Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Forgotten Logic of Civil Rights

While working at the school, I’ve noticed an ironic and disturbing trend. The minority students that get in trouble (and put into detention where I work), frequently blame racism as the reason they get into trouble. This removes the responsibility from themselves for their own bad behavior, and puts that responsibility on society (or more accurately, Caucasians).

I find it ironic that most of these same students have absolutely no desire to learn or do well in school. In fact, their primary goal seems to be to disturb class to make sure that no one can learn. The irony here, is that all of the great civil rights leaders (like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), preached education as the means to rise above oppression.

A separate bit of irony is that in the suburbs where this school is located, the kids do not have to have any gang affiliations in order to survive. Yet, that is what they want and pursue above all else.

No comments: