Submitted by Rhonda Browning (not verified) on June 9, 2006 - 03:49.
I don't think that the issue is whether segregated schools can be effective or not. Of course they can teach literacy and numeracy, stuff in test taking skills and, also provide a quality education. It does not matter as to effectiveness. Rather the issue is whether segregated schools can be equal. The problem with racial differences in achievement is not really a racial issue in the first place. It is a socio-economic issue. Poor kids do not have the resources that wealthy kids have. They don't have the early education, the life experiences that make one educated, and, often, they don't have parents who know what to do to develop the minds of their children or are too busy just trying to keep them fed to do so. Unfortunately in many places, a larger percentage of brown people are poor than white people. Therefore, a socioeconomic difference looks like a racial difference. Middle class African American students do just as well in school as middle class white students. Poor white students score like poor black students.
The problem with segregated schools is that they do not prepare the children for the real world. If the only people you are around are people who look like you, you are not likely to be comfortable with people who do not look like you. The best way to learn about individual and culture differences is to be around people who are different. I have been around a whole lot of African Americans. Some of the people closest to me are black. There are cultural differences, but even they are not absolute. I have found however, that the only real consistent difference between white people and black people is what you do to make your hair behave!!! That is it. Black people put oil based hair products in to make their hair smooth and shiny. In a pinch, some use vaseline. White people wash their hair frequently to take the oil out so it does not look like they washed it in vaseline.
Children are not naturally prejudiced. They have to be taught. Children learn best with hands-on experiences. Hands-on eucation readily extends to sitting in a desk next to your friend whose mama combs oil through her hair so it won't be tangled, while your mama washes, conditions and painfully combs out the tangles in yours. I learned this many years ago by watching my black college roomate fix her hair.
I don't think that the issue
Submitted by Rhonda Browning (not verified) on June 9, 2006 - 03:49.
I don't think that the issue is whether segregated schools can be effective or not. Of course they can teach literacy and numeracy, stuff in test taking skills and, also provide a quality education. It does not matter as to effectiveness. Rather the issue is whether segregated schools can be equal. The problem with racial differences in achievement is not really a racial issue in the first place. It is a socio-economic issue. Poor kids do not have the resources that wealthy kids have. They don't have the early education, the life experiences that make one educated, and, often, they don't have parents who know what to do to develop the minds of their children or are too busy just trying to keep them fed to do so. Unfortunately in many places, a larger percentage of brown people are poor than white people. Therefore, a socioeconomic difference looks like a racial difference. Middle class African American students do just as well in school as middle class white students. Poor white students score like poor black students.
The problem with segregated schools is that they do not prepare the children for the real world. If the only people you are around are people who look like you, you are not likely to be comfortable with people who do not look like you. The best way to learn about individual and culture differences is to be around people who are different. I have been around a whole lot of African Americans. Some of the people closest to me are black. There are cultural differences, but even they are not absolute. I have found however, that the only real consistent difference between white people and black people is what you do to make your hair behave!!! That is it. Black people put oil based hair products in to make their hair smooth and shiny. In a pinch, some use vaseline. White people wash their hair frequently to take the oil out so it does not look like they washed it in vaseline.
Children are not naturally prejudiced. They have to be taught. Children learn best with hands-on experiences. Hands-on eucation readily extends to sitting in a desk next to your friend whose mama combs oil through her hair so it won't be tangled, while your mama washes, conditions and painfully combs out the tangles in yours. I learned this many years ago by watching my black college roomate fix her hair.