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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4004
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 10:38 am: | 
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All the blame for the lagging black test scores, etc has been placed on the teachers and the students--
But what about the parents? Parents seem to feel they can just turn over the kids to the school system and get it done like magic while they sit around in the Casino gambling and drinking.
I go in the homes of Black professionals and they have no books or magazines in their homes. I have talked with doctors and lawyers who are anguished because their kids have no interest in higher education.
The home is important. My grandmother worked in white folks houses and my grandfather was an intinerant preacher. They both read. My dad drove a bus yet he read.
I am sure my interest in reading came through them. (Mom didn't read books--she read music. There were musical scores all over the place)
Come on people! Until the parental component is dealt with you can forget it. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4302
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 11:02 am: |
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I don't have any input to the education problem, but you are correct that there are people who don't possess any books or magazines, and who don't bother to read anything at all. It's beyond pitiful. I have always had books, there are books all around me and I can't imagine my life without books (and magazines). We're all doomed, that's what I think about it.
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4005
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 11:24 am: |
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A friend of mine is running for the school board in a mostly black district. Unopposed. Nobody even wants the job.
He has been asked the question of how they can improve grades and scores in the district. He has some good ideas but together we came up with the Parental component.
I wish him lots of luck getting these losers on board. (and I say losers and the town where he is running is middle to upper class black)
Behavior is picked up. Imitated.
Just like you pick up bad behavior in the home, you pick up good behavior. The parents should at least PRETEND to read, or buy books for the kids and discuss them with them.
If that doesn't work, they have done all they can do, at least. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9087
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 11:50 am: |
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Chris,
I agree that next to the inner drive and desire of the student, the MOST important factor of whether one will or won't become highly educated (and I don't just mean with respect to how many sheepkins one scores) is whether PARENTS provide the help and environment that inspires and facilitates earning.
And I also agree that many EDUCATED Black foks are NOT doing an adequate job in that respect. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5060
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 12:15 pm: |
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I usually make it a habit not to judge 'em, since I'm not one myself, but I think we ought to stop treating parents like they're so friggin sacred. The kids are constantly being blamed their failures and made to pay for them severely, so the gloves ought to come off on parents...they should be challenged, in MANY areas, not just education.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8110
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 01:44 pm: |
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Well, this is the 21st century and whether we like it or not, technology pervades all aspects of lives and data is only a computer link away, audio books only a library away, film versions of books only a movie ticket away. But it is, indeed, the responsibility of parents to impress upon their kids the importance of pursuing knowledge and acquiring information no matter what the source or method. Sadly, the practice of curling up with a good book seems to be on the wane unless of course you're in prison which, ironically, is turning out to be a place where an appetite for books is cultivated. It's always been my feeling that most avid readers are curious people. If parents can just instill a sense of curiosity in their kids then the groundwork is laid. Yet the ability to read is almost like a gift, and it's been said that there are children who if weren't taught to read, would teach themselves to do it. There are others where a facility for reading never really clicks in. So reading and curiosity seem to go hand in hand. Once a reader is bitten by the curiosity bug, then everything kind of falls in place. IMO. |
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1831
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 05:35 pm: |
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Well, Chris, what can I say to counter your experieces? Except, maybe, that you obviously have not come into the home of me or any of the "Black professionals" I know. I also do not know where you get the idea that no one is holding parents responsible for their children's education (or lack of). Parents have long been a popular target for blame by the public; the courts; teachers, teachers' disciplinary organizations and teachers' unions; and researchers.
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Yukio
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2179
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 05:37 pm: |
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Well, i guess we are in different circles...because all i hear is criticism directed at parents, by my best friend for example, and of course, this was also the exegesis of Cosby's assessment about poverty among poor blacks. Also since the 70s beginning with the Moynihan report to Clinton's welfare reform, in general, black parents have been the targeted.
With that said, parents must do their parent, and so I agree with all of you. But I would add that part of the problem is, many of our parents across class aren't quite literate themselves. Among poor people forget about it; they are functionally illiterate; and among the black middle-class, they are literate but not critical thinkers and readers.
Thus, if seems to me, that we also must both thinking about the broader issue, which is the content of our educational system that has sort of step away from a liberal arts education as its core.
