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In reply to the discussion: Student from Keystone state scores perfect SAT score [View all]Blanks
(4,835 posts)I lived in Shreveport in a poor neighborhood for a couple of years and one day the school called us to tell us that our son was missing. We went to the school and everyone was more concerned about the middle school children standing quietly in line for lunch than anything else.
It turns out that my son was at school (in school suspension which we didn't know about) and the administration was rude to us when it turned out to be their mistake.
My wife and I are not black; we lived in a predominantly African American neighborhood and the neighbor kids were plenty intelligent to learn anything, but that isn't what was going on at school. The teachers weren't really focused on teaching and the parents really weren't educated enough to make certain that it was happening.
I really wish more was being done to give these poor inner city kids a chance to 'get interested' in things outside of their current domain. I wish we could get more middle and high school teachers from backgrounds outside of the education industry with real world experience.
I used to give presentations to middle schoolers when I worked at the highway department and regardless of where the school was; they seemed interested.
I just think that we need to expose children to more occupations when they are in school. For some kids; the only professional that they ever come into contact with is the teacher.
We have a lot of African American children in this country with huge potential that is going to waste because we don't take care of them and their parents. Again, I wish more was being done to provide them with the necessary resources.
I feel a bit like, when we show an example like this talented young man, the other kids who can't do the same; it looks like they are just lazy. I don't think that's fair.