It needs to happen at the local level. People must band together in cooperatives. Stop buying everything from Big Biz. Develop local methods of growing food and providing services. Keep the money in the community as much as possible. Bring back the Mom and Pop restaurants and stores. Stop going to McDonalds and Walmart. Support the local community. The government will never help the people. It's up to us. The time is now. Or it's never.
Hi, you sent me a message many months ago, last March I think, and I just got around to replying to you a few days ago. Come to find out you made a video on the very topic of your question. Instead of rewriting my answer, you can just check your inbox. I sent it a day or two ago.
The voucher program in DC has worked. Sadly Obama is ending the program. Instead of adding to the program to cover more students In a March 6, 2009 letter to Obama, the NEA president Dennis Van Roekel called the D.C. program "an ongoing threat to public education in the District of Columbia" and urged Obama to "use your voice to help eliminate this threat" by opposing "any efforts to extend this ineffective program."
The students that are in the program HAD TO BEG that the program not end. Obama let the students already in the program keep it. Understand the students had to beg for it. No new students are allowed. A victory for the NEA and another defeat for the children of the poor. Just think, Obama is saying the schools his daughters are going to are not better than the drug filled, violent public schools in DC.
Anyway, people can't be expected to communicate with the entirety of America in order to solve problems. Plus, I've noticed from many advocacy groups is that they use the massiveness of the Union as an excuse for why they don't just change THEMSELVES and use the results of their own change to slowly persuade others.
Which is why I don't care for any legislative stomp-bans.
EX: I don't like fossil fuel use. So I care more about getting MYSELF off the grid than trying to ban it.
What do you mean by "educating them to be unskilled workers?"
The last time i checked, people are responsible for their own education. If they're autonomous enough to vote, surely they should be autonomous enough to select their career goals. If *they educated* themselves to work in an unstable area of the market, whose fault is that?
I didn't realize elementary/middle school children were autonomous, responsible people.
Because by the time a child raised in a disadvantaged neighborhood is 10, they are already 2 years behind children blessed with middle class, "best practice" education.
This problem not only regenerates the destitution of "the ghetto" or "the underclass" or "poor and working class" or whatever you may call it, it creates a physical and cultural barrier between people and careers. You can't chose like that.
Hello. You seem nice and with good ideas. It's definitely better than nothing. But what might assist you is the fact that capitalism is a bit of a fraud, created to mass the wealth in the hands of a very few. Any kind of "-ism" is.
I mean if the US money system wasn't controlled by Private non-american Bankers, then capitalism could probably be beneficial for a decent period of time, especially with certain rules followed it could work.
I suppose you believe in small, domesticated farm-villages?
I'd hardly call capitalism a fraud, as it delivers what it (truthfully) advertises. Nobility by business makes a helluva lot more sense to me than the nobility by loyalty that came before capitalism. Capitalism didn't develop to spite the peasant, but it did create an opportunity for him. Why have the elite be people whose only value is loyalty? Why not the people who actually run the city, the businessman?
Get the good teachers to fight to get on staff at these schools because of higher pay and the parents who give a shit to work to have their kids test in. Unfortunately, regarding inner-city black schools and neighborhoods there is not much that can be done effectively within the current mentality. That's why you have to get the good kids out and to a place where someone who reads a book isn't "trying to be white". They'll catch shit back on their block, but be better off for it.
Set up a quality school that bridges a number of inner city neighborhoods. Bus the smart kids in. Invest in resources that rival the schools in the burbs. Don't waste money on schools with bad kids and bad teachers. In Chicago they call these "magnet schools" and it's pretty successful. The biggest prob with some of these kids and families is mentality. Ignorant ass parents and dumb ass kids with no respect and a passion only for "stayin' ghetto". You want help, act like your ready for it I say.
Did they have to "test" in? If youre just selecting a random bunch of kids and moving them to a new school you'll have the same issues. You need to get the best kids. It worked for me. But then I would have been alright either way.
These kids know better. They just don't give a shit. If you continue trying to bring up the whole of the ghetto you will always loose through efficiency alone. Some of these kids are like cancer. If you are going to attempt to set up an educational oasis in the hood, you need to leave the weeds behind. Then you create a situation where parents with sense and kids with ambition want to be exclusive. You create a subculture where education is valued and not ridiculed.
One thing that struck me was your passive language, asking why we don't, "educate our Americans". People need to educate themselves, not have education done to them like milking a cow.
Many of the working poor can afford what people had in 1960. Would have to turn down various medical treatments, never use a computer or microwave oven, etc. though.
As a child I had to pump water at some places if I wanted a drink. There is a difference between work being repetitive and not needing skills.
Teachers educate children and I am asking for more teachers with skills to handle poor student's unique needs. Stop acting like I am asking for a nanny state.
What I am saying is that teachers need students. You give teachers tiny bad mannered hostages with no desire to learn and the education system will consume vast amounts of resources trying to produce one properly educated citizen.
I am not blaming people for being poor, life isn't fair. What I am saying is that responsibility needs to start with the individual becoming stronger, not having the environment altered to compensate to allow individuals to become increasingly weak.
"You give teachers tiny bad mannered hostages with no desire to learn and the education system will consume vast amounts of resources trying to produce one properly educated citizen."
Well, that is the challenge of working in underclass and working poor concentrated neighborhoods.
Have you watched any of my videos from the Harlem Children's Zone?
No, (didn't see any) but I checked out the HCZ website and watched Obama talk about it. Obama rattled off a list of free services and affordable food instead of fast food every night. (How can people in poverty afford fast food?)
