All posts in category Equality

How Not To Leave a Child Behind in American Society

Until the last day of 2014, I didn’t think I would ever find the answer to this quandary as  I was burdened with tutoring just two 5th graders in a marginalized middle class town.  I was particularly troubled by S, the boy whom I had illustrated in the previous post, No Child Left Behind in American Society, an Impossible Dream.

For me, S has been an academic Dracula.  He has no qualms about handing in his homework with the bare minimum efforts.  He isn’t concerned about getting Fs on his tests.  No matter how many times he had been taught the same concept, he wouldn’t retain it in his brain.  Abandonment and penalty had very limited effect on his level of efforts.  By the end of each tutoring session, I was completely drained as I sensed that I didn’t make a dent on his cerebral permafrost.

For S, academics has been a gamble.  He constantly wants to be lucky with his guesses.  If he gets wrong answers today, he always has tomorrows to bet differently.  As long as he persists this highly disrespectful and risky strategy with education, he has no reason to put an honest day’s work.

I needed a different method to tackle this boy.  Otherwise, he was digging his own grave in a meritocracy that had no mercy for delinquents.  Our system can always find those who are eager and ready for the opportunity anywhere on earth, if unavailable within this country.  Obviously, there was no way I could find the answer in American society where dismissal was the norm.

So, I looked for a system that couldn’t leave its members behind at all. The clue came from the military draft of my native country, Korea.  The U.S. military is a voluntary system.  Just because one chooses to join it, that doesn’t mean that he or she is allowed to defend this country.  One has to qualify.  Unfortunately, many young Americans, especially men, aren’t aware of this fact.  Those who want to conform but don’t know how to do well are turned down by the U.S military.  Since it tends to be the last resort for the marginalized to make something of themselves, they end up being more dejected than ever after such an experience.

The draft system doesn’t have such pitfalls. I happened to see its advantages from a Korean variety program on TV during the last fall.  It was a wake-up call to see how the Korean military routinely handled those who had difficulty following instructions for whatever reasons.

It was unlimited repetitions.  If the brain couldn’t comprehend the instruction enough to command the body, the latter could learn the process first to make sense in the mind. The caveat is that the Korean military doesn’t have the unlimited patience.  Therefore, those who can’t learn quickly are disciplined to focus.  If they don’t, they end up penalizing their fellow soldiers.  By and large, men of all levels of aptitude or intelligence, walk away with the same set of mandated skills by the end of their mandatory military duty in Korea.

In male-preferred society, many young Korean men knew of the lives catered to their needs and wishes prior to their military services.  It is a culture shock for them to have to stand on their own for the first time in life to fulfill each of their duties.  Therefore, Korean men would love to forget everything about the civic obligation they so detest. Ironically, the TV program kept demonstrating that what these men learned in complete consciousness became a second nature no matter how many years had gone by.

I thought the idea of unlimited repetitions was worth trying on S.  While the Korean military used them to serve the national interests, I meant to employ the same to maximize S’s academic potential.  If S adopted this discipline, he could enhance his academic foundation.

I applied the tactic of endless reiterations to S on the last day of 2014.  In the previous session, he answered only 51% of the questions correctly on the math test I had formulated for him.  Although I asked his mother to repeat the same test everyday at home, I learned that his scores improved by about 10% each day.  Before I tutored S on December 31, 2014, I knew his latest score was 81%.

I was determined to get to the bottom of S’s mind before the year was over.

I gave him the same test as soon as his tutoring session began.  It resulted in the score of just over 90%.  S was giddy with pleasure that he scored that high.  I wasn’t satisfied.  If he got the same problem wrong each time, he was having difficulty with a particular concept.  That wasn’t so.  Although he answered correctly on previous tests, he managed to be wrong on the latest one.  It indicated that he wasn’t alert.

So, once I went over the wrong answers with S, I made him take the test again.  I was supposed to tutor him only for 2 hours on that day.  I told him he couldn’t go home until he received 100.  Fortunately, the local library in my town opened until 5PM on that day while all others in my county closed at 1PM.  I had the whole day to test S.

S scored 97% or 99% repeatedly in the subsequent tests.  However, the results were consistent.  If he remembered one rule on one test, he forgot another.  His brain operated like a revolving door.  At his age, S’s mind had to function like a sponge.  By the time the library closed, I tested him 10 times in a row.  On the last run, I could detect his fatigue.  His score dipped to 90%.  And, the library was about to close. I advised S’s mother to feed the boy and rest for a while.  Then, S was to take the test again until he could score 100%.

Fortunately, I received the news on that evening that S finally managed to get 100% on his 11th test on that day, 16th in total within the 4-day period. Given how many times it took, I felt compelled to test him again in the next tutoring session with the same subjects.  Therefore, I devised another test on them with more difficulty than the previous one. He started out with 81%, and then scored 100% on his 9th test.  In the following week, I tested him with different subjects of math.  It took 5 times for him to score 100%.

Why was I so focused on getting S to score perfectly?  In our society, the score of 100 represents the best efforts, especially for a boy like S who isn’t naturally smart.  That was what I wanted to instill in S, which would be more valuable than innate brilliance in reality.

It seemed that the first time was the most difficult for S to focus.  However, once his mental muscle was exercised to reach for the perfect scores, it began to adapt to the new standard.

With the latest math test, I detected a positive development in S.  His score started out with 29%, which looked discouraging on the surface.  Once I asked him what S had difficulty with, I learned that he still hadn’t grasped the new concepts.  It was the first time S admitted what he didn’t know. The more delightful sign was that he asked very pointed questions about what he hadn’t comprehended yet.  Then, his score jumped to 51%, and then 77%  on subsequent tests.  Judging by how he solved, he understood the main principles.

The errors on the test were due to his incorrect calculations done in his mind.  The type of mistakes that S had made indicated that he wasn’t closely monitored while learning the rudimentary arithmetic.  For example, his understanding of the equal sign was shaky to begin with.  He assumed that the third power of a number was equal to triple of it.  Therefore, he calculated the latter as a short cut of the former.  It meant that S still didn’t comprehend what the multiplication table represented.  It was quite alarming to witness a 5th grader still struggling with such, and how much it affected his performance.

If S continued to be closely watched and repeatedly to practice, he was on his way to build self-confidence.

However, I’ve found out that I was not in a position to continue my regimen with S to strive for such.

It was astounding to discover that those who should be most supportive of S turned out to be the biggest obstacles against his need to meet the standard of meritocracy later on.

First of all, S’s father was perturbed by the fact that his son was pushed to do something the child didn’t like.  I was startled by how an adult man projected his own desire onto his son.  Without having acquired the discipline of doing what he didn’t necessarily like in his youth, S’s father couldn’t hold an occupation as an adult.  He didn’t focus on the benefit of having learned how to be responsible for himself.  He resented the process of assuming responsibility, and wished a life without it for his son.  In short, what S’s father yearned for was an illusion, if not for him, at least for his child.

