MATT SMITH spoke of Re: Poverty to DAN TRIPLETT on 11-16-96
MS>DT> MS>DT> CB>More than race, poverty is the ruin of many kids lives.
MS>DT> There
MS>DT> MS>DT> is  a
MS>DT> MS>DT> CB>group of  people that don't care, but they are just 
MS>DT> selfish,
MS>DT> MS>DT> CB>not conservative.   
MS>DT> MS>    That kids from poor neighborhoods do less well in school
MS>DT> MS>is a statistical  fact, but not explained by some theory that
MS>DT> MS>"selfish conservatives" want to  perpetuate an underclass.
MS>DT> MS>    Look at it this way.  What keeps more kids from succeeding
MS>DT> MS>in school:  "selfish conservatives"...or being born crack
MS>DT> babies,  born
MS>DT> MS>fetal alcohol  syndrome, or born to teen mothers who don't
MS>DT> care  
MS>DT> Matt, are you siding with the selfish conservatives?
MS> 
MS>    No, I'm facing _facts_...the same facts that can be found in the
MS>research  writings of nonpolitical researchers.
MS>    Ask any doctor or nurse about the problems of kids with FAS.
MS>Whether the  doctor or nurse is a Republican or Democrat, he or she
MS>will tell you why  those radio ads urge pregnant women not to drink.
I have had such children in my classroom and have a little boy who we 
suspect is fetal alcohol.  He is very small yet is older than many of 
his classmates.  He also has somewhat of a Down's Syndrome look to his 
facial features.  
But I think that the idea of people wanting to perpetuate an underclass 
is probably true.  We live in a country where we pay sport heros 
millions a year, where a man in Seattle Washington just bought a car for 
half-a-million bucks and yet around our great country there are 
thousands of children literally starving for lack of food.  The rich get 
richer and the poor get poorer.  Back to the previous post, we need to 
address this issue of poverty as a Nation and as individual States if we 
want to see improvement in our educational system.  Our problems are 
social ones...and these social problems effect our schools directly.  
Dan
--- GEcho 1.11+
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