bob
February 26, 2006, 4:36am
31
I’ll chirp in since this was my idea…
Some time ago it became apparent to some of us that a lot of really inspired, wise, witty stuff was being buried in an avalanche of the mundane; hence was born the classic posts thread.
Since then though it has become obvious that classic to me or you might not be classic to the other guy, or vice versa. For example quite a few people thought that the pictures of “gems” stolen from Iraq was a classic. To me it was a repetition of the same joke over and over again.
Truth is it could take us a year to come up with a definition of classic and in the meantime the classic thread will become just like any other.
I’m going to get slaughtered for this but I think the classic thread needs a single moderator who can be trusted to recognize quality. If that moderator was me I’d probably delete half of what is in here now and replace it with posts like this (from Imaniou) …
As far as environment, it’s a known fact that most cushy teaching jobs (those in well-off schools and school districts with lots of resources) go to tenured, experienced teachers. Teaching jobs in impoverished schools and school districts often go to inexperienced teachers or teachers who are not dedicated to their work. As a reward for becoming better teachers, those who make improvements go on to the nicer schools where parents are more dedicated to their children’s education, the students all have goals that usually include tertiary education or trade schools, and the community has the money to provide the school with the resources it needs to produce the programs it wants.
Meanwhile those kids attending school in the more impoverish districts keep teachers that no one else wants and the teachers who don’t know what they are doing, using what little resources the district can afford to give them. Can you imagine feeling motivated to learn and pursue higher learning when all the teachers you get don’t want to be at your school, could care less whether or not you learn, and live for the weekend? What kind of message would you get about your self-worth when your own parents (or rather parent) doesn’t or can’t support you in your learning and your teacher would just as soon have you drop out so her class can go from 30 students to a slightly more manageable 29?
All of us on this website are lucky that we had someone out there who cared enough for us to inspire us to learn. I cannot say there is anyone here who did not have at least one really good teacher. And even if your home environment was not perfect, you still had someone in your life who believed in you. Not many of these kids get that. And if your life is devoid of hope, of the idea that you can escape the misery around you, then why bother getting better if becoming a part of that negativity is inevitable (or so you are led to believe)?
I am one who believes that genetics has nothing to do with how successful one’s life can be. Environment plays a big role in who we are. If we are taught that XYZ people are inferior to us, then until some opportunity comes along to show us something different, we will continue to believe that XYZ people are inferior to us. If we live in an environment where we are treated as if we are animals incapable of achievement, then if no one comes along to tell us otherwise, we will continue to follow the path we think we are meant to follow. Many people in the US (and our other home countries) believe that life outside of their own community/country is not safe or is too difficult to survive in. They never leave their home country. I think that idea is similar to what impoverished people, who are never told that they don’t have to live in poverty and can choose to improve their lives, go through. Granted, I was a linguistics major and not a sociology one, but I think it’s self-evident:
If you don’t teach a child to be respectful at home, most of them won’t learn it on their own, ignoring the fact that they do learn something through school culture and outside of the home.
If you don’t teach your child how to delay gratification, chances are they won’t be able to do it on their own.
If you don’t teach a child that they are worthy of success and capable of achievement or push them to do their best, you cannot expect that they will do these things on their own.
Let’s face it, it’s much easier to be disrespectful, get what we want immediately, and be lazy than to be respectful, patient, and hard-working. But it takes discipline and love to help us understand why it’s worth having the latter characteristics. Unfortunately, not everyone gets this discipline and love. Especially in impoverished urban environments.
I’d probably fill it with a lot of extreme silliness as well since that is what I happen to like and so do quite a few other people apparently.
Anyway I suppose what it will take to make this thing work is enough commitment to make it an actual forum rather than just a thread and then appoint a moderator. Sandman is probably the best qualified.