Another opportunity to trash Trasher from last winter.
I suppose if you want this one to make any sense, you might want to peruse this link. More Steven Thrasher. Never hurts to know how some people think, particularly if you might think differently.
Dr Bob
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/2010-02-23/news/inside-a-divided-nyc-public-school/
The same people gathered with their outrage in tow, in the same place they had arranged before, so everyone knew where to go. Familiar faces gravitated to each other, friendships and business relations rekindled, anticipation built. They waited for their chance to shine. They had time for this or made time for this, because this was their moment again. They live for these gatherings. And the faces in the windows looked out at them in disgust and fear, and that made them happy.
Circling like the scavengers they are, the folks with the cameras and the microphones waited too. They knew where and when to set up, for such purely spontaneous events are also planned and publicized in advance. The reporters too were filled with anticipation and hope, for the people gathered here provided not only their bread and butter, but they also validated much of what the reporters also held close to their hearts.
The disappointment was palpable when the realization finally seeped through the crowd gathered at the usual place. There would be no rioting that day. The damn judge had done the right thing, and the incompetent police officer who killed the criminal would not be released on bail, and so the purely spontaneous planned response to the outrageous abuse of these poor abused people couldn't happen, cause they hadn't been abused enough that day.
So when the cameras and microphones came out anyway, all the professional malcontents could talk about was how they usually are abused, rather than how they had actually been abused that day. Sure, they still had plenty to complain about, but that never is as much fun as rioting, tossing rocks through windows, and burning stuff. Ya almost had to feel sorry for them.
And the faces in the windows went back to work, and they canceled the orders for the replacement windows. The people gathered in the usual place didn't bother to go back to work. That was a familiar behavior, too.
The officers wearing the helmets and face guards hung around a bit longer, just around the corner where they wouldn't offend the professional malcontents. Their duty involved standing between the mob and the faces in the windows, and they do this thankless job whenever needed. Which is often these days.
The police could have been out on the streets, diligently working to stop the young men in Oakland neighborhoods who murder each other every night, instead of baby sitting a mob of professional malcontents. They do that every day, in spite of the hate and resentment they face in the community, and the difficulty they face trying to pry the violent criminals out of the community, for the sake of the community. The community does little to keep these young men home and off the streets at night, and they deliberately interfere with criminal investigations, so the police often cannot arrest the young men after they kill each other. So it is the community that carries much of the responsibility for these murders, while the police receive all the criticism.
One man took advantage of the microphone in front of his face, to point to the group of police who stood around the corner, (just waiting to deprive him of his right to complain about everything), so he could complain about the police. He wanted to know why the police were there, intimidating him and his mob, instead of out in the streets where young men were murdered every day. And the lady holding the microphone simply smiled in assent.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the country, the new hanging curve ball I found (to feed me even better lines than my invisible friend) was holding court. Steven Thrasher wrote about two schools in New York City in the Village Voice. You might remember him from your homework assignment a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Thrasher does what I do. He looks around for things that seem wrong to him, and then writes about them. Some people agree with him, and others wonder if he should really be on a different planet. Ya know, kinda like people feel about my words.
Now, I’m trying to be fair here, so I will readily admit to having read only these two of Mr. Thrasher’s columns. Perhaps he does occasionally touch on other interests, but there seems to be a common, almost obsessive thread running through both of these columns. In short, if Thrasher sees something wrong with his world, in his mind it is always about racism and it is always White People’s Fault. He doesn’t seem to see much more than skin color in anything. And he writes as if he expects his readers to already believe that it is always White People's Fault. So as I attempt to paraphrase some of his thoughts, and then comment on them, I will use the expediency of simplifying. In this piece, if I’m paraphrasing Mr. Thrasher I’ll just use WPF. This should save space and time.
Thrasher wrote about two elementary schools, one old and one new. Both occupy the same building, an old brick classic named after some guy who drowned while swimming off the Titanic. The building and the two schools live in a squalid, impoverished neighborhood. New York City has many squalid, impoverished neighborhoods, and also many fancier, more affluent neighborhoods. According to Thrasher, the neighborhood in question is largely populated by brown and black skin. Other squalid, impoverished neighborhoods are populated by white skin, but Thrasher doesn’t mention these. Perhaps this is because when he looks at the state of the neighborhoods populated by white skin, he can't lay the blame on White People. (And in contrast you may notice that in this instance, I will) As expected, according to Thrasher, the state of the neighborhood in his column, and all its problems, are WPF.
The old school is appalling. Vandalized by its students, poorly maintained, and under-staffed, it mostly passes on poorly performing, poorly behaved students to an equally poorly performing high school. And since its students have brown and black skin, this situation must be WPF.
