Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree with clodhopper, there's good and bad everywhere. But I think that racism is an issue that is extremely pushed and blown out of proportion. I don't think we should be segregated or separated by color, race, religion and I don't care who lives where, but maybe, just MAYBE if people didn't try to force each other to live together like one big happy family, maybe if we just went about our business, liking who we liked, disliking whomever we disliked, then maybe there would be less racial issues and potential race wars and deaths. People claim other people are racists if they don't accept someone, well I say, who cares. If I don't like someone, it should be my business why. And if someone doesn't like me, it's their business. Or it's between those two people. Me not liking someone is not going to ruin their life or cause their whole "race" to suffer. I'm white, there are white people I can't stand, for different reasons, and I'm sure that's okay, but if they were of a different color or nationality than me, then I'd be a racist...how stupid is that? And vice versa, you could hate someone from your own race and no one asks questions, but if you hate someone of a different race or color, suddenly it doesn't matter what they did to you, it's their skin that made you hate them. I can't stand that!!!! Racism is an issue because everyone pushes to be heard and gets mad if someone doesn't agree with their reasoning. People want to be accepted and if they're not, then they declare "unfairness". Well, the answer is simple, if everyone kept their mouths shut, no one would know if they were racist or not. We're entitled to our own opinions, but the trouble is when we feel we need to share those opinions with the world...some people take freedom of speech to the extreme. People also need to let go of the past that no longer exists and one which most of us, if not all, weren't even around to witness. I don't care if a blue Smurf lived next door to me (Smurf...can you guess my age LOL), whether I liked him or not would be based on his personality not what he looked like (although I don't think we'd be dating )
Backfist, I saw a previous post where you were looking to put your middle schoolers into a diverse school/neighborhood. How diverse do you think, as you request a "good school system" would be. Good luck in Charlotte, its plenty diverse there. Be careful of the drive-by's, robberies and carjackings done by the diverse population you want your kids to experience.
Yes, bundydad, I'm well aware that "good schools" is often a euphamism. And I'm similarly aware that in some minds--apparently yours--that young people from a diverse population, assumably including my children, are seen as drive-by shooters, robbers and carjackers. It's certainly not something that our kids will hear about themselves at home, but it's different once they're in school and amongst their peers. Outside of the home, we're concerned that they'll be seen in the same light you see them. And with other parents believing as you do, it's definitely fair to ask whether suburban North Carolina is the right place.
Someone said earlier in this thread that some of the worst instances of ignorance and bigotry comes from New Yorkers. I think maybe there's something to that.
One of our top rated school systems in all of NJ is East Brunswick. Blue Ribbon Elementary schools and an outstanding High School. It is also as diverse as you can get, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, Indian..........
Last edited by Ms.Charlotte; 05-11-2006 at 09:44 AM..
Yes, bundydad, I'm well aware that "good schools" is often a euphamism. And I'm similarly aware that in some minds--apparently yours--that young people from a diverse population, assumably including my children, are seen as drive-by shooters, robbers and carjackers. It's certainly not something that our kids will hear about themselves at home, but it's different once they're in school and amongst their peers. Outside of the home, we're concerned that they'll be seen in the same light you see them. And with other parents believing as you do, it's definitely fair to ask whether suburban North Carolina is the right place.
Someone said earlier in this thread that some of the worst instances of ignorance and bigotry comes from New Yorkers. I think maybe there's something to that.
While Im not sure about crime in schools overall In Charlotte, I know that most of the "diverse" inner-city schools have alot more of the problems with students being in gangs, fighting, and weapons on campus. Sorry, but that is the truth. Even North Mecklenburg HS, which is actually in the southern part of Huntersville has a high minority population. They have had numerous fights where the police came and used the taser on a few students last semester (fall '05) because of all the fighting.
I understand and agree that inner city schools are going to have higher instances of fighting, violence, and negative perception. All true. The irony is that our kids were attending the mythically "good school" in small town Colorado where "good" kids have brought weapons to school; where "good" kids are constantly in fights; and where bad/inexperienced teachers are the accepted norm. We pulled our kids out of that school--and began homeschooling them--so fast it made the principal's head spin.
But what you mention about Huntersville is exactly the scenario that we want to protect against: the notion that minority kids are the problem (as opposed to the symptom). I don't want to get too deep into such a discussion, but suffice it to say that we're concerned not only about our kids being seen as problems, but that our (potential) suburban Charlotte community would subtely reinforce that very notion.
