Posted on 11/29/2002 11:31:28 PM PST by kattracks
That only means that 88-90% of black kids in the Shaker Heights school system are from middle-class or even rich families!
It's time - especially in rather-affluent suburbs like Shaker Heights - to put liberal ideology aside and admit that poverty doesn't explain why so many black kids do so poorly in even schools in affluent liberal suburbs like Shaker Heights.
Shaker Heights does have a "changing neighborhood" problem on its west end and on its south side - but of economic status, not of race; these areas are sliding from middle-class mixed-race to poor mixed-race. But there just aren't enough black kids in poverty in that suburb to explain the reality by poverty.
The mayor is black.
The city council is all black.
The school superintendent is black.
The school administers are black.
The majority of the teachers are black.
Change the process if you don't like the current result.
Of course. Blame someone or something else. That's the time tested approach we've all come to know and love.
If it is a "Fact", prove it. Cite an example.
The old poverty causes poor academic performance ruse. I wonder how many white people are live in poverty in this area. I'll bet it's a similar percentage of the population.
My personal opinion in this matter is that all to often black students expect to be given decent grades because they exist and show up. This is a attitude society has been reinforcing for thirty years and it is the nature of man to take the easy academic path, so when it's available many do just that. There is no need, hence no desire to acheive for far too many students in general.
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Absolutely, I'd acknowledge a difference; but I'd insist that that a large part of that difference comes from the lack of emphasis placed and reenforced in many black households, upon the sheer value of education.
Plenty talk a good game, but how many follow through? We demand excellence from our children because they have shown that they are capable of it. We insist on our kids learning what is on the standardized examinations as opposed to constant "feel good" educational pablum.
As a result, I'm sure that our children are better prepared from day one for the standardized examinations, higher education; and I'd dare say would show higher on an IQ exam than their peers.
In the eyes of some, my wife and I are just as "guilty" as Murray and others who acknowledge that there is a difference. My view is that if you know there is a potential problem, then it is incumbent to work on eliminating that difference. That helped my wife and I as youngsters, and I insist that it helps our children the same way.
Like the Democratic Party leadership? ;^)
That is the biggest part of it, the family influence. I did a study once on Korean children, why they do so well academically in the U.S. It's the family. Education is highly valued in Korean tradition, it was the way to get ahead for the entire family. The children are expected to do well in school, no excuses. And they out-perform whites and blacks in this country because of their traditional family values.
In affluent public schools all over America, this is a problem, for white kids as well as blacks.
Perhaps some kind Freeper can help me understand this thinking. As I kid I never thought what does it mean to be white. Why would I? I was a poor white kid living on welfare that never thought for an instant my skin color had anything to do with who or what I am or what is my potential. Nor have I ever thought I needed to act white. What ever that means
Why would a black kid wonder what it means to be black? Who thinks up this nonsense? What value is there is framing your world in this way? Why is there a need to deconstruct your identity in terms of skin color?
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