No offense big_mal you are a good guy, obviously educated and motivated to succeed but your attitude is exactly what's wrong with black people.
1) Just because your black doesn't mean you are the only ones living in poor, crime ridden, dangerous neighborhoods. Lots of white kids grow up in piss poor violent neighborhoods. Hell you don't even have to go to the city to see how bad some white kids have it.......just drive into some rural areas.
2) What's with teaching black youth how to be "black" men? Why not teach them how to be MEN period?
Maybe instead of teaching football and trying to be "cool" you should spend your time sitting down with black kids teaching them math, science, and physiology. Sorry but this subject really touches a nerve with me. I grew up in the public school system and many of my family members are public school teachers, and no not all teachers are liberal feministic females. The issue is hardly as cut and dry as blacks taking back their schools and teaching black boys how to be "black" men. The only coherent argument in your entire post was the fact that parents black white or purple, need to be held accountable and start taking responsibility for their kids and holding themselves and their children accountable. The biggest gripe among ANY teacher in ANY school is the PARENTAL GUIDANCE/DISICPLINE or lack there of.
No offense taken at all. This is America and we all have different experiences that contribute to our different outlooks on life.
Im gonna go issue by issue.
I coach football right now because in the mornings im at school so i cant teach a regular subject. But the class room is not the platform i want to use, And found that if i take the time after school (when they dont feel like learning math no more) I coach them in football but everyday i slip life lessons in there. Im from the streets, born and raised in South Central LA. I know who inner city boys listen to. I dont want to look like another dude telling them what not to do. I serve as living proof. Like when I pull up in my nice car (provided by my sister) nice clothes , always take care of my boys...the boys say "man i wanna be like coach pigford" then thats when they are open to talk about what they got going on and how to help their future. So being cool (i know it sounds dumb) goes far with a city kid.
As far as Rural kids and what not. I know they have it tough. But the struggles are different and its hard to try to lead a kid through waters you havent navigated through yourself. My classmate is from booklyn and he got a job teaching at Paulding County Ga...The income he came from and the kids teach come from are virtually the same. But the reasons are different and my boy cant relate to working a farm or ditching school to work for the family. He dosent know how to tell a kid that they need to go to school, when the kid (and his father) is telling him, "i couldnt go to school because i had to work the farm" He is used to seeing kids ditch to sell drugs in Brooklyn.
Im saying i can tell a black kid how to be a black man (which is what he is going to be) because i did it. It would be hard for me to know how to help a kid from Paulding county or Newton county ga, I never shared their reality.
We do agree on the last point. Parental Guidance is the key. But it seems like we have to try and override the examples set by the kids parents and tell them to take a different path. You can imagine how tough that is. Telling a kid that "your father is raising you wrong".
I got a kid (pushing back tears now) Whos father was/is addicted to crack, mother was/is a prostitute and he lived with his flakey cousin who just provided a roof over his head and thats all. He dosent really provide any guidance. But the kid (i have coached for 3 years now) understands the importance of education and is slated to go to Harvard in 2010 because he did so well in school.He has gotten all A's from the 9th grade until now. When you see him staying after school real real late because he dosent want to go home that shit is tough. He didnt have money for pants shirt and a tie for game days so we went to Ross and i got him some stuff. ( i just acted like i was going there anyway and i had found some extra money so he wouldnt take it as a charity case). So thats who i really fell i can help because i know and i have seen his kind of struggle. And i think thats what they were talking about. We can help people who share the same experiences.