tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post5439924908494324685..comments2023-06-15T04:04:25.958-07:00Comments on Stuck in the Middle with You: The Wealth of Our NationKennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03199895911184527653noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post-4695922608593950402011-01-19T11:32:37.072-08:002011-01-19T11:32:37.072-08:00Wow, your county is famous! Being ridiculed by St...Wow, your county is famous! Being ridiculed by Steven Colbert on public TV may not be the type of fame one seeks, but it is still fame. I have to admit that I grew up in a geographically segregated school system, so that seems like the normal system to me. But my county was fairly uniformly poor, the pillars of our community were solid members of the lower middle class, so perhaps it didn't make quite as much of a difference.Kennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03199895911184527653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post-25408124039803135762011-01-19T10:16:08.678-08:002011-01-19T10:16:08.678-08:00My county made it onto the Colbert Report with thi...My county made it onto the Colbert Report with this issue: http://www.wral.com/news/education/wake_county_schools/story/8963193/elfarmy17https://www.blogger.com/profile/09127074008716633538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post-66058750036173737582011-01-18T16:13:30.385-08:002011-01-18T16:13:30.385-08:00Oh, HA. I didn't read the article you linked t...Oh, HA. I didn't read the article you linked to until today...and that's my county they're talking about. Oops. Me here thinking I'm contributing something to the conversation...lolelfarmy17https://www.blogger.com/profile/09127074008716633538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post-24395841052208379772011-01-18T03:49:27.066-08:002011-01-18T03:49:27.066-08:00I always thought my town was pretty diverse, espec...I always thought my town was pretty diverse, especially for a little Southern city. But we have Research Triangle Park nearby, which is always bringing in loads of people from far and wide.<br />That being said, my church has a grand total of one non-white family that attends on a regular basis.<br />Our school board recently voted to have "neighborhood schools," which basically means that you go to the school nearest you, instead of being bussed farther away in favor of socio-economic diversity. So they basically voted for segregation. Our county made the front page of The Washington Post for that, and we might lose our accreditation from some important place because of it. I don't know what would happen in that case. It doesn't help that our new superintendent is a retired General who has a grand total of 18 months' experience in education.elfarmy17https://www.blogger.com/profile/09127074008716633538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post-65962241987383412302011-01-17T23:27:07.919-08:002011-01-17T23:27:07.919-08:00I plan to write such a post during this week somet...I plan to write such a post during this week sometime. Maybe some more MLKJ stuff first though.<br /><br />I would say that socio-economic background have a stronger correlation with future performance than race. However, socio-economic background and race are correlated with each other, so it is something to keep in mind. In regard to good paying jobs, I am of the opinion that an educated workforce creates good paying (by which I mean living wage, maybe not extravagant) jobs. On a more philosophical note, purposefully squishing the oppressed is the classic example of the dehumanization of the oppressor.<br /><br />I'm not one to espouse communism as a feasible large scale system, but I think a shift in the "American Dream," from getting rich to getting a happy life where one has enough, would go a long way to straightening out our swiftly tilting system. Sort of the theme of your blog I guess ;)<br /><br />I have heard MLKJ day described as a time we get off not to sleep in (ok, partially to sleep in) but to work on making his dream closer to reality.Kennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03199895911184527653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068619684895530539.post-5290498962763405172011-01-17T22:13:03.277-08:002011-01-17T22:13:03.277-08:00I would like to read a post about you talking to o...I would like to read a post about you talking to our grandmother. I hope that that is coming in the future. However, you're right, this was an appropriate post for the day.<br /><br />From my experience in the education world, I think that the current paradigm is that socio-economic barriers (rather than racial ones) are what keep our students and general population somewhat segregated. However, probably due to our history, people who are white are far more likely to be in a privileged position in society. As one of my professors pointed out, part of the reason that people don't really want to level out the playing field in education is because there aren't enough "good paying jobs" to go around. Therefore, if we keep poorer people undereducated and poor, our offspring have much less competition for a good job.<br /><br />I think that ideally, and not even unrealistically, we'd value the jobs that the "working class" do. It is because of the hard work done by poorer people that the rich get richer. It is not unfair to anybody to pay farm workers, restaurant servers, supermarket checkers, etc a decent wage with benefits. It is simple acknowledgement that what they do is important, even if it doesn't require a college degree, and we appreciate their hard work and their dignity as a human.<br /><br />How this will happen, I don't know, but I think it would be amazing if it did. :)<br /><br />I think that this holiday is great because we can celebrate some accomplishments that have been made, but I think it is equally important to recognize that it is still important to work on the issues that keep part of our population oppressed despite their efforts. There are still beautiful ideals and dreams to strive for that Martin Luther King Jr. made known while he was around.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07880072554598871468noreply@blogger.com