Fathers with 8th grade educations...

[dreamdancer 0]

and i haven't disagreed with you zach. individual choice is always important. to tackle institutional racism though (when just a black sounding surname is a disadvantage) takes group action.

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[Skyrad 0]

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How about finding some successful educated men and women who started off in the same/similar areas, with no/low education and worked their way through to qualifications.

Reggie works in a town called Pleasantville. The kids he deals with are being shipped out of New York City. On an express train, that's about a 45 minute commute, excluding the taxi ride from the Pleasantville train station to the "school". My point is, Reggie doesn't know the neighborhoods/people these kids are growing up in. Nor will the kid or parents know these successful people.

This is a great idea, and I've been considering your post since last night. How can Reggie find out the successful people who emerged from the multiple inner city neighborhoods he's dealing with?

How about getting in touch with local universities and asking if they know of anyone who made something of themselves who came from a challenging background. Most universities have Allumini organisations.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[Squeak 17]

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I friend of mine works at a "school" where troubled inner city youths get sent. He's a very compassionate man, who cares a great deal about these kids. His biggest challenge is getting not only the kids themselves to value education so they can realize the options that are available to them, but even more so getting their parents to value their kids education. He finds that a constant struggle. Any one have any ideas they could share with him re: dealing with parents who have little education? Right now, the role models for most of these kids are prostitutes and drug dealers.

This is also what i do for a living, some of my kids "say" they aspire to be welfare dependent like mum and dad, and grandmum and granddad.
However like someone else already stated, the educational status of the parent has little bearing on the kids motivation.
Parental care and concern for their kids education plays a much larger role for my kids.
I've actually had to walk out on more than one parent teacher meeting due to the possibility of me smacking a parent in the head. for being moronic fucktards where their kids are concerned.
I don't really know how your mate would go about convincing the parents that education is a good thing for their kids.
Other than convincing the kids themselves.
This is where i put a great deal of focus, on getting the kids to trust and respect me and what i do and then education of them is actually a whole lot easier.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[diverborg 0]

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Pandering to the religious right. Now we have a teen pregnancy problem, a gang problem and many cultural issues such as idolization of the prison lifestyle, gangs, drugs, poverty, lack of education.

Indeed

www.churchexecutive.com/news.asp?N_ID=2113

What we need are more atheists.

I grew up in the midwest, but I just moved to Mississippi a little over 2 years ago. I'm not disagreeing that teen pregnancy is higher in the more religious states, but I think their method of correlating the two is somewhat illogical. There are two separate issues going on here. Southern states have a huge Christian tradition and population as well as the highest black population and poverty levels. I live in a town thats only 40% white. Not many places in the country have those demographics. Comparing us to New Hampshire and Vermont is laughable. In poverty stricken areas where the youth have no parental figures or no positive influences on their life, they are going to make bad decisions. Like its been stated on here multiple times, its a generational cycle that needs to be broken. It seems silly to blame it on the fact that the states are more religious. We've got a lot of baggage to deal with in the south from our less than stellar history, but I don't think it has much to do with religion at all.

I could probably make a complete bogus case linking teen pregnancy to mercury levels in water if I wanted to. I could easily give statistics showing that our rivers and streams in the south have a higher mercury content than anywhere else in the country, and our teen pregnancy is also higher. The mercury levels in the catfish everybody eats is causing brain problems, impairing the judgement of teens. Perhaps we need to crack down on these coal powerplants so our kids quit getting pregnant.

[nerdgirl 0]

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How about getting in touch with local universities and asking if they know of anyone who made something of themselves who came from a challenging background. Most universities have Allumini organisations.

That’s a good general suggestion – and not just alumni. Many student groups on college campuses seek volunteer experiences.

When I did my undergrad in south central Los Angeles I started a club to get together with other nerdy chicks who liked science and math. One of the things we did was volunteer at the LA Girl Scouts Science Center, which was located at the time just south of downtown LA in a predominantly Hispanic area ... and really was more a safe place for girls to go after school. We put together programs to make slime (polymers) and brought liquid nitrogen - bunch of 'gee-whiz'-type science projects young kids could do.

After doing that for a couple years, I came to the conclusion that what was most important wasn’t sparking interest in science but being role models of young women who were attending college. And frankly, we got a lot out of it too!

Thanks for inspiring a fun memory on an overcast morning in Atlanta.
/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[Skyrad 0]

Once again, thanks for sharing.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[mindfree2yall 0]

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Pandering to the religious right. Now we have a teen pregnancy problem, a gang problem and many cultural issues such as idolization of the prison lifestyle, gangs, drugs, poverty, lack of education.

Indeed

www.churchexecutive.com/news.asp?N_ID=2113

What we need are more atheists.

I grew up in the midwest, but I just moved to Mississippi a little over 2 years ago. I'm not disagreeing that teen pregnancy is higher in the more religious states, but I think their method of correlating the two is somewhat illogical. There are two separate issues going on here. Southern states have a huge Christian tradition and population as well as the highest black population and poverty levels. I live in a town thats only 40% white. Not many places in the country have those demographics. Comparing us to New Hampshire and Vermont is laughable. In poverty stricken areas where the youth have no parental figures or no positive influences on their life, they are going to make bad decisions. Like its been stated on here multiple times, its a generational cycle that needs to be broken. It seems silly to blame it on the fact that the states are more religious. We've got a lot of baggage to deal with in the south from our less than stellar history, but I don't think it has much to do with religion at all.

I could probably make a complete bogus case linking teen pregnancy to mercury levels in water if I wanted to. I could easily give statistics showing that our rivers and streams in the south have a higher mercury content than anywhere else in the country, and our teen pregnancy is also higher. The mercury levels in the catfish everybody eats is causing brain problems, impairing the judgement of teens. Perhaps we need to crack down on these coal powerplants so our kids quit getting pregnant.

i agree 100%