It's all related! Boston Globe agrees with ZACKlyRight!
On March 29, I wrote, "The economy, jobs, outsourcing, unemployment, home ownership, capital gains taxes, the prison population, teacher unions and beholden Democrats, school vouchers, school choice, dare I say the 2000 Presidential election, two-parent families, race-relations, and abortion, they are all connected to EDUCATION. Good education begins (continues?) a cycle of positive developments. Poor education begins (again, continues?) a cycle of negative developments."
Then, today, the Boston Globe published the following editorial; it's pretty darn good. The italics are mine for emphasis; probably because four days ago I wrote the same thing or I quoted the President from October 13, 2004 saying similar stuff:
Down Too Long, April 3, Boston Globe:
TOO MANY BLACK teenaged boys and young men are flailing. In the worst cases, they detach from or drop out of school. Their lives are cocktails of drugs, crime, and early fatherhood. Unemployment traps black men, especially in the cities. By the time a 30-year-old decides he wants a different life, he's hobbled by a prison record and a lack of job skills.
Damning statistics and recent studies make a grim case. In 2004, only 16.6 percent of black men age 25 or older had a bachelor's degree, according to the US Census. The rest are closed out of a wide range of higher-paying jobs. At the end of 2004, ''more than 40 percent of all sentenced male inmates were black," according to a US Department of Justice report. There were 551,300 black men serving at least a one-year sentence, compared to 449,300 white men and 260,600 Hispanic men. And incarceration hits hard among black men in their twenties, years when they could be building careers. Some 8.4 percent of those aged 25-29 were in prison in 2004.
The Bush administration justly argues that marriage is a good way to ward off poverty and stabilize families. But marriage does best at affording these protections if parents have sufficient earning power. What's really needed is a sophisticated federal and state investment in a two-step process: economic self development and then, when appropriate, marriage.
The facts are discouraging, given the powerful changes over the decades of the civil rights movement, the War on Poverty, and years of policies and programs to strengthen communities and families. Where vision might lead to progress, public fear and surrender fester and grow.
So what should the nation do? Declare a war against failure on three fronts: education, employment, and family.
There should be a public relations battle against the allure of illegal street life. Writing in The New York Times, Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson describes the appeal of being young and black and a source of hip-hop culture that's respected and even idolized by white teenagers and corporate America. But, as with earlier blues and rock and roll musicians, most of these teenagers are not reaping the profits being made by the culture they help to nourish.
In public appearances, Professor Henry Louis Gates, chairman of Harvard's African and African-American Studies department, argues that it's easier for a black youngster to become a brain surgeon than a professional basketball player. Generally speaking, he's right. There are 433 players of all races in the NBA, while more than 20,000 doctors identified themselves as African-American on a 2004 American Medical Association survey. Add other professions and the numbers skew further toward the point: it's smarter to dream in occupational Technicolor. But too many young people either don't hear or don't heed that message. And it's certainly not the storyline being used to sell products to young consumers.
''There are no surprises there," says Randal Rucker, head of Family Service of Greater Boston. He argues that young black men are under the radar.
Rucker calls for a needed shift in policy. After years of programs focusing on women and children -- including welfare reform, which helped many women return to work --men need more attention. Take the young father of a new baby, Rucker says, and often he'll have a lot of motivation to do the right thing for that child. That's a ripe moment to steer a new father toward ways to build his capacity. Take a guy in his forties who can't find work, and then make sure he's not hiding an inability to read or a fear of computers. A guy who says there's not a lot to aspire to clearly could benefit from a road map of options. Rucker says some deadbeat dads turn out to be dead broke; not unwilling to help their families but unable. Family Service runs a program for fathers. And while it once had funding from national foundations it no longer does.
To call attention to fathers and young men, Family Service is holding a meeting later this month, inviting people ''who need to hear the stories of these young men," Rucker says. Invitations have been sent to 500 members of the public and private sector who might volunteer or contribute.
Some things are already clear. It is the age of team players, of forming partnerships to address these issues so that no one person, parent, school, youth worker, church, community organization, or employer has to address these problems alone. In size and personality, Boston is fortunate to have these relationships in place. With funding and a clear agenda they can expand and establish programs and practices that lead to greater success.
Criminal justice reform is needed. There's no need to be soft on crime. But reclassifying certain crimes, such as minor drug possession, as lesser offenses could give some people a better shot at getting a job.
It's time to set aside the claim that affirmative action is an unfair handout to minorities. Helping disconnected black teenagers is a matter of ending the economic and personal stagnation that can harm communities and cities. Encouraging one person's garden-variety success -- a job, a home, a family he can afford to support -- can translate into sweeping social benefits because that person boosts the economy, increases tax revenues, and advances the lives of his children.
Because the nation relies on widespread individual achievement, it is essential to encourage better personal choices and to make sure that the resources are there so that people can follow through on those choices. The country has to stem the tides of lost opportunities, discrimination, and inertia that swirl around the lives of economically dislocated young black men. (End of editorial.)
Kudos to the editorial board of the Boston Globe. Kudos also for almost no gratuitous shots at conservatives and Republicans. I'll respond similarly and save my rhetoric for when the Globe looses its.
Except (because I can't control myself), allow me to just quickly add that I'd prefer to educate everybody properly the first time (and, yes, that's code for all it entails: holding parents, teachers and school administrators accountable) so we don't have to spend so much doing it a second or third time (and, yes, this is code for the programs that the President always mentions and the programs, "investment" and "funding" the Globe speaks of above).
Anyway, there will be many occasions to come back to this editorial; there is so much more of it worthy of comment and discussion.
But, let's end on a positive note of agreement: education is king.
On March 29, I wrote, "The economy, jobs, outsourcing, unemployment, home ownership, capital gains taxes, the prison population, teacher unions and beholden Democrats, school vouchers, school choice, dare I say the 2000 Presidential election, two-parent families, race-relations, and abortion, they are all connected to EDUCATION. Good education begins (continues?) a cycle of positive developments. Poor education begins (again, continues?) a cycle of negative developments."
Then, today, the Boston Globe published the following editorial; it's pretty darn good. The italics are mine for emphasis; probably because four days ago I wrote the same thing or I quoted the President from October 13, 2004 saying similar stuff:
Down Too Long, April 3, Boston Globe:
TOO MANY BLACK teenaged boys and young men are flailing. In the worst cases, they detach from or drop out of school. Their lives are cocktails of drugs, crime, and early fatherhood. Unemployment traps black men, especially in the cities. By the time a 30-year-old decides he wants a different life, he's hobbled by a prison record and a lack of job skills.
Damning statistics and recent studies make a grim case. In 2004, only 16.6 percent of black men age 25 or older had a bachelor's degree, according to the US Census. The rest are closed out of a wide range of higher-paying jobs. At the end of 2004, ''more than 40 percent of all sentenced male inmates were black," according to a US Department of Justice report. There were 551,300 black men serving at least a one-year sentence, compared to 449,300 white men and 260,600 Hispanic men. And incarceration hits hard among black men in their twenties, years when they could be building careers. Some 8.4 percent of those aged 25-29 were in prison in 2004.
The Bush administration justly argues that marriage is a good way to ward off poverty and stabilize families. But marriage does best at affording these protections if parents have sufficient earning power. What's really needed is a sophisticated federal and state investment in a two-step process: economic self development and then, when appropriate, marriage.
The facts are discouraging, given the powerful changes over the decades of the civil rights movement, the War on Poverty, and years of policies and programs to strengthen communities and families. Where vision might lead to progress, public fear and surrender fester and grow.
So what should the nation do? Declare a war against failure on three fronts: education, employment, and family.
There should be a public relations battle against the allure of illegal street life. Writing in The New York Times, Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson describes the appeal of being young and black and a source of hip-hop culture that's respected and even idolized by white teenagers and corporate America. But, as with earlier blues and rock and roll musicians, most of these teenagers are not reaping the profits being made by the culture they help to nourish.
In public appearances, Professor Henry Louis Gates, chairman of Harvard's African and African-American Studies department, argues that it's easier for a black youngster to become a brain surgeon than a professional basketball player. Generally speaking, he's right. There are 433 players of all races in the NBA, while more than 20,000 doctors identified themselves as African-American on a 2004 American Medical Association survey. Add other professions and the numbers skew further toward the point: it's smarter to dream in occupational Technicolor. But too many young people either don't hear or don't heed that message. And it's certainly not the storyline being used to sell products to young consumers.
''There are no surprises there," says Randal Rucker, head of Family Service of Greater Boston. He argues that young black men are under the radar.
Rucker calls for a needed shift in policy. After years of programs focusing on women and children -- including welfare reform, which helped many women return to work --men need more attention. Take the young father of a new baby, Rucker says, and often he'll have a lot of motivation to do the right thing for that child. That's a ripe moment to steer a new father toward ways to build his capacity. Take a guy in his forties who can't find work, and then make sure he's not hiding an inability to read or a fear of computers. A guy who says there's not a lot to aspire to clearly could benefit from a road map of options. Rucker says some deadbeat dads turn out to be dead broke; not unwilling to help their families but unable. Family Service runs a program for fathers. And while it once had funding from national foundations it no longer does.
To call attention to fathers and young men, Family Service is holding a meeting later this month, inviting people ''who need to hear the stories of these young men," Rucker says. Invitations have been sent to 500 members of the public and private sector who might volunteer or contribute.
Some things are already clear. It is the age of team players, of forming partnerships to address these issues so that no one person, parent, school, youth worker, church, community organization, or employer has to address these problems alone. In size and personality, Boston is fortunate to have these relationships in place. With funding and a clear agenda they can expand and establish programs and practices that lead to greater success.
Criminal justice reform is needed. There's no need to be soft on crime. But reclassifying certain crimes, such as minor drug possession, as lesser offenses could give some people a better shot at getting a job.
It's time to set aside the claim that affirmative action is an unfair handout to minorities. Helping disconnected black teenagers is a matter of ending the economic and personal stagnation that can harm communities and cities. Encouraging one person's garden-variety success -- a job, a home, a family he can afford to support -- can translate into sweeping social benefits because that person boosts the economy, increases tax revenues, and advances the lives of his children.
Because the nation relies on widespread individual achievement, it is essential to encourage better personal choices and to make sure that the resources are there so that people can follow through on those choices. The country has to stem the tides of lost opportunities, discrimination, and inertia that swirl around the lives of economically dislocated young black men. (End of editorial.)
Kudos to the editorial board of the Boston Globe. Kudos also for almost no gratuitous shots at conservatives and Republicans. I'll respond similarly and save my rhetoric for when the Globe looses its.
Except (because I can't control myself), allow me to just quickly add that I'd prefer to educate everybody properly the first time (and, yes, that's code for all it entails: holding parents, teachers and school administrators accountable) so we don't have to spend so much doing it a second or third time (and, yes, this is code for the programs that the President always mentions and the programs, "investment" and "funding" the Globe speaks of above).
Anyway, there will be many occasions to come back to this editorial; there is so much more of it worthy of comment and discussion.
But, let's end on a positive note of agreement: education is king.
posted by Zack at 1:34 PM
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