Also, while people, as Cynique says, are using audio books and film versions, they who read read poorly written literature. And those of us who read the newspaper online, as well as blogs, these newspapers and blog writers are not all created equally, so that in this age of abundance, we it has sacrificed quality.
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8117
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 07:10 pm: |
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The above opposing view points on this subject just go to show how presumptuous it is to think that there is a typical black experience. There are 39.7 million black people this country and one the few things that can be said with any certainty about them is that what is true of one person isn't necessarily true of another one. Those among the black population who speak out are from the ranks of the vocal minority and the vast black silent majority is as diversified as America at large is. |
Latina_wi
Regular Poster
Username: Latina_wi
Post Number: 325
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 09:36 am: |
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TONYA: I usually make it a habit not to judge 'em, since I'm not one myself, but I think we ought to stop treating parents like they're so friggin sacred.
Took the words outta my mouth!
And no matter how much technology I possess I still read. Yes, it is far easier watching the television as opposed to actually reading a book, or gaining some new information from researching and learning yourself (away from the comp lol!) but there is far for more fullfillment in reading to me.
Like Mzuri said, I couldn't imagine my life without literature in some form. Whether it is me writing or reading someone else's. My mother actually had to dissaude me from reading so much as she was so worried at the sheer amount I could go through.
Juts love having my head in a book. If my child didn't like to read or research or learn new things I would be sorely disappointed (in myself to some aspect). So I am going to avoid that disappointment, |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4314
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 03:16 pm: |
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From my own experience (having been a child and also having had children and grandchildren), all you really need to do is give the child some books. You don't have to read to them or with them or anything. Today's children are learning their ABC's from Sesame Street and other childrens programming, and they are actually capable of teaching themselves to read. It would be nice if the parents spent the time doing all of the aforementioned, but children aren't very high maintenance when it comes to reading books 
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Yukio
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2195
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 04:01 pm: |
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I don't know about that...kids have alot of choices...books or tv or Xbox or . . .
so, there is no gurantee that a child is going to read. imo, though i think my experiences are quite limited, the better way is to set the example, an object lesson.
When kids see their parents read, they will probably do the same...and I'm talkin bout toddlers . . . first lookin at pics, then learnin words, etc....
But again, if parents themselves don't read, are functionally illiterate...or if our middle-class parents only read at work, and eat, sleep, and shit..when they get home, then it is almost the same as the functionally illiterate parent... |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4316
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2007 - 04:08 pm: |
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Right. I'm not proposing handing a child a book while he's in the midst of playing a video game. The point that I was attempting to make, is that if you give children books from the start, like when they are first able to sit up and grasp onto things, they most likely will be interested in books. Of course at that age, it would be picture books, but, anyway . . .
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Yukio
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2199
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 03:54 pm: |
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gotcha! |
Jackie
Veteran Poster
Username: Jackie
Post Number: 548
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 05:15 pm: |
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I learned my ABC's and other stuff from Sesame Street. My mother also flooded me with all kinds of books when I was growing up. Now, I'm a bookworm ! |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4321
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 07:01 pm: |
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Amazing |
Savant
Regular Poster
Username: Savant
Post Number: 161
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 04:10 pm: |
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My mother's sure-fire tactic to insure that I grew up with a love of books: she made sure the television remained broken until I was eleven years old. By that time, I was an avid reader. Not to mention she had me reading at age 3... |
Libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 762
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 05, 2007 - 01:18 pm: |
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I could speak for HOURS on parents and children who dont have access to books, parents who arent equiped to deal with school issues from homework to teachers/principals and the like, any issue you can think of but while some of us want to lay the blame on "something", the bottom line is we have THOUSANDS of children in crisis whether it is reading, math, peer pressure, abuse and the like and it needs to be addressed PERIOD. They dont have enough after school, Big Brother/Sister programs, mentors and the like to take care of a need that is getting worse and if you havent been to the areas where the crisis is..you have no idea. Children are raising children. Our children need ALL of our help...I dont really care if the parent is doing what they should do when it comes to the child, in terms of what I will do. If I see a child who needs help..thats what Im going to do if I can.
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