Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science (MS)²

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, all our lives would have been different - better or worse-- with different skin or different grandparents, different health and different talents.

I don't see the value of blaming others, who through no fault of their own, got a better deal in life.

I guess I could hold a grudge against all the people who could afford braces and nose jobs and sailing camps and tutors and stays in europe where I could have picked up a second or third language.

I don't see the point of it.

Of course you don't see the point if no one questions the opportunities you receive, or your opportunities are not under attack, and you don't have to constantly defend and educate others as to the circumstances of your people.

Many AAs aren't taking advantage of all of the opportunities that are open to them. Again, many AAs in DC won't avail themselves of the library - friends who are teachers say moms won't even read kids books to their toddlers, I'm amazed to hear from AA parents that they have never been to the world-class Smithsonian museums, the job opportunities here in DC draw people from all around the country. At this point, it's not so much about opportunities under attack or opportunities not open, it's about being stuck in the perceptions of the past and not pursuing anything, based on those perceptions. Obama was able to rise to become an attorney, professor, senator and President because the external barriers did not prevent him from doing so. It's not the external barriers out in society holding AAs back, it's the internal barriers.

Are you amazed when you hear these same things from/about white parents? I don't have any AA friends who don't go to the library, frequent museums,e tc. In fact, many grew up with libraries in their homes.

You are not representative of everyone in DC. This isn't about white parents or what they think - talk to any of the teachers working with the kids in DC schools. Many in the worst wards will tell you about kids who can't read. And that's because nobody so much as bothers to even read them a kids book every so often when they are toddlers. Nobody can be bothered to look after the kids, and it all starts there. Kids have natural curiosity, they will read and learn if they get the right start at it. The teachers can only do so much in the short time that they have to work with the kids, and if the parents or others at home can't be bothered to help the kids then it goes nowhere.

I think you are incredibly naive and clueless if you seriously think there are parents in DC who don't read to their kids, don't take them to libraries, don't take them to museums and so on - and those who don't are the epicenter of DC's education problem. Again, talk to the TEACHERS about this, they will set you straight on the facts where it comes to underperforming kids and the problem that starts at home.

Hope we can say the same about you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like some red herrings being introduced here.

I didn't see anyone here ever say or suggest that white people don't have bad parents among them. They do. Yes, some white parents scream at their children in public. (and, I've witnessed AA parents do that as well).

The difference is, whites will readily and loudly condemn other whites for their bad parenting, and they won't sit and deny the fact that there are white parents who do a horrible job of parenting, nor will they blame anyone else for white parents being bad parents.

But nobody is allowed to talk about anyone else's bad parenting, because it immediately turns into an accusation of racism.

Well, when you talk about one whole group of people as if they were all bad parents (blacks) and say that a whole other group of people (whites) has some bad parents among the good ones, well, yes, pp that is racism.

[Anonymous]

I beg of you read the early posts and you will get a sense of what racerace was perturbed first. To be upset about a middle school on HU's campus for not having a percentage of White students in attendance, is so freaking unbelievable.

I don't give a hoot if whites attend or not attend HUMS because the results are showing that the school is doing a phenomenal job. Too paraphrase an old James Brown song "I am Black and I am proud."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like some red herrings being introduced here.

I didn't see anyone here ever say or suggest that white people don't have bad parents among them. They do. Yes, some white parents scream at their children in public. (and, I've witnessed AA parents do that as well).

The difference is, whites will readily and loudly condemn other whites for their bad parenting, and they won't sit and deny the fact that there are white parents who do a horrible job of parenting, nor will they blame anyone else for white parents being bad parents.

But nobody is allowed to talk about anyone else's bad parenting, because it immediately turns into an accusation of racism.

What makes you think that there is no condemnation of bad parenting in the Black community? Because you have not witnessed it for yourself? As Black people we have a shared history, and while we do not condone bad parenting any more than whites do, we do have EMPATHY for the reasons why some of us are in the position we are in. Slave culture internalized for centuries handed down from the overseer that handled Black people as chattel and had zero compunction for beating, whipping, maiming, and/or killing any slave that dared step out of line will breed that sort of behavior. We are still in the process of rising above it, but 400+ years of damage cannot be undone in a matter of decades.