S has quite a few relatives living in the vicinity.  And, their collective voice represented another hurdle for this boy.  These elders have grown children who completed their academic education.  And, the former haven’t experienced any positive outcome out of the latter, especially in this economy.  As a result, these in-laws discouraged S’s mother not to waste any energy on S who hasn’t shown much promise in academics.  These relatives didn’t investigate whether their own children had given their best efforts during their educational period.  Without having done so, these elders were imposing their advice on S’s mother at every chance.

The most unforeseen impediment happens to be S’s mother.  She was the one who asked me to tutor her son. However, as she discovered how much work was involved, she was afraid to do it herself.  As she witnessed how many times it took for S to score 100%, she wondered whether she expected too much from her son.  She questioned whether he had the learning disability.

Before I pushed S to score 100 on his tests, I doubted the same as his mother. However, I had refused to jump to the conclusion.  His parents are very typical middle class folks who want to fit in among others.  Their orientation didn’t allow for S to learn how to give his best efforts.  For the last 5 years, S hadn’t been pushed to do so. Therefore, it was bound to take time for him to adopt a new discipline.  Diagnosing S with the learning disability was unfairly placing the full responsibility of his lackluster performance on him.  And, even if he was declared with the condition, there was no magic pill that would vanquish it.

With every hindrance presented against S, I articulated my rationale.  S’s mother agreed with me.  However, she didn’t want to offend anyone in her husband’s family.  Instead, she expected me to understand her dilemma of not being able to push through the barriers for S.

I responded that my sympathy for her did nothing for S’s future.  She wanted to be excused for not preparing her son well.  The society couldn’t care less about such.  At most, it would offer pity for S.  It was incomprehensible why a mother would set her own child to be the subject of such.  For S’s mother, the familial approval of her now was more important than taking a chance to be misunderstood temporarily for her son’s well-being.

A tutor has the least authority among all adult figures for a child.  Therefore, I found it impossible to train S any more, in spite of knowing and having tried what was viable for him.  I wasn’t afforded the condition for my idea to work for S.  As a result, I quit as I was constantly hampered by S’s family members.

I was quite dispirited by this experience.  However, I knew I wasn’t the first educated elite who was bruised by his or her attempt to help the marginalized.  This kind of failure was consistent with just about every race or ethnicity that was alienated in American society.  All along, I merely saw the pictures that others had taken.  This time, I got to take my own snapshots of the middle class America, up close and personal.  As such, the lessons were crystal clear.

Firstly, just by looking at the contents of the 5th grade subjects, it is possible for the delinquents to catch up within less than a year.  However, that may only be possible for those who are eager and ready.  If a student himself or herself isn’t so, it becomes an impossible task.  If that is indeed the case, all that awaits this child in the future is what kind of academic slide he or she is to ride in what slope, as the effect of delinquency accumulates over time.

Secondly, upward mobility is a myth for the majority of American public.  Our system offers such for those who know and conform to its rules.  It isn’t designed to help or inform those who are ignorant.  I know that socially conscious educated elites have taken that duty upon themselves to tackle the marginalized.  However, American public can’t discern what information or knowledge indeed empower them.  Instead, ordinary Americans are blinded by what the powers-that-be say or do, which is assumed as a short cut to the equality to the latter. As a result, the fortune or misfortune of American public is no one’s fault but their own greed, ignorance, and stubbornness rolled into one.

Thirdly, our latest prolonged economic crisis revealed the limit of how far the middle class could misguide themselves.  S isn’t the first child who just wants to get by.  This country always has had plenty of those who behaved in the same manner.  However, such a conduct wasn’t an issue while the industrial sector was the engine of the U.S. economy.  No matter how badly one performed in school, he or she could get a job that trained him or her with the skills to perform the assigned task.  Until the 1970s, any academic delinquent could last a life time as a middle class member with decent wages and fringe benefits.

Since the 1980s, however, the service sector began to dominate the U.S. economy. This industry has no need to train laborers.  It requires professionals who either design or perform specific services via their academic training.  And these experts need unskilled laborers in the supportive roles.  In this type of economy, academic delinquents are destined to drift among a variety of dead-end jobs that exploit their cheap wages.  Although the U.S. economy is improving these days, its growth is mostly from unskilled labor jobs out of the service industry.  That doesn’t do much for ordinary Americans for the long run.

The low academic standard of American public also contributed to the loss of manufacturing edge to less developed countries. If a U.S. company satisfied the majority of American consumers, it used to assume that their standard would be good enough for the international market as well.  That premise turned out to be a miscalculation in many cases, especially in the recent decades.  Manufacturers of the less developed countries enhanced our inventions better and sold at cheaper prices, which appealed to the wide array of consumers all around the globe, including Americans.

Fourthly, the societal norm of a married couple with children isn’t necessary ideal for the latter, especially of the middle class.  S’s father works for a job after having failed in his trained profession.  He considers making a living for his entire family is more than enough as the head of the household. This sentiment is quite common among ordinary men.  He doesn’t want to involve himself in family matters.  Yet, he wants his household to be run by his ideas and wishes.  S’s mother has issues with her husband’s stance.  However, she regards silence as a way of keeping peace at home.  Both individuals have been doing their bare minimum as parents for S.  Each of their dysfunctional behaviors is compounding everyday until S leaves home for college.  That is a sufficient damage to a child’s conceptual and emotional make-up.

Another pupil I tutor, M, is much healthier although she lives with her mother only.  M sees her parent giving her best efforts making a living and affording M’s educational expenses. Seeing that example everyday is far much more motivating for a child.  And, all the authority figures in her life present one voice, which leaves no room for M to deviate.  Her mother, her piano teacher, and I are in support of one another’s attempt to raise this child well for the future.

Lastly, the path that feminism has taken is quite useless for the majority of men and women. So far, feminism has striven for equality by demonstrating women’s capability outside of home. Through S’s mother, I’ve witnessed that women of the middle class have hard time enough to manage the limited roles of a woman, wife and mother. They often don’t know how to balance them and which role takes the precedence over others at times.  It was saddening to see how a modern woman held onto the feminine mystique of passivity as sacred above all.

Feminism hasn’t tackled the need of parity in marriage.  I was baffled by how S’s mother chose to undermine her husband and her in-laws as she didn’t have the economic power to have her voice in her family.  Undermining is an act of disrespect and giving up, based on the sense of superiority.  If you look closely, undermining is a bundle of contradictions.  If one feels truly superior to the other, the former has to have the confidence to persuade the latter for a better method. One undermines the other when the former is cowardly and insecure. And, when one gives up on the other, the former is doing so on himself or herself as well.

