Does one believe in the accessibility of the demos, the folks? Does one build institutions for them? Is our pedagogy about reproducing that which we know? And do we cheat for our kids?
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. But I wonder do we give a fuck about the kids we don't know? Can our utopias have a widely dispersed generational understanding or do we continue to cheat for our kids?
michael -----------
My kid went through Berkeley public schools as a white wimpy twerp and did fine. At the risk of sounding I am not sure what, I found as a single father, I had much better relationships with his black teachers and counselors than his white ones--especially after elementary levels. I am not sure why--except the suspicion that they were glad see a man in the office for a change--maybe it was just the absence of another irate mother to deal with--whatever, we usually had good meetings. In the seventh grade there was a social history class project to learn about UNICEF. So, like dutiful little quasi-lefties, the kids organized a school donation program and sent the money to the child nutrition program--there was a school paper photo of the project's kid organizers and my little twerp was the only white kid in the photo--I know this sounds like sucker bait, but it was great to see him there--I mean, I loved it.
>From my kids friends, most of whom didn't have fathers around I also
noticed (hard not too) a profound father neediness--they were eager to
suck up anything that resembled a Dad--something extremely sad about
that--their fawning kid pathos will break your heart.
Anyway, you have to trust the community to do right by your kid--and that is expecting a lot. For the most part, the community did do right by mine, and I am extremely grateful.
So, judging from all that, I would say that the bottom line is both a knowledge and trust of the community itself that feeds the community as a community. The more you are alienated and isolated from the community you live in, the less likely you are to trust your kids to it. So, the popularity of public school alternatives is more a measure of that alienation and isolation, than anything specific about a particular school district. After all, most people don't know a thing about the schools unless their kids go there. So, they judge schools on the basis of their relation to the community at large.
Chuck Grimes