Black people are dumb pt. 2Follow

You went from one extreme to another, Damien.

Joph is saying that there should be a middle ground. You completely missed that.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be a middle ground either. I'm NOT saying we live in a perfect society or that the education system is fine as it is. I'm saying that in the system we have now you can make it if you work hard and make the right choices. I'm not saying it's easy, or that's the way it should be, but it's ludicrous to say that black people are poor because they're the innocent victims of discrimination.

I'm only countering the argument that the educational or financial disadvantages facing black people in this country are not so bad that it's impossible (or close to it) for a black person to go from poor ------ not poor.

/nodWell and good. I trust that you understand that this is not the typical situation for a teenager? That most desire and seek interaction with their peers as part of normal social development?

Yes I do understand that, but what I am saying is that teenagers who blame their school for their lack of education isn't at all accurate because they "could" have a better education but I do understand that they have to work harder than the normal teen. I worked harder and now I am a successful adult. There are many that are not successful and blame their school on that failure. I do not agree with blaming schools.

But if they choose their social life over their schooling, is it the system's fault when they fail to graduate or lack the work ethic to hold down a decent job?

Again, you're going to extremes.

If a school is doing it's job, it's not a question of "choosing" your social life over your schooling. It's easy to have a social life and still do good in school.

Well here's a newsflash you might have missed: Life isn't fair.

But, the point still remains that if that child decides to "be a kid" and not work as hard as they can, it's not the school's fault if they don't receive a proper education.

What is "being a child" anyways? Does that mean you have to spend 3pm-8pm text messaging and posting on myspace or something? I always had to decide which was more important: my school work or goofing off with friends. If I chose to spend more time goofing off, I didn't expect good grades and when I didn't get them blame the school's "underperformance".

WHY do you taunt me, Belkira? WHY?

And if a student is doing their job, it's easy to still do well in school and have a social life, so I don't see your point. Hit the books during the week and then go have your fun on the weekends and holidays. That's what working stiffs do.

But no, you want us to pander to teenagers who think they should have everything handed to them on a silver platter. "Nah, don't feel bad about not graduating from high school, you were trying your best to balance your social life in there...it's the school's fault you chose to spend time with your friends that obviously would have been better spent studying"

It's not about keeping the kids from being kids; it's about expecting them to put some ******* work into their life if they truly want to succeed.

My lord, you're dense.

You have absolutely no grasp of my argument in this debate. You go from one extreme to another, put words in my mouth, and make sh*t up.

I'll say this once, Damien. This is what I am trying to get through your thick "educated" skull:

If a school is not funded well, and a child has to forgo any sense of a social life (see MrsGemini's example above) simply to stay afloat, then there is a problem with that school.

A child in school should have to work. They do homework, research projects, and even read a book once in a while. There is no pandering here, the school can't do everything, nor should it.

Do you finally understand what the hell I'm saying?

Edited, Oct 24th 2007 12:31pm by Belkira

Talk about extremes.

I doubt there's any school in America that is so horrible that a determined student would have to spend every single waking hour studying just to scrape by and graduate. I would think that in a really crappy school, a determined hard working student could get an A in every class studying only like 10 hours a week, which leaves plenty of time left for their oh-so-important social life. If the school is really that bad, do you think their expectations are that high? To me, it seems like it would be much more difficult to do well at a GOOD school since the comparison to other students will be so different.

And like I said earlier, even if the school is ******, that's no excuse for failing to graduate, period. A BAD school isn't going to be difficult for a hard working person to graduate from, if anything, it's easier. Think about it: which school is easier to graduate from; a state school or Harvard? Which one will you have to work harder in to graduate from?