Quote:
Originally Posted by redwitch
Gracie, I agree and I don't agree at the same time. We can be good examples to our kids, grandkids and their peers, but what kind of examples do inner city kids have? The ones who are successful are either drug dealers or professional athletes. Even if they have hard-working fathers as examples (which few do), I can only imagine how hard it would be to follow those fathers' examples when the kid dealing is making thousands every week. Tis a hard culture to beat.
I'm watching my daughter turn into a wonderful young woman. For awhile, I was afraid peers and today's slacker society would win out. Too many kids today really do believe they are entitled to all the things we worked hard to get but don't seem to understand they need to work for these things. So, if a child has the examples, it has the chance to succeed and even thrive. But what do we do with child whose examples are truly nothing but an anathema to the middle-class of this country? They don't see that hard work does have rewards; they don't see that things need to be earned and not everything can be received now. Heck, some of them can't even see that the pro athlete from their hood worked from childhood to excel -- that it wasn't just something handed to them because of talent.
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Actually I believe that there are examples for inner city kids. The Cosby types, and there are many of them around our country.....they simply get drowned out by folks who find it easier to blame.
Those groups are supported by most teachers trying to encourage participation by family and rebuffed.
The link below is from a study which is 13 years old, but still applicable.
"
The data revealed that teachers are frustrated with a lack of parental involvement in literacy activities at home and at school. Parents, however, expressed distrust toward the local elementary school because they felt the faculty has been biased against African American and Latino children and their families. Consequently, the parents said they deliberately decided not to participate in school activities"
Why Urban Parents Resist Involvement in their Children's Elementary Education
I have had some personal experience with this kind of things while back in PA.
The mayor and a few others felt the Spanish population was growing but there seemed to be very little participation in city programs. A few of us thought it might be smart to get the young people involved in some sports programs. We reached out to leaders of that community and they listened, but only wanted our help in setting up programs INSIDE the Spanish community and told us the had no interest in integrating their young folks into the community. No exaggeration at all.
Thus I disagree with no help......it is there but muted by the louder groups...we do agree on the inner city problem however but, in my opinion, it is being almost taught. In places in Tampa, how to work the system is taught.