Maybe I'm callous. Maybe I'm a typical evil white male. Maybe this is an offshoot of conservatism, which only enhances my evil white male status. But I am just not getting it.
If people choose to act like savages, that is their choice. I believe that they can rise above their savagery, if they so choose. But if they choose not, then they are not my concern. And this is based on the principle that life changes occur from the inside out, rather than the outside in.
So the notion of disdaining a private education or a gated community--that's just a premise that I can recognize, but one that I do not really understand. It seems to presume that children within such an environment will grow up to have appalling values and without the ability to appreciate the challenges of socio-economic diversity. And I don't buy such a presumption, tagging myself as evidence to the contrary.
Conversely, I see such savagery as limiting the potential of those that want to choose a different path. It's been my experience that the progress of content within the classroom can be largely dictated by the lower 25%. The slow are slowing down the quick. And that, to me, just seems counter-intuitive. Yes--I understand the argument that the quicker 25% may speed up the slower 25%... but is the fundamental role of education: (a) personal education; or (b) a socialist agenda attempting to equalize educational output.
I myself, choose the former. Little Bobby (who is developmentally delayed and has overt behavioral problems, living with his poor single-mother, over-populated and otherwise crappy environment) shouldn't have the power to limit my child's life opportunities.
Succinctly stated: Just because I have the calling and drive to help people help themselves out of such plights does not mean that I am obligated to live in that environment or subject (and subsequently hinder) my child to it. (I could go on, using my niece that got bussed into a thug-high-school because she was a high-performing minority as an additional example...but at some point, I have to get to work. Stories that she's told me about her ex-school are legendary.)
If people choose to act like savages, that is their choice. I believe that they can rise above their savagery, if they so choose. But if they choose not, then they are not my concern. And this is based on the principle that life changes occur from the inside out, rather than the outside in.
So the notion of disdaining a private education or a gated community--that's just a premise that I can recognize, but one that I do not really understand. It seems to presume that children within such an environment will grow up to have appalling values and without the ability to appreciate the challenges of socio-economic diversity. And I don't buy such a presumption, tagging myself as evidence to the contrary.
Conversely, I see such savagery as limiting the potential of those that want to choose a different path. It's been my experience that the progress of content within the classroom can be largely dictated by the lower 25%. The slow are slowing down the quick. And that, to me, just seems counter-intuitive. Yes--I understand the argument that the quicker 25% may speed up the slower 25%... but is the fundamental role of education: (a) personal education; or (b) a socialist agenda attempting to equalize educational output.
I myself, choose the former. Little Bobby (who is developmentally delayed and has overt behavioral problems, living with his poor single-mother, over-populated and otherwise crappy environment) shouldn't have the power to limit my child's life opportunities.
Succinctly stated: Just because I have the calling and drive to help people help themselves out of such plights does not mean that I am obligated to live in that environment or subject (and subsequently hinder) my child to it. (I could go on, using my niece that got bussed into a thug-high-school because she was a high-performing minority as an additional example...but at some point, I have to get to work. Stories that she's told me about her ex-school are legendary.)
posted by Greg | 11:40 AM
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