I guess what I'm saying is that our kids shouldn't pay the price of biased perception based upon other kids' actions--simply because they share the same ethnicity.
Of course you always have the option of home schooling or private schooling in NC as well. I guess my wife and I are a little hypocritical in that she teaches public but our kids went private. We switched our oldest girl to public in highschool (she loves it and is A-B student), but will keep our youngest (9) in private for now.
Private schooling is not without problems/tradeoffs but it can still be an option for working folks here.
We're definitely going to look into homeschooling/online schooling in NC. I used to be dead set against homeschooling because I thought it deprived kids of needed social interaction. But it was, ironically, suburban and small town schools that showed me the light; that schools have gotten bad everywhere.
We're looking into online schooling right now, so that if we move to NC, we'll have some control over the urban/suburban tensions that our kids would be subjected to at school.
Man ... I dealt with this kind of thing 35 years ago when I was a kid. You'd think we would have gotten past it by now.
I'm sorry, but I feel very strongly about this issue.
The problem here really isn't "racial" in nature. There was indeed a time in our country when “racism” was a very real issue . Yes, on anecdotal levels, you can still encounter "racists" of any color but the thing is, it isn't a prevailing, national thing like it used to be.
As far as “race”, if anyone needs to look in the mirror and be honest about what they see, it’s black culture. The cultural emphasis that's being imparted onto huge numbers of black children doesn’t value education, accomplishment and achievement. It’s all about perpetuating the concept of racial victimhood, acting “tough”, playing sports, wearing gold jewelry and blaming white people without taking responsibility for ones own actions. The poor black kids who really want to better themselves or strive towards a modicum of achievement were lambasted by their black peers for being “whitey”. Of the hundreds of kids I mentored, there wasn’t a SINGLE EXAMPLE of a black child living in a two parent household. Not a single one. The National statistics are clear that what I saw isn’t an anomaly, either. I experienced all of this first hand and it made me positively sick to behold.
The real issue here is the pervasive decay of our culture- black and white alike- that in turn translates into our children and schools. Parents who remember a better time and a better way are shocked to see what our schools have become, and immediately start trying to find reasons for it.
Maybe it's "racism" or maybe the schools aren't getting enough money or maybe it’s (insert excuse here)...
Really, it all boils down to what we have become as a people and a country.
A while back, I served in the Americorps National Civilian Community Corps program. As a function of the program, I had the opportunity to tutor and mentor elementary school kids in a working class area in the Northeast. Black, White and a few Asian kids. All in all, the children were terribly misbehaved. The teachers and administrators had to deal with them using a bullwhip mentality rather than as an "educator". The school was more like an 8-hour daycare rather than an institution of learning. Thing is, I was the lucky one to be assigned to that school. Other members of my program were sent to inner-city schools in New York City, Boston, Baltimore, etc... The behavioral conditions were so horrible that it was impossible for anyone to accomplish anything. The genesis for this decay can be traced straight back to the 1960’s when discipline was taken out of our schools in favor of a gushy, mushy “feelings” based method. The result is children who aren’t afraid to look a teacher straight in the eye and tell them to go to hell, because they know the result won’t be anything more than a few days at home, watching TV.
I think we all need to take a collective look at ourselves and figure out where in the hell we went wrong. Blacks really need to stop blaming whites and looking for “racism” in everything, as there are too many deep flaws within that community- things that are very much their own fault- for them to be constantly blaming white people for everything that’s wrong with them.
Conversely, white people need to look at our own **** culture and purge it of this moron-mentality where feelings and idealism trumps reality and practical measures. We really need to return to a better time. If anyone is to blame for the decay of our prevailing social structure, it’s us.
I had a foster child once that was out of control like you are talking about. She was about 10 and in the fifth grade. I don't recall exactly what she did but it was on the level of telling the teacher to go to hell so to speak. She was absolutely floored when I marched her back to the class the next day and made her apologize to the teacher and told her that she would do precisely what the teacher made her do as punishment. My own kids weren't like that. But I have seen some dilly. When Brianna was 6 she actually slapped her 1st grade school teacher. They put in her counselling, well, they would have put her in counselling if I hadn't already had her in there since she was 3. And I tell you, she was born some 17 years after my last biological child. I don't know what happened between 1977 and 1994, but the kids are just plain different than they use to be. Thankfully at the age of 12 Brianna has calmed down some. She still has a mouth hung on her though. More than I am sure that her mother who has regained custody of her now would like for her to have. She is still in counselling and I guess she will be until she learns to control that explosive temper of hers.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
)