Says this year it'll spend an average of $3,500 per child and Obama wants to spread it to 20 cities. Will the increased consumption of these areas be supported by outside production forever? If services are removed would the area fall back into decline? Hrm.
If 55% of us are considered the "working poor", then I don't agree with the definition. Are the nonproductive people living off of the system included in this number? I just barely get by, but I do not consider myself the working poor. I don't even like the term "working poor". I would call them "hard working Americans trying to make something of their lives".
The nonproductive people are the underclass, a term that has been used for 20 years in sociological research. Read "The Truly Disadvantaged" by Dr. Wilson for more. I guess THEY would like to be referred to as "would be hard working Americans if only The Man would stop holding us back". lol
You don't have to like the term. In friendly conversation the term is working class or lower middle class.
But I'm angry that the middle class has disappeared and most people have dropped below $40,000, the minimum to raise a nuclear family in this country.
$40-50,000 (counting inflation) is the Ford worker. Being a worker in this country ONCE UPON A TIME could buy you a house, a car and provide for a future.
But what has outsourcing done to the middle class? Made it a college only club. wtf?
It is all a very complicated issue. Reagan said that he welcomed free trade because it only made us stronger. I think that that is true, but only if it is fair trade.
Take for an example. Ford is producing an automobile to sell here and on the world market. If they have a choice to buy a radiator from the US for $300, or one from Mexico for $50. Then which one should they choose? How are they supposed to compete on the world market if their auto is over priced?
Quite. Speaking of conservatives of the 80s, they also said that de-industrialization of our cities would be a good thing because it would clean them up and free Americans to become a mostly professional class country.
.... yeah.
Right now, 14% of Americans are functionally illiterate, 33% of adults never graduated high school, 60% of the country has only as high as a high school education.
China, India and EU are going to pwn us in one generation.
So what is the solution? I mean it is education obviously, but how do we accomplish it? I for one am 100% in favor of school vouchers,like they have, or should I say had, until Obama got rid of them today. These kids in DC were going to alternative schools for $7,500, instead of the $13,000 plus that it costs for public school, and were recieving a better education. Is that not the goal? So why did Obama stop it?
In terms of how schools should be organized, I don't know, but I do know that I am more interested in HOW that is done rather than just delegating it by saying "vouchers."
Setting up the program doesn't really solve the problem. Obviously, there is a problem with the entire climate the kids around, outside of the schools. We need more professionals in those areas who can teach the children AND keep them away from the dangerous elements in their neighborhoods.
Alright, this is my last thing. You can't apply the same formula to everyone. How old are you? I don't know. Frankly, you sound to me to be a bit naive. You speak in general, ideological terms that avoid the details. As you get older I think you will see that it's all about the details. It takes a lot of work just to get people to show up on time. Best wishes!
This is one video that is simply expressing my general interest in life.
I'm not that interested in your hasty judgments of me. I came here to ask for others ideas and all you have is disgust for those neglected by education. So, I guess that leaves you out of the conversation. Buhbye.
And to me it isn't the idea that "mean, bad conservatives didn't keep their promise."
It's that the country got distracted by the computer boom of the late 80s, then again by the internet boom of the 90s.
This recession now IS THE SAME recession of the 70s, because the issues of that time were never resolved.
Also, the massive liquidity created by the computer boom is what paid for the housing boom of the 2000s, so if anyone is to blame it Bill Gates for bringing all that asset to america. XD
Traditional education system has failed. In my opinion charter school programs funded by our state officials would be the best answer. That would allow for education at the child's own rate. Since it has been proven that nutrition plays a big part in cognizance in the class room, so, educational, nutritional, and and health programs are needed. Email or write your congressmen and other state officials and let them know your opinion.
"Email or write your congressmen and other state officials and let them know your opinion."
Sorry, babe, but they don't care about my opinion. Ohio consitution states that the State is supposed to fund schools as they are now, but they refuse to do it and have been for 14 years since they were sued!
For some reason, our Republican government doesn't consider it important. And if they aren't going to change funding, they sure as heck aren't going to change funding and everything else. XD
Yeah, sure, charter,. Been hearing alot about that idea, but I'd like to hear more about what the charter programs would actually DO to address the challenges of educating poor, homeless and underclass children.
Real reform within public schools as the exist today probably isn't possible. They are simply not setup to handle diversity. When they do try to embrace diversity, they typically aim at mediocrity.
Our students want and need mentors engaged in real work. That means the active involvement of local businesses and institutions. Anything less is likely to be, at best, a sophisticated exercise in babysitting.
Usually, these guys act like racial awkwardness isn't going to play any role in making these voucher schools. Never mind that white flight still happens today and that it is still a proven fact that the tipping point for when whites feel umcomfortable with diversity is 15%.
So, in a school of 400, only 60 can be black before parents start pulling kids out? Boy, please...
(Nevermind that vouchers became popular BECAUSE of racism)
Well, race issues are critically important, but I don't want to limit it to race. I think it goes well beyond even that.
Each and every student wants to be really good at something and schools are designed to make sure that no child is particularly bad at anything. This practically guarantees low motivation as teachers push groupthink and obedience.
I'm teaching in Japan right now and if anything worse here where all students are racially homogeneous.
White flight is justified because blacks commit homicides 6 times as often per capita as whites.
(-__- )
Don't come at me with bullshit and justifications for people to be afraid of us. If a negro family moves into a $250,000 house, don't even play like they are criminals in disguise, ready to pounce.
There is no reason for whites in suburbs to fear MIDDLE CLASS Blacks who move there.
The nicest place I ever lived in was worth maybe half of $250k. Most blacks near me live in Section 8 housing.
The 6:1 ratio is not bullshit, it's a statistic. To reverse the homicide ratio of 6:1, whites would have to kill 3500% more often, taking the ratio from 6:1 to 6:36.
Wouldn't you be scared if the news went from reporting less than 1 white murderer a month to at least one a day?
Is also car stereos at 3 am, litter, grafitti, not just violent crime. Drives property values down.
Well, Section 8 is the vexation of middle class blacks and whites alike.
Anyway, this is boring now. Back to education.
If part of your point before is that things learned ~in college~ are perfectly self-teachable material, I agree. I would love to dismantle either the undergraduate program or modern firms obsession with requiring it for even the most basic, low-level jobs.
Of course, they are probably doing that in response to higher demand for those jobs, thus making higher requirements.
I believe that, using open content or freely licensed materials (Open Courseware, google it) and create a volunteer driven(teaching students internship) university (online to cut the building and grounds costs) that is available for free or perhaps a nominal fee (or lottery money)
1. Cut university salaries (tenure costs money) by utilizing Education Majors, as paid or unpaid interns for a semester.
2. Using existing knowledge repositories (Wikiversity, MIT OCW, Wikibooks) or creating freely licensed (GPL, LGPL, CC, PD) material to use to educate the masses.
3. Using the internet, a widely available resource as a platform to educate the masses. (visual learners can watch videos, auditory learners can listen to audio, and textile learners can use flash games to learn)
1. I'm not trying to eliminate existing universities, so no one gets laid off. And the replacements are assistants to the professional, so that one professor can teach multiple times the amount of students that one can in traditional university settings.
2. Cool.
3. OLPC says $199 per person. Or one can recycle existing computers using donated hardware, junk parts, and free (as in speech) software such as edubuntu or .... REVERSI!
"I'm not trying to eliminate existing universities, so no one gets laid off. And the replacements are assistants to the professional, so that one professor can teach multiple times the amount of students that one can in traditional university settings."
Oh, so you want to make these old people work harder, longer and for less?
If we are talking about making college more affordable, then there's more than the teacher's salary and text books.
A lot of university money goes to fund the mini-cityscape of the campus.
Yet, at the same time, the public is not privy to use large public college facilities. The same is said of even the high schools and the elementary schools...
I think one way to change the university format is to shrink it all together.
Shift the general liberal arts curriculum into high school so that each student graduates with "an associates degree".
This would, of course, greatly drop the value of an associates degree, but it is necessary. We can't compete again China, India and the EU with half the nation trained to be factory workers.
OK, nobody is trained to be a "factory worker" and nobody has ever been. I mean, there are no schools where you stand by a conveyor belt third week and they teach you how to grab stuff real fast. Even schools like Devry are technical. Factory laborers learn on the job and are trained on site. In case you havent noticed, not much of that is going on these days. So you really need to separate your education arguments from your industrial ones. It's not the same thing in so many ways.
Generally, I don't like entitlements, but there is one program that I would support. I would like to see the states encourage youth to go to college and acquire a bachelor's degree in the natural sciences, math and engineering.
For example, if you earn a BS within 6 years of graduating from high school in a relavant field, the state would pay off 50 to 70% of your student loans if you work in the state for 5 years.
China, India,and the Eu have entirely different workforces. China is industrial, India is service oriented, and the EU is confused. Regarding industry, we can't compete with China because people on welfare here get more than those in China get to go to work. The service industry is the nut that can be cracked. But quite frankly, regarding your arguments in general,I think you should focus a little more on logistics and pragmatism. You have your head in the clouds. Solutions are always practical.
I agree with you. In my opinion (and in many of the statistics that we hear about over here in the UK) this is an issue that has grown worse in the last 30 years.
The reality is if you are born into a poor family that you will die in a poor family. There is a real veneer placed over this reality, and a lot of very hard working people are living in squalor for the sake of the wealthy.
The trouble is we've known this for hundreds of years and nothing has changed. Do they really care? I doubt it
I'll looking to generate as much movement as I can about education from the bottom-up. There have been studies of cities that improved their schooling habits, but only when all actors were on board, contributing.
"The reality is if you are born into a poor family that you will die in a poor family."
Capitalism was once the driving force that got peasants out of serfdom, but now we've got these rich assholes lying through their teeth, distorting the meaning of capitalism so they can stay wealthy pigs.
Instead of encouraging "free market" bull about fraud being permissible if done in a three piece suit, we need to get back to the core: entrepreneurship.
Bill gates, Steve Jobs, both greedy, self interested, fixated, but damn they put a lot of people to work in this country. Entrepreneurs. Started in a garage with a passion and an idea. Capitalism never got "peasants out of serfdom" you're talking about different eras and unrelated concepts. For one thing, "peasants" are laborers. The irony is that capitalism by definition creates a welfare state at the bottom of the curve, not a laborer state. Thus the fixation on unemployment numbers.
Well, obivously I was talking about a hundreds of years ago. The evolution of England and the city was driven by the need and reason for proximity: business.
Capitalism doesn't create a welfare class. Liberal ideology that we should take care of those at the bottom created a welfare class. There have always been people who lived of the land and mercy of others, beggars, but only democracy provided the idea that all people are worth care.
omg, you are all over the place here. am i to assume you do not regard farming as labor? capitalism did not exist hundreds of years ago. capitalism is not the desire of people to better themselves through hard work and industry alone. i would say that a definitive aspect of capitalism, amongst others, is the stock market. And democracy isn't about people being worth care, it's about keeping the people at the bottom from burning shit up.
