I am not sure that is a uniquely black problem, I vaguely remember similar problems when I went to HS some 30 years ago. It didn't matter what color your skin was though. If you had some smarts, you were a target of some ridicule or shunning. It isn't that much different as an adult either. Get an employee of the year award and you'll find out who your friends really are.
"I am not sure that is a uniquely black problem..."
Agree - the rappers have gotten to a lot of white kids - stupid is cool.
Exactly - it isn't a black or a white thing - it's parents AND teachers AND a culture that discourages people from exerting effort to do and be their best. It reminds me of a discussion I had a long time ago with a school teacher in Germany. He said they made a point of teaching their students not to compete, NOT to try too hard, or try to be better than other people because it just wasn't fair to the people of lesser ability AND not everyone could succeed. If they tried and failed they would be miserable. It was better just to let the government take care of them. I see a LOT of that attitude in America today.
Agree. I was watching the local news last night and they had a story on one of the high school basketball teams going to State (or something like that). They sent a news crew out to the high school rally and ended up interviewing a few of the kids. It was a mixed-race bunch--hispanic, white, native american, etc., but all the kids they interviewed spoke in 'gangsta', or whatever it's called--MTVSpeak, maybe. "Is like this, no whad ahm sayin'? We gonna do dis, we gonna be on top, no whad ahm sayin', yo?".
Is this ever true! A brilliant blue-eyed blond boy of my acquaintance (now a man) went through harassment and hazing, even by the teachers and principal. I recognized it as the same abuse his brilliant mother, who had also skipped a grade, had suffered in school in the 50s.
Fortunately for this boy, his mother was on hand to champion him, as her parents had not been for her, and he went on to success in a private high school and top-notch university.
"I am not sure that is a uniquely black problem, I vaguely remember similar problems when I went to HS some 30 years ago. It didn't matter what color your skin was though. If you had some smarts, you were a target of some ridicule or shunning."
Yeah, I was razzed for being smart back in high school (1970's). It appears the problem is much more pervasive in the black "community", though. Not being black myself I have to admit basing this on what I have read rather than personal experience.
The big difference is there was never any question of my doing well in school from my parents - I was expected to without making a big deal about it. In addition, there were plenty of other smart kids around, I was hardly unique. Many black kids do not seem to have those advantages. Unfortunately these are not advantages that can be legislated or mandated, they have to come from within.