Group Response #1

The first group that went during my Wednesday class spoke about the public school system in DC and the fact that no one who can help it (or is financially able) is willing to work on bettering their schools and will not subject their children to such atmosphere. Obama and nearly all recent Presidents (and nearly every other official) have been quoted saying that they would never send their children to DC's public schools in its current state. Thus, what does this say about the education and environment kids who's parents cannot afford to send them to private school and aren't deemed smart enough to test into other alternatives? What happens to them? They are subjected to a less than adequate education, made to believe that they are nothing and then grow up to be nothing more than working class citizens and criminals. This is a sad truth and speaks volumes about our priorities. DC is this nations capital and we cannot even adequately educate the people here, in DC there are constantly decisions being made that send millions and billions of dollars out of this country and to other areas, but the children here do not stand a chance. This saddens me deeply and with the issue that no one is willing to send their children to a DC public school and work on it simultaneously it seems that this will just be a pattern of failure.

Now, do not get me wrong, I am not saying (and the group did not say) that ALL public schools are failing schools, but the ones that house the majority of the black youth are failing schools, which is a majority of the youth population in DC. And this fact only brings up one nasty fact this nation cannot seem to shake for the life of us: race. Is it by any accident that the failing schools, schools that go uncared for by the local government, are majority black? Unfortunately, I'd have to say that it is no accident. There is still a stigma associated with black youth; a stigma saying that they are violent, angry and will never grow up to be more than drug addicted, baby making machine, criminals who rip off the government welfare system. And until this stigma is erased (which is nearly impossible because that would mean racism would be eradicated along with ignorance), majority black areas do not stand a chance. This problem is not only prevalent in DC, but various highly black populated locations across this nation.

Daisa Gainey
Sociology '14