I’m generally of the opinion that anytime a person identifies a problem they have a responsibility to put forward a solution.

What are your ideas there ?

Just say no ?

A couple of generatiosn need to get woke

“A couple of generatiosn need to get woke”

Wow, that simple. Who knew ?

"A couple of generations need to get woke"

I totally disagree:

What that society needs is stability. That is loving Fathers and Mothers living for, and teaching their children character. The churches need to be more involved on this also. 

"What are your ideas there ?"

Great question............here are a few ideas:

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/53752/#53753

metmike: "Young black males commit violent crimes at a rate(in the study that I sourced a couple of year ago) 6 times higher than young white males. Being raised without a good male role model has alot to do with that. Would taking away welfare cause young black men to suddenly metamorphose into responsible fathers and husbands?

Maybe you think that young black women would stop having sexual relationships or use better protection if there was no welfare. 

Turns out that black women actually abort more babies than they raise in many big cities and many of them raise those children without husbands. If they are having those children because it gets them welfare, then we must assume that no welfare would result in a higher black abortion rate.

The welfare system is not the main problem in this case. Changing the culture requires outside help. These people on welfare and in the inner cities that were raised by single parents(moms) or in dysfunctional families, don't have the understanding or blue prints to know how to be good parents(especially the men) or how to be successful in life. 

There has to be something that interrupts the repeating, vicious cycle via the education system or thru local organizations that connect with vulnerable children, starting at young age to teach them. 

I strongly believe that good parenting classes in high school should be mandatory, especially in low income areas with single parent families. Can you teach love? This is not about religion but that's exactly what the 4 Gospels of Jesus did. .....and its blossomed into Christianity that has profoundly changed the world for the much better. What I'm suggesting is ethics classes combined with parenting classes.  The principles go hand in hand.  Teach children to respect others, the value of human life and what a good parent and spouse should be doing in a successful relationship. Have people in their community(ideally from their neighborhood) come in to share their positive experiences as dad's/husbands and mothers/wifes.  

With absolute certainty, this would have a profoundly positive affect on many children in dysfunctional families. 

https://education.seattlepi.com/would-mandatory-parenting-classes-schools-good-idea-1803.html

Teaching  at school can only do so much. What happens when they leave school to a bad neighborhood with a bad parent(s)?

A high % of bad black fathers are in prison. This is another topic altogether but it's another golden opportunity for other men, regardless of color to step forward and be mentors, role models or good examples. This is absolutely realistic.

How would that work? First you identify the men. Many will be from the suburbs, many, will be older and will have already raised their own children successfully. Some will be very young and want to have a family but haven't found the right partner yet.  I have recruited men like this to be my basketball, soccer and baseball coaches(mostly the younger ones for sports). If you offered money, you will get more than just volunteers but most people like this don't do it for money. There needs to be screening, background checks and child protection classes to avoid predators/pedophiles that will weasel into programs like this to abuse boys. 

Men, filling in as a positive father figures/ideally foster parents(even if they are paid) will and do make a difference in most of these boys lives. The younger the child, the better chance to connect with them before the bad things in the world surrounding them define who they are:

https://www.fosterfocusmag.com/articles/just-foster-dads-part-1

Forget about the welfare or no welfare issue or government, no government's role. Either situation is a recipe for failure if you don't have responsible adults that understand what it takes to be good parents applying their love and skills to the at risk, vulnerable children.

Most parents and spouses learned about parenting/married life from being their parents children. 

We spend billions of dollars on the education system but fail to educate and prepare children for the most important role they will ever have as adults. 

If these are such great idea's why aren't are paid politicians and government on to it?

Our politicians and government don't work for us much of the time and their ideas are usually not creative unless it ties in with something that will help them get elected........promises to give people things like reparations for blacks or free health care or free college. ....or to save the planet(sorry if that offends anybody from one party-but if you look at my belief system today,  its the one that defined the democrats from the old days-which included me). 

Being a good parent(and citizen) is several orders of magnitude more important to individuals/families and society than actions to address a fake climate crisis........even if there was a climate crisis. "

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/53282/#53286

I provided the article/study for discussion below without many comments. Though there are some good points in the study, they completely overlook some of my points above, related to the family unit and parenting. In my opinion, a complete failure to recognize and address this key element in determining the success of children is the biggest reason for failing policies in the black inner cities. 

metmike: There are dozens of  studies and written discussions that point exactly to this........jobs as being so important in the black community to success, that its mind boggling, that so many politicians and others look the other way/ignore it.

A jobs-centered approach to African American community developmentThe crisis of African American unemployment requires federal intervention

https://www.epi.org/publication/bp328-african-american-unemployment/

Millions of African Americans live in communities that lack access to good jobs and good schools and suffer from high crime rates as a result. African American adults are about twice as likely to be unemployed as whites, black students lag their white peers in educational attainment and achievement, and African American communities tend to have higher than average crime rates. These issues have been persistent problems.

Jobs are essential to improving African American communities. Increased employment would help people in these communities lift themselves out of poverty. In addition, because poor economic conditions are an important causal factor behind poor educational outcomes and high crime rates are correlated with high unemployment rates, creating job opportunities would help improve educational outcomes and reduce crime.