To Justin: They had an interesting report that GameStop was one of the only video game stores to still make profit because of used games being cheaper.
Yea, I can see that. Gamestop makes more of there money off Used games anyway, they don't make a profit off new anything. They have polices in place that makes you want to buy even more used games, it's kinda like Blockbuster if you look at it.
Yeah a cycle where things could keep going to help everyone out. But Gamestop is way different than something big as education and has a lot of different factors that could break it o_ o
or they will close. Some poor families in dc get 7,500 a year to send their kids to the school that they choose. These kids are excelling and thriving. Open that opportunity to kids in Chicago, NY, Philadelphia and see how kids thirve!
I have heard a lot about making schools seperate entities, but I am not that interested in the idea as much as I am the reason why they may be successful: the programs they implement.
I don't care to delegate the problem to another, but investigate it myself. How they are organized can come later.
So, look at my playlist for other examples. I've heard some good things about DC district.
There are several holes in your argument: First of all, the "working poor" is a term coined by liberals to make people feel inadequate. Ii am a firm believer in the American spirit and the American way. The "working poor" have cell phones (like the soup kitchen recipients taking pix of Michelle) televisions, ipods, etc...the govt tells them they are poor so you agree with the govt. 40,000/year is alot of money. cont...
Ummm... No, I think they feel inadequate enough when they have to use food stamps for food, when they can't afford to pay for their son's football gear, when they work two or three jobs that have them on the bus going back and forth between Solon and Independence.
I'm with you, I know it is tough I am one of 5 kids in a family with one income..we can't afford alot of things - but the govts job is not to give me my neighbors money. I live in a free country - I can have what I want if I try and am willing to work. There are lots of things I don't have that I bet you do have! But I refuse to give up, I will be successful - without a handout!
If you want people who don't make alot to be able to afford more, the best way to do it is to lessen their outlay, and the best way to do that is to lower taxes - on everything...we pay a ridiculous amt. of taxes .50 cents on every gallon of gasoline just to name one.
the answer to education is simple - you need look no further than Washington D.C.. Give parents a choice of where to send their kids. Schools will improve...cont
"If you want people who don't make alot to be able to afford more, the best way to do it is to lessen their outlay, and the best way to do that is to lower taxes - on everything."
Got anything else, really?
I'm trying to agitate a little curiosity out of you for WHY it is too expensive.
Cell phones and TVs, while useful, are not the tools that help with education, empowerment, participation in the economy and democracy, or lessening violence and criminal activity.
I'm not sure yet if I netted 40k on the books last year. Close I guess, and frankly I hope not, now that it's all said and done. I always want more money, then when tax time comes I pray the number stays low. Anyway, the idea that 40k is "working poor" is seriously a joke. Frankly, you look too young to be caught up in this old-school grief mentality.
"55% of Americans are below middle class. 55% make less than $40,000 a year, which is what most communication majors get right out of college."
Are you splitting hairs or am I misunderstanding your premise here? If you think that 40k us currency is "poor" or even 30k then you really need to take a look at the world. I mean, people are living on a hundred dollars a week. that is poor. 30 or 40k is not poor. that is about 700 dollars a week. don't go out in public talking this bs.
It needs to happen at the local level. People must band together in cooperatives. Stop buying everything from Big Biz. Develop local methods of growing food and providing services. Keep the money in the community as much as possible. Bring back the Mom and Pop restaurants and stores. Stop going to McDonalds and Walmart. Support the local community. The government will never help the people. It's up to us. The time is now. Or it's never.
Blackperll66 3 weeks ago
Hi, you sent me a message many months ago, last March I think, and I just got around to replying to you a few days ago. Come to find out you made a video on the very topic of your question. Instead of rewriting my answer, you can just check your inbox. I sent it a day or two ago.
pigeatinginfidel 2 years ago
lol.... Wait, what happened, now?
ProserpinaFC 2 years ago
The voucher program in DC has worked. Sadly Obama is ending the program. Instead of adding to the program to cover more students In a March 6, 2009 letter to Obama, the NEA president Dennis Van Roekel called the D.C. program "an ongoing threat to public education in the District of Columbia" and urged Obama to "use your voice to help eliminate this threat" by opposing "any efforts to extend this ineffective program."
ConservativeVoiceUSA 2 years ago
The students that are in the program HAD TO BEG that the program not end. Obama let the students already in the program keep it. Understand the students had to beg for it. No new students are allowed. A victory for the NEA and another defeat for the children of the poor. Just think, Obama is saying the schools his daughters are going to are not better than the drug filled, violent public schools in DC.
ConservativeVoiceUSA 2 years ago
I like the state level advocacy
Invirtuo 2 years ago
Yeah, state level is the only way to get anything done.
ProserpinaFC 2 years ago
It also allows competing systems within the nation, which facilitates innovation and choice
Invirtuo 2 years ago
Yeah-----
Anyway, people can't be expected to communicate with the entirety of America in order to solve problems. Plus, I've noticed from many advocacy groups is that they use the massiveness of the Union as an excuse for why they don't just change THEMSELVES and use the results of their own change to slowly persuade others.
Which is why I don't care for any legislative stomp-bans.
EX: I don't like fossil fuel use. So I care more about getting MYSELF off the grid than trying to ban it.
ProserpinaFC 2 years ago
What do you mean by "educating them to be unskilled workers?"
The last time i checked, people are responsible for their own education. If they're autonomous enough to vote, surely they should be autonomous enough to select their career goals. If *they educated* themselves to work in an unstable area of the market, whose fault is that?
Mrmoc7 2 years ago
I didn't realize elementary/middle school children were autonomous, responsible people.