The priority for feminism should have been helping women to navigate their most intimate relationships with constructive methods, which then allows both men and women to grow.  And, this objective didn’t have to involve the equality of income as the basis.

All in all, I find the middle class America thoroughly disintegrated in every possible way. What needs to be done to repair their lives?

With respect to education, neither the public school nor the quality of teachers is the issue, as I had articulated in previous posts.  With both M and S, I’ve found that they study less at home if their teachers taught the subjects easy to understand and prepared more outlines before exams.  Since the material sounded so easy in school, both children presumed that they understood until I tested them during the tutoring sessions.

To raise the national academic standard, creating the environment where students can practice what they have learned in school to comprehend is the key.  Strengthening the after-school program, especially for early graders, will tackle the potential disadvantages across the board.  This step will also eliminate the need for affirmative action that tries to compensate for the accumulated disadvantages of certain races and ethnicities with higher education.

Leveling the budget for all local libraries will also enable the children of the mariginalized neighborhoods to have the place to study at all times and to access the resources, like those who live in affluent municipalities that already offer such privileges.

Just giving a vague notion of well-roundedness as the ultimate educational goal isn’t enough for ordinary American parents.  Uninformed ones are easy targets for exploitation by private educational services.  The government needs to lay out specific targets and goals children need to reach by which grades.  The grading system also needs to put different weight on subject matters.  Even within English, students spend the littlest time on spelling to get As to please the parents whiling neglecting more time-consuming subjects like reading comprehension and writing.

With respect to the U.S. economy, the industrial sector needs to regain the driver seat back from the service industry.  That is how our system will regain its health.  How? Right now, corporate America is desire-driven, which perpetuates the class gap. Our society has many needs to fulfill, if it changes its orientation to offer equal chance of upward mobility to all.  When the economy changes its direction to be necessity-based, it offers the longevity with much growth.

Reorienting our economy in this manner will allow the revival of the manufacturing sector.  However, American laborers can’t return to the way they used to operate in the old days.  Instead of being loyal to a company, they need to be so to American products as a whole. This framework mandates them to equip themselves with the skills transferable from one product or industry to another.  They have to be mindful of the price ceiling of each merchandise not to lose the competitive edge in the international market.  While mobility is the necessity for skilled laborers, they can develop the niche to produce the best prototypes for each innovation.

Finally, as a society, we need to examine our societal standards to see whom they indeed serve.  Who benefits by having a family of two immature and unhappy parents with children?  It only serves the economy, not the people who follow the norm.

Why so?  It is because our version of meritocracy is without the boundary.  Others’ ignorance is my gain in our system.

If we define meritocracy on the condition without exploiting others, our system is then forced to offer the information about what it expects out of citizens and how to go about it.  There will be fewer delinquents.  Ultimately, that is what allows American society not to leave any child behind.

The irony is that both the middle class folks and I are non-conformists. However, the reason why each of us has become such is entirely different.  I’ve chosen to be a delinquent elite because I morally object to our societal standard that allows people to move up the ladder at the expense of others’ innocence or ignorance.  I even risked my life more than once to stand up for this belief.

Ordinary Americans are non-conformists because they want an easier route than what the system has prescribed.  They don’t want to invest in themselves.  Instead, they are constantly yearning for instant gratifications with the bare minimum efforts.  When they can’t get what they want, they resort to their size as the weapon in our system.

Correcting the flaw of our system is ideal for all.  However, the establishment, as the chief beneficiaries of our system, have no reason to rebel against it.  They know the middle class inside and out.  They have given up the potentiality that the public would ever be awakened to the truths.  So, the societal elites exploit ordinary Americans as a way of life, as it is permitted by the law.  Yet, if the voice of rightful justification emerges to alter our system, the establishment has to respond for the sake or societal order.

That leaves ordinary Americans and me.  They don’t have the compelling justification. Right now, they want to their arrogance and laziness to be equally rewarded to those who give their best efforts to conform to our societal standard.  If the public’s rationale finds its way to rule our system, that will be the end of American society.

On the other hand, I have the indisputable justification that the establishment will have to consider. However, they will only do so if it is empowered.  Unfortunately, I can’t find the support since the public is hopelessly amoral.

Therefore, our system is destined to continue its vicious cycle where the establishment and the public deserve each other.  And, our society continues it way of disintegration. Although I have the solutions, I have no choice but to watch self-destruction in motion helplessly.

I’ve always experienced that the road to heaven is paved with hell.  All along, I didn’t understand what made it so.  My latest experience with S finally revealed the answer.

To make room for some thing better, each of us has to release the immediate comfort.  However, most of us don’t want to because of the strong underlying belief that there won’t be anything better, if we let go of something we’ve already worked for.

In the end, it is the faith in our limited capability that won’t let us go forward and experience nirvana.  No one else is to blame, most of all God.

 

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by Sydnee Lee on February 1, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Current Affairs, Education, Equality, Faith, Feminism, God, Meritocracy, Middle Class, No Child Left Behind Act, Parenting, U.S. Economy, Uncategorized
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Posted by Sydnee Lee on February 1, 2015

https://delinquentelite.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/how-not-to-leave-a-child-behind-in-american-society/

Why are there Suicides on Christmas?

Why are there suicides on Christmas?

I began to wonder about this question since last year when I learned of several suicides in the nearby local park and river of where I reside.  According to a fellow town resident, such was almost the annual ritual.  I suspected it existed in just about every town in American society. I also presumed that this phenomenon was something every municipality was silent about in order not to put a damper on the jolly spirit of this time each year.

If that were indeed the case, American society, as a whole, hasn’t comprehended the first thing about Christmas.  It is an estimated birthday of Jesus Christ, which churches didn’t even embrace for centuries.  If we concocted a day to celebrate the beginning of his life on earth, shouldn’t we highlight his purpose and spirit the most on Christmas?

Christianity is highly controversial and even offensive to the modern-day public. However, one undeniable fact about this religion is how it stands for the marginalized.  How could they not be enticed by the idea that they were created in the images of God? How could they resist the notion that they were equally loved regardless of who they were?

That was how Christianity, with all its flaws, could penetrate any society around the world regardless of the barriers.

Then, shouldn’t we think about the most marginalized of our society on Christmas more than other days of the year?  Wouldn’t it be something Jesus be pleased about on the day invented to honor him?

Those who commit suicides on Christmas reflect very poorly on our society.  They decide to withdraw themselves permanently since they don’t have the confidence and faith in the rest of us to hear and make room for such individuals.  To shatter that prejudice, we need to speak about them.  If possible, we need to prevent their exits from this world, especially tomorrow.

That is why I’ve decided to release this post on Christmas eve so that we can ponder on what this day should mean.  And, I’ve gathered some thoughts about Christmas suicides after having contemplated on this quandary for nearly a year.

