[lbo-talk] `American kids, dumber than dirt'

(Chuck Grimes) cgrimes at rawbw.COM
Tue Oct 30 07:26:34 PDT 2007


I think the key is to encourage any interest that kids have outside the immediate work of school. Dennis P sort of mention it. I know Joanna knows about this. Something not exactly success, but a skill, an interest, a gig, something. Say dance, art, a science, collecting butterflies or whatever.

Here is an example. My landlord's kid Arthur. He was into video and photography. By chance he was interviewed for a Frontline special on long term integrated high schools. He was going to Berkeley high and was used as an example of second generation immigrant, in this case from China.

When he saw the finished product on tv, he was really disappointed and decided that it didn't reflect who he was or what he really meant to say. He had mediocre grades so he went to San Francisco State and majored in photo journalism. They have a pretty extensive media center at SFSU. When he got out, he got on the camera crew pool for NBC here. Then moved to LA were there was a lot more opportunity.

Eventually, he got a few gigs doing documentaries for small independent producers. A couple of these documentaries were spectacular. One was shot in the Himalayas. Another was done on child exploitation in Cambodia.

Arthur has a rich life. He is a high quality production photo-video guy and enjoys to the max what he does. That's where you want your kid to be. His father is very lucky, even if he doesn't realize it.

Arthur was just another average kid in school here. So the point is you never know.

CG



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list