Comments on: SATs show our kids aren’t ready for college

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:28:25 +0000

The problems we face today with education require a new paradigm. I respect and value the hard work and values that many American families exhibited during the times you refer tot. However, African Americans came to this land as slaves; their families were rent asunder for profit and control. The burden of this sin against their abilities to establish families and the structure you so want to impart has been evident through our country’s history. So,let’s not try to solve today’s issues with values and approaches that not only just don’t address today’s need, but also don’t reflect our country’s historical realities. The examples you cite hold true for the population of people you referred to and not to Americans who have struggled to find a voice and future in this great society. I was born and raised in a Southern city, knew many families with situations that you eluded to that were both black and white. Both black women and white women raised me. I did have a faithful and attentive father also. But it was the women, both black and white, in my life that thought me, cared for me, and inspired me. Strong people, caring people, people of character can make a difference. I have seen numerous students succeed for numerous reasons over thirty years. However, if support was not their at home, maybe they found it with a coach, a teacher, a mentor. It would be great to award or grant each child with the family structure you suggest. However, when it’s not there then one has to come up,with a viable and workable alternative. I found inspirations in the many moms who raised Me. I was lucky. Each child deserves to be lucky and loved for who they are and who they can become. That’s what education is truly about. When I meet former students, they don’t remind how I was able to help them understand gerunds or the subjunctive mood. No, they might recall how when reading Romeo and Juliet aloud I insisted that they participate, despite the fact they stumbled over every other word and their classmates predictably moaned and groaned. They remember that someone said they could do it; more importantly that we would all wait until they could. We were family in that classroom; believe me that is what makes most classrooms tick. There are all types of families in education. Let’s not forget that in this discussion.

By: Rich Rifkin

Rich Rifkin — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 03:17:20 +0000

“Is the issue one of broken families lead to poverty ridden environments, or do poverty ridden environments lead to broken homes?” There is a vicious cycle of poverty, and maybe this is what you are getting at with your question, Martin. However, condsider the millions and millions of poor immigrants who have come to our country. They all lived in “poverty ridden environments.” But they survived because they had strong family structures. And they built on that familial foundation (in almost all cases of generational success) an education. Those groups of poor people with the strongest families and the strongest dedication to education–in the last 30 years best represented by Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean immigrants to the United States–have had the most success. By contrast, children with the misfortune of growing up in broken homes, where dad abandons his family and mom lacks the education and other skills to support her kids on her own, often fail in school and go on to fail in the world of work. (Of course there are exceptions to this among individuals who succeed despite their circumstances.) Thus, in my opinion, the key to solving poverty has to start with rebuilding the family structure among the poor: discourage out of wedlock births, for example. Encourage young women to wait to finish school and to have some job skills and more life experience before they give birth. And try to teach males who father children that they are responsible for their kids. I concede that changing cultures is extremely hard. However, the longer we pretend that the answers to our societal problems (not just school failure, but also most crime) does not start with the family structure, the longer we will continue to suffer these same societal problems.

By: Jill Brooks

Jill Brooks — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:20:33 +0000

More Raves for Rifkin, who consistently and without “raising his voice” tries to find logical solutions to vexing problems!

Actually, I wandered over here to comment on the Back to Campus article on the Aggie mascot. Everyone seems to have forgotten Ollie Mustang, who was the very active and evident cheerleader at all Aggie football games back in the 50’s, when I was a student. He didn’t have the backstory of Gunrock, but he was a perfect fit in those halcyon days.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:54:13 +0000

There was a time when people who were on welfare were not allowed to have land line phones. This stipulation changed with the realization that the phone line provided opportunities for employment. Today’s cell phone offers the same opportunity for many seeking employment. As to traditional family breakdown being the cause of low SAT scores, that is absurd. To begin with many traditionally oriented families live below the poverty level and yet their children often perform poorly at school and at SATs, mostly due to second language acquisition. Furthermore non traditional families offer two parents, a safe caring environment, and success access to educational achievements in school and with standardized testing. And finally utilizing other people’s money is more the trademark of successful market investors in the commodities and trade markets than those who obtain their legal tax returns and benefits.

By: Social Security

Social Security — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:39:02 +0000

Define “poverty”. No cell phone? It’s all about the breakdown of the traditional family. That’s the real problem. It’s just hard for some people to accept an obvious truth because it conflicts with their belief that every problem can be solved by using somebody else’s money.