[computacat]

...the Southern Poverty Law Center ... is also the same group that says ... any critisism of Isreal is anti-Semitic.

I think you may be painting with too broad a brush. According to this story (use link below) the group you may be referring to is Shurat HaDin an Israel Law Center "founded in 2003 by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israeli lawyer."

Her American model was the Southern Poverty Law Center, which had successfully filed legal challenges to thwart the Ku Klux Klan and others it deemed racist. She was determined "to go after terrorists in the same way" in which the Center pursued its foes: through civil litigation. Named Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center has become the bane of anti-Israel groups throughout the world.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/...#ixzz22ySyXpZX


I do not wish to hijack this thread, but let's not confuse the two organizations, and certainly not drag the pursuit of terrorists in here.

[some guy]

The problem is not whether or not these students are disproportionately misbehaving. The problem is that there is no way to really know.

The bottom line is not that it isn't fair that these children have been disciplined. The issue is that there's no way to tell for sure if it's discrimination,

So what your saying is that its not the substance of the evidence but the seriousness of the charges???

[Artycraft]

My kid got suspended and he is white. Now I wonder if he was just suspended to even out the proportion of whites to blacks. If so now that the article came out they will need to make sure to punish white kids more, just to make things fair.

[some guy]

The color of ones skin should make no difference under the law or rules at school on punishment. If one-hundred kids did something wrong at school to be disciplined and 98 of them where black the other 2 where white would that be "discrimination"? Even if the school had 1,000 kids and only 100 black kids the % of one color or another would not affect the fact of what 100 kids did the "crime".

[pctransplant]

Why are there not steps to prevent future bad behaviors or find out what is causing the bad behavior in the first place. Flagler county needs to offer Ruby Payne training in the schools to teach teachers and administrators about the consequences of poverty and how it impacts kids in schools. It is eye opening and may lead to more solutions instead of denials or finger pointing.

[summer58]

Oh give me a break, here we go again. More black kids were suspended
than white kids. Well maybe the black kids deserved to be suspended by their actions. As far as only 12 black kids being enrolled in the "gifted programs" well maybe there are not many "gifted" black kids out there as their are white kids. Same thing with the "honors" classes. You have to be able to pass the regular classes to be able to get into "honors" classes. If you can't do the class work then you should not be in the "honors classes". As far as the NAACP saying that there is only like 16% black kids in the Flagler schools but they end up having 31% of the suspensions, well let me run this by you. In the USA black people make up only about 13.6% of the population yet they also make up over 40% of the prision population. Makes one think. Its also been said that 32% of all black males born after 2001 can expect to spend some time in jail. So do I think that blacks are being treated unfairly in Flagler schools???? Not at all.

[some guy]

It has nothing to do with the color of ones skin!! It has to do with the culture one is brought up in and or embraces.

[computacat]

[vietnamvet]

A very bright young lady worked on the production line here in town where I worked. When she spoke to me where there were no other people around her speech was better than mine. I worked with her and finally got her into a nursing class which she completed fourth in her class. She is a black woman and had three children and was unmarried and had never been married. I was happy to have not stereo typed her. She told me something one day that absolutely floored me. I noticed she spoke differently when she was speaking with black people. Words like ask for instance was pronounced, "axe". I knew she did not speak like this to me and I asked her why she said it that way when she was speaking to other black people. She told me that if she spoke like "The Man" (White people) her people would think she was uppity and was trying to be white and they would not treat her very nicely. Her life would become tougher each day. It took me over two years of interaction with her but she finally got it. Her life was hers to live as she wanted to live it. She decided to become whatever she could become and applied herself. She is a real good nurse today with a BS degree in Nursing.

I think peer pressure is a lot of the problems with young people whatever color they may be. But when you are a member of a population that was primarily born out of slavery you are subject to the long time actions and life styles of your ancestors. I would like to think that young black people could all believe that they have the same opportunities to be all they can become. Not all doctors and lawyers, but realistically, all they as individuals can become. Today the young people are being taught that because they are black they are the targets of discrimination. I wish there was a "ray gun" that would fill the human brain with common sense. The teachers and staff at Flagler County Schools are professionals who strive to help all students to achieve their goals in life.

I heard Jim Manfre speaking with several local candidates running for office in 2012 about an idea to have prominent people living here that graduated from the Flagler County School System speak to the young people who attend Flagler County Schools now. This way they would have positive role models that are real live people that have become Doctors, Lawyers, and candle stick makers, (One in St. Augustine, makes candles on St. George street!). I think Jim has a great idea. This would really work. How could the young people who feel they are the lost generation think that way or feel there is no hope for them listening to these "Educated in Flagler" people?

So is there discrimination in Flagler County? Sure is, and I wish the outsiders that don't know us very well go a bit deeper to our heart of community so they could see they are discriminating against all Flagler County residents. Let them place that in their pipe and smoke it!

[devie]

So what your saying is that its not the substance of the evidence but the seriousness of the charges???

What I'm saying is nothing of the sort.

It's not about the serious, but about whether the same procedures exist for all students.

If a teacher is simply humanly annoyed by the way one kid talks, but that kid does the same thing another kid does, and he gets a referral, but the other kid gets a call home and a warning, is there a way to show that the teacher showed preferential treatment toward the other kid?

It's about showing that all kids have the same disciplinary action, regardless of race, creed, religion, or otherwise.

The kids should be disciplined for bad behavior, but how do we know that there isn't a subtle prejudice happening here? There might not be, but we don't know, because the discipline procedures are vague.

[devie]

It has nothing to do with the color of ones skin!! It has to do with the culture one is brought up in and or embraces.

So, are you saying it's just a "black thing?"

[saint160]

"I think peer pressure is a lot of the problems with young people whatever color they may be"

VV
I used the term "peer pressure" as an excuse in the Flash Mob thread and was excoriated beyond belief.

[Artycraft]

Bullying has a lot to do with it too.

[good_cooking]

Attend any major sporting event at MHS or FPC and you can see the cultural differences that result in the statistical discrepancy. While most student participants and spectators intermingle, there is often an area that is populated almost exclusively by african american students. When the events conclude look at the trash that remains in the area where most of the AA kids were sitting as compared to the rest of the venue.

I've seen this over and over again and have even addressed it with coaches. Some kids have no respect and we can assume that the same kids that don't care enough about their school and community to throw their own trash away probably show the same disrespect for teachers and the rules and norms in their schools.

I'm not stereotyping all AA kids but providing an example of behavioral differences.

[LIGirl827]

I may get taken over the coals for this but here I go. I had supervised young men (16 to 23) on probation, of these most were caucasian as the area I supervised was primarily white. The AA (which were then called black) kids had to be dealt with in a slightly different manner, difficult to explain why or how. One of the observations I had, which was validated by one of the grandmothers was the breakdown of the family. Almost all of the young men were being raised by their grandmothers. Rarely was there a male adult role model available for them. I am not casting stones, just giving an observation that I had found. In no way am I saying this is 100% the problem with AA youth or youth in general, but maybe it is part of it. This can be equally said for white youth who have a fractured family life. Kids need to have good role models, as I have always believed, "children are what they learn". JMO



Just want to add, it doesn't necessarily mean that single parent homes are the problem. I know many many such homes where the kids turned out just fine. Mine being one of them, my kids are all turned out just great. It is the type of parenting that makes the difference, most of the time. Exceptions to every "rule".