The Reading Room is going to deal with the situation surrounding Black children and their reading level. Recent surveys have shown that only 12 percent of Black kids can comprehend reading and math on a level that will enable them to compete in the emerging workplace. Twelve percent. Compare that to 48 percent for Latinos, 80 percent for Whites and 90's for Asians.
If this situation is not dealt with, Black people will be shut out of the future workplace not to mention the emerging technolgical advances. When our kids can repeat every word of some rap song, but our seniors are graduating and can't read on a senior level, someone's priorities are all wrong.
We have to stop blaming the teachers, the schools, the government, and anyone else we can point a finger at. If your child comes home without any school books and you don't question it, who's fault is that? If your child spends all his or her time watching television or listening to music who's fault is that? I think you know.
Repressive Businesses, You're Next!
ReplyDeleteEver one is taking note of the revolution that occurred in Cairo, Egypt last week and several other regimes in the area are worried. Rightly so. When people get fed up there's no turning back, no fear, no more worrying about the consequences. Suddenly what's normal is so far from reality, it's like waking up from a dream and trying to remember what you were so afraid of.
People are fed up not just in the middle east but everywhere. It's not only with just governments that repress but with those businesses that continually take advantage of people. Prices are rising on everything and there's talk about $5.00 a gallon gas coming soon.
My question is, when will the people stand up to these oil companies and say we've had enough! How greedy can one company be? And these wall street speculators who help run the price up so they can continue to get those huge bonuses each year. Are we going to wait until they totally eliminate the middle class in this country and it's too late to say anything? I'm tired of spending close to one hundred dollars a week just to get to work. Before long, our home energy and gasoline costs will consume close to ninety percent of our income. How will we eat then?
Big oil has already spoiled vast tracts of the environment. They have billions and billions of dollars and more power in this country that most people really know. There are excuses galore as to why they continually have to raise the price: there's a war, there's a rumor of war, OPEC, speculation, and the most mentioned one, the shortage. Which is most cases is brought about by an oil spill, as if that is our fault, or a straight out lie. Make no mistake about it, the 20 billion that BP had to give to the people in Louisiana will be paid back by all of us. Our electric and gas companies need new plants (which we pay for) and a rate increase ever year.
So energy companies gauge us at the pump, continually raise our home energy costs, destroy the environment, and they are driving the middle class broke. I wonder how high can gasoline go, 8,9,10 dollars a gallon? What happens when the greed catches up and no one is buying it or able to buy it? For the short term they'll probably raise it to $5 or near that and then lower it to $4 and we are all supposed to think, “what a great deal we're getting” One day people in America will take to the streets and demand that these energy companies stop this robbery. Like the people in Egypt we've taken it for so long it seems normal, something that can't be changed or dealt with. Believe me, it can and should be.