Upon facing the sad news of the deceased last year, my question was as follows: (1) What was the unfulfilled expectation of those who passed away on Christmas?  (2) Why didn’t God stop these people from acting the way they had?

The second question was particularly nagging me.  I am a Christian.  Yet, I had attempted suicides more than once, while fully conscious of the fact that I was committing a grave sin.  However, I was saved by the divine grace twice, which was burdensome more than anything at the time.  And, I even grew resentful toward God as the involuntary survival invited nothing but alienation, anger, misunderstanding, and ridicule from anyone who came to be aware of my failed suicidal attempts.

What was the criterion that dictated God’s decision to save whom or not?  Why save the sinners and let them suffer the severe societal penalty?  Those who died on Christmas in my community were ordinary men with families to support.  God would have been better appreciated if he rescued them instead of a woman like me.

I didn’t have the answers to these questions until this week after recollecting on what I had done for the middle class residents in my community, from children to adults, during this year.  I didn’t plan any of such.  Everything just evolved organically.

As I detected the common pattern of ordinary people’s lives, I could understand the unspoken desire of those who had committed suicides last year, at least in my town.

Based on what I’ve come to understand about the middle class folks, I conclude that those who had killed themselves on Christmas last year or even before died out of misconception of God and equality.

The idea of equality I vigorously battle everyday in this middle class community is a distorted version.  Regardless of young and old, ordinary people expect a force that will compensate each of their flaws or weaknesses to reach equality with others. That is what the public expects out of anyone in power, all the way up to the government.  And, politicians have been exploiting this game of illusion, just to be elected.  They have neither the intention nor the means to deliver that promise, however.  Meanwhile, people are trapped in the vicious cycle of expectation and disappointment.  Our political system continues to disintegrate,as a result.

God happens to be the last resort that the public refers to fulfill this very expectation. It gets intensified especially on Christmas as most people don’t meet the societal standard of generosity, both in giving and receiving, especially in a time like the last 6 years.

Unfortunately, God is dismissive of those who have created an idol out of him in their own minds.  He is equally loving to all.  He doesn’t have the prerequisite standards for people to fulfill to be loved.  He would empower those who resist any societal yardstick that denigrates them.  God would never let any of us abuse his authority or power to pretend who we aren’t.

Why is the warped sense of equality prevalent among ordinary Americans?  Their focus, throughout their lives, has always been fitting in among others, which means repressing their own individuality for the sake of perceived safety.  They don’t know what they are made of and how far they can stretch themselves.  If they ever extend themselves beyond what others normally do, the former feel that they are sacrificing themselves for no good reason.

What ordinary people don’t understand is that no one sacrifices for others.  This misnomer is actually a process that one has to invest to generate the results of his or her desire.  That is what middle class folks aren’t willing to do because of their misunderstanding of an idea. Yet, they are constantly yearning for a savior who can and will.

Even Jesus didn’t sacrifice for the mankind, based on my examination of the Bible.  If he did, he would have admitted that he was the son of God and king of Israel to meet the crowd’s expectations.  He didn’t.  Christ was executed because he was willing to serve the mankind with his best efforts by the divine standard only.  That is why God resurrected Jesus.

It means that, even in his second coming, Jesus would never compromise his integrity to serve humanity.  At each Christmas, many people wonder when that occasion may be. The kind of messiah most of us expect never existed in the past and won’t return in the future, either.

Ordinary people who came across my path were full of discontents, disillusionment, and regrets.  And, these folks blamed external factors for this sorry state of mind. However, it was each of the personal choices of following the crowd mentality that rendered the life they lived.

Those who had killed themselves were hard-working Americans.  They desperately expected someone or some force to save them by Christmas, which didn’t materialize. The unfortunate thing is that they’ve given their best efforts for the first time with suicides. How do I know for certain?  Their deaths were considered surprising given how unremarkable they had been while they were alive.

Those who’ve attempt suicides are stigmatized as cowards.  As a person who had survived two attempts in spite of the earnest efforts, I can attest to the following facts. An act of suicide requires tremendous courage, energy, focus, and will to complete the cumbersome process.  You are ending the pulse of a life that you feel at the same time. The sorrow you feel throughout the entire body at the moment of contradiction is overwhelming.

Why did God save me from my acts of sin?  I had given my best efforts to life before. That discipline was worth giving a second chance in life by the divine standard.  All that I needed to do was to reorient it to the direction he had in mind.  All the suicidal patients whom I had met in two psych wards had exactly the same commonality.  We all extended ourselves to the limit for erroneous purposes in life.

So, if there are those who are contemplating suicides on this holiday, I ask whether you have given your best efforts in whatever that has made you unhappy.  If following the crowd mentality has yielded the results that you don’t like, you need to alter your method first.  If not, you will have regrets even at the moment of suicide.

If you are isolated and misunderstood for having survived your suicide attempts, you need to direct your best efforts for your own happiness, rather than pleasing others.  If my own experience is any guide, no one in your life understands you at the moment. The most anyone offers is pity, which you should reject at all cost.  People already think you are insane, which isn’t going to change any time soon.  Therefore, you are liberated to do whatever that pleases you.  If you cultivate the solitude of happiness, you will eventually attract others who want to know the secret.

For most of you who have worked yourselves up for the artificial buoyancy leading up to Christmas, you know that the emotional letdown is just around the corner.  Would cheering for the new year bring a better life in the future?  Obviously not.

That isn’t how magic and wonder of life are delivered.  You need to make a decision as to where you will place your best efforts.  Without investing such, nothing good will come about down the road.  Look at the last 6 years. Just waiting without doing anything constructive resulted in nothing.  You have no right to blame our government or God for such.  Neither is designed to produce what you want in life.  Only when you initiate this process first and asking what more this life can offer, you will find the divine presence at the moment you least expect.  When that happens, it will be so brief and infinitesimal, which you will find it foolish to share with others.  Nonetheless, you will know in your heart that your experience is real.

Meanwhile, you have a forerunner who had given her best efforts to live by the societal standard and then the divine one.  Both of them are equally perilous.  However, I refuse to go back to the societal standard.  It was when I was being rewarded, I was most insecure.

Although I tried to live by the divine standard, I used to think others needed to accept my choice.  And, I’ve come to realize that it isn’t necessary.  Having God behind my back is enough security I need.

Therefore, whatever choice you make with your life, you have a person who can empathize with whatever journey you are about to make.  So, you aren’t alone, either way.

Have a meaningful and thoughtful Christmas!

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by Sydnee Lee on December 24, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Christianity, Christmas, Current Affairs, Equality, Faith, God, Idolatry, Middle Class, Suicide, Uncategorized
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Posted by Sydnee Lee on December 24, 2014

https://delinquentelite.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/why-are-there-suicides-on-christmas/

No Child Left Behind in American Society, An Impossible Dream

No child left behind in American society?  It is an impossible dream from where I am, at the margin of a middle class community.

