http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/01/cosby.comments.ap/index.html)
(This is copied from a post I made in other forum about the same topic)
When I go out somewhere I think "Gee, there's a black person. And look, there is a white person. This place sure has alot of asians, too." That's racism. Which is fine. Racism in the dictionary term, in my opinion, is wrong due to the fact that you can label people by thier race and color, without actually discriminating them. Is there really something wrong about saying that two people are different because of thier skin? No, because there is something different between thier two; thier skin color. And that's it.
Discrimination on the other hand is when you think that because a person has white skin, he has the right to beat other people with black skin up. So is when a person has black skin and believes that all of his problems are due to white people. That's wrong, and that is what Bill Cosby is saying.
*applauds* now if only someone would do this with the white kids that think they are black "gangsta's" or "thugs".
Personally I think a lot of american children are becoming lazier in their education.
Originally posted by InsaneSith
Personally I think a lot of american children are becoming lazier in their education.
It's not just that American children are becoming lazier, it's that schools and parents are getting lazier.
For instance, at my school I do really good. I get straight A's and B's, even though I rarely need to study. They focus on wether we'll do good on test and then get them more money; they dumb down test to be extra easy. Even if you fail, you hardly EVER repeat a grade, it's just Summer School and Saturday School for you.
Which then leads onto your point, because American children do not feel pressured to do well and believe that having street credit or becoming a "gangsta" is better than being smart. Most parents it seems, on most occassions, don't really give a damn about thier children's grades or habits. They don't really push thier kids hard. I'm lucky with the parents I got: Although they don't push with me on studying skills much(partly due to how easy it is to get good grades, I imagine), they do give me support, push me to get good grades, and actually try to teach me things. Which seems lacking in most children's lives it seems.
One major flaw, and this will relate to the topic, that most children unfortunately miss, is that they're usually the source of the problem. They almost alway complain that "no, it's his fault!" "No, it's my dog's fault!" "It's society;s fault", but it's thier fault for most of the problems they encounter in life. I'm being a hyprocryte, though, because I blamed my lack of study skills on the school system. Heh. I'm trying to fix it too, but that's not to say it's solely my fault, it's also the school's and parent's fault. It's the fault of the child, the fault of the school, and the fault of the parents about how degenerative the generations are getting.
And I'm too tired to even talk about how the media is affecting this..:p
Indeed, I'm very fortunate also that my parents don't push me to get an education, because I naturally desire one, I wish to better myself. But I look around and I see people just.... growing more idiotic as the days go by. It's very sad, I would stay up late, drink booze, and would go to school with a hangover and still pass. Though I'm glad to say come this monday I'll be officially out of high school, an entire year early, count it 365 days earlier than I would have normally.
my biggest qualm though is instead of making work harder, they just give students more work, my 8 year old cousin comes home with literally 40 pounds of homework, all pretty easy, but it's just so abundant and it's literally a mess to get through.
Originally posted by InsaneSith
my biggest qualm though is instead of making work harder, they just give students more work, my 8 year old cousin comes home with literally 40 pounds of homework, all pretty easy, but it's just so abundant and it's literally a mess to get through.
That's worse than what my school suffers from. Idealy, homework should be something that's hard, but not tedious and most importantly, redundant. I wouldn't mind having to read a social studies chapter and then do a worksheet with around 15 fill in the blank and 5 really thought provoking questions. Or 20 math problems that require you to study over the examples they gave you in class.
Then again, the school system would probably do that if it had a much better budget, but look we're in a war..oh well. :rolleyes:
Leave no child behind my ass...
Edit- Fixed a typo.
Originally posted by Tyrion
Leave no child behind my ass... heh, they're behind because the homework weighs more than them XD
Originally posted by Tyrion
Leave no child behind my ass, because it might swallow them...also I have messy diarhea
Sorry man, I couldn't resist.
:D
Originally posted by CapNColostomy
Sorry man, I couldn't resist leaving a child behind my ass, because it swallowed him and gave me naughty pleasure.
Two can play this game. :p
I had thought about posting about this as well, but never got around to it. I'm not black, and i'm unamerican so i don't really have to deal with "race issues" very often, if at all... so i can't completely say whether what he says holds true.
But from my limited perspective he seems to be making sense.
I'd say that MOST of what he is saying is more relevant to underprivileged kids in general than just black kids though.
Sit on any bus in london and you hear most kids (white, black whatever) talking in a language that can only barely be related to english. Many of the other problems he mentions are similarly cross-ethnic. I'm not one of those people who believes the english language is sacred or anything.. i use as much slang and swearing as the next guy. But i do know how to at least TRY and talk proper when the need arises (such as a job interview) and you have to wonder how many of these kids are dooming themselves to a life that they can't better due to the fact they won't be taken seriously in interviews and won't have the education to "break out".
I guess it would be even more galling if previous generations had had to fight and sacrifice to get opportunities for their kids, to see them not grasping them, and often literally turning their backs on them through their choices though...
I quite like rap, and i have a bit of understanding of WHY many black artforms have turned in on themselves (ironic stereotypes and all), but it does seem to have recently got to the stage where anyone who isn't full of gangsta attitude gets called lightweight or sellout. The cosby show has been the butt of a lot of jokes among black comedians for a long time now.