The chaotic environment in the old school drags all its students down to a lowest common denominator, so the students moving on to high school, and eventually life, mostly are unprepared to succeed. So they don’t. Even the most talented students are often beaten down and swallowed up by the neighborhood, never to be seen again.
The new school is intended to correct some of this. It was created to provide an environment in which gifted students can take their talents as far as possible, without having the lowest common denominator effect stifle them. Several of these new schools are evenly scattered around the city, so a gifted student might have access to this opportunity without having to travel far. The new school is in the same building as the old school, so a gifted child from this squalid, impoverished neighborhood has the same physical opportunity to attend as any other.
Thrasher is outraged over the need to have separate entrances in the old building for each school, for he can make this seem racist. But (I wonder) doesn't the desire to not let lowest denominator effect destroy this education effort mandate separating the students?
To qualify for admission to the gifted elementary school, each child must pass a challenging screening test. To take the test, the parents of the child must apply for the opportunity. Many parents of successful applicants have tutored their children to improve their chances with this testing. And when some of these children are accepted to this new school, these parents often transport them great distances so they can attend. Thrasher points out that most of the students in the new school have white or yellow skin. Cause, you know…
Somewhere in this column Thrasher may have mentioned that yellow skin once caught the same racial discrimination in this country as black and brown, but I missed the part where he tells how they overcame that to the degree that yellow skin now helps populate the new school.
Thrasher mentions one girl who attends the old school. She is very bright, so she is bored in her classroom, because the pace of study is lowest common denominator. So she misbehaves. Thrasher mentions that most of the children in the class misbehave, and the result is chaos that the teacher must address, rather than teach. I suspect that Thrasher would like his readers to think that this girl would thrive in the new school, and perhaps she would, but I cannot wonder if the fact that she did not learn any manners in her family, along with so many of the other misbehaving children in the old school, might that not hinder her performance in the new school? And if her family had wanted her to go to the new school, shouldn’t they have tutored her and signed her up for the test?
Thrasher also suggests that there is a 50% likelihood that this girl will eventually drop out of high school, and thus permanently handicap her life. Because she has brown skin, he mentions. Obviously this is WPF, but doncha wonder…where are those same parents when this happens?
The kids in the old school rotate through a computer lab, where hopefully they are learning skills they can take along into adulthood. Thrasher mentions a class assignment, where the students are tasked with searching for information on successful black skinned men. Specifically, no athletes or entertainers allowed. Pouting, this bright girl types “boring African American man” into a search site. Apparently, success attained through nose to the grindstone work is too dull for this child, and she would rather have flash and bling. Wonder where she learned that?
Thrasher also mentions that some of these children who attend the old school don’t have computers at home, and the ones who do mostly play games, and rarely study. Thrasher goes WPF, and I just wonder…where are their parents?
Chaos does not rule the new school. The kids in the classrooms are generally quiet and well behaved. Thrasher attributes this to the better teacher student ratio, but apparently these kids actually possess manners. Perhaps someone at home insists on this? And the kids also seem comfortable with nose to the grindstone effort, as if this were expected of them, too.
No question, the new school offers its kids a better opportunity than the old school. That is why it exists. Many of these new school children will grab this opportunity and ride it through an entire education, which will open up other opportunities in their lives. This is a good thing, but by no means is it a guarantee of success in life. Some will fail in spite of it. Some will chose not to take advantage of this opportunity, and they take their chances through other avenues. Some may succeed wildly, and others may fall off by the side of the road after they toss away the opportunity presented them. Effort often makes the biggest difference
Thrasher mentions the PTA meetings at the two schools. The new school has an active, well-attended PTA that enhances the school experience for their kids, and the old school has only a few active parent members. Thrasher suggests this is unfair. I suppose he would call this WPF, but I don’t. The kids with actively involved parents often have the advantage. Thrasher may think that it’s WPF that none of the kids in this neighborhood have much of a chance, but in apparent defiance to him, some do. They tend to be the ones who have parents who teach them to try to succeed rather than the ones who waste their lives blaming others for their shortcomings.
In fact, I have to wonder when the blame simply becomes the excuse.
The parents in Oakland who let their sons run the streets at night, to kill and die out there, and the parents who stand firmly in the way of the police who try to stop this criminality among their kids are little different from many of the parents in one squalid, impoverished neighborhood in New York City.
Thrasher asserts constantly that the kids attending the new school have an unfair advantage over the other parents' kids, and this is WPF. Yet all of these parents have one thing in common. They all impact the fate of their children. And it is effort, or lack thereof, that often makes the biggest difference.
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