Your solutions don't work. Tough love works. You can't teach people that don't want to learn anything. You can't make people want something they simply don't want. Which horse will run for you: the one where you dangle a carrot in front of his face, of the one you feed carrots to?
The motivator for success is desire, and yes......greed. If you have no desire or greed, you will not work to satisfy those needs.
People on the take? Many of them. In the recession, my drunken neighbor lost his job due to the company closing. He stayed on unemployment for nearly two years. When I seen him in the yard, I would yell over "Hey Charley, how's the job hunt going?" He would just laugh and reply "What job hunt?" When he exhausted every last dime he could get from the government, he went to work for his brother-in-law; a job he could have taken at any time.
Last Christmas my cousin threw a party for all the cousins in the family. We don't see each other all that much, so it gave us time to catch up. I started to talk to one of my cousins and asked about his brother who retired on disability. I told him it was a shame he couldn't work anymore. He just laughed and said "He can work more than I can. It's just that he doesn't want to, that's why he's on disability!"
It goes on all the time. I have several major disabilities, and I'm working to support younger and much healthier people than I am. Where is the equity in that?
My solutions don't work? Prove it.
As I said, kids are a blank slate in most cases. You start teaching kids properly, and then you'll get a change. Also you're making the assumption that people don't want to be taught, a lot do, but perhaps the society they live in makes them think they won't succeed.
So greed is the motivator for success. Then, use that, make kids realize that if they do this and that that they can succeed. Right now you go into inner cities and the only success they think they can get is as a drug deal or football player. Do you see the problem here? The greed aspect isn't about learning, learning doesn't get you to fulfill your greed, so why the **** bother?
That's why you need to change education, change the cycle of poverty so people know they can get what they want if they study.
Which is why I said earlier that schools need to offer a course in investments. Show these kids that hard work and conscience money management can make them middle--class, upper middle-class and even wealthy if they try.
In our country, wealth is not exclusive to race, gender or even family name. Most millionaires did not inherit their money. Many of them never attended college.
So kids should be taught that they have the same opportunity as anybody else, which reminds me of something that happened a few years back:
One of our customers got bought out by a larger company. One of their benefits was to "give" employees stock. I went there for a delivery and caught them during break. The white employees sat with each other as did the blacks.
The white employees were talking about their stock the company gave them. They were talking about how they looked up the performance of company stocks in the past; how they might consider buying more!
So I walked over to the supervisor of shipping where the blacks sat and asked how he felt about the stocks he was given? I'll never forget his response. He said "I don't know nothing about no stocks. All I know is that I work here (pointing to the ground) and they pay me here (pointing to his wallet pocket.)
It's no surprise how the black community failed. All they know is what they were taught in school--none of which is doing as the wealthy white people do--invest
Do you believe that's a difference of genetics or education?
If the latter, what should be done about it?
I think high schools should have an investment course. Teach these kids there are other ways to chase success than playing sports or making a hit rap song. Teach them about compound interest, the stock market, the commodities market, real estate, basics of opening up your own business, the cost to raise a child.
Currently, many of those people believe that in order to be successful, you have to be born the right race, into the right family, into the right neighborhood. That's the problem.
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Which is why I said earlier that schools need to offer a course in investments. Show these kids that hard work and conscience money management can make them middle--class, upper middle-class and even wealthy if they try.
In our country, wealth is not exclusive to race, gender or even family name. Most millionaires did not inherit their money. Many of them never attended college.
So kids should be taught that they have the same opportunity as anybody else, which reminds me of something that happened a few years back:
One of our customers got bought out by a larger company. One of their benefits was to "give" employees stock. I went there for a delivery and caught them during break. The white employees sat with each other as did the blacks.
The white employees were talking about their stock the company gave them. They were talking about how they looked up the performance of company stocks in the past; how they might consider buying more!
So I walked over to the supervisor of shipping where the blacks sat and asked how he felt about the stocks he was given? I'll never forget his response. He said "I don't know nothing about no stocks. All I know is that I work here (pointing to the ground) and they pay me here (pointing to his wallet pocket.)
It's no surprise how the black community failed. All they know is what they were taught in school--none of which is doing as the wealthy white people do--invest
Do you believe that's a difference of genetics or education?
If the latter, what should be done about it?
I think high schools should have an investment course. Teach these kids there are other ways to chase success than playing sports or making a hit rap song. Teach them about compound interest, the stock market, the commodities market, real estate, basics of opening up your own business, the cost to raise a child.
Currently, many of those people believe that in order to be successful, you have to be born the right race, into the right family, into the right neighborhood. That's the problem.
Sent from my iPhone using
USMessageBoard.com
Agreed, and many of the better funded schools do. The problem is that less than 10% of public school funding is Federal, the remainder is split almost 50/50 between local and state. Poorer districts don't have funds for relatively new textbooks much less "luxuries" like teaching "investments".
A section in one of Fareed Zakaria's books mentioned that Democracy can only thrive above a certain per capita income level. This truism was born out in Iraq where, IIRC, one US Army General commented how difficult it is to give democracy to people who are more worried about water and the safety of their children.
Most States Have Cut School Funding, and Some Continue Cutting
The problem is there is any federal funding at all. Schools should be funded and operated by local people. We have way too much federal government in our life as it is.
And how much would it cost to have an investment program? I'm sure there are wasteful programs in school today that cold be cut.
I fully agree. I think that kids should learn about credit, investing, mortgages, and all of the other things that you need to prosper in today's economy, but speaking as a former banker, teachers are the WORST people to teach it. Most of them can't handle their own money much less teach others how to do it successfully. I realize this is just based on personal experiences and biases but doctors and teachers are the worst people ever in handling money.
Doesn't matter how much it would cost, there is NO MONEY for poor schools. Teachers would have to be hired, a course outline set, text books purchased. Phys ed, music, shop and home ec programs have been cut, all of which are enormously beneficial. There is no money for staff, and quite frankly, if it's not state tested, they're not going to do it. Schools are only interested in teaching for those damn tests.
They've cut phys ed from a lot of programs, because it's not necessary to get you a job even though studies show that kids do better academically when they are getting exercise every day, and childhood obesity is a HUGE problem (no pun intended). The benefits of music programs on learning and math skills are also well documented yet it's hard to find schools with music and arts programs either.
Here is the problem with using local funding. The better neighbourhooods have higher taxes and higher school budgets. If you live in a middle class area, chances are your public school is pretty decent. If you live in a poor area, it a broken down crumbling decrepit building, more like a prison than a school, as you put it. Schools which are dependant on local taxes cannot provide a quality education to poor students. The tax base isn't there, so the neediest kids (academically) get the least resources.
If all schools in the state receive the same level of funding, then poor kids will have a better chance. Schools in poor neighbourhoods are never going to offer the same opportunities as schools in well-off areas. Parents can afford more "enrichment" in the way class trips, and other amenities. Parents can fund raise and hold highly profitable school fairs to provide those "extras" that the board doesn't - things like playground equipment, extra computers, and class trips.
The US is the only First World country, other than Turkey, with an education system where the children of the poor do not receive the same level of public school funding as children in better neighbourhoods. Even with equal funding across the state, children from higher income homes are going to have the advantage because their parents can afford enrichment. Their homes are also more likely to have computers and internet access, as well as printers and other electronics to assist with projects and essays.