If you’ve read the previous post, No Child Left Behind in American Society, you know that I’ve been tutoring M, a 5th grade girl, again.

Am I pessimistic because I’m not getting any positive result at all?  No, her progress is fantastic within less than 3 months.  The problem is just how fragile this result is with my efforts alone.

First of all, how great is M’s academic performance?  M received the perfect score in every subject she had been tested in her school under my tutelage.

What is the recipe?  I drive a sound academic discipline, rather than delivering knowledge on a silver platter to my student.

With the school work, M used to review only the summary notes that her school teacher offered before each test.  They might be effective to pull a certain level of class average.  However, this tactic so often conditioned children to do their bare minimum.

My goal has been to maximize M’s comprehension of the subject matter.  Therefore, I’ve compelled M to read the assigned chapters of the textbook.  Before each of her school tests, I prepared a questionnaire that M couldn’t answer without having understood every word of the designated material.  Answering my test was more difficult than that from the school.  In effect, this step has become the insurance for M to ace her exams in school.

For each tutoring session, completion of the homework, assigned by me, is the prerequisite.  If she doesn’t for whatever reasons, she receives no lesson on that day. She is allowed up to 3 delinquencies of such.

With Math, M needed to be oriented to its rule of accuracy, instead of speed. Unless she showed me two sets of calculations for each question, she wasn’t finished by my standard.  This precondition has considerably reduced mindless errors, stemmed mostly from not reading the questions or faulty memories of certain calculations in her mind.

Then, I could concentrate on where M had the difficulty mastering the material. With such, I made up more questions to practice.  For each wrong answer, she was asked to solve ten more similar problems.  Until she answered over 90% of them correctly, she didn’t move on to the next concept.

English homework had been a sore point for M initially.  As magazine reading is recommended for 5th graders, I have given her a variety of short articles from reputable publications.  With each piece, she had to look up the vocabularies she didn’t know.  M had to compose 2 sentences for each.  She had to summarize the essence of the article.  As this assignment took her long time to complete, she tended to do it last.  As a result, its quality suffered.  She often didn’t finish.

What I’ve looked for in M’s homework was the sign of struggle.  Many times, her sentences needed work.  Her summaries were nowhere near what I had hoped for. However, without having done this process alone, M had no way of knowing where she was with and without the guidance.

English takes a long time to see any improvement.  However, I ended up confirming that a higher expectation indeed delivered a better performance.  With the last test in my tutoring session, I asked about the implication of the pieces she had read.  I had expected M to leave these questions blank.  If so, I was going to encourage her to study even harder going forward.

To my surprise, she deducted the in-depth lessons out of most articles, which I had barely mentioned or didn’t discuss at all.  For example, she understood that if the solution of the current adult generation wasn’t good, it was the next generation that had to come up with a better one.  It was the information about existing resources that stood in the way of solving world hunger and malnutrition.  There was so much unknown about organic materials that had yet to be discovered. The technology industry’s drive to make electronic devices more convenient made the public further addicted to them like junk food.  M was able to conclude in this manner on her own.

If she maintains her study habit, she can be on the promising path.  Although M enjoys the progress she has made, she so easily falls off from the prescribed course.  A case in point, she is maxed out on 3 delinquencies already.  And, I’ve come to realize that her difficulty with following instructions isn’t unique at all.

Within a month after I began to tutor M again, I accepted another 5th grader, who would be referred as S in the rest of this post.  I had hoped he would offer a healthy rivalry for M.

Upon my initial examination of where S was academically, he was nowhere near M.  I could see how much of a difference it made for M to have been tutored during her second grade.  S was the untouched version of M for 5 years.

It was a revelation that those who enrolled in regular English classes could be more neglected than those in the ESL.  I was horrified by S’ grammar, which was almost non-existent.  S often mixed up cause and effect in his sentences.  S didn’t differentiate between his opinions and facts.  Yet, he was proud of having completed this kind of work.

I had seen the same trait before.  For example, the 12th grade boys in the Bible study class I had taught almost 15 years ago and a couple of the male subordinates in my previous profession were the grown-up versions of S.  All of them used to be the puzzles I didn’t care to solve at all.

As a combination, S possessed the seeds of everything that women detested in a man. Unfortunately, many of them discover such in their spouses after having built families. Do you recall the staples of clueless husbands who paraded the Oprah Winfrey Show in its hey days? They sat silently next to their wives who passive-aggressively announced their unhappiness on the national television.  And, I came to see how it all began.

I was surprised that a male prerogative was something that could be exerted from a very early age.  S didn’t want his mother to supervise his academic work, which she honored initially.  Over time, however, she didn’t dare to review it as she was afraid to confront the magnitude of his shortfalls. I could finally understand why women, after the feminist movement, often said there wasn’t enough eligible men in this country.

The most challenging thing about S is that he is even worse about listening to and following instructions than M.  Every tutoring session has turned out to be about addressing S’ stubbornness. Although he himself experienced the benefits of the academic discipline I introduced, he was nonchalant about defying it in his school or homework.  Within a month, he used up 3 delinquencies as well.

Ever since I began to tutor M and S, the typical greeting from others is that I’ve aged or I look fatigued.  They also have said that it is quite typical for children not to listen to authorities.  And, this tendency becomes worse during the teenage years.  That generalization may apply to this community or the current crop of children.

I didn’t have that problem while I was growing up mostly in the middle class.  Neither did my college and graduate school friends.  My quandary was what had made us different.

I’ve once heard of a governmental research that children studied better if their parents did as well.  In the middle class environment, most children don’t see adults who study at home.  Most of the latter work for jobs to make a living, rather than for self-fulfillment.  I’ve found that many adults of this group, especially men, feel entitled to relax and entertain themselves when they return home.  Children would like to join their fathers rather than to study in their rooms.

Even in the public library, there is a definite cultural difference in the afternoon when the school is over.  In the two of the economically affluent neighborhoods near where I live, children are quiet and busy doing their academic work.  In the two of the less privileged ones, children treat libraries as social-gathering places.  One of them even has the police to keep the young minds quiet at times.

During my early childhood, I lived in the house where 3 generations of my father’s families lived together.  My role models were my aunt and uncle, both younger siblings of my parent.  They were those with the highest academic accomplishments in our family.  My grandmother used to hush everyone in the house once either of them returned home from school.

Even after my parents moved to a home of their own, I accessed my uncle, the youngest brother of my father, occasionally if I had any difficulty with my academic work.  So, I studied as much as possible on my own.  I asked him only after I’ve exhausted every avenue possible.

Most of my friends had fathers with professional careers.  Just knocking on the parent’s study was intimidating for most.  I am certain their experiences are no different from mine. We all tried to follow the footsteps of those whom we looked up to.  We tried not to be the nuisance to those whom we wanted to emulate. Most of all, we were accustomed to the long hours of solitude with academic work.

