I agree with the ideas expressed in this article. However, I also think it is easier said than done, and as hard as a middle aged white man tries to put himself in a poor Black kid's situation, he can never really understand what they go through. I agree with the fact that Black kids should try their best to access resources and take responsibility for making a better future for themselves. Like the article stated, even though it is way harder, the opportunity still exists. To add my own thoughts on the subject, I do not blame those kids who do not go above and beyond to give themselves a better life. It is easy to blame them for all of their failures because then we don't have to feel bad, but it is not a coincidence that particularly kids in poor black neighborhoods do not do as well academically as kids in nicer white neighborhoods. One of my classmates talked about how although there is a problem in some of the lower income school districts, it is not a matter of race. Well then I want to ask her why all the top schools in the country are white, and the worst schools are black? In Chicago, you've got white New Trier standing at the top, and the mostly Black neighborhood of North Lawndale school at the bottom. Same in New Jersey, you've got mostly white Princeton area school at the top, and all black Camden school at the bottom. New York City has Jericho at the top, and schools in black inner city neighborhoods at the bottom. The list goes on and on and its astonishing how schools just miles apart seem like completely different worlds to the kids attending them. One things for sure, there's no way the kids attending the bad schools like their situation and there's got to be something contributing to this savage cycle. Start with segregation. These kids are not dumb, and can understand some of the obvious things around them. They have black skin, the kids in the next town have white skin, the white skinned kids want nothing to do with them, and their schools are exponentially better. These facts leave many Black kids feeling not only that white people are naturally better than them, but that by neglecting education from their lives they also think whites do not place any real value on them or think they can contribute to society in important ways, other than working the jobs that the White people don't want. Because after all, if the poor black kids got a better education they might take our white jobs someday. So not it is understood why a normal response from a black kids is, 'why try if no one wants me to succeed anyways?' For those of us who do want them to succeed, we can't blame them for thinking we don't when we don't do anything to show that.
So how do you fix the problem? While the article suggests ignorance within the poor black communities is the real problem, I have to disagree. Instead of trying to somehow convince every kid to walk long distances through bad neighborhoods to go to a Library where they can then teach themselves how to read, and to fill out numerous applications after applications in hopes of being able to get a donated used laptop, why don't we try and find easier ways to motivate these kids to do well in school. Maybe giving them teachers that express interest in their studies, textbooks in their classrooms, computers in their libraries, lab equipment in their science "labs", and offer classes that can prepare them better for college, then maybe they will start trying harder in school. Maybe if there were enough desks in the classrooms for every kid, every kid would show up. Maybe if they knew the odds of them getting into college weren't so slim, they would try harder. Think about it, dogs only do tricks because they know there's a treat waiting for them when they finish. The schools we give these poor black kids are in no way college prep. Maybe if we gave them better schools, they would feel it easier to get into college and more kids would show up and do well. Again, it's easy to blame those who do not succeed, but when such a high number within one race and economic class fail, the problem goes beyond the individual and the system has take part of the blame. Instead of saying, "well your lives are not equal and therefore you should work extra hard", we can try and make their lives a little bit more equal.
The main problem isn't that these kids were born lazy, but that they were never given the means to compete well in our society. If they don't know how to succeed, you can't blame them for failing. We (the middle class) can help others by providing them with this information. How else to show kids how to use tools like google and Wikipedia then by providing them with computers and assignments that require the use of these sites. You know, like what they do at those good white kid schools. Although the article makes an obvious point equivalent to "if all the fat people learned to stop eating crappy food and start exercising there wouldn't be fat people", it does not mean every fat person has the will power to start doing that. I hope this post gave you a realization that a bigger change in the system is what it's going to take to provide motivation for all kids, rich and poor, black and white, to succeed. Give those at the bottom the same resources as the kids who succeed, and see how that works out. Before you say you don't think it will work, you can't know because we've never tried it. Every integration attempt to bus kids from bad schools to better schools in our country's past was stopped because of complaints from rich neighborhoods. They can say they aren't racist, but when it comes down to it they ultimately don't want the black kids going to school with their kids. If it's because it might make their kids class size a little bigger than I won't call them racist, I'll call them selfish and greedy. I would ask them, well what about the poor black kids? Do you want to help them? If they are indeed good people and say yes, I would then tell to help someone means donating something of your own.
Giving a little of something you can afford to give up to those who don't have enough of it to get by. This can be money, time, or maybe even your classroom.
Going past the interpretation of the literal term "affirmative action", there are plenty of reasons why colleges need diversity within their students. In Tim Wise's White Like Me he talks about the inequities between whites and blacks. He says, "If you conclude that the problem is with the system, then you are compelled, as a fair-minded person, to do something about it" (p.64). He is saying it's fine if you think as a race they are culturally less inclined to excel in education, but then as a good person you should also want to change that. That's where affirmative action comes in. If blacks know that colleges want people of their race, then they might not feel hopeless when it comes to college. If they knew they weren't only being compared to the grades of all the other applicants some with better educations, but their race and background educations would also be considered in the process, then the cycle could stop. More black people could get into college, maybe less qualified then someone else with a better background, but now if they work hard they can build a quality life for themselves. Their children and the future of their race will now grow up with a better education and you will see the inequalities between the races go away. So that maybe in 20 years colleges will be able to exclude race from admissions and truly judge every applicant equally since the top students would now be from a variety of races: white, black, Hispanic, etc. This will only be the case if the cycle is broken, and as mentioned before affirmative action can be a solution.
