tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post7708445609714505124..comments2024-03-29T04:34:05.185-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: All Minority SchoolsPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-31494468845820995292014-07-06T20:04:35.719-04:002014-07-06T20:04:35.719-04:00**often in the middle of what was going down.**often in the middle of what was going down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-31496754734238151762014-07-06T20:03:10.803-04:002014-07-06T20:03:10.803-04:00"One instance would be viewed as a momentary ..."One instance would be viewed as a momentary departure from the norm and not 'proof' of anything, but another instance would be viewed as normal for Those People and further proof of What They're All Like."<br /><br />"What They're All Like" would certainly be a bit extreme, but I believe the statistics would show that such instances were more common in that part of town than in the better sections. That's the way it typically goes, and I don't see much sense in pretending otherwise. Such was certainly the case where my mother grew up on the roughest side of a mill town, and her alcoholic father and uncles were often of whatever was going down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-25101935666839987862014-07-06T17:11:32.343-04:002014-07-06T17:11:32.343-04:00I'm dismissive of large generalizations about ...I'm dismissive of large generalizations about groups of people because they tend to draw a line between what's normal and what's an aberration for a group. I can tell you that in my town, when similar crimes were committed by different classes of people, one instance would be viewed as a momentary departure from the norm and not "proof" of anything, but another instance would be viewed as normal for Those People and further proof of What They're All Like. <br /><br />But yes-- it is all complex, not in small part because as a culture we often have trouble deciding whether we want to deal with a problem or just look like we're dealing with a problem.Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-33232169884515685562014-07-06T16:10:04.944-04:002014-07-06T16:10:04.944-04:00There are, indeed, challenges with how to deal wit...There are, indeed, challenges with how to deal with these issues. For instance, in my town, we are still under a 50-year-old desegregation order. One of the reasons we have not gone through the process of getting out from under it before now is because of the problem of teacher assignments. Whites tend to cluster in one part of town, blacks tend to cluster in another. The schools are therefore identifiable by race, and the teachers tend to reflect the race of the students. <br /><br />The system has tried to combat this. As new teachers are hired, the longtime practice has been to assign white teachers to the majority-black schools and black teachers to the majority-white schools. But funny thing: As soon as these teachers get tenure, the black teachers tend to request transfers to majority black schools, and the white teachers request transfers the other direction. Why? Several reasons, probably, but mainly it's a matter of wanting to teach closer to where they live and where they feel most comfortable. I know that many black teachers also feel a calling to help "their people." For the white teachers, there was also a motive to go where discipline can be more easily maintained (I had one friend tell me that when she taught at a majority-black elementary school in town, it was fairly routine to have kids talk back to her with some version of, "My mama told me I don't have to do nothin' no white woman tells me to do.").<br /><br />Now the school system is working to get out from under the deseg order, and the DoJ is demanding massive teacher reassignments so that the percentage of minority teachers is about the same in all schools. Yet this kind of "for appearance sake" desegregation goes directly against what you are discussing in terms of role models, etc. Frankly, there is a lot of cognitive dissonance on this issue on the left side of the ideological spectrum.<br /><br />That mental conflict shows up a lot in your writing, such as in this post where you dismissively referred to the belief that Those People were always fighting and solving their problems with knives. Are you really saying that wasn't true? The fact is that this is very often the way it is in working-class enclaves, no matter the race of the people involved. Why pretend otherwise just because it offends your sensibilities? <br /><br />It reminds me of the kind of stuff you hear anytime the problems of urban schools come up. If you mention drugs, gangs, violence, etc. as reasons for the bad outcomes, there is bound to be someone who gets really irate: "Oh, so you just assume that every inner city kid is a gang member, huh? Suburban kids use drugs, too, you know!" Either you are called a racist or it is strongly implied. But continue the conversation a bit, and the same person is likely to at some point say, "Oh, so you're just fine with brown kids staying in their violent, gang- and drug-infested schools just so long as YOUR kids are safe!" <br /><br />So yeah... like you said, these are very complicated issues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com