Saturday 22 august 2009
6
22
/08
/Aug
/2009
11:51
(Part 2) Under-Educated, Internally Segregated, Yet StillStanding
That last minute test is all well and good but it can't cover everything and it only covers the "tangible" stuff so to speak. The material that's in the text book. It doesn't cover how to apply the
material, how it applies to life and what it's relevance is to your life. It doesn't really reveal anything except that you studied and learned enough to pass this test. You could be as dumb as a
brick otherwise but you passed the test so there you go. Focusing only on what's in the books creates a one-sided student. They don't know about living life. They are under-educated and life
quickly tests them each and everyday. Many students realize they are failing life's tests and begin to question what they are enduring and why. They lose faith in the system and look to home for
reassurance that it all makes sense and should be done. When home doesn't or can't provide the assurances children need, they look outside, to the neighborhoods, relatives and peers but the answers
aren't there either.
How else can you have a society where a community, the black community, exists with unacceptable levels of drug abuse, crime, school dropouts, high unemployment and poverty? Somebody who has been
educated in a well rounded manner, learns to seek solutions to problems, learns how to communicate, learns the dangers of drugs and the senselessness of crime. They don't accept that poverty is the
only solution. They don't believe that unemployment is the only option. They know that education opens the doors that many would have them believe are closed shut to them. They look to create
opportunities. Even in hard economic times they don't look outside for a handout, they look within to create a job opportunity. They start businesses. Continue to educate themselves. Form
partnerships with others who can provide them with tools, tips and access to things they need. They don't look for the easy way, they look for the best way. They have been taught that the power to
chang lies within in them. They know that history has proven that those who think can do and those who do can achieve. They don't just look to fill a role in society and then stand dumbfounded when
that role isn't available yet. They create a new role or fill another role because they have the educational background that enables them to do that. The other, under-educated folks, well, they run
into wall and just keep moving their feet like a robot doing the same thing day after day and expecting to get a different result.
Crime, stupid murders of women, children and men, robbery, car-jacking, drug and alcohol abuse exist within the black community because too many black children haven't been taught the value of a
black person. They haven't been taught the many roles that blacks can have in society and that new roles can be created. They get caught up in believing that everything is easy because they haven't
been taught that there is a value to everything. They don't see their lives having purpose because they don't know how to achieve anything they imagine. They believe it's out of reach and don't
have the knowledge to build a ladder to help them reach it. So they turn to destruction. They destroy what has no value to them. They destroy what has no purpose to them. If they were taught to do
more than just fill a role. If they were taught values. Taught that being a neighbor was a positive thing. That drugs destroy who they are and can be. If they were taught how to use math and how to
use their reading skills. If they were taught. Taught that handouts are something to be read not something to get for nothing. Taught that using their brains was as important to being a man or
woman as using their muscles to be an athlete or musician was. Too many are passed along in school. The parents accept failing grades and blame it on the schools. The neighbors see the careless,
selfish and often destructive behavior and look the other way because they don't want to get in a disagreement with the parents. The parents who are too busy trying to make a living or to busy
living their own lives to check on the education of their child. What is your child learning anyway?
Why can other races come to America, in a time of economic downturn, and start a business? Why can other races live 2, 3 or 4 families to a house and work together to help each one buy their own
house only to bring in more families and do the same. Why can other races do business with members of their communities yet black people don't want to do business with other black business owners?
Why is it "cool" to rob your neighbor just because they bought a new tv or stereo and you don't have one? Why is it hip to be a drug dealer" To be a pimp? Why does somebody suddenly become "down"
because they do jail time then come home and sit around unemployed blaming everything on somebody else? Why is going to jail an option that anybody is okay with? Why is it cool to have a several
children by several women, none of whom you raise or support? Why is it okay to be a teenage mother on assistance programs?
In my opinion, all of those exist because people are under-educated. We don't know who we are. We don't know how valuable we are. We don't know how to resolve problems and conflicts without harming
somebody. We don't know how to be "successful" so we don't want anyone else to be. We don't know how to create our own opportunity so we allow ourselves to get caught up in an opportunity that
somebody else creates that doesn't benefit us. We go along with what a small segment of the population thinks is the only solution because "society" doesn't want us to be here or to have anything.
We allow racist people's thinking to determine our ability to succeed and limit our opportunities because we haven't educated ourselves. We are unarmed when we are under-educated. Being
under-educated makes us perpetually unprepared and put us at the mercy of ever changing minds and situations. Life controls us, we don't control it.
Inspite of those pitfalls, we're still standing. Imagine if we were a weaker people. A people who collectively gave in and gave up. We wouldn't be still standing on the edge of greatness. With all
of the shortcomings and under-education, we are still standing. We can solve the problems. We know that schools under-educate. We know that neighborhoods aren't neighborhoods anymore. We know that
opportunities exist. That is why we are still standing. That is why we can fix what is broken and make better what is lacking. We can begin to educate our children at home and in our neighborhoods
once again. We can teach our children and ourselves that we have a value and need to be cherished not written off. We can teach each other not to accept handouts but to give a hand up to those who
need it. We can teach each other not to envy a neighbors progress and not to begrudge them for their gains and as neighbors who make gains, we can share how we did it with each other.
We can talk and discover new ideas. We can overcome stereotypes and labels. We can put true value on education and not accepting mediocrity. We can demand that our children are taught and then
participate in their education. We can read with our children. Do homework with our children. Write with them, play music with them, draw and encourage them to do more than just get by. We don't
have to accept being under-educated. The books are there. The libraries are there. The internet is there. We must use the tools we have available even if nobody tells us to use them. We can't wait
on teachers to educate our children, we must be the first to educate them. We must stop making excuses and stand in the gap so our children don't fall in. Teach our children that the book is only
the beginning of the education process. Explore the world. Be open to other cultures. Ask questions and listen to the answers. It's cool to be educated. You can be smart and be black. You can be
well rounded and be black. You can do right and be black. You can love GOD, country and your fellow man and be black. All of the roles for blacks in society haven't been created yet so create your
own and live to the fullest of your positive potential. It starts with not being under-educated.
Just my opinion.
V.Holland aka
CHRONIC PAIN HERO
http://PainCornerStore.com
http://www.pain.yolasite.com
VinHol Global Enterprises LLC
