An Open letter to Roland Fryer
Posted: July 24, 2008 Filed under: CNN, CNN Black in America, Education, Mrs. Ink, Race, Racism, Reading, Roland Fryer 9 Comments »Dear Dr. Fryer,
I am writing this letter to you because my wife wants to kick your ass. I think you made an ass of yourself, but I am not inclined to come look for you. I will just say that you should count your blessings that her niece went to Boston University and not Harvard.
To say she is deeply troubled by your belief in paying children to encourage them to is just not accurate. I, sir, am deeply troubled by by your belief in paying children to learn.
She is enraged at you because you have chosen a short cut to success. A shortcut that is antithetical to the true purpose of Education.
Education is not a means to an end.
Sorry, Education is not merely a means to an end. It is the end.
And the beginning.
and all that stuff in between.
Education is not a road to success.
Education IS success.
Education is a way of life.
There are no shortcuts.
To act otherwise is to short circuit the circle of life. Whatever short term gains these children receive will come at the expense of what the larger goal SHOULD be.
My wife thinks you have lost your connection with your people. I disagree.
I respect your committment to closing the achievement gap but I am deeply troubled by you hanging your hat on such a hamfisted short circuiting of educational reform.
You sir, have managed to become the Atkins diet of Educational Reform. Paying for scores may benefit some children in the short term, but it is certainly not healthy won’t do anything to effect the long term health of the child’s educational prospects without fundamental change in the long term.
There are no Shortcuts, Dr. Fryer.
A full and thorough and unyielding thirst for education is the most valuable attribute a family can have. Traditionally it is instilled by parents and manifested in their lifestyle.
You cannot buy that. You can only build it.
To pretend there is a shortcut does a disservice to the children and our culture.
Please rethink this before my wife finds you, for your own safety.
Sincerely,
The InkogNegro
No, Katie. Yes. But No.
Posted: July 23, 2008 Filed under: Katie Couric, Racism, Sexism 1 Comment »
I see Katie Couric has taken the baton from Hillary Clinton.
Veteran newswoman Katie Couric says that she and Sen. Hillary Clinton have had their career trajectories stymied by sexism, which she claims is more tolerated than racism.
Positing that she, as the anchor of CBS Evening News, is competing “in the last bastion of male dominance,” Couric tells the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “Sexism in American society is more common than racism, and certainly more acceptable or forgivable.”
Couric’s apparent comparison of sexism to racism has drawn some fire, prompting her spokesperson to clear up something that perhaps was “lost in translation” by the Israeli news outlet. “Katie wouldn’t, and didn’t, say that sexism is more prevalent than racism,” her rep tells the New York Daily News. “Her point was that sexism seems more tolerated.”
Even Couric’s sexism claim has been called into question, with experts noting that firefighting, the military and police work still present significant hurdles to women — and certainly not with the cushy pay of TV news anchoring. — Matt Mitovich
While I am the first to acknowledge how patriarchy sullies any hope this nation world has for full equality, It does no good to a) run around making copmparisons or b) not be above reproach yourself.
Katie…you are not the ideal vessel for this, trust us.
