4 ms·

Black SWE here, grew up on the west side of Chicago, I don't think most white people understand how bad the literacy situation is. I could read competently befo

Black SWE here, grew up on the west side of Chicago, I don't think most white people understand how bad the literacy situation is. I could read competently before I even got to school and I went to grammar school in the 90s. First day of first grade, I found out no one could competently read a sentence. In fact, whole school (which has closed) was on this remedial education program called Advanced Directives or something. I'd never seen a book where the words were broken up syllable-by-syllable before I got to this school and I'm like 7 years old, and kids struggled with that. Making this a little more personal, I ultimately had to be separated from the other kids, and you can imagine why: you can't have one kid making all the others feel embarrassed and inadequate. But this also was a major source of resentment and ostracization that I'm still dealing with to this day.

JabavuAdams 7y ago
This. Systemic racism ... aaaand ... loser gangster culture. Would love to see the numbers on whether it's easier to become a chartered accountant or a rap artist. I'm seeing the other side of this, recently (disadvantaged white people). It's astonishing the loser mentalities and habits that many disadvantaged children learn from their early caregivers and peer group. As middle to upper middle class people, we often have no idea how many little bits of knowledge we pick up to work the system (legally), from those around us.
- ianai 7y ago
  I think of it more as the bullying culture. I got bullied a lot for simply looking “nerdy” and doing my homework. Affects me to this day. It was “cool” to be dumb and flunk out. That’s a recipe for a system that holds people down.
- bsanr2 7y ago
  >aaaand ... loser gangster culture. No. You have parents that are not able to attend to pre-school education, whether it's a time or money issue, or even an education issue themselves. And then you have children, let down by parents who were let down by society, who are ashamed of how far behind they are. The idea that you can further shame people into "shaping up" is farcical. Please stop being part of the problem.
  - JabavuAdams 7y ago
    I appreciate what you're trying to do, but do you have skin in the game or personal experience with these issues?
    - bsanr2 7y ago
      I have family that dealt with these issue, I live in and near communities that are fighting it, and I live a version of it, transposed from the pre-school->school transition to the college->postgrad/working world transition.
  - smegma2 7y ago
    Isn't this exactly what acephal alluded to above? > But this also was a major source of resentment and ostracization that I'm still dealing with to this day. Isn't it possible that resentment and ostracization could lead someone to not want to try as hard to learn?
    - bsanr2 7y ago
      My contention was the characterization as "loser gangster culture." It's victim-blaming, even if the victim is an angry-seeming young black boy.
- yardie 7y ago
  I went to school with those loser gangster children. I tutored a lot of them. I'm still friends with a few of them through social media. While I was being insecure about my grades, physical size (I was a pipsqueak), and typical teenage angst. Some of those loser gangsters had real insecurities about society. Being treated poorly by a family, school, and country that did not want them there.
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toraobo 7y ago
> First day of first grade, I found out no one could competently read a sentence. Isn't the standard expectation that children enter first-grade completely illiterate? I remember learning how to read and write letters one per lesson in first grade. I'd guess that maybe 5% are taught to read by parents?
- Izkata 7y ago
  For the places that have it, I think kindergarten is where you're expected to first learn. Mine was in the same building as 1st through 6th grade. (I was taught by my parents before even that, and when I started school they didn't believe my parents' claim - had to prove it by reading a new book aloud to them)
- perl4ever 7y ago
  I think schools even discourage parents teaching their kids to read, even in wealthy suburban, college oriented districts. But some do anyway, and it could be more than 5% especially if you only count those that end up being strong readers. A theory my parents had was that the limiting factor in teaching a child to read is not the mental capacity, but their eyesight - supposedly it's normal to start out relatively farsighted and unable to focus on small print close up. So they started me and my sister on words printed in very large letters and gradually reduced them.

JabavuAdams 7y ago

This. Systemic racism ... aaaand ... loser gangster culture. Would love to see the numbers on whether it's easier to become a chartered accountant or a rap artist. I'm seeing the other side of this, recently (disadvantaged white people). It's astonishing the loser mentalities and habits that many disadvantaged children learn from their early caregivers and peer group. As middle to upper middle class people, we often have no idea how many little bits of knowledge we pick up to work the system (legally), from those around us.

ianai 7y ago
I think of it more as the bullying culture. I got bullied a lot for simply looking “nerdy” and doing my homework. Affects me to this day. It was “cool” to be dumb and flunk out. That’s a recipe for a system that holds people down.
bsanr2 7y ago
>aaaand ... loser gangster culture. No. You have parents that are not able to attend to pre-school education, whether it's a time or money issue, or even an education issue themselves. And then you have children, let down by parents who were let down by society, who are ashamed of how far behind they are. The idea that you can further shame people into "shaping up" is farcical. Please stop being part of the problem.
- JabavuAdams 7y ago
  I appreciate what you're trying to do, but do you have skin in the game or personal experience with these issues?
  - bsanr2 7y ago
    I have family that dealt with these issue, I live in and near communities that are fighting it, and I live a version of it, transposed from the pre-school->school transition to the college->postgrad/working world transition.
- smegma2 7y ago
  Isn't this exactly what acephal alluded to above? > But this also was a major source of resentment and ostracization that I'm still dealing with to this day. Isn't it possible that resentment and ostracization could lead someone to not want to try as hard to learn?
  - bsanr2 7y ago
    My contention was the characterization as "loser gangster culture." It's victim-blaming, even if the victim is an angry-seeming young black boy.
yardie 7y ago
I went to school with those loser gangster children. I tutored a lot of them. I'm still friends with a few of them through social media. While I was being insecure about my grades, physical size (I was a pipsqueak), and typical teenage angst. Some of those loser gangsters had real insecurities about society. Being treated poorly by a family, school, and country that did not want them there.
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toraobo 7y ago

> First day of first grade, I found out no one could competently read a sentence. Isn't the standard expectation that children enter first-grade completely illiterate? I remember learning how to read and write letters one per lesson in first grade. I'd guess that maybe 5% are taught to read by parents?

Izkata 7y ago
For the places that have it, I think kindergarten is where you're expected to first learn. Mine was in the same building as 1st through 6th grade. (I was taught by my parents before even that, and when I started school they didn't believe my parents' claim - had to prove it by reading a new book aloud to them)
perl4ever 7y ago
I think schools even discourage parents teaching their kids to read, even in wealthy suburban, college oriented districts. But some do anyway, and it could be more than 5% especially if you only count those that end up being strong readers. A theory my parents had was that the limiting factor in teaching a child to read is not the mental capacity, but their eyesight - supposedly it's normal to start out relatively farsighted and unable to focus on small print close up. So they started me and my sister on words printed in very large letters and gradually reduced them.