Rebelliousvanilla’s Blog

All this talk of the New Haven firefighters, test scores, racism and the Supreme Court has my disparity and proportionality antennae on high alert. In this mode, I spent Sunday afternoon at a CYO track meet with my 13 year old son and a good mix of black, white, Latino, and a sprinkling of Asian, K-8 kids.

From a participation standpoint, the white and Latino kids predominate, as the overlap of black and
Catholic, even in predominantly black neighborhoods trails. Nonetheless, the black kids pretty much dominate all but the distance running events. Yet, no one seems to mind. There are no white, Asian or Latino cries from the stands of unfairness or bias. No one wants to gift the white kids a five second reduction in their times, just for being white. Everybody accepts that the black kids are disproportionately better in track and field, with no better coaching, facilities, or commitment.

In watching many of the non-black kids, I saw opportunities where better coaching etc. would certainly improve their competitiveness, but the cost to benefit ratio does not warrant this effort, as few, of any hue, will go on to the Olympics. This is exactly the opposite behavior of my own working-class parents placing my sister and me in a summer reading program at the University of Denver nearly 45 years ago, as a seven year old. Something made them think it was worth a bus ride across town to become better readers. Cost to benefit, again.

If it is insane to repeat the same activity again and again while hoping for a different result, then education in the US is hopelessly insane. Teaching a one-size curriculum to kids with measured intelligence gaps of more than one standard deviation and hoping that they will grow up as equivalent contributors, is irresponsible. Arguing over intelligence testing, when empirical results back up the current testing, is splitting futile hairs. The back-end dole of affirmative action hides the obvious incompetence of the front-end approach, in the name of ‘all men are created equal’. Men (and women) are equal in spirit, but kids of different cultures are unequal in starting abilities and it’s high time we stopped ignoring this fact.

We need to say that which shall not be spoken. By the third grade, the natural course of black school children permanently reflects intellectual inferiority to whites, Asians, and Latinos (language adjusted) in learning skills development and ability. The ills of black culture, beginning from before birth, are largely responsible for this inferior preparation. Argue the source if you will, but this practical inferiority, once established, is intractable and sets a course through life, with dependence upon arbitrary handouts from inept, but politically correct, race arbitrators, like those in New Haven.

What are we afraid of? Black kids, who place consistently behind their white and Asian classmates in learning, are no worse off for this bit of honest recognition than are those white kids, at today’s track meet, who went home feeling bad that the black kids are so dang fast and best them from the beginning to the end of the season. Each has the choice of how they are going to respond. In the case of the white kids, they can either practice or better yet rub their aching muscles with their latest “I’m so proud of you” report card. Tragically, the black kids have fewer report cards to beam about, along with a legacy of mislaying blame and guilt on others, to no prescriptive benefit.

We worry so much about labels that the truth gets buried. Special education classrooms, even entire special education schools, across the country are packed with black kids, while white kids and Asians pack AP. Large swaths of black kids are quietly shifted to this unofficial under performance track. If you read what expert educators prescribe for fixing this you will notice no mention of cultural drivers or race. To say that black culture is poisoning black kids is to commit professional suicide, so any real fix is elusive.

Back to New Haven, anyone who is expecting the high court to save our kids and our future, better think again. By the constitution, the court’s job is to limit how much damage bad solutions are allowed to inflict, and only if those solutions violate the founding doctrine. They are not about telling people to ignore the labels and see the obvious. When we can look at black first graders and accurately predict that 55% will not meet the minimum requirements for a high school diploma, labels are not the problem. The blind eye on black inferiority and what is driving it has become the primary driver to fulfilling the prophecy.

For the record, I do not believe that intelligence in blacks is genetically inferior to any other group. The brain physiology of an average healthy black kid next to a white kid is no different, says modern science. Rather it is segmentation of normal distributions of intelligence driven by time, ethnicity, culture, and geography, where difference is made. We must stop rewarding educators who blow smoke up our butts, and promote those who speak sensible, accountable, albeit unpleasant, truths and solutions.

- James C Collier

I will write about this too at some further date, but I agreed with James Collier on this one 100%. Sadly though, the white people are getting engulfed into the crap culture(I meant rap), which has a lot of negative impacts on growing up and being a responsible person combined with being better at what you’re doing. It’s the time for blacks, and women for that matter, to stop blaming others and start looking in the mirror. Nobody systematically discriminates against you. And I agree that blacks being inferior intelligence wise isn’t genetic, but the black culture.

In the UK a few years ago, a group called Fathers 4 Justice, dedicated to making sure divorced men got access to their children, kept getting into trouble. One member threw condoms full of purple flour at the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Parliament; another climbed onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. The men’s behavior did nothing to suggest they were responsible fathers, and while they publicized their cause, they also got on everyone’s nerves (there’s a US wing too, by the way).