Because by the time a child raised in a disadvantaged neighborhood is 10, they are already 2 years behind children blessed with middle class, "best practice" education.
This problem not only regenerates the destitution of "the ghetto" or "the underclass" or "poor and working class" or whatever you may call it, it creates a physical and cultural barrier between people and careers. You can't chose like that.
ProserpinaFC 2 years ago
Hello. You seem nice and with good ideas. It's definitely better than nothing. But what might assist you is the fact that capitalism is a bit of a fraud, created to mass the wealth in the hands of a very few. Any kind of "-ism" is.
I mean if the US money system wasn't controlled by Private non-american Bankers, then capitalism could probably be beneficial for a decent period of time, especially with certain rules followed it could work.
But since when are rules followed?
realguy420 2 years ago
"Any kind of "-ism" is."
I suppose you believe in small, domesticated farm-villages?
I'd hardly call capitalism a fraud, as it delivers what it (truthfully) advertises. Nobility by business makes a helluva lot more sense to me than the nobility by loyalty that came before capitalism. Capitalism didn't develop to spite the peasant, but it did create an opportunity for him. Why have the elite be people whose only value is loyalty? Why not the people who actually run the city, the businessman?
ProserpinaFC 2 years ago
Very well-spoken reply.
pigeatinginfidel 2 years ago
Get the good teachers to fight to get on staff at these schools because of higher pay and the parents who give a shit to work to have their kids test in. Unfortunately, regarding inner-city black schools and neighborhoods there is not much that can be done effectively within the current mentality. That's why you have to get the good kids out and to a place where someone who reads a book isn't "trying to be white". They'll catch shit back on their block, but be better off for it.
mitsom 3 years ago
There ARE things that can be done. When people are ignorant of truths, the best thing to do is teach.
Watch the lecture and come back to me.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
What these kids are lacking is not information.
mitsom 3 years ago
C'est la vie. Watch the lecture. XD
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Leadership Speaker Series: Geoffrey Canada
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Set up a quality school that bridges a number of inner city neighborhoods. Bus the smart kids in. Invest in resources that rival the schools in the burbs. Don't waste money on schools with bad kids and bad teachers. In Chicago they call these "magnet schools" and it's pretty successful. The biggest prob with some of these kids and families is mentality. Ignorant ass parents and dumb ass kids with no respect and a passion only for "stayin' ghetto". You want help, act like your ready for it I say.
mitsom 3 years ago
I live in Cleveland and we have magnet schools.
They don't work.
Take everything you said and push them to their logical conclusions.
"If we heavily concentrate on these 3 good schools, the fact that we have 5 bad schools seems less important."
Does nothing to reform the problems that you mentioned. Trust me, this was ALL Cleveland policy for 20 years.
Teaching and securing even the reluctant has to be included or else you are still leaving behind millions of kids who don't know better.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Did they have to "test" in? If youre just selecting a random bunch of kids and moving them to a new school you'll have the same issues. You need to get the best kids. It worked for me. But then I would have been alright either way.
mitsom 3 years ago
These kids know better. They just don't give a shit. If you continue trying to bring up the whole of the ghetto you will always loose through efficiency alone. Some of these kids are like cancer. If you are going to attempt to set up an educational oasis in the hood, you need to leave the weeds behind. Then you create a situation where parents with sense and kids with ambition want to be exclusive. You create a subculture where education is valued and not ridiculed.
mitsom 3 years ago
Watch my playlist's Harlem Children's Zone lecture from Harvard.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
One thing that struck me was your passive language, asking why we don't, "educate our Americans". People need to educate themselves, not have education done to them like milking a cow.
Many of the working poor can afford what people had in 1960. Would have to turn down various medical treatments, never use a computer or microwave oven, etc. though.
As a child I had to pump water at some places if I wanted a drink. There is a difference between work being repetitive and not needing skills.
siclos 3 years ago
Teachers educate children and I am asking for more teachers with skills to handle poor student's unique needs. Stop acting like I am asking for a nanny state.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
What I am saying is that teachers need students. You give teachers tiny bad mannered hostages with no desire to learn and the education system will consume vast amounts of resources trying to produce one properly educated citizen.
I am not blaming people for being poor, life isn't fair. What I am saying is that responsibility needs to start with the individual becoming stronger, not having the environment altered to compensate to allow individuals to become increasingly weak.
siclos 3 years ago
"You give teachers tiny bad mannered hostages with no desire to learn and the education system will consume vast amounts of resources trying to produce one properly educated citizen."
Well, that is the challenge of working in underclass and working poor concentrated neighborhoods.
Have you watched any of my videos from the Harlem Children's Zone?
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
No, (didn't see any) but I checked out the HCZ website and watched Obama talk about it. Obama rattled off a list of free services and affordable food instead of fast food every night. (How can people in poverty afford fast food?)
Says this year it'll spend an average of $3,500 per child and Obama wants to spread it to 20 cities. Will the increased consumption of these areas be supported by outside production forever? If services are removed would the area fall back into decline? Hrm.
siclos 3 years ago
If 55% of us are considered the "working poor", then I don't agree with the definition. Are the nonproductive people living off of the system included in this number? I just barely get by, but I do not consider myself the working poor. I don't even like the term "working poor". I would call them "hard working Americans trying to make something of their lives".
jbranstetter04 3 years ago
Ah, yes. Political correctness.
The nonproductive people are the underclass, a term that has been used for 20 years in sociological research. Read "The Truly Disadvantaged" by Dr. Wilson for more. I guess THEY would like to be referred to as "would be hard working Americans if only The Man would stop holding us back". lol
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
You don't have to like the term. In friendly conversation the term is working class or lower middle class.
