<p>You know, when I see a conclusive and thorough analysis of this issue undertaken from a variety of angles, then I might believe that. Until then, I’d like to leave you a pdf:</p>
<p>Let’s be real. I’m not going to lie and say that “culture,” whatever that means, is a large contributor to the problem, but external factors - and by external, I suppose you could say that I mean extrinsic factors outside of the control of individuals within the African-American community and under similar minority umbrellas - feed into the “cultural” problems that you insist are mostly to blame. It’s a vicious cycle, essentially, and to display a heavy bias for one at the expense of the other indicates an imbalanced outlook.</p>
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<p>Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm <em>strokes goatee</em></p>
<p>Given the mess the government has become, I wouldn’t trust a politician with frying an egg, much less repairing systematic inequality.</p>
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<p>Indeed! And when such things exist but are ignored by large segments of the general population in favor of utterly ridiculous music videos, ought we not to hang our heads in shame and lament the current state of affairs? </p>
<p>I’m moving to Canada! (and when the permafrost finishes melting, perhaps to Switzerland if disaster hasn’t struck there yet!)</p>
‘Culture’ of poverty or institutionalized poverty? I think people fail to adequately take into account the historical policies that affect blacks–and society as a whole–even today.</p>
<p>— 'Let’s be real. I’m not going to lie and say that “culture,” whatever that means, is a large contributor to the problem, but external factors - and by external, I suppose you could say that I mean extrinsic factors outside of the control of individuals within the African-American community and under similar minority umbrellas - feed into the “cultural” problems that you insist are mostly to blame. It’s a vicious cycle, essentially, and to display a heavy bias for one at the expense of the other indicates an imbalanced outlook." —</p>
<p>You wanna be real? Let’s be read.</p>
<p>I do not deny that poverty feeds into a cyclical culture that eats away at black academic achievement as a group. But putting that issue aside for a second, I think that for us to move forward and come up with solutions to this increasingly important problem, it is necessary we look past the specter as poverty as a subject of relevance at least with regards to finding an answer to our pervasive problemx.</p>
<p>I say this because I believe that, although it is preferable and supportive of our efforts, it is neither feasible nor really necessary to totally eliminate poverty within the black community to achieve higher academic achievement among both poor and middle class schoolchildren. </p>
<p>To achieve our goals, we need to find a way to provide a higher quality home and school environment. And although these two goals are inherently difficult to accomplish, achieving them is several magnitudes easier than alleviating poverty as a whole. </p>
<p>How we do it on a smaller scale is through such initiatives as better preschool learning centers, parental training classes and a focus on the young individual child.</p>
<p>How do we it on a larger scale is through a change in our culture.</p>
<p>As Obama said:</p>
<p>“They might think they’ve got a pretty good jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can’t all aspire to be the next LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States.”</p>
<p>Pfft! In what universe do you reside? It’s just as difficult, if not more so.</p>
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<p>Parental training classes may help, but what’ll you do if the majority of parents can’t attend because they have to sleep to go to their second job? Preschools might sound like a good idea, but I wish you the best of luck in finding the right teachers, who are in a damningly short supply. While these “solutions” may sound lovely, the ideas are not even half-baked.</p>
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<p>And quite frankly, no one here has suggested that. My only assertion was that culture, which I believe to be directly influenced, if not somewhat controlled, by economic realities, is not the biggest factor. I, for one, have no patience with the thinking that you outlined in the passage I quoted, and I would never suggest something so unrealistic as the solution. </p>
<p>However, your assertion that culture is the problem fails to acknowledge that external circumstances, including economic realities that individuals are powerless to shape, heavily influence cultural identity. The two are not discrete categories.</p>