In the absence of the role model each child could identify with and the supportive environment, it is very difficult to motivate today’s children, especially in the middle class community, to concentrate on their academic work.

The two I am teaching right now are barely 10-years old.  They are already exercising the freedom of what to follow or not based on their limited perspective.  Meanwhile, their academic foundation barely exists.  I can’t imagine how much worse off they will be during their teen years when they rebel against the authorities even more, while academic building blocks become weightier.  It is evident that these children won’t absorb much in higher educational institutions, either.

Is there any way to reverse this tendency?  It is impossible while there is absolutely no consequence whatsoever for academic delinquencies with children.  No matter how a child behaves, he or she is made to fit in at any cost by his or her parents. Regardless of how a child performs in school, he or she still gets all the latest clothes, toys, technological gadgets that other children have. For the children who don’t put their honest day’s work, teachers will do the work for them so that their pupils can pass.  If not, tutors or private schools are the solutions that parents often employ.

In short, children of the middle class are so accustomed to accept what is easy and sweet to their taste immediately. And, they are shaped in this manner as their parental and school authorities have striven for equality of children at any cost.

As a society, however, we are paving the road for anarchy as we validate unlimited standards of narcissism.   By cultivating it in each child, parents are fulfilling their own sense of equality with other adults.  Furthermore, equality isn’t even what our system endorses.  It stands for equal access to opportunities, which is the foundation for meritocracy.

Why is there a mass confusion of how our system operates?  It is due to civil rights movements.  It has made as if we’ve achieved the complete level of equality.

In reality, what the civil rights movements did was to extend the principle of meritocracy to minorities who hadn’t had the chance even to prove themselves at all. This political initiative was for those who knew what our system stood for and were qualified to deliver the results immediately that the society expected.

From the viewpoint of the majority, civil rights movements plucked out a small percentage of minorities with privileges, especially through the affirmative action. Most marginalized Caucasians, especially men, were left behind.  So were ordinary minorities.

That was the scope of democracy American society had achieved during the 1960s and 1970s. The irony is that this political achievement was largely due to the liberals’ support. Given how conservatives firmly support meritocracy, they should have been the ones to have backed the popular movement of that era.  Unfortunately, conservatives consider accessing opportunities as entirely individual responsibilities.

Our society hasn’t reached the level of democracy where it informs all citizens of what our system indeed stands for and helps them be qualified for the opportunity of one’s desire.

Why not?  Both conservatives and liberals assume that the public is intellectually different from the elite.  And, they believe the gap can’t be bridged.  In response, conservatives’ choice is indifference.  Liberals’ position is offering pity.  On the surface, the latter may come across as more compassionate.  In reality, pity is imposing a giver’s low expectation of the recipient regardless of what he or she wishes or is capable of. Therefore, sympathy can be much worse than being abandoned when it is institutionalized.

Meanwhile, as the population assumes that American society has reached the full degree of democracy, people have various discontents with entitlements, which the public doesn’t have in reality. Whatever their frustrations may be, the establishment handles such with propaganda, what pleases people’s ears right away but doesn’t amount to any concrete results.

Based on my own experience, I do agree with the establishment that ordinary Americans are different from the elite.  However, I beg to differ in how.  The cultural elites think that the population inherently lack comprehensive skills.  I have seen that ordinary Americans refuse to use their minds from very early on to understand their surroundings.  And, the public is perpetuating its own misconceptions every day.

Is there any difference between the establishment and me?  With the former, it is about genetics.  Mine is about one’s will.

If the public recognizes this fact I’ve discovered and reorient their minds, they can give themselves far much more possibility for greatness and growth.

Elevating American society to the ultimate level of democracy through meritocracy is something that should interest the Republican Party.  It cherishes this principle above all else.  That political platform can galvanize not only the core base of this party and the rest of the population across the board.

If the Republican Party indeed takes this vision seriously enough to embrace it, this party will embark on a political journey that no other societies on earth had gone before. Even the most egalitarian society could at most achieve economic comforts for the entire population.  No country has ever striven for the public’s happiness.

In order for that potentiality to materialize at all, the public will have to exhibit its humility of past ignorance and maturity of asking for the party’s help.  I don’t see why the Republican Party will reject that offer, especially when it is desperate to reclaim the glory.

No child left behind in American society?  That can’t be done until the adults realize how half-baked our democracy is how maladjusted they are.  Without the desire to enhance our base at all, most children in the past, present, and future are destined to settle for less.

But, who would listen to a marignalized elite’s rambling?

In the meantime, I’ve devised a different way for M and S to pay for their consequences out of delinquencies.  These two weren’t aware of the fact that abandonment was far much worse than punishment.  Therefore, I needed to come up with a penalty that both of them dreaded enough as children, but was close to a dismissal.  They were more desperate not to lose their privileges with game playing and I-Pad.  So, they are what I’ve asked the parents of M and S to take away.

Are these two worthy of these efforts?  S had 30% accuracy with Math homework initially. When I forced him to show me two sets of calculations, his accuracy went up to 70%.  While reviewing magazine articles, I came to discover M’s keen interest in science, which was unusual for a girl of her age.  These potentials are worth nourishing in spite of the aggravations I experience.

I just hope our society will have changed by the time they reach their adulthood.

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by Sydnee Lee on December 13, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Civil Rights Movements, Current Affairs, Democracy, Education, Equality, Meritocracy, No Child Left Behind Act, Parenting, Politics, Teaching, The Republican Party, Uncategorized
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Posted by Sydnee Lee on December 13, 2014

https://delinquentelite.wordpress.com/2014/12/13/no-child-left-behind-in-american-society-an-impossible-dream/

No Child Left Behind in American Society

I am currently tutoring a 5th grade student, who is the elder daughter of my landlord.  This child will be referred as M in the rest of this post.

I’ve been always praised for my teaching skills.  That is exactly why I rarely teach anyone, including my younger siblings.  I take education very seriously.  When I train someone, I give more than my 100%. Therefore, I would like to instruct only those who could respond to my dedication in equal measure.

However, M is the girl who has compelled me to break my prerequisite 2 years ago.  I ended up tutoring her for 4 months then.

It was her mother, a recent immigrant from Korea a year before, who began to ask me to translate unfamiliar English terms into our native language for her daughter’s homework.  It was easy to do so with Math. With the English assignment, the process was much more involved.  There was no way my landlord could handle it without fluent English and cultural knowledge about American society.

So, I reviewed how M completed her reading log on one day.  She read a book.  Then, she recorded the time spent on it.  M copied the entire story for the summary.  Finally, M got her mother to sign off on the assignment.  M had done her English homework in this manner over a year.

