JUDY: Excellent post!

I agreed with much of what you had to say.

However, I'd like to emphasize what is probably obvious to those familiar with schools where racial and ethnic problems exist.

These so-called schools are NOT educational institutions in the conventional ways we tend to think. Yes, from the outside they look like schools and we pay taxes as if they are schools for learning useful things for personal growth and the benefits of society. Yes we assume that going to such "problem" schools must be a good thing. But, is it?

There are certainly many people in the "school business" who have vested interests in promoting the idea that our problem schools are a positive thing for youth and society. And many citizens as well as non-citizens have been conditioned to such views. I suggest that this is hardly the truth when one looks closer at what is really going on in such schools.

Formal view of what goes on in "problem" schools: Problem schools have buildings with classroom, teaching and administrative staffs, "school" activities of all kinds, curricula, time scheduals, grading systems, and a significant place in a neighborhood that is bounded offically. In formal the formal definition of problems schools children and youth are provided with books and supplies intended to facilitate learning curricular content in sytematic ways. Problem schools have grading systems that give the real or "contrived" illusion of where students stand (e.g. A, B, C etc.).
Problem schools have rites of passage such as advancement to next levels and for graduation. O.K. we get the idea.

Informal view of "problem" schools: What actually goes on in "problem" schools? Well to begin with, we must now see children, youth, parents, teaching staff from the perspective of what they actually do and not from the idealized perspective of what they are supposed to do. In problem schools teachers "have-to" attend to many time and resource draining activities that are NOT educational in the usual sense. In problem schools there is tension and fears of all kinds on the part of teachers and staff. Schools worry about virtually every petty little thing that might create the impression of racism and thus bring on the wrath of community activists and angry parents. All this in combination with other factors leads to empowering students to essentially do as they please academically and otherwise. In most problem schools the youth use school for their own purposes and play along with formal fictions as part of the costs. In problem schools children and youth are not passive but may use school as a place for socialization in deviant ways of being and thinking. In problem schools there may be gang activities right under the teaching and staff noses. Of course, the so-called "students" will deny what I've suggested.

TRANSITIONAL Schools: Generally, there used to be congruence between what taxpayers and parents wanted and what "good" schools delivered. And students accepted the ideals of school as a place of learning and socialization into society. Now, enters a new phase in America where our "nice" community school has been transformed into a "problem" school by and influx of children and youth who are unprepared or even openly reject our conventional ideas of what an educational institution is suppoed to be like. The "nice" neighborhood school now has students that are literally "taking over" and driving those that want educations away. Eventually, what was once a good schools experiences degradation that reflect the blight setting in all around the community. The process is visible everywhere in America where legal and illegal immigrants are taking over communities. Is this happening where you live? Have you already seen it happen?

BLAME OURSELVES: Now, I see many of our "problem" schools as breeding grounds for current and future serious social problems. I see them as "toxic" training grounds for the next generation of misfits, criminals, and gangsters. Problem schools do not "teach" and students really do NOT learn! Our prison and jails are a testament to what is happening... they are full of minorty adults who experienced their early socialization into crime in our so-called "schools".

Finally, of course, the above is replete with generalizations based on observation and experiences.

To see a sample of the student socialization processes I've been talking about, click on:

http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41e26461 ... CBfaFJ5jzn