By: greg johnson

greg johnson — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 02:41:14 +0000

Rich is spot on!! It is a problem I have thought about a lot, and have no great solutions. As a person who has little faith in government, I believe the only possible solution is a grass roots movement. Successful people from dysfunctional neighborhoods could go back and create and inspire. Young adults and kids are more likely to listen to them than someone from the outside. Do I think this will happen? Probably not on any meaningful scale, but I think it’s the only way and I wish it would.

By: Rich Rifkin

Rich Rifkin — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 22:36:31 +0000

In his list of things ‘we should do to improve the equity and diversity in our education system,’ Mr. Feng leaves out the one factor which gravely harms the educational prospects of a large share of ‘underrepresented’ minorities: their families. Asians succeed in education in large part because their parents do three things: they push their kids to work hard in school; they expect their children to succeed in school; and they delay their own gratification, setting a necessary example for their kids. Most children (of all races and ethnicities) who don’t reach their potential in school, unfortunately, come from homes where their parents were not ready to be parents, don’t know what it means to push their kids to succeed in school and have no expectation that their children will succeed in school. It’s all well and good that we “invest more in early childhood education.” But that will largely go to waste unless we expect parents to do a much better job, including waiting to have children until they are ready for the responsibility.

Comments on: Don’t revert to discrimination

By: greg johnson

By: Rich Rifkin