These things have to occur at a very young age. Children have to be exposed to literacy from infancy on.
Is illiteracy a problem? Of ocurse it is. Illiteracy is never a good thing. But it isn't the main reason why poorer children prefer a life of irresponsibility, or why they prefer crime over morality. Virtually the entire Islamic world is illiterate, but they younger generation lives well within their societies without resorting to crime. Most criminals in America can read too, and that hasn't prevented them from turning to a life of crime. Guaranteed literacy doesn't guarantee that a child will take education seriously. In our age of the internet, kids are fascinated with it, and will get most of their reading skill from that.
The key to the problem resides in the home of the child, and the greatest influence on any child are the parents. Only when these parents become responsible can we ever hope to see a dramatic increase in responsible childhood education and a reduction in crime.
Children born in poorer households not only deal with the social problems associated therein, but also have to deal with the fact that they are at much higher risk of being parented by illiterate or borderline literate individuals, who will not be able or inclined to provide the situations wherein their youngsters’ mind can be shaped by early exposure to literacy.
But a teenager isn't going to get his girlfriend pregnant, steal a car, smoke crack, etc., all because his Mom doesn't read the newspaper. A teenager will do these things because that is the accepted norm for this newer generation, especially in a culture that turns to criminals turned rich, as role models.
The human mind is much more plastic and adaptable in infancy and early childhood. This is why young children can learn a foreign language much more easily than adults can. This is the ideal time period in which exposure to literature, reading, and writing, must occur for it to result in unstrained future “learning to read”.
Of ocurse, but it doesn't do anything to prevent them from choosing a life of crime or rebellion. This is what you're not getting. You're focusing on the wrong thing.
A child that hits kindergarten coming from an illiterate or borderline literate household, who has not had repeated exposure to higher levels of vocabulary contained in text, and who has not been exposed to the process of reading via an adult is already five years behind his/her cohorts.
And when kids are raised in a dysfunctional household they are more likely to get most of their literacy exposure from rap artists and other friends who think its cool.
I wonder how many of us comfortable products of middle class upbringings, who always knew college was in our futures, would have that kind of strength.
College is in their future too, if they are taught about its importance. There is nothing stopping them.
These children have parents who love them, just like middle class children do. They also have some negligent parents, just like middle class children do.
Ah, the equivalence fallacy. You don't know this is true. I've been in plenty of these homes, and I rarely see love from the parents "just like the middle class." This is the defect in your paradigm that stops you from seeing the real problem. You've designed this paradigm that excuses the person and blames society. Thisis precisely the problem and its what keeps the black man down and tells him he is doomed from the start. In your work with teh poor, you've doing nothing to cure the disease, you've only focused on treating symptoms.
I can take 10 teenagers from Brazil and move them to the USA and within a decade they'd be prospering in whatever field they chose. The President of Brazil received no education as a child, and yet he learned to read as an adult, can speak English, and communicates well with other world leaders. The reason the Brasilians will succeed is because they know what its really like to have nothing. They'll take advantage of the opportunities America provides them.
It is ignorant to assume, in any way, that these children are struggling because their parents don’t care enough to help them, or have been brain-washed in some way by rap music.
You have to take it on a case by case basis. I'm certainly not saying all poor parents reject their children out of hand. But on the whole, poorer children who turn to a rowdy life of irresponsibility, are those who follow role models in the music industry. This is an established fact, and it isn't limited to black kids. It just happens to be more prevalent among them.
These children are struggling because their parents struggled
Of course. But more importantly, because their parents are not being
good parents. It isn't enough to just say they care about their kids. You can be poor and a good parent at the same time, but the poorer folks don't seem to understand what makes a good parent, probably because they didn't have good parents either.
and due to that struggle, were not able to give their children what other children were receiving in infancy and early childhood.
Now you're making excuses for them. These parents can give their kids teh necessary love and attention that would help develop them into model citizens, but as we already know, poorer adults are inclined to domestic violence, alcoholism, etc.
Tell me something beastie. Why do poorer neighborhoods have more liquor stores and gun shops than they do grocery stores or churches? You probably believbe it is a racist government designed conspiracy to keep the black man down. That's certainly the kind of thing black preachers say. But these businesses set up shop there because that is where the business is.
These deprived children come from homes immersed in rap music. They also come from homes immersed in country music. Their skin is sometimes dark. Their skin is sometimes light.
You keep covering your ears, but I already refuted your country music comparison. There is no comparison.
The idea that their problems are being caused by the type of music they listen to is simplistic nonsense based in convenient ignorance of the real issues facing these families.
As I said before, the primary cause is based on the failure of proper parenting. Criminal role models, such as those in the music industry, simply fill in the gaps poor parenting leaves behind.
I have worked with struggling readers for decades, of all races.
Well this expalins why you're under delusion that illiteracy is source of all their problems. It isn't. Again there are plenty of criminals who read and plenty of model citizens who can't. Getting educated doesn't guarantee a responsible life.
And oh, and you put me on "ignore" because you couldn't respond to point by point refutations, and it was damaging your ego. This thread is no exception.
“All knowledge of reality starts from experience and ends in it...Propositions arrived at by purely logical means are completely empty as regards reality." - Albert Einstein
