Suggested Discussion Outline

SUB-TEXT -- WHY OUR POLITICIANS AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE TRYING TO DISTRACT US WITH INCIDENTS OF ALLEGED POLICE BRUTALITY RATHER THAN FOCUSING ON WHAT REALLY AILS OUR INNER CITIES!!!
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johnkarls
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Suggested Discussion Outline

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SUGGESTED DISCUSSION OUTLINE
(More details contained in the Q&A’s posted on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org)


A. Comments about Prof. Ravitch’s “Reign of Error.”

Examples of obvious issues =

A-1. Prof. Ravitch’s prescriptions (Chapters 21-32) would appear to comprise a restoration of the status quo ante -- but after all the criticism that No Child Left Behind has received, isn’t it true that the children in America’s Permanent Under-Caste Ghettos were being left behind??? And that NCLB was an attempt to reverse that???

A-2. Many, if not most, state Governors in recent years have based their reputations on cutting expenditures and taxes, but isn’t this merely an unconscionable race to see who is best at gutting support for inner-city education that has come from the wealthy suburbs???

A-3. Although Prof. Ravitch constantly claims correctly that inner-city education, or lack thereof, is a SOCIOLOGY problem rather than an EDUCATION problem, why does she always ignore THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM which is the lack of adequate parenting???

A-4. In other words, the prevailing conditions in the 1990’s in America’s Inner-City Ghettos which would appear to still persist that 99% of inner-city children live in single-adult households, 95% of inner-city children live in single-adult households headed by a druggie, and 75%-80% of inner-city children live in households headed by a single-adult druggie who turns over any receipts to the pusher so the kids have to steal just in order to eat???

A-5. Isn’t it true that the only solution for THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM which is the lack of adequate parenting, is THE SURROGATE PARENTING of tutors and mentors from at least third grade through H.S. graduation???

A-6. And isn’t it true that the effectiveness of THE SURROGATE PARENTING of tutors and mentors can be super-charged if accomplished inside a PROTECTIVE COCOON for an entire grade of an inner-city school (or an entire grade cohort for a public-housing project) so that the atmosphere inside the cocoon is transformed from a disdain for learning to a respect and desire for learning???

A-7. Is America morally bankrupt -- at least when it comes to the Permanent Under-Caste of its Inner-City Ghettos??? After all, as we have seen, America is the ONLY INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRY that has created such a Permanent Under-Caste!!!

A-8. How is such moral bankruptcy possible for a nation, 70% of whose inhabitants claim to be Christian and 24% of whose inhabitants are Baptized Members of the Roman Catholic Church???

A-9. Don’t America’s self-proclaimed Christians know that Christ had TWO Commandments = Love God AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR???


B. The Creation of America’s Permanent Under-Caste

B-1. “White flight” to the suburbs

B-2. K-12 public education which is traditionally financed primarily through property taxes, being left “high and dry” in our inner-city ghettos which have comparatively little property per capita to tax.


C. Typical Conditions in America’s 51 Largest Inner-Cities by the 1990’s

C-1. 99% of children living in single-adult households.

C-2. 95% of total households headed by a single adult who was a druggie.

C-3. 75%-80% of total households headed by a single-adult druggie who turned over any receipts to the pusher so that the kids had to steal just in order to eat.

C-4. Universal recognition by even 5-year-old inner-city children that their only realistic career objectives are to be a pimp or pusher, or a girl friend of a pimp or pusher graduating to whore.

C-5. SINGLE-DIGIT high school graduation rates.


D. Prof. Ravitch’s Comparison With Other Industrialized Countries

D-1. 23% of American children live in poverty.

D-2. No other industrialized country tolerates even half that rate.

D-3. Indeed, it is TRIPLE the rate of child poverty in Germany, Austria and France.

D-4. And QUADRUPLE the rate in such nations as Denmark, Slovenia, Norway, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Finland and Iceland.


E. Other Indictments

E-1. For more than 50 years, the U.S. Government has continually reported that 30% of American adults are illiterate as defined by the ability to read the warning label on a can of rat poison.

E-2. The size of America’s unique Permanent Under-Caste causes it to RANK DEAD LAST AMONG INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES IN TERMS OF EVERY MEASURE OF CIVILIZATION (e.g., infant mortality, literacy, life expectancy, upward mobility, etc., etc.)


F. The Truth About The “Snake Oil” Claims of Purveyors of School Privatization

F-1. The national survey by Stanford University, financed by such pro-charter groups as the Walton Family Foundation and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, analyzed 2,403 charter schools in 15 states (about 50% of all charters and 70% of all charter students) and found that 37 percent had learning gains that were significantly below those of local public schools; 46 percent had gains that were no different; and only 17 percent showed growth that was better.

F-2. And a summary of research on charter schools by the Brookings Institution concluded that “some researchers found positive effects, some found negative effects, but on the whole ‘none of the studies detects huge effects – either positive or negative.’”