Something similar could be said for antimisandry.com, an online forum dedicated to “curing feminist indoctrination.” (Misandry is the term for hatred of men or boys.) Amanda Hess recently offered her own analysis at the Washington City Paper blog The Sexist, but in short: The site blames the world’s ills on a toxic combination of feminism, the media and the government. It sees feminism as “the radical notion that men are not people.” (The Oxford English Dictionary, meanwhile, defines feminism as “advocacy of the rights of women based on the theory of equality of the sexes.” Hmm. I prefer the latter.)

What’s striking about Anti-misandry.com is its irrationality, its anger and the self-pitying tone of the posts. If the world is against you, that’s sad. But feminism isn’t anti-men. Anti-misandry.com, on the other hand, sure does seem anti-women.

- Frieda Klotz at salon.com

I have a few problems with this article. First of all, if you are going to bash the men who got to do outrageous things due to their inability to see their children after divorce and the lack of protection the law gives them, what will you say about the suffragettes? I mean, if I recall right, one jumped in front of the King’s horse and died later. Why don’t you bash her too? It’s the same behavior that comes from similar causes, yet I’d prefer to see my kids over being able to vote.

I will also state something about the definition of feminism and what it actually is in the form of a question. If us, women, are equal, why does feminism push for more discrimination based on gender to prop us up? Unlike them, I truly believe that a woman who puts just as much effort as a man into something can achieve something without being propped up. If feminism would stand for equality, they wouldn’t cry about the wage gap and they’d look at why this happens. I mean, it’s pretty idiotic to believe that employers pay women less just because they’re women, even though they’re as productive. If this would be true, employers who hire men would go out of business. I can go on with the inequalities that feminism creates so the movement isn’t about female rights or real equality, it’s just about privilege.

In the other article, the one of Washington City paper, quoted by salon.com, which tries to portray that anti-misandry.com is actually misogynistic and hates women. As a poster there, I’ve been called a cunt. And not only once. I’m not politically correct so I didn’t care much. After all, it’s just a word. But yes, there are members who hate women or are stuck on certain gender roles or aren’t about equality, but encroachment of liberties. But they’re a minority. A small one at that. Before on this blog, I’ve stated by disappointment in the movements for male rights because a lot of the supporters are calling for a reverse-feminism, which is wrong in my opinion. I was also a bit down when I wrote it so maybe I was more negative than I should have been. Anyway, the thing is, no site is perfect and if the writer would have actually informed herself about what’s written on the site, it wouldn’t have written an article based on ignorance. The writer would have found out that there are people on the site who are ridiculous, but also people who show the dangerous trend on which our socities are on now – one to severe inequalities based on gender – and who argument their positions. I’d rather post on a site that isn’t ban happy like feministing.com where I’ve got banned after only two posts and I will write those two posts here to underline a point:

Actually, no offense, but he is right. Past oppressions are BS today and victim mentality of women does no good to themselves. Women scholarships, women studies are just sexism.

By the way, the history of oppression isn’t THAT bad. It’s just like those made up statistics that one in four women survived rape – and anyone who took a statistics class knows that the sample wasn’t representative if they look into it. Plus, the study wasn’t even about rape itself. I would rather stay home and cook than go into a mine. Or be drafted for a war. Or go to jail for my wife’s debts. The way resources and industries were then, men had it harder even though they enjoyed slightly more freedom and rights. Of course, it’s easier to want a corner office job now.

And even if I loathe patriarchy and women not having equal rights, the current society is just the reverse.

- RebelliousVanilla

Anyone who knows the history and purpose of marriage, knows that the term marriage would be wrongly applied to gays. I have no real problem with homosexual couples and they can do whatever they want as long as they respect the laws and stop these silly parades! Don’t they get that they make people dislike them with their attitude?

Anyway, back on topic… Anyone who calls her a bigot, is a bigot themselves. This term is pretty hilarious since you can use it for anyone you want who has their own believes.

And what’s hilarious is that the writer of the topic is outraged by the fact that a beauty contest doesn’t care about the ability of women, but their looks. It’s like WTF, didn’t you notice the term BEAUTY contest?!

- RebelliousVanilla

After these two posts, I got banned. Anyway, in the 2nd one I highlighted the fact that calling someone a bigot for their beliefs and then bashing religious people, while stuck in your own opinions is bigotry too. Eh, I guess having common sense gets you banned from a lot of places, since this isn’t the first site on which I was banned due to
remarks highlighting problems in a movement. I would like to state that oppression is defined as being kept down by force or authority. So today is relevant in the context of how laws are and how they are applied. And women aren’t oppressed there. If anyone is oppressed, those people are men. And to piss people off even further, whites. For example, affirmative action is racist and sexist and leads to oppression. To end my post, I will quote someone from anti-misandry.com that shows certain wrongs that are legislated in a skewed way and how the moves that feminism has show bias and privilege, not equal rights and opportunity.

