Reply to Are AP-type classes racist?

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Reply to "Are AP-type classes racist?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think anyone who wants to take an AP course should be offered it. At least that's how it was when I was in school. You needed an A/B average/ 3.0 to be eligible to enroll in them. If only whites and Asian enroll, then so be it. At least someone has the option of taking it versus taking away the option for all.

You all talk about poverty, but I don't think a lack of money necessarily dooms these kids. I have a lot of friends and relatives who are objectively poor. They live off of one small income [b](a teacher's salary, an adjunct's salary or a non profit)[/b] and the other parent stays home. My best friend lives in a 2 bedroom with her husband and 3 children. I don't think they make more than 30k, but they're blissfully happy. Their kids are the brightest kids you've ever met. Both my friend and her husband have PhDs. They spend all of their freetime at the library, museums and free parks. Their 3 year old knew more about the solar system than I do. They don't want more money and I think it goes against their beliefs to have more money than they need. My dad was raised the exact same way. Some people set out to show the wonders of the world to their kids and others just plunk them in front of the TV and feed them junk food all day.

Poverty has nothing to do with it. But I do think that schools cannot fix the damage that is done from prenatal- Kindergarten. [/quote]

I think people tend to conflate wealth and social class in ways that lead to incorrect conclusions. Poverty is correlated with low social class, but it's not necessarily the same thing. So, some of the dysfunctions that arise out of low social class are maybe misdiagnosed as arising out of poverty. In those situations, adding money to the situation won't fix the problem because lack of money isn't necessarily causing the problem. You speak of people without much money but who sound like they're educated (teachers, adjuncts, people involved with non-profits.) Their kids are more likely to have a relationship to education that will allow them to succeed in school than, say, someone who makes more money but isn't very educated themselves and doesn't place much value in education. (Here, I guess I'm doing the same thing - conflating social class with education, but I think there's a closer relationship between the two.)  [/quote]

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