G. Inconvenient Facts

G-1. Identical-Twin Studies which are the Gold Standard for determining what is genetic and what is environmental because they focus on identical twins orphaned before their first birthday and raised in radically-different environments, consistently show that the inner-city identical twins adopted by suburban families generate Measured IQ’s equal to average suburban Measured IQ’s, while their identical twins adopted by inner-city families generate Measured IQ’s equal to average inner-city Measured IQ’s.

G-2. Accordingly, America has no legitimate excuse for its Permanent Under-Caste.


H. The Holy Grail

H-1. The last 35 years have demonstrated that there is ONLY ONE SOLUTION THAT “MOVES THE NEEDLE” SIGNIFICANTLY.

H-2. The first 178 “I Have A Dream”® Programs of the 1990’s typically faced the conditions described in Section C of this outline by adopting an entire class in an inner-city school (or an entire grade-level cohort in a public-housing project) and INSIDE THE PROTECTIVE COCOON CREATED FOR THOSE CHILDREN the atmosphere was transformed with individual tutors and mentors as the children progressed from third grade through high school, accompanied by a guaranty of college tuition.

H-3. At first, 60%-65% high-school graduation/college matriculation rates were achieved, despite the classes immediately preceding and immediately succeeding the Dreamer class suffering the typical SINGLE-DIGIT H.S. graduation rates.

H-4. And when it was discovered that 50% of the female Dreamers had become pregnant, but that many of the tutors and mentors had effectively become SURROGATE PARENTS and, if they expressed to the female Dreamers that they could make something of themselves with the program AND IT WOULD BREAK THE HEART OF THE TUTOR/MENTOR IF THEY DIDN’T, the high-school graduation/college matriculation rates exceeded 90%.

[NB: This institutional knowledge appears to have been lost because “I Have A Dream”® since 2000 appears to have concentrated on close-in suburbs threatened by “white flight” rather than inner cities.]


I. Shunning The Promised Land

I-1. “I Have A Dream”® had been the darling of national politicians -- Hillary had been on its National Advisory Board until the 1992 Iowa caucuses; both Presidents Bush had raised substantial amounts for IHAD; and the first President Bush had been fond of saying that his “1,000 Points of Light” Inaugural Address had been inspired by IHAD; etc., etc.

I-2. However, Prof. Ravitch chronicled in her earlier book “Death and Life” which was the focus of our 9/12/2012 meeting, how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hi-jacked the nation with The Snake Oil of breaking inner-city schools into smaller schools and, after admitting the failure of that idea, continued to hi-jack the nation (with the help of the Walton and Dell Foundations) with The Snake Oil of charter schools -- utterly ignoring (or, perhaps, oblivious to) the fact that they were dealing with a SOCIOLOGY problem rather than an EDUCATION problem!!! And that charter schools make no more sense than closing a police precinct in whose jurisdiction a crime is committed and hiring amateurs in their place.

I-3. 21 of the top National and California politicians and 43 news-media superstars refused to lift a finger to permit $84 billion of PRIVATE funding provide IHAD or IHAD-style programs for 10 million inner-city children despite each of them receiving 6 pleas over 3 years to help, EVEN THOUGH EACH KNEW THAT IF ANY OF THEM HAD LIFTED A SINGLE FINGER, THE 10 MILLION CHILDREN MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO AVOID A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH.

I-4. The U.S. Government is incapable of Mainstreaming Our Permanent Under-Caste because, unlike virtually all other industrialized countries, we do NOT have a parliamentary form of government pursuant to which lower classes can form their own political party and elect a sizable bloc of Members of Parliament whose votes, sooner or later, will be needed by one of the major parties to form a governing coalition -- at which point the needs of the lower classes will be addressed.


J. Proposed Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail Campaign to Pope Francis

J-1. John Karls has proposed an E-mail Campaign to Pope Francis for the reasons set forth in “A Solution To The Plight Of America’s Permanent Under-Caste” posted on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org.

J-2. As described above, America will NEVER, as a practical matter, be able to Mainstream Its Permanent Under-Caste if left to its own devices.

J-3. The Roman Catholic Church has always focused on the poor!!!

J-4. Pope Francis has always had a particular concern for the poor!!!

J-5. Pope Francis will be making his first visit to America in September.

J-6. The Catholic Church in America has 78.2 million baptized members who comprise 24% of the population of the U.S.

J-7. If Pope Francis’ Address to America in September focuses on inspiring Americans in general, and Roman Catholics in particular, to volunteer as tutors and mentors in IHAD-style programs organized by their churches, THE MIRACLE of Mainstreaming America’s Permanent Under-Caste will occur!!!

[NB: It is noted that many of the 178 IHAD Progams of the 1990’s were sponsored by churches and, indeed, the very first IHAD Program to follow Eugene Lang’s example was NYC’s Marble Collegiate Church.]

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