But I'm angry that the middle class has disappeared and most people have dropped below $40,000, the minimum to raise a nuclear family in this country.
$40-50,000 (counting inflation) is the Ford worker. Being a worker in this country ONCE UPON A TIME could buy you a house, a car and provide for a future.
But what has outsourcing done to the middle class? Made it a college only club. wtf?
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
It is all a very complicated issue. Reagan said that he welcomed free trade because it only made us stronger. I think that that is true, but only if it is fair trade.
Take for an example. Ford is producing an automobile to sell here and on the world market. If they have a choice to buy a radiator from the US for $300, or one from Mexico for $50. Then which one should they choose? How are they supposed to compete on the world market if their auto is over priced?
jbranstetter04 3 years ago
Quite. Speaking of conservatives of the 80s, they also said that de-industrialization of our cities would be a good thing because it would clean them up and free Americans to become a mostly professional class country.
.... yeah.
Right now, 14% of Americans are functionally illiterate, 33% of adults never graduated high school, 60% of the country has only as high as a high school education.
China, India and EU are going to pwn us in one generation.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
So what is the solution? I mean it is education obviously, but how do we accomplish it? I for one am 100% in favor of school vouchers,like they have, or should I say had, until Obama got rid of them today. These kids in DC were going to alternative schools for $7,500, instead of the $13,000 plus that it costs for public school, and were recieving a better education. Is that not the goal? So why did Obama stop it?
jbranstetter04 3 years ago
In terms of how schools should be organized, I don't know, but I do know that I am more interested in HOW that is done rather than just delegating it by saying "vouchers."
Setting up the program doesn't really solve the problem. Obviously, there is a problem with the entire climate the kids around, outside of the schools. We need more professionals in those areas who can teach the children AND keep them away from the dangerous elements in their neighborhoods.
Watch some of the vids in my list.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Alright, this is my last thing. You can't apply the same formula to everyone. How old are you? I don't know. Frankly, you sound to me to be a bit naive. You speak in general, ideological terms that avoid the details. As you get older I think you will see that it's all about the details. It takes a lot of work just to get people to show up on time. Best wishes!
mitsom 3 years ago
This is one video that is simply expressing my general interest in life.
I'm not that interested in your hasty judgments of me. I came here to ask for others ideas and all you have is disgust for those neglected by education. So, I guess that leaves you out of the conversation. Buhbye.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
And to me it isn't the idea that "mean, bad conservatives didn't keep their promise."
It's that the country got distracted by the computer boom of the late 80s, then again by the internet boom of the 90s.
This recession now IS THE SAME recession of the 70s, because the issues of that time were never resolved.
Also, the massive liquidity created by the computer boom is what paid for the housing boom of the 2000s, so if anyone is to blame it Bill Gates for bringing all that asset to america. XD
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Traditional education system has failed. In my opinion charter school programs funded by our state officials would be the best answer. That would allow for education at the child's own rate. Since it has been proven that nutrition plays a big part in cognizance in the class room, so, educational, nutritional, and and health programs are needed. Email or write your congressmen and other state officials and let them know your opinion.
walkerazcarpenter 3 years ago
"Email or write your congressmen and other state officials and let them know your opinion."
Sorry, babe, but they don't care about my opinion. Ohio consitution states that the State is supposed to fund schools as they are now, but they refuse to do it and have been for 14 years since they were sued!
For some reason, our Republican government doesn't consider it important. And if they aren't going to change funding, they sure as heck aren't going to change funding and everything else. XD
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Yeah, sure, charter,. Been hearing alot about that idea, but I'd like to hear more about what the charter programs would actually DO to address the challenges of educating poor, homeless and underclass children.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Real reform within public schools as the exist today probably isn't possible. They are simply not setup to handle diversity. When they do try to embrace diversity, they typically aim at mediocrity.
Our students want and need mentors engaged in real work. That means the active involvement of local businesses and institutions. Anything less is likely to be, at best, a sophisticated exercise in babysitting.
hasatum 3 years ago
THANK YOU.
About time someone spit some truth. XD
Usually, these guys act like racial awkwardness isn't going to play any role in making these voucher schools. Never mind that white flight still happens today and that it is still a proven fact that the tipping point for when whites feel umcomfortable with diversity is 15%.
So, in a school of 400, only 60 can be black before parents start pulling kids out? Boy, please...
(Nevermind that vouchers became popular BECAUSE of racism)
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Well, race issues are critically important, but I don't want to limit it to race. I think it goes well beyond even that.
Each and every student wants to be really good at something and schools are designed to make sure that no child is particularly bad at anything. This practically guarantees low motivation as teachers push groupthink and obedience.
I'm teaching in Japan right now and if anything worse here where all students are racially homogeneous.
hasatum 3 years ago
White flight is justified because blacks commit homicides 6 times as often per capita as whites..
Among strangers the per capita rate of blacks who have killed whites is about 24 times that of whites who have killed blacks.
On average going from 100% white to 85% white 15% black would cause a 75% increase in homicides.
Per capita, blacks commit racial hate crimes over twice as often as whites.
Black on black violence is the highest, but don't blame whites for protecting themselves!
siclos 3 years ago
White flight is justified because blacks commit homicides 6 times as often per capita as whites.
(-__- )
Don't come at me with bullshit and justifications for people to be afraid of us. If a negro family moves into a $250,000 house, don't even play like they are criminals in disguise, ready to pounce.
