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lamortefille wrote:
Where did the kids learn it from? Their parents, most likely. People need to learn tolerance and teach their kids the same.
My child has learned some things from kids at school and just plain expierience. He is 7, for those who dont know, and it is just the two of us. No racism here… my ex claimed I was half black cuz I sound ghetto… but anyway.. he told me one day that brown kids were mean. I never told him brown kids were mean, and he said no one else told him so I asked him why he would say something like that. He told me it was because brown kids were mean to him all the time. So there you have it… my son now thinks all brown kids are mean. 🙄
Oh…. And I am having fun, too… though having to go brush up on alot when arguing with a person 10 years younger than me is embarrasing! 😆
I hope he figures out that “brown” kids are human just like the rest of us.
I really hate this sort of stuff. I’m white but that does not mean I do not have a lot of nationalities to make up who I am. There are very few poeple in this time that are 100% anything anymore. I’m Irish, Germany, French and a few other things all mixed in. I do not understand why it is such a problem. But maybe that is not a debate to go into on this ForumWell Ski, that sux, but I’m sure you tried to explain things to him instead of reinforcing the idea that “all brown kids are mean”. Also, the fact that he didn’t have an arsenal of racial slurs to throw at them or use in describing them, speaks well of his upbringing.
lamortefille wrote:I think there should be a level playing field, without special treatment for any race. The world is going to pass us by, while we are busy arguing amongst ourselves. BTW, I am “white”.
Thank you! My dad was just a little racist when I was growing up and would make derrogatory jokes occasionally and I would yell at him for it and how it was COMPLETELY inappropriate and I can’t believe he said it! When I was older I yelled at him one afternoon and he said “Cheryl, I am very sorry for offending you and I will try not to make these kinds of jokes in front of you in the future but dear, one day you may understand why I say these things you think as awful (I think he was getting at the whole “because it’s true” concept). I understand NOW why he is so bitter- having to support welfare for people who don’t wish to work, and not being given anything for free as he was growing up and his family didn’t have much, but he made something of himself, he went to college, and he got his degree. He contributes to society- more than people who “contribute” by having more children than they can care for simply so they can squeeze money out of the government. That sort of abuse, to me is intolerable.
Racism- I think racism is a very bad thing. I will endeavor to teach Kyle that it is not the color of another person’s skin that makes them good, it’s how good of a person they are inside. To me that matters most.
I am, however, severely uncomfortable that MY culture is being pushed out of American society because minorities find it appalling and offensive that THEY should have to learn MY language to live and get by in the States, they expect special treatment, our culture to change to suit them- WE, legal residents, should learn THEIR language- they recommend children learn an asian language and spanish in addition to their regular studies just so they can keep up.
For instance, I applied for a teaching position for a High School Biology position and out of curiosity asked what the most sought after discipline was- it was bi-lingual elementary teachers. They had 5 of those open and only one science class open, they sacrifice science and math positions so they can teach young children from parents who cannot speak a word of English. I find it frustrating
I have to agree with the speech thing. If you decide you want to come to the US you should at least HAVE to speak the language. I wish there was only one universal language. Then we would all be the same
Yay! The thread was resurrected!
Cheryl – you are so right. I have a friend in New York, newly discharged from the Army after serving in Afghanistan. He just started college this week and told me how the blacks and minorities get special benefits just because of their skin color and ethnicity. It really rubs him because he served his country’s demands with more than those particular minorities ever will, and yet he’s in debt and scrounging for money, out of work and trying to get around bureaucratic terrorism while the minorities can demand all the benefits he earned served to them on a silver platter for other people’s money. It’s totally wrong – and suicidal for the country. This can’t keep up. Either the system will destroy itself, or we the people who know better have to do something about. I just honestly don’t know what.
Personally I’ve never had a problem with racism, probably because I integrated into the Swiss system so well. But I see it elsewhere. There’s an asylum full of Africans by the train station I take to the city. Occasionally they’ll accost me in horrible English, talking about this that and the other, and sooner or later the question, “Are you married?” always comes up. They’re just looking for an easy way to secure their stay in Switzerland. They walk around in Nikes, with cell phones and MP3 players and you know they didn’t work for those things. Asylum seekers aren’t allowed to work – a debatable regulation, but a fact for now. For every black man you see around here working, there are ten leeching off the system. Is it a wonder we don’t like them? These foreigners, as I said, are ruining the country. I don’t care what the socialist do-gooders say, it’s true.
For the sake of the golden mean, I think there’s racism and racism. The kind that earned the word its awful reputation is wrong – judging someone by his appearance.
On the other hand, discriminating between cultures and races can be facing facts. They are different. And the differences can be harmful to the culture that capitulates to a whining minority. It’s pretty obvious that the ethnicities who get bashed earned themselves the reputation – as a group. Of course there are wonderful people in any race. Like Goldragon said, we’re all God’s children. But God made us different, and one form of different has to predominate. Multi-culti doesn’t work when it’s enforced by the government and million-dollar-backed NGOs.
