[ricks_place]

...Young black men are undereducated and underskilled...

This certainly doesn't apply to all Black young men, as my son's high school friends are great kids, ambitious, college-bound, motivated, and good. But there is an underclass that needs to be reached.

[xrmusn]

But there is an underclass that needs to be reached.
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Definitely, but it is not only the black underclass. The class that has been mired in welfare, single parenthood, poor school systems, no desire to want to learn or get ahead, being advanced for what you ARE, not what you are capable of doing. This includes all races and ‘groups’.

“THEY” have virtually made it impossible for a teenager to learn work values as the hiring modes put on a teenager working are very restrictive. Even the age old ‘money makers’ such as shoveling snow, mowing lawns and baby sitting are going by the wayside due to ‘regulations etc’.

I (kind of) realize the goal was to stop child abuse in the work place, but the days of a kid getting/or earning a couple of bucks from the corner grocer for sorting his apples or leaning on a broom are gone due to “labor laws”.

I personally was setting pins in a bowling alley while in high school (nights & weekends) (pegs, not auto or even semi auto) which was just one of the many opportunities I had to supplement my mothers income... Because I played sports, I preferred not to get tied up with lawns and snow shoveling, even though I did my fair share of it.

Kids today can’t do that, or at least not without the offerer being subject to heavy punishment etc ...

[LearsFool]

This certainly doesn't apply to all Black young men

Of course. Forgive me if I spoke too broadly.

I'm also of the opinion that, for many of these young men, school does more harm than good. If they're not interested in "book learning", they would do much better in an entry-level, apprentice-type job, paid whatever they're worth to an employer.

This would provide several benefits:

- They would be in an environment of "workers", most of whom would likely be older. (For any young man, that's better than being constantly surrounded only by his peers.)

- They would learn that work is a reward in and of itself.

- Rather than expecting to receive a check for doing nothing, they would learn instead that work and pay constitute an exchange system.

- They would gain knowledge and skills which could provide a basis for improving their lot in life.

The list goes on and on. What they're currently learning in school too often pales in comparison.

Again, if I wanted to create an underclass, I'd start by laying siege to its young men and assaulting their fundamental role.