Things may start to change if we try equality as well.

Nothing prevents them to do anything. The idea of American democracy is not to keep people equal, as that is Communism. The idea is that they have the oppurtunity. If they choose to take it or not, that is their decision. If they don't have any sort of worrk ethic or anything, the parents should have instilled that into them. If they don't have time to care for their children, they shouldn't have them. I'd rather see an overloaded adoption clinic than kids on the streets.

Actually poor conditions of their schools prevent them from the same education. The violence in their communities are crippling. When drugs are being pushed in your front yard it does prevent them from doing anything.

I'm not saying you can't overcome it. I am saying most don't.

Yes, most don't. But everyone can.

How about we just raze the whole inner city, rebuild it, and kill anyone found with drugs. Let's start a Pre-crime facility, too, so we can get those wily drug dealers before they get people addicted again

The problem of our inner cities is government made. It is the result of one failed social program after another.

Public housing. Cheap inexpensive housing for the disadvantaged. A great idea in theory, a poor result in practice. Many who originally moved into these apartments paid no rent, their month fees being paid by government. Often times the money paid was less than the market rate. Having no financial interest in the homes, what incentive did residents have to make minor repairs or take care of the facilities. Furthermore, what incentive was their for the property owner to make repairs which would have been paid for out of the owners pocket. The result is many of the poor conditions of repair that many of the buildings are found in today.

Aid to Dependent Children. The original welfare. The government paid for those in poverty who had children, to help them with food, clothing, and residence. The system rewarded single mothers with children, at first, money was paid on the basis of the number of children, however, this was soon revised. But this notion suddenly made it alright, and in most cases profitable, for the father of children to ignore and not take responsibility for their children, instead of having a father at home, the mother received a check from the government. As a result of this program, we have seen the rate of unwed mothers in the black community increase from 30% to 64%, and in the white community increase from 16% to 36%. Today, 2/3rd of all black children, and 1/3 of all children are born into single parent homes. We have seen the destruction of the family. When a married couple with two kids who both working are struggling to get by, can actually believe that a single-parent family will be doing better??

No-choice education. Of all industialized countries, we have one of the lowest education scores. We have teachers who teach children the wrong information, we have schools that pass children to get them out of their rolls. We continually spend more and more money on education, yet less and less makes it to the classroom. Our public schools are at the mercy of the teaching unions. Their responsibility is to their members, and not to education of our children. Why else can you explain the unions opposition to teacher testing. Once upon a time we had math teachers that had majored in math, and science teachers who majored in science, and so forth and so on, today we have teachers that major in education, and what are they taught, how to teach. How do we expect our children to learn, when many of the teachers themselved truly do not know the subjects that they are teaching.

Social programs one and all that have failed the very people they were invented to help. As a result today we have a bureaucracy that year in and year out demands more money, without producing more results.

THe government has failed in the inner city, the Great Society of the 1960's was dead on arrival. In our haste to establish a social safety net around those in need, we instead have established a social plantation, where the master is the government and her members who wish to continue and create new programs, and where the slaves are the poor and needy, destined to a life of poverty.

dmk

Jesus Christ, I agree with you on this one...

Indeed, it's not as bad in high school though (to my knowledge). I went to St. John's, so I don't know if it was because I went to a private school or not, but Peabody High has a problem like you mentioned...Elementary schools did teachers ever know a single subject though? It seemed at PVMHS, from what my friends told me the teachers didn't really give a shit, whereas at the Prep the teachers loved what they were doing. They were also probably given much more freedom since the school wasn't publicly funded. If private schools could be made cheaper, I'd see them as the perfect way to go. Let the kids and parents choose their schools. The course material offered at schools like the prep really get your mind going if you're willing to buckle down. Another incentive is since you choose to go there, you choose to do the work, or waste your money and get kicked out. Unfortunately, even St. John's has been raising it's tuition the last few years so that it's not run on donations anymore...up to like 13k/year. Bishop Fenwick is still about 6 or 7, imho Peabody High is in better shape than Fenwick. Masconomet Regional is a public school that's gone right. Guess richer towns/areas get better schools? Heh.

As do I, this was incredibly well thought out and well written, without any nonsense. Bravo sir!

My guess is that an adequate budget for these programs was not in place. Or poor execution. Or do republicans really think all social programs are bogus?

I'm nowhere near conservative to be a Republican, though ^_^. Political parties suck. I don't fall in line with either damn party. I feel most social programs are useful, but they've been abused and you're right the funding isn't there. We don't have the money to keep providing welfare that has a 50% success in getting people back on jobs (how can it take more than a year, at MOST to get a job, even at McDonald's?). It's just as much the citizen's fault for abusing social programs. While there are people that do really depend on things like Welfare, they shouldn't be. Getting a check based on the number of kids drove women to have many more kids so that they could get a bigger check...and then they changed that statute for the most part. I support welfare and Social Security and such, but what sucks is that a few people abuse it and gradually more do...and it becomes a farce that muscles out the people who actually do need it. Welfare is a temporary solution. Same with social security. Nobody should be living off that check. Our generation is going to be fucked when we retire because we spend so much, save so little, and most people are at least $5000 in debt. There's no way we would be able to maintain a lifestyle on a measly Social Security check. That's why private accounts should happen, but gradually. Otherwise people about to retire get fucked. Like everyone that's going to be 18 in year X should start putting into their private accounts, and you gradually move the percentage going into a private account higher and higher, then have a certain percentage of whatever you have when you retire cushioned with taxpayer money. That way, you're not spending so much public money on Social Security, but not leaving people to completely fuck themselves over. I could go into more detail but don't really feel like and am hoping you understood my idea since I'm on a caffeine high and really jittery right now

Speaking of shit like debt...I'm gonna start a topic about the credit card reform going though this october, conveniently right afte the bankruptcy laws change.