white kids on welfare that lived in trailer parks. You can bet that they engaged in quite similar behavior to what I saw in the ghettos of East Oakland.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, with the mass popularization of NEGATIVE rap and NEGATIVE rock and roll, plebian, gut bucket, baby mamma having, concubining, drug selling and doing foolishness is glorified, rather than condemned as in previous generations.<BR/><BR/>And I don't believe in beating a man when he is down, but at some point you gotta call a spade a spade. I wish there were more Bill Cosby's who had the CREDIBILITY among all ethnic groups to motivate them into action. <BR/><BR/>I am sick and tired of seeing people who choose a life of ignorance because they are trying to 'be Black'. All of my Black ancestors would roll over in their graves if they knew folk were acting like this!<BR/>Good post.Mahndisa S. Rigmaidenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08507292526980604567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-12630569172942780902007-03-24T12:39:00.000-07:002007-03-24T12:39:00.000-07:00Burt, Thanks for the comments and questions. 1. Y...Burt, <BR/>Thanks for the comments and questions.<BR/> <BR/>1. Yes, while poor culture is the major problem with education, there is still the school side. Retaining bad teachers and paying them more than younger, better teachers has a demoralizing effect on the other teachers, students and parents. It is time we turned the teaching industry into a profession. The big problems are fixed incrementally.<BR/> <BR/>2. The first step in fixing the problem is to be honest about the root causes. Yet the education industry's self-analyses are full of dishonesty. For example, the introduction to Parsing contains this remarkable statement: We know that skin color has no bearing on the ability to achieve. We know that they are aware of the 15 point mean IQ difference but they feel it is OK to base a strategy on lies. The revised educational system that we discussed before (the Finland model) does not pretend that all kids can be successful in college and provides a more robust path to trades. It also enables a more challenging high school experience for the top 10% that we need to be highly educated. It would help a lot. <BR/> <BR/>3. Absolutely, we need a president, congressmen, university faculty, intellectuals, who will proclaim in loud voices what the real problems are and demand that they be fixed. I must have missed the Edwards and Obama voices. Moaning about the plight of the poor (Edwards) and giving lip service to reparations (Obama) do not address the root causes. Have you heard Obama praise Bill Cosby or criticize Jesse Jackson? Their solution to the problem is increased welfare. Fortunately, Edwards/Obama have no chance.<BR/> <BR/>Meanwhile, Republicans worked to get people off the welfare rolls, finally starting to break the cycle of generational poverty. Bush vigorously promotes the ownership society, and Black home ownership is at an all time high. Bush encourages marriage and family values as the way out of poverty. Democrats pay no attention, pretend that single motherhood is just the fault of inadequate funding for sex education, and complain that NCLB is not "fully funded." I have little respect for liberal solutions.<BR/> <BR/>I reject the hypothesis that America is second or third rate in many respects. The K-12 educational system is one of the remaining vestiges of soft America, and will be fixed as soon as Americans get fed up with it. All institutions in America, even the military, went through a soft phase but have been hardened by competition. Schools and public employees remain.Bill Lamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02092428206818183253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-86003958520551635212007-03-23T21:45:00.000-07:002007-03-23T21:45:00.000-07:00Here are suggestions on how to "fix it": 1. Make ...Here are suggestions on how to "fix it": <BR/>1. Make study hall mandatory in schools. Teachers roam the study halls helping kids who need help. parents can no longer help their children and many don't know or won't care to do so. <BR/> <BR/>2. Require longer periods than 50 minutes on a subject. An hour is minimum for each subject. This means a longer day - when kids go to school at 8 and get out at one -it isn't long enough!! I used to teach from 8:30-3:30 and that included a study hall and lunch. The same can be done today.<BR/> <BR/>3. Make kids responsible for doing their additional homework beyond study hall. <BR/> <BR/>4. Shut off TV and educate parents in the pitfalls of TV!! Babies brains are being wired to the short ten minutes of programming and there is no one there to discuss with them what they see - check the book, the "plug in drug" and see the effects of TV on kids -including the vaunted Sesame Street which is ineffectual for learning unless a parent is there to help the kids learn! <BR/> <BR/>5. Require parents to sign a form each night specifying that their kid did homework.<BR/> <BR/>6. Cut out so much extra curricular - one activity per week is enough. Kids should play! They don't need Chinese school, karate, ballet and piano all in one week!<BR/><BR/>HelenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-6329434597657085102007-03-23T18:48:00.000-07:002007-03-23T18:48:00.000-07:00Excellent, again, I'm proud of you, Bill. I'm goin...Excellent, again, I'm proud of you, Bill. I'm going to read the Parsing book.<BR/><BR/>Coupla questions:<BR/>1. If a huge part of the problem is black (and unfortunately also white) culture---and in my mind that's the NUMBER ONE problem--- how much is society going to gain by making it easier to get rid of poor teachers (even tho I agree that'd be a good thing). Will that suddenly fix the problem? <BR/>2. Is there anything else that can be done, and what, to fix our nationwide problem, our obviously 2nd rate nationwide problem of how everyone's kids can and want to perform at capability? I'm framing the question, but I sure don't have any good answers other than importing 100 million Chinese--real fast!<BR/> <BR/>3. If the lousy low SES school graduation rates (and poor capabilities of even those who DO graduate) makes a danger for society (more and more education-less kids out there to prey), is the answer just to increase our numbers of prisons and prisoners? say move on up to 4mm from 2mm? I hope your answer is that we can't wait for society to "fix itself." <BR/><BR/>Now I'm not needling you, but I really think we need a president (Obama/Edwards?) who will bully-pulpit our leaders from all directions of society from religion to commerce to start a'changin our culture (yes, marriage--and yes, perform at their highest possible level). <BR/><BR/>We do have a great country GDP-wise, but in many respects we're 2nd rate goin' on 3rd rate. Maybe we could profit from not waving the flag so much and instead focusing on how we can do better--black and white.<BR/> <BR/>BurtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9999692.post-1958942177140151122007-03-23T18:44:00.000-07:002007-03-23T18:44:00.000-07:00Bill -Fantastic analysis of an exceedingly complex...Bill -<BR/>Fantastic analysis of an exceedingly complex topic. The roots of the problem trace directly back to Lyndon Johnson and his Great Society welfare programs. That made it economically advantageous to be a black mother with out of wedlock children and no job. It allowed black males to skip out of all family obligations. It took 30 years of this until the Republican Congress in 1994 passed the Welfare Reform Act started to turn the welfare ship around. It may well take another 30 years to right the wrongs. Meanwhile we have two generations and probably a third generation on the way whose culture is tied to this welfare state mentality and the accompanying victimization complex of their hypocritical “leaders”. Until a new generation can be weaned off this, I see no hope.<BR/><BR/>BARRYAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com