[Anonymous]

Part of the problem is the teaching of history in schools all over the country. This is what happens when only part of the story of slavery has been told. We are all taught that slavery happened, but the ramifications of that dreaded era in our collective history has not been fully examined by most outside of those purposely seeking it out. We need to teach history in a way that is truly representative of those that were involved in that history so that we may be able to develop empathy for the plight of others. I have read some very clueless and, quite frankly, ignorant responses throughout this thread and it just goes to show that maybe in order to move forward we need to revisit how we reflect on the experience of people in this country. As a Black person I can no more blame the many white people for their ignorance than I can Black people who have not been taught anything else.

[Anonymous]

Again and again the slaver references, that was 150 years ago and nobody alive today was any part of it.

As for the issue of bad parenting, look at the numbers and statistics. Far worse school performance, far greater dropout rates, far greater likelihood of children suffering from domestic violence, far greater percentage of kids in homes with substance abuse, far greater likelihood of kids getting in criminal trouble in the AA community than there is in other communities. And it's all from within, nobody from the outside is forcing these parents to be bad parents.

Deny all you like, try and shift blame all you like but that won't change the numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again and again the slaver references, that was 150 years ago and nobody alive today was any part of it.

As for the issue of bad parenting, look at the numbers and statistics. Far worse school performance, far greater dropout rates, far greater likelihood of children suffering from domestic violence, far greater percentage of kids in homes with substance abuse, far greater likelihood of kids getting in criminal trouble in the AA community than there is in other communities. And it's all from within, nobody from the outside is forcing these parents to be bad parents.

Deny all you like, try and shift blame all you like but that won't change the numbers.

Tired of hearing about slavery? Too bad. It does not change the reality or the outcomes of it.

If you only look at the numbers you will only get half of the truth. The numbers may be what they are (waiting on sources on those), but to say that slavery happened over 150 years ago does not erase the mental and emotional baggage that came about because of it. I am not in denial, but i think you must be if all you can reply with is "Again and again the slaver references, that was 150 years ago and nobody alive today was any part of it.

As for the issue of bad parenting, look at the numbers and statistics. Far worse school performance, far greater dropout rates, far greater likelihood of children suffering from domestic violence, far greater percentage of kids in homes with substance abuse, far greater likelihood of kids getting in criminal trouble in the AA community than there is in other communities. And it's all from within, nobody from the outside is forcing these parents to be bad parents."

Educate yourself a little about the seasoning process and how slaves were made for hundreds of years, then come talk to me about it "all being from within". But then again, it just might not suit your purposes to understand someone else's truth or reality, and that's okay. However, don't look at half the story then speak your opinions on something you clearly have not thought critically about.

[Anonymous]

Another AA here. Just want to point out that native americans have not been able to recover very well either. I've seen some of those communities up close and its not pretty and very well hidden.

Although I don't think this is a rational discussion or thread I do want to point out that the family breakdown, unemployment, low educational attainment is happening very quietly in some white communities all over this country.

I'm not a fan of Charles Murray but his research on the state of white America is fascinating.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/WhiteAm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like some red herrings being introduced here.

I didn't see anyone here ever say or suggest that white people don't have bad parents among them. They do. Yes, some white parents scream at their children in public. (and, I've witnessed AA parents do that as well).

The difference is, whites will readily and loudly condemn other whites for their bad parenting, and they won't sit and deny the fact that there are white parents who do a horrible job of parenting, nor will they blame anyone else for white parents being bad parents.

But nobody is allowed to talk about anyone else's bad parenting, because it immediately turns into an accusation of racism.

Well, when you talk about one whole group of people as if they were all bad parents (blacks) and say that a whole other group of people (whites) has some bad parents among the good ones, well, yes, pp that is racism.

YES!!!!! THIS.

[Anonymous]

Let's assume that the ongoing effect of slavery is the primary cause for some AA kids education difficulties now.

What would be a good solution? DCPS places the entire responsibility on poor teaching and has embarked upon reform measures that focus on firing and firing teachers and principals as the path to educational success for DC's children who are in the most need.

Does anyone here think this is a good idea or have other ideas on how to improve the situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again and again the slaver references, that was 150 years ago and nobody alive today was any part of it.