Par example, I have no use for Muslims – wolves in sheep’s clothing that they are. But because I don’t like them in general doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to get along with one I got to know personally. “Getting along” would be the limit though. I don’t care what kind of nice person he is, I don’t want him in the country, simply because Islam is fundamentally against our Western system.
Speak English or get out. Or, over here, speak German, Italian, French or Rumantsch or get out.Did anyone else watch the latest Survivor? The one where they divided the teams by race? It was the best one in a long time. For one thing I would never have known a couple of the Hispanic team were Hispanic if they hadn’t been part of the team. Second, the one Asian who was making racial jokes was making them about Asians and the rest of his team called him on it. Interestingly the only truly racist “problem” if you want to call it that was one of the African American men who got into trouble afterwards with two of the women from his original team because he voted them off and they thought he should have protected their back because they were the same color! Basically, skill, personality clashes and meshes and the 2 large tribe loyalities NOT RACE were what were important.
By the way, as an aside, a friend of mine who is half black hates the term African American – her dad is from the islands. As she puts it no one in her family has been from Africa for many generations – she is an American!
The term African American is just ridiculous. I’m 100% German by blood and proud of every drop of it, and I don’t call myself a German American either.
I have ALWAYS hated all the little groups that everyone has put themselves in.
How about this one I’m HUMAN!! One race the HUMAN RACE!!Dragon Master wrote:I have ALWAYS hated all the little groups that everyone has put themselves in.
How about this one I’m HUMAN!! One race the HUMAN RACE!!I always get a mental picture of humans running around in giant hamster balls when people say the human race 😀
well that is fine as long as we are all in the same ball!! Actually we are ON a ball it’s called the planet Earth
CherylKaufman wrote:For instance, I applied for a teaching position for a High School Biology position and out of curiosity asked what the most sought after discipline was- it was bi-lingual elementary teachers. They had 5 of those open and only one science class open, they sacrifice science and math positions so they can teach young children from parents who cannot speak a word of English. I find it frustrating
But its also essential…otherwise how would those kids be able to get educated and succeed in society? It came up earlier in the discussion that one of the key things to breaking the vicious circle of making sure that kids with unmotivated parents do well in life themselves is to somehow help those kids get educated. The situation with the immigrants strikes me as very much the same thing — helping the kids get educated so that they can do well in life…and to ensure that they’ll be contributing citizens rather than a drain on the system.
I have an insider perspective on this. My parents immigrated to the US a year before I was born, and they also didn’t speak a word of English. I was lucky enough to be able to go to preschool when I was ~3 years old, and picked up English very easily as young kids do. But in kindergarten I met kids who weren’t so lucky, and it was pretty difficult for them since the teacher wasn’t bilingual (there weren’t that many back then) — I remember helping to translate for those kids. And of course I also met older kids in elementary school who also didn’t speak English, and I’m glad that our schools had English as a second language programs to help them.
The fact of the matter is that kids whose parents don’t speak English face a lot of difficulties that most kids don’t. Your parents can’t talk with your teacher, they have trouble filling out forms for school, they can’t help you with your homework, and a multitude of other things that most kids take for granted. Instead, at a very young age, you’re expected to help your parents do all the things that they can’t, because they can’t speak or write English very well. Keep in mind that a lot of immigrants don’t have the luxury of going to school to become proficient in English — a lot of the time they’re putting in long hours at low level jobs just to support the family, which is what my parents had to do for a very long time. This is a bit off the subject, but I thought it would be interesting for people to see what things looked like from the other side.
Anyway, I think its only fair that kids who don’t speak English be given the support that they need to ensure that they can get a good education. Its good for them, and its also good for society.
ddvm wrote:Dragon Master wrote:I have ALWAYS hated all the little groups that everyone has put themselves in.
How about this one I’m HUMAN!! One race the HUMAN RACE!!I always get a mental picture of humans running around in giant hamster balls when people say the human race 😀
Which is actually very close to the truth… 😆
Here I strongly disagree, Mimi. Like Cheryl said, our system should not conform to outsiders. If the parents don’t know English, they should take lessons. The kids should pick up the language at school. If they can’t do that, they should take lessons too. Conforming the school system to fit foreigners encourages the foreigners to keep their own, not conform to us. They have little incentive to learn our language and ways if we’re fitting ourselves to them instead of vice versa. There’s no excuse for not learning the language – if that involves falling a year behind in school, accept it. They need to be ready to make sacrifices if you want to live in our country and contribute. With people going to school until they’re 30, there’s no way the kids can’t catch up.
Bottom line: Outsiders fit themselves in, not we fit ourselves around outsiders. This is why I find Mom’s not learning German in the past decade unforgivable. She preaches conformity to the host country, and she mostly keeps to that – except with the language. No excuse.
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