How do we keep each other down?

                                                      How do we keep each other down? 

          We keep each other down by making others feel different and sometimes even inferior. We'll make them feel different for the religion that they practice, their ethnic background, their wealth, their sexual preference, their country's history, etc.  This constant oppression can lead to voluntary assimilation. The Native Americans however, had it different. The United States was trying to integrate Native Americans into the American culture from the years of 1790 to 1920 -- 130 years! They called it civilizing -- a "synonym" for cultural genocide in their heads. The government went as far as to prohibiting their religious ceremonies -- the US Violated it's first amendment to have it's way. However, we had the common decency of giving them an obligatory education in institutions, where they weren't allowed to speak their native tongue. As biased as this sounds, I never saw it from this perspective in my history class.            A country's history often impact an entire group. For example, I may say the word "Nazi" and you more than likely will think "Hitler", "Holocaust", "concentration camps", "Germany". I may say "9/11" and you will think "twin towers", "terrorist", "Osama bin Laden", "Muslim". We put a burden on an entire group when it's a handful that are to carry the blame. Ask yourself "why? Why is it that my brain processes this way? The media? The government? My school? My history class?"           Furthermore, we learn about history so that we don't repeat the same mistakes. History however, in my view, has not been linear, it has been cyclical. History has been repeating over time. The US paints itself as the "peace keeper", "the good guy". If there's one thing I've learned in history class, it's that you can't obtain peace through violence - I'm not a hippie by the way. War will only temporally offer peace. I learned about all the things the US has done in order to keep us "safe", in order to keep "peace". The US will throw a peace sign with one hand and a hand grenade with the other -- and right now I'm doing the same thing I was talking about. Putting a burden on entire group, that group being the "US". We ("the common US citizen") don't create laws or policy, we didn't press the button to launch the nuke in Hiroshima nor did we draft people to Vietnam, etc.   

  

What happens when a school fails a kid?

When a school fails a kid, he feels as if he is not if to par with the other kids that didn't fail. The kid would feel incompetent and maybe even dumb. The kid might not like school as much as he used to, he might not want to learn anymore because he feels that he's not capable of doing so.
I believe if a student fails then the teacher fails with him and so does the school. It's like in any team sport we try to put the blame on someone for the loss of the team. People react differently to opression some might sit there and take it and perhaps start to believe what they say, and others get motivated by it, ti simply prove them wrong. However, for a kid it maybe different. Kids are barely developing their ideas and beliefs. If you fail a kid over and over, eventually, he's going to think that the people trying to help him/her aren't the problem, that he alone is the problem. He's going to grow up thinking "I'm a failure", "I let everybody down" , "I'm a nobody" . This will create a child with low self-esteem and low expectations. He or she will become a conformist.  

Waiting for superman: Documentary response

Expenditures on education have been increasing over time; however, proficiency levels in math and english have been going down, as more and more money is pumped into education. The lowest english proficiency levels can be found in no further than the US capital: DC.   I don't believe that educational expenditures and proficiency levels are inversely proportional. I think teachers need further education on how to educate. In New York teachers receive a normal salary to be in this "rubber room". Where they basically just drink coffee, play cards and do nothing. They do nothing, and they receive a big fat check! I find that infuriating. The rubber room is basically a place for the teachers that gave up. I find it unfair because people that work minimum wage jobs cannot simply give up. You (minimum wage workers) call in sick constantly, you’re not going to get a substitute, you are going to get a replacement. They will take your job because it is that easy for the employer to fire you. You are not indispensable to the company. For the same reason, there is no such thing as a retail store union, fast food workers union or any of that sort as far as I’m concerned. We (U.S. citizens) have the right to come together and form a union but it’s pointless because they’ll fire that 40 year old lady that lead the union and hire a 17 year old. When you go to apply to a minimum wage job, in the application it states something around the lines of “The employer can fire you at any given moment without a reason”. See minimum wage workers don’t get a pat on the back, they don’t get to lay back on the hot tub with bubbles and drink red wine. I don’t want to be biased either. I know some teachers don’t get paid what they are worth either. In the documentary they said that a bad teacher covers 50% of the material in a school year while a good teacher covers 150%. The sad thing about this, is that no matter how much the good teacher covers he's still going to make as much as the bad teacher. In my opinion unions are good to some extent. However, in this case, it makes teachers almost seem untouchable, which can encourage teachers to not care about what they should care about which is teaching the posterity. There are teachers that leave when the bell rings at three, but there are also teachers that leave hours after the bell rings – and it’s not cause they we’re sleeping their last period and didn't hear the bell.

Is it a matter of race or discrimination?

Is it a matter of race or wealth? I don’t want to lean on either or. I believe it’s a matter of ethnicity, as well as wealth. When is it a matter of wealth? I’d like to think that we see this discrimination more often in countries that don’t have a diverse amount of ethnicity. For example, in Mexico you can’t express hatred towards someone in terms of their ethnicity. Instead, you’ll see this segregation or division in wealth classes. The rich will socialize with the rich and the poor with the poor. If you’re seen with the “chusma” (peasant, commoner) it can damage your “reputation”. When it comes to ethnic discrimination, wealth does not matter. A lot of celebrities are constantly oppressed, discriminated and abused because of their ethnic background. Some examples would be: Michael Jackson, Little Walter, Billie Holiday and many other Jazz musicians, etc. They could have billions of dollars and still be discriminated; of course those were different times, but you’ll still see acts of racism nowadays – not as drastic as they used to be, nonetheless they still occur. Nowadays, racism is disguised with sophisticated language and mild acts of hatred.