As for the issue of bad parenting, look at the numbers and statistics. Far worse school performance, far greater dropout rates, far greater likelihood of children suffering from domestic violence, far greater percentage of kids in homes with substance abuse, far greater likelihood of kids getting in criminal trouble in the AA community than there is in other communities. And it's all from within, nobody from the outside is forcing these parents to be bad parents.

Deny all you like, try and shift blame all you like but that won't change the numbers.

Then let's talk about the Ku Klux Klan, an organization whose sole purpose was to lynch Black Americans, and the ones they chose were often Blacks who had land, and businesses, and some success, which the KKK felt made them "uppity" and a bad influence on other Blacks. My parents remembered their family being terrorized by them as kids, and also remembered that my great grand parents owned farm land in Mississippi and was driven off and had to abandon that land because of the KKK. And how about the town of Rosewood? Spike Lee made a movie about it, but you probably haven't seen it, I wonder why?

Let's talk about the FHA, or FAIR Housing Authority, which was established in 1968 to allow Blacks to obtain mortgages from banks, as many were discriminated against in even borrowing money, and also to stop the practice of "redlining," in which banks drew red circles around white neighborhoods and business areas and would not allow blacks to even apply for mortgages in those areas.

1968, people. 2 years before I was born. My parents bought in 1975, in a white neighborhood. We were the first blacks to buy in the area, and our neighbors painted "Nigger" on our fences, put firecrackers in our mailboxes and threw deflated basketballs at our front door in the middle of the night to make us think bombs were going off, and tried for years to run us out of the neighborhood. And my family built our home from the ground up, it was the best house in the neighborhood, and always well maintained. I and my siblings have all been labelled gifted since we started in school, we're all studious and successful. You couldn't ask for better neighbors than our family.

And our experience was not atypical during those years.

And before you say I hate all whites because I've had those experiences and that history, 3 of the people I count as closest to me in my life, not just friends, are white. But that doesn't change the very recent past. I am amazed, just amazed at how much so many of you on this board do not know, and yet you persist in posting ignorantly.

My grandmother used to say, "if you don't know what you're talking about, at least keep your mouth shut so you don't reveal your ignorance to the world." A lot of the posts here make one wonder if most white people ever think they might not know enough on a subject to speak...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's assume that the ongoing effect of slavery is the primary cause for some AA kids education difficulties now.

What would be a good solution? DCPS places the entire responsibility on poor teaching and has embarked upon reform measures that focus on firing and firing teachers and principals as the path to educational success for DC's children who are in the most need.

Does anyone here think this is a good idea or have other ideas on how to improve the situation?

Again, have you looked at schools/programs like Andre Agassi's? How about that for a start? And I noticed not one person responded to the post on reparations...

[Anonymous]

Reparations? Impossible to implement. Who would be responsible for paying? Targeted, or across the board? How would it ever be fair?

Most white Americans in those times never held any slaves, many white families came long after slavery was abolished, and whatever "benefit" they get in terms of where this nation is and what it provides is no different than whatever same "benefit" other whites, asians,, latinos, (and as previous in this thread, AAs like Barack Obama) get or are getting.. Does the Filipino family that moved to the US 15 years ago owe reparations? How about the Bulgarian family that moved here 30 years ago? Barack Obama- does he owe? How about people who are of mixed white, african and other ancestry?

[Anonymous]

We now have a huge number of programs, laws and things specifically geared toward giving AAs better opportunities than whites have. Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, 8(a), and many other programs in the business world, loans and programs for homeowners, civil service and private sector diversity and hiring programs that give preference to AAs even over credentials and test scores.

Many AAs are using those programs. But many aren't and won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's assume that the ongoing effect of slavery is the primary cause for some AA kids education difficulties now.

What would be a good solution? DCPS places the entire responsibility on poor teaching and has embarked upon reform measures that focus on firing and firing teachers and principals as the path to educational success for DC's children who are in the most need.

Does anyone here think this is a good idea or have other ideas on how to improve the situation?

Again, have you looked at schools/programs like Andre Agassi's? How about that for a start? And I noticed not one person responded to the post on reparations...

To clarify -- I'm referring to current practices in DCPS. I see that the school you mention is in Las Vegas