Second-Class Students

[marmar]

from truthdig:



Second-Class Students

Posted on May 2, 2011
By James Harris


In a recent interview, Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Tony Smith shared with me one of the most mind-numbing statistics I have ever heard: According to the Alameda County Health Department, a black child born in West Oakland will, on average, die 15 years before a white child born in the hills of Oakland.

“Surely this must be enhanced or inflated for shock value,” I said to Smith. “This can’t be real.”

“That is a real statistic that exposes serious inequity along racial lines in Oakland,” said Smith. We sat for a minute talking about our hopes for our children and our hopes for Oakland schools, but the statistic stung me with a viscous dose of reality, which quickly transformed into deep concern and doubt about Oakland’s education system.

I imagined being a young, black student in 2011 and hearing that statistic—not only hearing it, but feeling the piercing reality of it every day I go to school. The dilapidated flatlands classrooms, the out-of-date texts and lack of technology—the message would be clear: They (whoever “they” are) don’t care about me or anyone who looks like me. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/second-class_students_20110502/

[fasttense]

1. I'm continually surprised that African Americans are not

constantly protesting in mass.

[checks-n-balances]

5. + 1000

[midnight]

2. I sure race to the top has a fix in their tool bag for areas

in our country like Oakland that have lower resources. Of course I'm making this sarcastic point because the only thing those at the top of this race care about is money and not education... The model for our schools should be the best schools that our luckiest children attend... Schools that care and support and help children learn about them selves and develop an understanding of the class material being taught... It's a lot of work and it needs funding and less testing....

[msongs]

3. tupac as a role model. there's one place to begin right there nt

[marmar]

4. Huh?

:wtf: