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53 Comments
- 2012, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28I just spent I don't know how much time reading each story. It is like a time capsule opened after 13 years. It supports the premise: that parents who give their children love and devote time to them and treat their children with respect, those children have a real head start in life. And with all of that it is still up the child to make it or break it. That is life at its best.
- 50pence, on 10/11/2007, -2/+18I know like 3 girls with the name unique....
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+18Wow. One of them went to Carnegie Mellon. Only a few others went to college at all. Half of the class turned out to be complete ***** already.
I have a ton of respect for that one kid who's going to Carnegie Mellon, coming out of that environment. - Braxo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9I always thought a great reality tv show would be following the life of a graduating class until their 10 year reunion. This is pretty close to that though.
The kid facing sideways in the pic has this to say: "I was too popular and my fame got to my head so I just started not doing nothing," he said.
I don't even know what he is trying to say there. - LonesomeFighter, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7This is like that English movie thing when they visit the people every 7 years, only without movies and it being 13 years and in Harlem.
- manicallday, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8I'm just kind of sick of the inner city angle. It's not like these kids didn't have the tools around them to achieve. There's so much to learn in a place like N.Y. I live in D.C. and I'm sicken by the educational system. A person can literally self-educate himself from all of the free stuff available. The Smithsonian, Library of Congress and the Courts are all within 2 miles of one another and yet none of the surrounding schools take advantage of this.
I don't care if you grow up in the worst project in D.C. You still have more learning opportunity available to you than most Americans.There's no good reason why one-third of the city is illiterate. I would understand if this was the deep south, but it's not. It's just sad. - paperhat, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Good idea. Let's make this about race.
- ShadySpace, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Fantastic dissertation on just how difficult inner-city life is and what a struggle it seems to be to just end up in the middle of the pack. One of the best articles I've seen on Digg by far.
- pintomp3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4a poor school system isn't the only disadvantage a lot of these kids have. many of them come from broken homes, have parents in jail, parents abusing drugs/alchohol, etc. having that kind of unstable home life is not conducive to development and learning.
- Jagula, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5I knew #9 would still be a dick even before reading his summary..
- jsp123, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3What about the teacher?
- airmann90, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3That's pretty coincidental, as do I. Is that not unique?
- fatejudger, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4What environment? The Kindergarten they started out at was considered to be a high quality educational institution.
- Meleez, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I'm currently a student at one of the best New York City public schools and while I can't relate with the stories of many of these kids I can see how you can get off track quite easily. I have a lot of friends that go to some more troubled schools, designated by the Board of Ed as "Impact" schools because of the violence. Go to one of those overcrowded schools and its very easy to just stop caring and just not showing up to school without any consequences.
- whiterussian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3That's the Up series. It's pretty incredible, just last year they released 49 Up. So they found these kids at age 7 (for the film, 7 Up), then revisited them for a new film every seven years, making 14 Up, 21 Up, etc.
- rald84, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2physics too. double props on that.
- toconnor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Here is a similar story where 20 years ago a stranger offered an entire sixth grade class (112 students) a college scholarship. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/2007TheBelmont112TwentyYearsLater.html
- maffiou, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Maybe... but how much of a chance did the system give them to make it different ?
The truth is, it is not easy being black or latino in America. - cyclopsface, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2show me a child at seven, and i will show you the man.
- subarumaniac, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2i went to public school in south texas and one year after graduating from college, i have realized how lucky i am. the schools have a horrible way of selecting the 'gifted' students and grouping them together. i shared classrooms with the same people from 3-12th grade. i never even questioned it. but now i do. i wonder what happened to those other kids. i did go to school with some cousins of the same age and they both are drop outs with at least one kid. something needs to change.
- rmamom, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2How many did you read? I only read a few and there are more than 2 going to college.
This was a GT kindergarten class. The sad part is they were all capable of doing well. I just read one where the girl was a writer on the Harlem school paper, started a dance troupe for middle schoolers and is planning on going out of state to college. not bad... - craftycorner, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1There's no way to GET to the 'tools' if gangs will kill you for crossing their paths along the way. Some times it's not safe to travel in the inner city.
- ShadySpace, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2The entire point of the article is that growing up in an American inner-city environment, one focuses on "the negative" by default since that is by and large all there is. These children succeed in spite of their surroundings and up-bringing or, depressingly enough, not at all.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I read all of them. I'm pretty sure only two of them are going to good colleges.
The fact that this was the gifted program just says that much more about what these kids were up against seein where some of them are now. - foopirata, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Better than yours to the KKK
- Jacob, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2You thought there could be a great reality TV show?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Was it? I guess the reason so many of these kids don't seem to be making it in life is because they're black. Yeah, that's it.
How many kids from this class are going to good colleges? TWO. One's going to Temple, the other is the kid I mentioned. There's one who is "deciding" between Maryland and Bridgeport, but if you're even considering Bridgeport there's no chance you're going to MD. Bridgeport is lower than most community colleges. I'm not trying to knock the kids who aren't making it, but if you go to a middle class suburb you usually don't see too many high school dropouts or gang members, and most kids go to college. Many of them go to nice colleges. Maybe I'm ignorant. What do I know
It just seems to me, based on how so many of them turned out, that they probably didn't have as many opportunities as others may have had. - ogden, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I disagree. This is simply life. I graduated HS in 96, and just the stories I know about ... some of my class mates have become rich, some are dead. One won an Olympic medal, many had tragic lives, but the vast majority nothing special happened to.
- pintomp3, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2our education system is seriously flawed. kids who come from broken homes and poverty are stuck in schools that have the least resources, the system is heavily slanted against them. mad props to the kid who managed to make it to carnegie melon. but it's sad how many of the kids aren't able to escape the hole.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Cops
- wishninja, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Mostly thanks to the government pouring money into jails and the War on Drugs then into education.
- CornStarch, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2random4 already beat him to it just two post up paperhat.
- TehFonz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1very cool. a nice read.
- reddevil3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Though I don't know too much about the US school system, I think there's a strong correlation with regards to drug use (in the inner-city) and how well the kids do in school.
Watch season 4 of HBO's "The Wire". Truly terrifying and sad look at an inner-city school. - mavere, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Also, what use is the Library of Congress if they're illiterate? It's a complex situation where a lot of the things are both the cause of the problem and the problem itself. Saying "well they have all the tools they need" isn't really saying anything much at all.
- twiceasworn, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1roflmao.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1dreams never die. souls do
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2figures..... the only hispanic male has ties to street gangs... nice job confirming the stereotype *****.
- Hangender, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Ahh..good old American folkstories.
- SteelChicken, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1blame disinterested parents, period.
- kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'm a graduate student at Mcgill right now, and when I lived in Kansas. During my middleschool years. The administration grouped me with the special ed kids. Mainly because I was an introvert ,and it was treated as a disability...... It irritated me soo much. The work was easy and there was no inspiration to learn. .. My family decided to just send me to a boarding school(which I enjoyed and if they hadn't then I would be stuck at some dead-end job in Kansas right now).
It just tells you that your family cared about you, or someone gave a damn about you... When you don't invest in your kids then you see what we have today with the majority of them. The same mediocrity can be observed in the suburbs. With the townees(adults who are still living with their parents even though they aren't in any college or university.) If they were in college or university. I would understand to an extent of living with your family still(many minorities do this). but thats mostly because most minorities even myself tend to not want to be too far away from family when going to University. - kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1yea you really can't blame the victim..
- futurebird, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Some of the stories are sad, but a lot of them are going to college. Great stories.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Just assuming "all there is" for someone from the inner-city are negative things is part of the problem. Maybe if we tended to start out a story like this by mentioning the one who went to college, not by mentioning the one who joined a gang, it would seem like less of an impossible situation. But it sounds like people have just accepted that those born in the ghetto will stay there. That's sad. Sometimes if you get told something enough it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Autofac, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Really neat article, I read all of it- interesting stories on all of them
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1CMBDL TBSFJ OGFSJ PSUPK FXT
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1crap
- nabhanc, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0crap double post
- nabhanc, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Whether or not they have access to materials is irrelevant when considering the fact that parents are less likely to value education, that they probably have to work to support their families, that their neighbourhoods are full of drugs and violence, and that their entire environment is hostile.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Which school do you go to?
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