b) Yeah, I'll definitely still post my thoughts on my journal. I can tell ya right away that as far as this new alternative initiative, I'd argue that it goes far beyond the crisis of black student disengagement (i.e., the drop out rates). This inherently racist system also denies/undermines due privileges and opportunities to well-to-due, brilliant racialized students.
That's a major point I always emphasize when I find myself in heated debate over this initiative. As much as conservative detractors, as you noted, blame black student failure and drop out trends on a supposedly inherent "pathology of inferiority", the reality is also that GREAT black students are made to jump through so many unnecessary hoops just so they can be considered as competent as their white counterparts.
These are the highly-motivated, scholastic over-achieving black students whose teachers, admins and counselors never relay information about scholarships, awards and apprenticeship opportunities to them -- the students who are under-graded; encouraged to pursue non-academic endeavours (e.g., varsity sports); are screwed over through the god-forsaken "streaming" system; and/or are receiving terrible counseling on course choices and post-secondary opportunities.
Racialized students conform to/regurgitate the Eurocentric curriculum, and STILL have their efforts shortchanged. How's that for irony.
That's part of how I tend to articulate my support for the initiative--that the mainstream system fails BOTH at-risk and brilliant black students. "Meritocracy" my uppity black ass.
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Date: 2008-01-31 10:02 pm (UTC)b) Yeah, I'll definitely still post my thoughts on my journal. I can tell ya right away that as far as this new alternative initiative, I'd argue that it goes far beyond the crisis of black student disengagement (i.e., the drop out rates). This inherently racist system also denies/undermines due privileges and opportunities to well-to-due, brilliant racialized students.
That's a major point I always emphasize when I find myself in heated debate over this initiative. As much as conservative detractors, as you noted, blame black student failure and drop out trends on a supposedly inherent "pathology of inferiority", the reality is also that GREAT black students are made to jump through so many unnecessary hoops just so they can be considered as competent as their white counterparts.
These are the highly-motivated, scholastic over-achieving black students whose teachers, admins and counselors never relay information about scholarships, awards and apprenticeship opportunities to them -- the students who are under-graded; encouraged to pursue non-academic endeavours (e.g., varsity sports); are screwed over through the god-forsaken "streaming" system; and/or are receiving terrible counseling on course choices and post-secondary opportunities.
Racialized students conform to/regurgitate the Eurocentric curriculum, and STILL have their efforts shortchanged. How's that for irony.
That's part of how I tend to articulate my support for the initiative--that the mainstream system fails BOTH at-risk and brilliant black students. "Meritocracy" my uppity black ass.