🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <38177@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu>, djohns@elm.circa.ufl.edu (David A. Johns) writes:
>In article <1993Jan4.081435.2354@ucbeh.san.uc.edu> turnerbl@ucbeh.san.uc.edu writes:
>
># A perception is going around that poor balck students can't learn
># because of the schools that they are in.  This has been disproved
># again and again by the waves of immigrant asian students from poor
># schools who still score in the top of their schools as well as top
># in the SAT/ACT tests.  Students, not schools, make these choices.
># It always comes back to the kid.
>
>Well, yes, but the kids have to learn their values somewhere.  It
>seems to me that parents have to learn what sort of support kids need
>to thrive in school (for instance, the TV is off on week nights) and
>parents have to be collectively strong enough to counter the lure of
>the peer culture.
>
>David
>
>


   This is probably where some of the difficulty lies.  I think part
of it is external to the poor black community, and part of it is
internal.   Some blacks blame external reasons for the problems,
and some whites blame internal reasons for the problems.   For
example, externally, blacks are not treated well by non-blacks,
and males have reputations of being lazy, violent, and not trustworthy
which is certainly not conducive to making blacks feel welcome.
Internally, parents need to place more control on the activities
of their children, and press the importance of education.  Of course,
some do, but perhaps not enough do.   In addition, inner cities
do face problems of violence and teenage pregnancy, etc.  I think
internally, there needs to be some set of values that puts an
emphasis on reponsibility and toward education, and move away from 
the idea of being the coolest person around, and bragging, and playing
within the system.   I think inner-city blacks want their communities
to be safe communities, with people playing around, and where they
do not have to worry about violence.   

    Externally, there needs to be some effort not to discriminate, and
to provide some kind of financial aid, in terms of jobs.   I would say
part of the reason that inner cities face part of the problems is due
to the unemployment.

    However, I think both internal and external changes have to come
about, and the internal changes, while much harder to achieve, will 
be the changes that are meaningful and lasting.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu