Upon reading a recent article on your website on redistricting plans and the BOE, I was disgusted at the perpetuation of racial stereotypes brought about with the publication of your article. As you can see from my email, I am a BOE employee, and not in central office. I have taught both middle school (at BMS) and high school (Parkside) for a number of years, and I have taught all levels of students. Your comments on Thugs and Drugs coming to Delmar, etc because of redistricting of African American students from Wicomico Middle was off-base and unneeded. However you feel about redistricting and county fiscal spending, I am asking you kindly not to insult the countless numbers of children that walk through the doors of our schools every day. There are plenty of "thug" (not my word choice) students at all of our schools walking around with various colors of skin. Every student who is African American or in attendance at Wi Middle is not a thug, just as every middle-aged white male is not a bigot. Your article's mentality, thankfully not shared by the majority of educators and other Americans, does nothing but cause further strife in our system. How do you expect students who are living in poverty (since this so called "thug" lifestyle has been statistically proven to be an socioeconomic problem and not a racial problem) to rise above this stereotype if leaders in the community have already labeled them as such. In a final effort, I am again, asking you kindly to retract your statements and stick to the issues at hand.
Publishers Notes: I let this person know in a reply that "THUG" has NO COLOR.
please reprint the original article so it can be examined in light of this rebuttle
ReplyDeletesocioeconomic problem = welfare
ReplyDeleteSchool vouchers now...BOE is a bloated tax sucking monster sucking up all the money before it hits the classroom
Pretty sensitive, huh! ThUGS CAN BE ANY COLOR OR RACE!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. But we call it as we see it. And sending those kids to other schools is going to do just that. Yes these schools are already dealing with problems. Doing this will expedite an already growing problem. Here is the reality folks. Salisburys ghetto mentality has spread past Salisbury. Its like cancer. Growing and eating unless aggressively treated and eradicated.
ReplyDeleteButthole
I think that all teachers should have to send their own children to wihi. See what happens then. Put up or shut up. My child will not attend wihi. Has nothing to do with race, everything to do with how the students act and administration.
ReplyDeleteJoe do not retract anything. You are right, Thug has no color. If they think people are talking mainly about one color over another, there must be some truth there.
ReplyDeleteLook at the statitics. Its overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone find this hard to read? Many they should have made it into a few paragraphs or something. Joe is right. Thug has no color attached to it. It is a path in life they choose!
ReplyDeleteThe author of this letter is obviously a soft hearted liberal.
ReplyDeleteNow I feel the need for a shower after being that close to her.
Publishers Notes: I let this person know in a reply that "THUG" has NO COLOR.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct Joe and thank you for posting her reply.
Unfortunately many of the thugs in reference are of a certain race.
These are the same ones that Mark Thompson's job is to go around to the schools and teachers to encourage them not to write them up or send them to the office for punishment. That's right Federal funds are provided to the BOE to pay for his position and to stop punishing the said thugs. It's a fact Jack!
307 this is why school vouchers are needed..MD needs to quit sucking up to the miserable federal education failures. until we become independent from federal dollars the better our kids and finances will be
ReplyDeleteThe author of this letter is first out of the gate to color a thug as Black, African American, or that other word they call each other that White Folk can't say, as Joe never did. So good to know how those on the front lines read what is not written.
ReplyDeleteFolks who have never been classroom teachers or administrators telling teachers whom not to send to the office and telling administrators whom not to suspend? Unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteMy son when to Wi Hi went to college not a big deal very successful. The major thing that he came out of Wi Hi with is he is not a racist. You will find so called Thugs in every school.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes a school great is its teachers, and wihi has the best teachers in the county.
ReplyDeleteThe truth always hurts. Face it,the majority of these thugs come from one, and only one, corrupt criminal culture. This is not conjecture but an absolute truth because numbers don't lie. WiHi is a prime example of the tail wagging the dog. All you have to do is walk down any hallway and listen to what's being said by these thugs. And we wonder why crime is high and our jails are full????
ReplyDelete6:09 Obama's executive order, of July 26, 2012, prohibit public schools from disciplining black kids at a higher rate than other races, regardless of their behavior. They tend to get suspended and expelled more often than other races, and of course it's blamed on "racism" rather than the kid, let alone parental failure.
ReplyDeleteThe argument is that they are given harsher discipline for "the same" offense as whites, but they do not recognize that the reason they may sometimes receive stiffer discipline is that the black kids are more likely to be repeat offenders, or had been violent in the offense.
Same reason they complain about being locked up so often.
We withdrew our child from public school after a classmate of a protected ethnicity decided to bully our kid and they did not do anything to him.So many unruly roughshod kids that good kids never got ahead.I do not regret my decision and will home-school if a day comes when I cannot pay for private school.Also,why do we not have school vouchers already? I am tired of my taxes propping up Government schools run by clueless liberals.
ReplyDelete8:34
ReplyDeleteThanks but no thanks. I don't drink kool aid.
Instead of taking you child out of the school system maybe you should have taken them to some self defense classes. What will happen when they have to deal with these thugs in public you may not be there to protect them.
ReplyDelete"How do you expect students who are living in poverty"
ReplyDeleteReally? Seriously, you characterize the "troubled youths" as living in poverty, therefore you imply that "poverty" causes the degenerate, idle, immoral, glorification of the criminal lifestyle?
And you think they are all "living in poverty"? How many live in homes not equipped with running water? How many flaunt iphones and flashy sneakers? How many are barefoot because they don't have any shoes? How many are obese due to overeating and sloth?
Care to explain why the "thug subculture" is found across the entire socio-economic range, then?
And why there are kids who live in real poverty, who focus on those life choices which will allow them to escape poverty?
How do I "expect them to rise above this stereotype if leaders in the community have already labeled them as such"? And exactly what have you just done, labeling them as "poverty" kids, with all that implies?
We must ALL expect them to act as though they have a future, and not allow immediate circumstances beyond their control to be their lifelong excuse for perpetuating those circumstances. Expect their current socio-economic status to be irrelevant in the measure and predictor of character and achievement.
If they act as though they have a productive future, they will be treated likewise. The message cannot be emphasized enough: if you act as though you have nothing to offer, you will be treated as such. It isn't "racism" or "white privilege", it's life.
How can we expect our kids to ACT better? Based on reading some of the rude, disrespect, hateful and unsubstantiated comments from presumably adult on this blog how can some us instill any morals in our children
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