I'm not suppose to be laughing.

I don't doubt that back then that there were equally poor problems as today. What I think has complicated things today is the introduction of drugs and crime as things that can provide a livelihood. For that 10 year old boy hustling people on the streets to feed his siblings back in the 60's and 70's, I don't think drugs, etc. were nearly as accessible. I sure as hell don't think education was better, and I don't know enough about the support structure of that community to say anything about it.

One thing that has really torn ALL lower-level socio-economic communities apart is the prevalance of drugs. My only experience in the real "ghetto" as I have said before happened at about 4AM in Memphis, right on the East side of the river. Within 60 seconds of getting out of my car, I had a meth rock shoved in my face. Holding it, I saw one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Here was a woman with no teeth, very dumpy, but probably not more than 35. I seriously doubt that today, 2 years later that this woman is still alive.

I know it's easier to find in urban communities, but it's all over the place. In my state, we had (HAD) one of the highest rates of meth use in the country until the state government made pseudophedrine extremely difficult to procure in any large quantities. Since then, use has plummetted and many users and dealers have moved out of state.

But before that, I could really see how our small towns just weren't the same as they used to be. Everyone was too cracked out to give a crap, and everyone could only think of themselves. Kids raised in that environment just don't have a chance. I don't care how much $$ you pump into their schools. With parents like that, they are screwed from the get-go.

There's hope. I see our churches reaching out, individuals and groups are helping. But the problem has become so vast that these efforts are just a drop in the ocean. What has to happen is a fundamental social and cultural revolution. And I don't see that happening unless society really hits rock bottom.

That ten year old I'm talking about lives in OUR world, not in the 60s.

I'm saying he could live in either.

But more than likely he wasn't. Now that isn't the rule of thumb but most kids had parents or adult supervision then the kids of today.

I have reallu enjoyed reading this discussion.

Im a product of dc public schools and I made it out and now Im about to graduate from college. The thing that is disheartening is that many of the people that I knew from 1-12 grade did not. Im not trying to be dramatic, but they just didnt make it. Like KTSnake snake drugs play a big part in the destruction of the community. But enough about the problems, what about the solutions? I think the solution is for people to give back to the community. It doesnt have to be monetary. For example my elementary and middle school has a program where people can volunteer and work with students in the classroom and in the after care programs. Also I think another great motivator for students is to show them that they can be whatever they want to be in life. So many of my friends had the cant disease, I cant be a doctor, I cant be a lawyer, I can be an engineer, and so on. I would always say why not and they would give me a stupid reason.

I know im all over the place with this thread, but its late and im slightly enebriated.

I found this interesting...
 

Black Students Not Culturally Biased Against Academic Achievement, Duke University Researcher Says


DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 4 (AScribe Newswire) -- Contrary to popular
belief, most black students do not carry a cultural bias against high achievement into the classroom.

Instead, new research shows that an anti-achievement attitude
develops over time and is most likely to occur in schools where blacks are grossly underrepresented in the most challenging courses, said Duke University public policy professor William "Sandy" Darity Jr.

"Oppositional attitudes are not 'learned in the black community,'
as some have suggested, but are instead constructed in schools under certain conditions," Darity said.

Darity is research professor of public policy studies, African-American studies and economics at Duke's Terry Sanford Institute
of Public Policy. He also has an appointment in economics at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The findings counter a commonly held belief, voiced in recent
months by such prominent black Americans as politician Barack Obama and entertainer Bill Cosby, that black students are culturally predisposed to limit their scholastic success and worry that excelling will prompt peers to accuse them of "acting white," Darity said.

Darity's conclusions are based on research conducted in North
Carolina from 2000 to 2001 with Karolyn Tyson, sociology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Domini Castellino, a research scientist and psychologist with Duke's Center for Child and Family Policy.

Race-related pressure to avoid or disparage academic challenges
did not exist at the elementary grades, the research showed. Rather, researchers found that adolescents in North Carolina harbor a general sentiment against high academic achievement, regardless of race. Researchers documented race-related oppositional attitudes at only one of 11 schools where they interviewed students.

"Our explanation for this finding centers on the extent to which
'rich' white students were overrepresented in rigorous courses and programs, a situation that breeds animosity and resentment among the many toward the privileged few," Darity said.

The research suggests that animosity toward high-achieving
students - regardless of race - grows over time and develops from a general concern among elementary-age students about arrogance to a more focused concern among adolescents about academic inequities between status groups.

"Outsiders who are able to cross the achievement boundary, which is often established during the primary grades through gifted programs, are sometimes seen by others as interlopers, intruding on a world not meant for people like them," the study reports.

The research project, titled "Breeding Animosity: The 'Burden of
Acting White' and Other Problems of Status Group Hierarchies on
Schools," looked at North Carolina course enrollment data, along with results of interviews with 125 students in elementary, middle and high schools, to identify factors related to low minority enrollment in gifted programs, honors classes and Advanced Placement classes.

Interviewers asked students a standard set of questions about
their grades, academic placement, course selections and attitudes toward school, learning and achievement, as well as other aspects of the school experience. Teachers, administrators and counselors also were interviewed. The research report is under review for publication and is available online at
http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/people/fa...y/SAN04-03.pdf

For what it's worth, my "community" most certainly had a culture supporting, and maybe even demanding, academic achievement--it not outright overachievement. Most of the black people I grew up around did, too.

I think the "culture against academic achievement" is more socioeconomic than racial--but that's pretty much what the study suggested, no?

Re: I found this interesting...
 

Now THAT makes sense. Thanks for posting.

So do all the black members of GC love me because I post interesting articles for them and started this thread? Who wants to cyber flirt now?

-Rudey

Hey I work in the DC public school system (gym teacher and football coach) and I feel you. But it's going to get better. Just got to have more people wanting to help out.