There is no reason for whites in suburbs to fear MIDDLE CLASS Blacks who move there.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
The nicest place I ever lived in was worth maybe half of $250k. Most blacks near me live in Section 8 housing.
The 6:1 ratio is not bullshit, it's a statistic. To reverse the homicide ratio of 6:1, whites would have to kill 3500% more often, taking the ratio from 6:1 to 6:36.
Wouldn't you be scared if the news went from reporting less than 1 white murderer a month to at least one a day?
Is also car stereos at 3 am, litter, grafitti, not just violent crime. Drives property values down.
siclos 3 years ago
Well, Section 8 is the vexation of middle class blacks and whites alike.
Anyway, this is boring now. Back to education.
If part of your point before is that things learned ~in college~ are perfectly self-teachable material, I agree. I would love to dismantle either the undergraduate program or modern firms obsession with requiring it for even the most basic, low-level jobs.
Of course, they are probably doing that in response to higher demand for those jobs, thus making higher requirements.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
I believe that, using open content or freely licensed materials (Open Courseware, google it) and create a volunteer driven(teaching students internship) university (online to cut the building and grounds costs) that is available for free or perhaps a nominal fee (or lottery money)
cb31989 3 years ago
Eliminating the cost of distributing knowledge is very important. Although, I'd love to see the fight the textbook companies put up.
Man. Your typing style is confusing.
More teachers by ...? Wait, what?
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
1. Cut university salaries (tenure costs money) by utilizing Education Majors, as paid or unpaid interns for a semester.
2. Using existing knowledge repositories (Wikiversity, MIT OCW, Wikibooks) or creating freely licensed (GPL, LGPL, CC, PD) material to use to educate the masses.
3. Using the internet, a widely available resource as a platform to educate the masses. (visual learners can watch videos, auditory learners can listen to audio, and textile learners can use flash games to learn)
cb31989 3 years ago
1) Lay off people so that inexperienced replacements can teach their courses? I don't get what you mean at all.
2) Yeah, okay, I go that. But that eliminates only a small fraction of costs. MOAR!
3) If the text books were expensive, how expensive would it be for everyone to have a computer? XD
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
1. I'm not trying to eliminate existing universities, so no one gets laid off. And the replacements are assistants to the professional, so that one professor can teach multiple times the amount of students that one can in traditional university settings.
2. Cool.
3. OLPC says $199 per person. Or one can recycle existing computers using donated hardware, junk parts, and free (as in speech) software such as edubuntu or .... REVERSI!
cb31989 3 years ago
"I'm not trying to eliminate existing universities, so no one gets laid off. And the replacements are assistants to the professional, so that one professor can teach multiple times the amount of students that one can in traditional university settings."
Oh, so you want to make these old people work harder, longer and for less?
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
If we are talking about making college more affordable, then there's more than the teacher's salary and text books.
A lot of university money goes to fund the mini-cityscape of the campus.
Yet, at the same time, the public is not privy to use large public college facilities. The same is said of even the high schools and the elementary schools...
Also, research is really fucking expensive.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
I think one way to change the university format is to shrink it all together.
Shift the general liberal arts curriculum into high school so that each student graduates with "an associates degree".
This would, of course, greatly drop the value of an associates degree, but it is necessary. We can't compete again China, India and the EU with half the nation trained to be factory workers.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
And with our already failing standards, we would make more of a mess for ourselves.
cb31989 3 years ago
We would make more of a mess?
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
OK, nobody is trained to be a "factory worker" and nobody has ever been. I mean, there are no schools where you stand by a conveyor belt third week and they teach you how to grab stuff real fast. Even schools like Devry are technical. Factory laborers learn on the job and are trained on site. In case you havent noticed, not much of that is going on these days. So you really need to separate your education arguments from your industrial ones. It's not the same thing in so many ways.
mitsom 3 years ago
"OK, nobody is trained to be a "factory worker" and nobody has ever been. Factory laborers learn on the job and are trained on site."
Wow. Metaphors and subtext is lost on you, huh? Not a reader much, are you?
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
4 out of 10 Americans drop out of high school.
That's the biggest problem.
Generally, I don't like entitlements, but there is one program that I would support. I would like to see the states encourage youth to go to college and acquire a bachelor's degree in the natural sciences, math and engineering.
For example, if you earn a BS within 6 years of graduating from high school in a relavant field, the state would pay off 50 to 70% of your student loans if you work in the state for 5 years.
DEMCAD 3 years ago
Yes, yes, yes.
We can't grow new industries at China, India or the EU's rate with a tiny workforce of industrial people!
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
China, India,and the Eu have entirely different workforces. China is industrial, India is service oriented, and the EU is confused. Regarding industry, we can't compete with China because people on welfare here get more than those in China get to go to work. The service industry is the nut that can be cracked. But quite frankly, regarding your arguments in general,I think you should focus a little more on logistics and pragmatism. You have your head in the clouds. Solutions are always practical.
mitsom 3 years ago
I agree with you. In my opinion (and in many of the statistics that we hear about over here in the UK) this is an issue that has grown worse in the last 30 years.
The reality is if you are born into a poor family that you will die in a poor family. There is a real veneer placed over this reality, and a lot of very hard working people are living in squalor for the sake of the wealthy.
The trouble is we've known this for hundreds of years and nothing has changed. Do they really care? I doubt it
loftysbridge 3 years ago
Quite. XD
:)
I'll looking to generate as much movement as I can about education from the bottom-up. There have been studies of cities that improved their schooling habits, but only when all actors were on board, contributing.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
"The reality is if you are born into a poor family that you will die in a poor family."