I asked M whether her teachers ever taught how to complete the reading log.  The answer was No.  I then inquired M whether they ever examined the contents of this assignment.  Again, the answer was No.

She was meeting a tutor, a college student, regularly at the local library.  I asked whether this person helped M with her reading log.  The tutor prodded this little pupil to continue the way she had done all along.

Based on M’s replies, I realized that the school assignments were expected to be completed with the parents’ aid to begin with.  And, teachers presumed that parents knew what the school expected out of them without spelling out the details.  Even if parents sought help from paid tutors, the latter, who had grown up in this kind of neighborhood without the proper instruction themselves, weren’t equipped to compensate for the deficiency from school.

Right away, I realized that this educational paradigm, at its elementary level of public school, was still stuck in the 1950s.  That was the era when most women stayed home.  This factor forced most of the informed ones to live their lives in the middle class.  They certainly played a great role in nurturing their children’s minds at home.

Today’s middle class doesn’t have these women.  They have long migrated to the upper middle class by having pursued higher education and professional careers since the 1960s.  These women may not have time to help their children’s assignments.  However, they have the disposable income to make the alternative arrangements to meet the school’s expectation.

The consequence for the middle class communities was the loss of leadership by these women.  My landlord had acquaintances through M’s school and extracurricular activities.  However, she hadn’t received any advice from other mothers at all.  As most of them handed off the full responsibility of education to their children’s schools, these parents were largely clueless as to what they were expected to do at home with respect to academics.

The ripple effect was also with children.  If there were students who knew how to complete their assignments properly, others could follow the example.  Without such peers, it was a blind leading the blind in this kind of community.

In effect, today’s middle class is no different from the African-American communities that have worsened after the civil rights movements.  Both have lost their educated elites largely to the upper middle class neighborhoods.  American society has merely exchanged gender and racial segregation with the economic one.

It meant that the public has erroneously blamed the schools and teachers for the decline of our educational system.  They have been doing exactly the same as before.  What has changed is the composition of our communities, especially in the middle class.  It no longer has those who can shepherd and serve as role models for younger generations.

These factors were what I’d gathered upon reviewing M’s quality of English homework.

Without ever having been instructed, M basically glanced at each book.  Out of this prolonged habit, she had developed nothing but pretension, the educational cancer in American culture.

I could see what kind of future was ahead of M if she didn’t correct her habit at that juncture.  She might get by all the way to college.  However, she possessed a great chance to be marginalized in reality all because her parents didn’t know the rules of the society.  From a child’s perspective, that was a profound injustice that would shape one’s life forever.

I was certain there were many other children who were headed to the same direction as M, starting with my community.  However, as a delinquent elite, I could only do what was possible within my realm.  Very grudgingly, I volunteered to tutor M.

For her to complete her reading log correctly, she needed to find out the meanings of the words in each new book she picked up.  M had to train herself to summarize what she read.  She should learn to deduct the lesson of a story.  Without these disciplines, M had no way to measure up to her potential of reading comprehension and writing skills.

M had never met any authority figure with such a rigorous standard. She didn’t take me seriously initially. That was countered with no help whatsoever with her homework.  She had difficulty coping with a rejection by an adult figure for the first time in her life.  Just to be able to complete her other assignments, M began to follow my lead.

She once asked me why I insisted on over-preparation for her school work.  Then, I showed her the map of the United States and explained how many elementary schools were within the country.  She could sense the scale of her town against the nation.  I explained how her school’s standard was one of the lowest in American society.  If M were accustomed to this yardstick, she wasn’t going to be able to handle the greater expectation as she advanced to the higher grades.

The other deficiency in M’s English was her lack of social manner, a critical purpose of the verbal language.  It was just as important to learn how to communicate one’s thoughts as what.  Therefore, M was better off learning the social etiquette of the highest echelon.  If she were equipped with such, she could always lower it, when it was appropriate.  However, it was virtually impossible to make the adjustment in the opposite direction in the mirroring case.

That was the lesson from my English teacher in Korea during my childhood.  And, I’ve witnessed how true it was with one of my subordinates at the Wall Street firm where I had worked.  She was a top graduate from a highly regarded state university.  However, she had difficulty working with our support staff.  I didn’t have the problem when I approached them.  The difference between us was the verbal courtesy.

I instructed M to say, would you or could you please, when she asked me something.  Since I wasn’t her peers, I informed her how inappropriate it was to say, can you, to an adult.  However, this habit was difficult to break.  Whenever she used the expression of my ability to me, she was met with indifference. Over time, she learned to correct herself or to take time to employ the phrase of my willingness.

The biggest challenge with M was to get her out of the ESL (English as a Second Language) class.  This program might have a good intention.  The reality was quite the contrary.  Children do feel less pressure in this class.  However, while they are placed in such, their overall progress aren’t well observed by their teachers.

My younger sister couldn’t shake her low self-esteem off for quite a while, regardless of what anyone said to her.  On one day, she searched for her past report cards, as far as from her public elementary school in New York City.  Then, she stared at the one from her first grade while she was in the ESL class.  All her grades were satisfactory’s.

As an adult, she realized that her teacher gave those grades for not knowing my sister well.  However, as a child, she had internalized all the marks as the stamps of her mediocrity in everything.  Throughout her entire educational period, she resisted to break out of this stigma.

Having seen this consequence to my own family member, I set my goal to get M out of her ESL class as fast as possible.  I had 4 months to accomplish this task. So,  I reviewed her homework throughout the week.  On each Saturday, she was tested for each week’s volume with respect to new words she had learned.

On her first 8 tests I had devised, M received Fs.  With each delinquent grade, I showed her where she had improved, and how steady the progress was.  As an instructor, however, it was completely demoralizing. I proposed to M a weekend review before the exam.  After one try, her grade jumped to C.  At that point, M suddenly began to believe in herself.  She was shooting for an A herself from then on.

For me, it was a lesson that an ordinary child needed to be lifted first to a certain level to recognize a possibility for excellence.  Then, he or she could motivate himself or herself toward that goal.

M looked forward to the weekend review more than the test.  It took another 4 weeks for her to move up to Bs.  Then, in another 4 weeks, she finally received an A, with a very comfortable margin.

I made each weekly exam just a little more difficult than that of the previous week.  M had to learn to listen to my instructions more carefully as time went on.  She embraced the range of definitions of each word, as she grew to learn the broader application of abstract definitions than literal ones.  Using each vocabulary with the proper grammar was found to be just as important as the meaning of the word.  M had to heighten her awareness of the reality to compose sentences of her own with the new vocabularies she learned.  The grade A meant progress in all of these areas.

It filtered into her school work as well.  M improved her marks by two levels in all subjects during the quarter I tutored her.  She also performed well enough in the state’s standardized tests to be placed out of the ESL class.