This paper outlines a plan for significantly increasing the number of jobs available to African Americans. The plan, which targets communities with persistently high unemployment, includes three main components: creation of public sector jobs, job training with job-placement programs, and wage subsidies for employers. Although the plan is constructed with African Americans in mind, it would also provide benefits to Latino, American Indian, and white communities in which unemployment has remained high.¹

A precondition for implementing this plan is a U.S. economy with strong job growth and low unemployment. Unemployment in African American communities cannot be low while the national unemployment rate is high. Thus macroeconomic initiatives—such as infrastructure investments, aid to states, and a stronger safety net—are needed to restore the national economy, reduce the national unemployment rate, and create the conditions for strong job growth in the future.

Even when the national economy is good, however, conditions for African Americans are typically bad. Federal intervention to aid African American community development is necessary for the following reasons:

• African Americans still reside mainly in separate and unequal communities. In 2010, in the 100 metropolitan areas with the largest African American populations, 62.5 percent of blacks would have had to move to achieve full black–white integration.
• Unemployment rates for African Americans have been far higher than those of whites for the past 50 years, even in good times. In fact, since 1960 the black unemployment rate has been about twice the white rate. Had blacks had the same unemployment rate as whites in 2010, an additional 1.3 million blacks would have been employed.
• Parental unemployment, and not simply low income, has negative effects on children’s educational outcomes. Blacks are twice as likely as whites to have had 10 or more spells of unemployment over their prime working years.
• Joblessness, although by no means the only factor producing higher crime rates in African American communities, appears to play a significant role.
• Neither educational advances nor suburbanization by blacks has translated into reductions in the black–white unemployment rate ratio.
• If a bold new approach is not developed to address the racial unemployment disparity, it is likely that African Americans will be condemned to unemployment rates that are twice those of whites into the foreseeable future.

This paper begins with brief discussions of residential segregation and the persistent job crisis facing African Americans. It then presents evidence that suggests why improving educational attainment and access to suburban labor markets are not likely to be enough to raise employment rates among African Americans. This discussion is followed by a proposal for reducing the high rate of joblessness in and rejuvenating African American communities

As a chess coach to 3,500 students the past 25 years and running the 2nd biggest chess tournament in the state of Indiana, with over 25 schools participating,  I've seen the huge difference in parental involvement based on the location of the school.

Kids from rich schools always have tons and tons of parental involvement. I couldn't run my tournaments without their help and consider myself to be blessed to coach chess at 5 schools with lots of "rich" kids with parents that knock themselves out to help me and their children.

But I also work hard to get the inner city schools involved and have gone there numerous times to do that. It's very challenging to say the least.

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/33493/#33609

                By metmike - June 30, 2019, 7:10 p.m.            

"mcfarm,

Teachers and the system(government) get too much blame for the failures in education.

How is it that some people in the same education system do extremely well. Some in the same class, with the same teacher at the same school do extremely well and others flunk out.

As a chess coach at 5 different schools,  I get to see the variance between kids. Some of it has to do with kids born with cerebral thinking gifts, others not as gifted. However, what I do note at chess tournaments/practices(and other school events) is the strongest correlation............the one between parental support and their childs success.

At chess tournaments, the kids from poor districts, need a bus and their chess coach to drive them because most of their parents don't come. The kids from the rich districts always have a parent, often both parents and even grandparents come. It's not just a coincidence.

I know some teachers in the inner city and some from the rich schools that I'm lucky enough to be at.

One lower income 5th grade teacher from Cedar Hall Elementary  after 10 years waiting to get transferred to a rich school, Scott Elementary told me about the difference.

At the first school, he was considered a mediocre teacher because so many kids were not doing well.........didn't do homework or study for tests. 

At the 2nd school, after he got transferred, he taught the same subjects and grade but turned into a wonderful teacher...........kids did homework, studied and almost everybody was getting good grades.

Kids from poor families often have parents that are poor because they don't appreciate the value of an education. Don't blame that on the teacher or the schools. 

Granted, there are teachers that have the ability to motivate kids with enthusiasm and their ability to make learning fun and interesting. However, some of this is just their personality and it would be impossible to have a system that weeded out the boring teachers. We can also enhance or try to improve the learning environment, especially for the less motivated lower income kids. Money spent trying to do this that has failed to create big positive changes in some cases is why these programs are often perceived as failures(thats not my area of expertise).

I have known of special programs at inner city schools and in fact many schools that have in fact resulted in kids becoming more interested and engaged.....enrichment programs we call them.

For several years, I actually taught chess as a class during the school day as part of the enrichment program at  2 different schools. 

What I can say with 100% certainty, has to do with my 25 years  worth of observations 

and noted above.

Supportive parents that make it mandatory for their kids to meet high standards which THEY set at home = recipe for success. 

Parents that leave it up to the teachers and don't play an active role = could go either way but much  less chance to be successful. 

My experience with teachers is that almost all of them are pretty good and some are great  and care a great deal about the kids......or they wouldn't have gone into that career. "

                Wonderful Chess Tournament                        

                10 responses |            

                Started by metmike - March 2, 2020, 4:17 p.m.            

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/48387/