Capitalism was once the driving force that got peasants out of serfdom, but now we've got these rich assholes lying through their teeth, distorting the meaning of capitalism so they can stay wealthy pigs.
Instead of encouraging "free market" bull about fraud being permissible if done in a three piece suit, we need to get back to the core: entrepreneurship.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Bill gates, Steve Jobs, both greedy, self interested, fixated, but damn they put a lot of people to work in this country. Entrepreneurs. Started in a garage with a passion and an idea. Capitalism never got "peasants out of serfdom" you're talking about different eras and unrelated concepts. For one thing, "peasants" are laborers. The irony is that capitalism by definition creates a welfare state at the bottom of the curve, not a laborer state. Thus the fixation on unemployment numbers.
mitsom 3 years ago
Peasants were not laborers, they were farmers.
Well, obivously I was talking about a hundreds of years ago. The evolution of England and the city was driven by the need and reason for proximity: business.
Capitalism doesn't create a welfare class. Liberal ideology that we should take care of those at the bottom created a welfare class. There have always been people who lived of the land and mercy of others, beggars, but only democracy provided the idea that all people are worth care.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
omg, you are all over the place here. am i to assume you do not regard farming as labor? capitalism did not exist hundreds of years ago. capitalism is not the desire of people to better themselves through hard work and industry alone. i would say that a definitive aspect of capitalism, amongst others, is the stock market. And democracy isn't about people being worth care, it's about keeping the people at the bottom from burning shit up.
mitsom 3 years ago
To Justin: They had an interesting report that GameStop was one of the only video game stores to still make profit because of used games being cheaper.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Yea, I can see that. Gamestop makes more of there money off Used games anyway, they don't make a profit off new anything. They have polices in place that makes you want to buy even more used games, it's kinda like Blockbuster if you look at it.
NileLLS 3 years ago
That is because policy influences all actions!
*high five to NileLLS*
Which is why we, as The People, should brainstorm policy on what is most important in education. :3
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Yeah a cycle where things could keep going to help everyone out. But Gamestop is way different than something big as education and has a lot of different factors that could break it o_ o
NileLLS 3 years ago
Well, gaming is your industry. I'm asking if gaming and comics could contribute to education.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
or they will close. Some poor families in dc get 7,500 a year to send their kids to the school that they choose. These kids are excelling and thriving. Open that opportunity to kids in Chicago, NY, Philadelphia and see how kids thirve!
RockTheFacts 3 years ago
I have heard a lot about making schools seperate entities, but I am not that interested in the idea as much as I am the reason why they may be successful: the programs they implement.
I don't care to delegate the problem to another, but investigate it myself. How they are organized can come later.
So, look at my playlist for other examples. I've heard some good things about DC district.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
There are several holes in your argument: First of all, the "working poor" is a term coined by liberals to make people feel inadequate. Ii am a firm believer in the American spirit and the American way. The "working poor" have cell phones (like the soup kitchen recipients taking pix of Michelle) televisions, ipods, etc...the govt tells them they are poor so you agree with the govt. 40,000/year is alot of money. cont...
RockTheFacts 3 years ago
Ummm... No, I think they feel inadequate enough when they have to use food stamps for food, when they can't afford to pay for their son's football gear, when they work two or three jobs that have them on the bus going back and forth between Solon and Independence.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
I'm with you, I know it is tough I am one of 5 kids in a family with one income..we can't afford alot of things - but the govts job is not to give me my neighbors money. I live in a free country - I can have what I want if I try and am willing to work. There are lots of things I don't have that I bet you do have! But I refuse to give up, I will be successful - without a handout!
RockTheFacts 3 years ago
YOU SHOULD REALLY, REALLY NOTE:
That I am not talking about how the government by "We". I am talking about society.
"What's the difference?"
The difference is that I am talking about all actors, all institutions and mostly without the government's help.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
You're willingness to work is great and it is what we need.
And there are ever so many things that need to be worked on. XD
Starting with, how should a local community address education in areas with overworked parents, too much crime and drama, and poor services.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
If you want people who don't make alot to be able to afford more, the best way to do it is to lessen their outlay, and the best way to do that is to lower taxes - on everything...we pay a ridiculous amt. of taxes .50 cents on every gallon of gasoline just to name one.
the answer to education is simple - you need look no further than Washington D.C.. Give parents a choice of where to send their kids. Schools will improve...cont
RockTheFacts 3 years ago
"If you want people who don't make alot to be able to afford more, the best way to do it is to lessen their outlay, and the best way to do that is to lower taxes - on everything."
Got anything else, really?
I'm trying to agitate a little curiosity out of you for WHY it is too expensive.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
Cell phones and TVs, while useful, are not the tools that help with education, empowerment, participation in the economy and democracy, or lessening violence and criminal activity.
:)
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
I'm not sure yet if I netted 40k on the books last year. Close I guess, and frankly I hope not, now that it's all said and done. I always want more money, then when tax time comes I pray the number stays low. Anyway, the idea that 40k is "working poor" is seriously a joke. Frankly, you look too young to be caught up in this old-school grief mentality.
mitsom 3 years ago
"Anyway, the idea that 40k is "working poor" is seriously a joke."
Wow, you really don't seem to be able to read.
ProserpinaFC 3 years ago
"55% of Americans are below middle class. 55% make less than $40,000 a year, which is what most communication majors get right out of college."
Are you splitting hairs or am I misunderstanding your premise here? If you think that 40k us currency is "poor" or even 30k then you really need to take a look at the world. I mean, people are living on a hundred dollars a week. that is poor. 30 or 40k is not poor. that is about 700 dollars a week. don't go out in public talking this bs.
mitsom 3 years ago