After 4 months, however, it was me who was completely burned out.  I had to repeat the same instruction at least 10 times for M to absorb anything new.  On each Saturday, I spent 8 hours straight for the weekly review and the test.  There was no way a school teacher could be entirely responsible for a child like M.  And, I was convinced that parents couldn’t attempt home-schooling their children unless they were academically gifted.

Once placed out of the ESL class, my landlord also shifted her focus for M against my advice. The mother spent the next two years enrolling M to various music competitions.  M’s academic work took a back seat.  M was regularly tutored during her 4th grade.  However, her instructor didn’t teach what she wasn’t very good at, which were reading comprehension and writing.

So, my landlord has circled back to me with a sobering lesson under her belt.  She learned that reading comprehension and writing were critical ingredients of the academic foundation.  And, these two didn’t come overnight.  Most of all,  they had to be taught by competent instructors, which were scarce in our community.  This time, she was willing to pay me, $5 more than to the previous tutor.

M also recognized that the base she had built with me sustained her until this point.  As she wanted to move to the honors class, she realized that she needed to return to the drill.

Their belated revelation was welcoming.  Yet I resisted tutoring M as long as possible, as I knew what I would be dealing with.   In the end, I’ve decided to complete my duty with her that I hadn’t quite finished 2 years ago.

However, I soon came to realize that my definition of no child left behind turned out to be different from that of M and her mother.

M wanted to have our tutoring sessions at the local public library.  I didn’t understand why, as a child with difficulty focusing against even small noises at her home.  And, I couldn’t comprehend why she wanted to exhibit to others that she needed help with her academic work.

I soon realized that a tutor was a sign of economic wealth she wanted to show off in public.  In effect, I was her adult servant.  Joining the honors class was a status symbol, instead of academic accomplishment.

That wasn’t just her own mind at work.  Her mentality spoke of what she had consistently soaked up from others, both adults and children, in the last 2 years.  Just about all mothers tried their best to make each of their children to fit in at any cost.  If some had tutors but others didn’t, that inequality became the subject of entitlement.  M turned out not to be a child left behind in American society any more.  She was already conforming to its value system quite well.

Sadly, it happens to be a warped sense of equality that dismisses individuality and the process for achievement.  This misguided notion is more off-putting in the middle class community like mine.  Reasons have no role to play.  Only the crowd mentality is what rules here.

Those who suffer the most out of this phenomenon are the children.

Why? No one wants to feel impotence while trying to enlighten those who are less or poorly informed.

Middle class is no longer the realm where people settle in.  It has turned into a phase that they desperately want to exit from, as soon as possible.  Therefore, those who serve in the middle class communities are disrespected by their members the most.

Under this atmosphere, it is difficult to retain good teachers.  It is even more so to attract new ones to replace them.  The problem isn’t just the school system.  Those who are poorly taught in school have the obstacle finding quality tutors as well.  It can be overwhelming to compensate for the institutional negligence a child bears.  Besides, he or she may be motivated by the wrong purpose.

Can the middle class save itself?

The mainstream media is banking on it to do so since the middle class has suffered the most out of the latest economic crisis.  That wishful thinking must be based on the fact that the civil rights movements originated from those who had been in the middle class.

That perspective is thoroughly erroneous since the media elites are ignorant about American history.  The civil rights movements were initiated by the educated elites who were economically repressed in the middle class.  Our founding fathers were the educated elites from their native country as well.

The United States, in effect, is a country formed and maintained by the marginalized elites of their times.

Here are the consistent factors of the political movements initiated by this constituent.  They know how to frame a justification for the revolt against the system.  Our forefathers defined equality as the sanctity of mankind, which was denied by the British sovereign.  Civil rights activists demonstrated how a society founded on the idea of equality couldn’t endorse preference based on arbitrary standards against citizens.

Both of these rebellions rendered historic changes in the United States.  However, it has suffered so much longer afterward because they were initiated by the marginalized elites.

Why?  Both founding fathers and civil rights activists focused on their self-interests.  The former are always praised for having created a political system with checks and balances among three branches. Unfortunately, this complex is all for maintaining a plutocracy, a society that exists for the wealthy’s benefits.  The United States, as a country, isn’t designed to demand any accountability from plutocrats.

Being able to retain one’s property as an elite was something that an aristocracy didn’t grant.  This very uncertainty was what made aristocracy functional.  Our forefathers eliminated this critical element in the country of their own.  As they gave birth to a nation from the elites’ perspective instead of the ruler, they ended up leaving a system with blooded history to follow for centuries.

Civil rights activists didn’t question the system that was designed to maximize one’s self-interest at any cost.  They fought for the equal access to conform to this very societal rule that had exploited them.  In turn, plutocracy became available beyond white men.  Few minorities who reached the American dream, however, must have realized how perilous it was to maintain their social status as they were expected to spend far much more than what they earned.  Civil rights movements, in the end, transformed the activists and minority elites to comprehend why exploitation of the underprivileged was necessary.  The newly privileged had to be glad not to be the societal prey any more and be conscious of retaining their hard-earned status.  All in all, civil rights movements ended up perpetuating our dysfunctional system with more pronounced class divisions.

In short, marginalized elites are more poorly educated than the privileged.  It leaves the former with limited capability.  The pattern of a progress and prolonged decline, marked by the past marginalized elites, is the subject that confronts American society now.

Since the latest financial crisis in 2008, American society has accumulated a school of marginalized elites yet again, who are largely from the middle class and have been economically repressed. Their predicament, so far, is much worse than that of their predecessors.

The Occupy Movement was a parade of those who passed through our educational system just like M without ever having been properly instructed.  What they demanded was immediate equality, at any cost. Although their motivation was self-interest, permitted by our law, it wasn’t compelling enough as a rationale to gain the public’s support.  Although the movement fizzled, that didn’t mean that those who had participated understood the reason for the failure.

American society is in dilemma in the future no matter what happens, with respect to the current crop of marginalized elites.

Even if our economy recovers enough to recoup them, it is destined to suffer in the near future as they will push our system to even a higher degree than before to compensate for their lost economic opportunities of the last 6 years.  These people have no recognition of what has driven our system to its downfall.  They are desperate to maximize their self-interests at any cost.

If they find another opportunity to rebel against our system and succeed, they will turn our system into a tyranny of the majority.  That may be even worse than living under a communist regime.

How to address this grave issue?  That is the subject of another long post.

Meanwhile, I continue to tutor M knowing the grave consequence of abandoning the middle class.

 

1 Comment
by Sydnee Lee on October 30, 2014  •  Permalink
Posted in Civil Rights Movements, Current Affairs, Education, Equality, Immigrants, No Child Left Behind Act, Parenting, Politics, The Occupy Movement, U.S. Economy, Uncategorized
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Posted by Sydnee Lee on October 30, 2014

https://delinquentelite.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/no-child-left-behind-in-american-society/