I've seen bloody fights in the hallways, and I've broken up bloody fights in the hallways.
And I've taught the lowest level classes in the school. These were classes with many unmotivated and often disruptive students. Students that I could not reach no matter what.
So when it comes to the urban teaching experience, I defer to no one.
So let me tell you this. This “essay” is pure garbage.
For every black kid that was disruptive, I had many who were trying desperately to get an education under difficult circumstances.
There were black students who came after school for extra help. There were black students who gave up their lunch time for extra help.
And the same could be said for the white students. Some were disruptive, but many tried to go that extra mile.
Sure, urban schools have lots of problems. And the urban culture is a part of it.
But it's odd that the author of the “essay” has nothing to say about the better kids, black and white. Well, maybe not so odd if spreading hatred is your goal.
Thanks for your efforts as a teacher. You are to be commended.
There are charter schools / voucher schools with amazing track records with 100% black students doing a great job. Freedom for the educators, getting past the route memory now encouraged by these standardized tests, and bonuses for teachers that deliver results (considering where the students start) are ways to get out of this cycle.
If someone is as cynical as the author of this article, they need to find a new job.
You’re right.
The “better kids” were not — and are not — dragging this culture, society and NATION to HELL.
The BAD ONES ARE.
And SOMEBODY had better find a way to get in front of that and fast. And it sure as hell WILL NOT be the money and power greedy race pimps and educrats who profit mightily as we sink deeper into the mire!
And it may help you to know that I consider men like Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Dr. Ben Carson, Dr. Allen Keyes. Col. Alan West, FBN’s Charles Payne, Herman Cain and a few others some of the smartest guys on the planet. I would vote for any one of them over some idiot white elitist libtard in a New York second.
The point YOU obviously missed is that this is NOT about RACE per se.
This is about CULTURE, IDEOLOGY and RIGHT vs. WRONG!!!
Thanks for your input. Much more believable.
I have to agree. This guy sounds like he is too rigid and self-absorbed to reach the children on any level. Why is he trying to teach them such fine points of British history? America now have plenty of history the kids can relate to, black and white, with the British antecedents thrown in for those who ask.
As for the black kids' negative attitudes towards whites, learning and racism, those are a matter of First Principles. If he hears this stuff constantly, he has not taught the kids how to think differently about those topics before any other learning can take place.
Granted, I taught college sophomores. But there were certainly some slackers, and also some who felt very entitled, due to their parents' money or connections. Entitled is entitled. If they tried to talk over me in the first week of class, I made an example of them and made them go sit in the corner for five minutes. I allowed no bad behavior.
Certified Obama voter. Guaranteed.
I see black students at the college level. On average, they do a shade less well than whites, but I don’t see many of the problems documented here. But, then again, we likely get the better ones. I have visited predominantly black schools on recruiting trips and some of the observations ring true.
I suspect the truth is somewhere in between. As for the authenticity of the essay, I find it hard to believe that anyone would stay in such a hopeless environment, regardless of the pay/benefits.
The problem with the essay is that it is not “pure garage.” The problem is much of it is true, EXCEPT the underlying implicit assumption that the characteristics described in the essay are racially related.
By racially related I mean arising from a constellation of genetic traits associated with a generally recognized racial group. In short, because people are black. What the essay is describing are cultural traits of the American Black cultural experience and not traits of the black genetic code. I know this because there are lots of American blacks who do not have those traits and that there are lots of black-skinned people from other parts of the world who do not have those traits.
A sorry and significant percent of American Blacks have embraced a terrible and destructive modern culture that devalues dark-skinned people, recognizes and validates racist mindsets and rejects much of what amounts to successful behavior in a modern technological society. They have done so because another sorry and significant percentage of the American political elite has discovered that it is easier to maintain power if you have a large, ignorant, dependent population of distracted voters who need the elites to keep providing them social benefits.
You don’t have to take my word for it. If you look at all the hallmarks of success in America you will find that prior to Roosevelt (Franklin) and his ground-breaking practice of forging dependent sub-groups into a ruling majority (the first step down the road of the political social dependency cycle) American Blacks were not that much worse off than any other group.
In the North Blacks were moving into the middle class prior to the Depression and “ghettos” in northern cities were financially diverse; much like the Polish, Italian and Irish immigrant ghettos. In the South poverty still ruled Black life has a whole, but there were white sharecroppers just as poor as Black ones. In saying this I do not discount the effect of racism nor sugarcoat the monetary result of prejudice. Nevertheless, Black families were intact (25% unmarried parenting vs. 75% today) and the rich, middle class and poor blacks lived together in a cultural atmosphere that valued education, hard work toward individual success, respect for the criminal laws and coherent families. The march of the American political Progressive state has destroyed much of that social coherence and established a Black lower-class caste culture that welds Black voters to the service state while insuring that few members of the caste will escape.
I am convince that genetic racism is evil, foolhardy and destructive. I am also convinced that it exists outside of those who are traditionally considered racists. The person who accepts, even implicitly, the lesser role within a racist hierarchy is just as much of a racist as the loud mouth idiot who proclaims their racial superiority. The American urban Black culture accepts its role as the “victim” race because of the value of that role to both the individuals who depend on it for benefits and because ruling political elites believe it makes them, as group, easier to control. America has done rather well in removing the superiority racists, but has yet to tackle those that embrace genetic racism as victims. Until that happens the underlying belief in genetic racism will not die its justly deserved death.
So as much as the implication of the essay is wrong and offensive, we must recognize the value of the essay in its description of a destructive culture that is growing every day in America and killing people. If we don’t acknowledge that this culture exists, name it for what it is and proclaim its evil results we will be left with only the implicit conclusion that genetic race is the cause of what everyone understands to be truth on the ground. What this essay says is not news to anyone - we all know what goes on. We either talk about it now or it will poison almost the last chance we will have to become a true post-racial society.
I agree, this essay does not pass the smell test for me.
I don't think the author's essay is propaganda. I think it's more likely he had a different set of experiences than you did.
My sons attended/attend (one graduated, one is a rising senior) a 60% black school, and their experiences are radically different from both the author's and yours.
That doesn't mean that because your experiences are so radically different from my sons' that you're engaged in propaganda. Only that you were at a different school with different circumstances than that of my sons' high school.
Perhaps the author of the essay taught at one or more schools with its own set of differences from the schools that gave rise to your experiences.
sitetest
Yes, this article is inaccurate and probably a fake. I too have taught black inner city schools.
You can tell its fake when it says there are no differences or cliques among black students. Just a total lie.
It is mostly interesting in that it exposes the racists on this site.Yeah, that’s a winning political strategy. Morons.
So is post 76 also “pure garbage” and “spreading hatred”? What about other FReepers in this thread who have had similar experiences?
I’m not a teacher (thank God), but I’ve seen nice schools turned into ghetto slums in only a couple of years due to the importing of such individuals as described in this article.