Newsweek Editorial: A couple of my colleagues showed their students documentaries like Why We Fight, which I believe portrays America as a prison industrial complex with no redeeming qualities. Others repeatedly said that their students couldn't pass Advanced Placement exams even when they'd taken AP classes.
In the Herculean effort to prepare students for college, work and life, I believe there is no room for the unchallenged belief that our country is irreparably broken and the system is rigged against people of color. Especially in the school where I taught, where the student population was mostly Hispanic and African-American.
Therefore, I told my students that they were architects of their own destiny, hard work and good choices matter, and America is the only country in the world where you can grow up without electricity or hot water and become Oprah Winfrey .
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notwokeshows
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Jan 19, 2023
The author's emphasis on encouraging hard work and good choices is the most effective way to empower students. I wish more would do so. The results speak for themselves, with 90% of the students passing the New York State English Regents exam... that's a remarkable achievement. I also appreciate the author's emphasis on common-sense behaviors, such as encouraging students not to have children until they're able to support them without handouts. It's the most idealistic approach and is now all but entirely totally overlooked in education.