Jackson Jambalaya

Nice sentiments, but unless and until black leaders ackowledge the role of welfare in destroying black families, it won't amount to anything. The problem is systemic, and until the system is changed all the big-brother mentoring in the world is just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Could it be that they are just trying to "free the land"?

KF,

How many Jacksonians were in the audience ?

On the left side of the stage, there appears to be about
twenty-five or more empty chairs and only one citizen sitting on the second row.

There is NOTHING JPS can do.
The problem is familial.
Anyone who thinks school teachers can overcome the problems associated with the lack of a family structure is insane.
80% of the kids are out of competition for a decent place in society by the 3rd grade.
The public schools systems in Mississippi have no chance to fix this problem.
You can discuss it and discuss it some more, but public schools will never be able to overcome the lack of family structure.

8:29, are you a school teacher or administrator? I am interested to know the vantage point from which you make your observations.

I would agree with 8:29 if his/her post simply suggested that public schools won't replace or compensate for a lack of family structure (but, who among us doesn't already know that?). I've not heard anybody suggest school is intended or expected to 'overcome' or 'substitute for' it. Nor is it the role of public schools to 'fix' 'it'.

@ 10:36

My wife taught in JPS for 15 years and recently retired.

She watched it deteriorate through the years. A typical class of 22 might have two students with a father and a mother. She taught many children who never knew their mother.

I don't think anyone really disagrees with my post, do they? If you don't believe, just go to PTO meetings.

@ Shadowfox

JPS cannot perform its basic mission until the family problem is overcome. You are right, it is not the mission of public schools to "fix" or "overcome" the problem. That's why any discussion of this is a waste of time. We can meet and write books and blog and organize and bitch and march and wring our hands until the eagle flies off the capitol dome, but public schools in Jackson will never be able to fulfill a mission of preparing black children for an opportunity to succeed. Consequently, when I read a story such as this one and the people around the table start talking about the "failure of JPS," I shut it down.

It's encouraging that the discussion is at least happening.

These "discussions" are meaningless political events.

If they encourage you, that's about all the good they'll do.

So what do we do, 1:01? I'm assuming that you're the same Anonymous from 10:15 and 8:29. It's easy to say what won't work, but do we just give up on two or three generations of people? These men may not solve the problem but they're making an effort. The process has to start somewhere...

The only solution I have been able to come up with(and I have thought about it seriously for years) is for the black churches to start their own schools. The churches can use Sunday School rooms for class rooms and begin the process using home school courses.
The churches could band together to provide classroom space and to hire competent teachers.
Of course the pastor may have to do without a new car every year.
That alone will probably squash the concept.
BUT
If they could make church schools work, a significant number of these kids might be salvaged.
Parents would be instructed of their duty to monitor homework assignments.
Kids who don't do their homework and perform adequately would be banished to the hell of public schools.
Churches are made up largely of families, and members who don't measure up to family standards are challenged to correct themselves in a way not available to public schools.
As the church schools succeed, you might see them grow and might see church membership grow as kids start prospering.

Funny you should question whether to give up on three generations of people, because that's precisely what is happening right now in most public school systems between Interstate 55 and the Mississippi River where the black population is most dense.

I guess I should sign this "Anonymous from 10:15 and 8:29"

I think sex education and access to birth control would go a long way.

Do you have an idea how stupid these kids are when it comes to sex? What they believe?

The recent teen mother documentary was very eye opening.