Ms. Lotz,
I have just read your piece about Antimisandry.com that you wrote for Salon.com. I am a member of Antimisandry.com and I would like to comment on your mention of both Fathers for Justice and Antimisandry.com in that order.
Your overall depiction of Fathers for Justice was dismissive and downright demeaning. Sure, you may think it ridiculous that a bunch of guys who haven’t been allowed to see their kids, in some cases years, might want to get a little angry about it and set up a publicity stunt to bring the public’s attention to what is by any measure the most out of control family court system in the world. The British political fetish of playing to the anti male hysteria that hold all men suspect in family court proceedings is one of the prime examples of misandry in the entire English speaking world. These guys don’t have politicians or media executives hanging on their every word much like a lot of women’s groups do. Very few people give a damn about them unless they themselves become divorced fathers whom, if they are lucky, only get to see their kids six hours out of every week. So they do what other groups with few resources and no public sympathy have done for ages: they pull a stunt. Ever hear of the Boston Tea Party?
I took exceptional offence to your analysis of F4J activities in saying that their “behavior did nothing to suggest they were responsible fathers.” Let me explain something to you. You are NOT in any position to gage their suitability as fathers. The suitability of a father is not determined by some back handed sentiment that comes out of a columnists pen or an academic paper or the courts for that matter. It comes from an internal mechanism that is found in the bond between father and child. It is something profoundly private and sacred. Something that you or I have no business criticizing on as you are not a man and I, as of yet, am not a father. You baulk at Geoff Hibbert as he climbs an overhead traffic sign on a busy highway and over a cell phone shouts to journalists that he is fighting for his daughters right to see her father. That says a lot about his suitability as a father to me. I know a lot of women who would have loved to have had a father like that growing up but didn’t…….through no fault of their fathers.
Your critique of Antimisandry.com was equally as shallow. There are many members on that site and it is visited by over 16000 people each day. As a group of individuals they are as diverse as any crowd in any airport terminal. The one thing that all of the men and women that log on their have in common, with the exception of the occasional feminist who is welcome to stay and chat for a while, (an inclusive feature that I rarely see in any feminist oriented website or blog anywhere) is the realization that men have a pretty raw deal in the developed world right now. Yes, I can just hear your eyes rolling around in your head. But let me give you some facts once they’ve got done playin around up there:
-for the same crime, men are far more likely to be prosecuted, convicted and are given far greater sentences than women
-Men die on average seven years from every major cause of death where as in 1926 that gap was less than a year. Yet there is no department of health for men while there are eight government offices for woman’s health. Only one out of three public health dollars goes toward men.
- We live in a society in which when a woman is having trouble fending for her children the only thing she needs to do is hold out her hand and she gets a check drawing from taxpayer funds. If a divorced man has trouble supporting his he gets thrown in jail. Yep, no taxpayer support for him.
- We live in a society in which custodial parents, almost always women, can withhold important documents like medical records and birth certificates from the non-custodial parent. This means that there is no audit or accountability to the non-custodial parent. If a non-custodial parent suspects that the child/ren’s health needs aren’t being met there is nothing that they (he) can do about it.
- We live in a society that loves to chant the mantra “In the Best Interests of the Children.” But the child support system is not about children. It’s about money. Let me explain: Divorced man writes check out to the COURT. Then the court gets its cut, it always does, and receives federal matching funds for every dollar they get to boot. Then the MOTHER gets the check from the court. Is she accountable for what she does to the money? NO! The court could not care less if 90% of the money goes to shoes, a new Firebird or the new boyfriends drug habit. As long as they get their money they don’t give a shit about the kids. And they are forever protected by the perception that they are acting in….yes…you guessed it- “the best interests of the child.” And the ignorant bovine public eats it up without question.
- We live in a society in which one parent -the mother- gets to decide whether or not the child even gets to breathe its first breath or not. She can also lie about being on birth control and there is no accountability. If she is unmarried she decides whether or not to put the child up for adoption. Heck she can go to any hospital, fire station or police station and just drop the kid off and walk away. If she decides to keep the child, and yes it is she and only she who gets to decide, who has to fork out the cash for the next 18 to 20? Yup, you guessed it, the man. Furthermore the man has absolutely no negotiating power at all and ultimately no say in the child’s future. The court decides how much he will pay, and as mentioned above they get matching funds from the government so they have every incentive to jack up the numbers. The amount of child support isn’t based on the child’s needs it is based on what the court decides the father is worth financially, even if he isn’t worth that much. If he loses his job or otherwise has financial problems he loses his driver’s license, loses business license, and gets thrown in the can. And just to put a cherry on top of the whole thing, he gets his face and name posted on a pizza box so the whole world can ridicule him for the human being that he is.
- Men are falling way behind in both secondary and post secondary education. Why? Simple, they are being choked out for lack of available funds to men as opposed to the copious amount of money being made available for women to attend school. Furthermore, places of learning have become incredibly hostile towards men. Don’t believe me? Dress up like a man and spend a day at the nearest state college campus and try to apply for any financial aid other than a loan or a measly $600 Pell grant.
-There has been created in society a classification of crimes to which a reverse onus applies: sexual assault/abuse. In other words those who stand accused of rape are in effect guilty until proven innocent. And when it is proven that their accusers lied, the accuser rarely pays any consequences while the accused is left with a life in shambles. You can eventually get on with your life if you have been raped, with some help of course, but you can never recover from being falsely accused of raping someone.
You don’t think this happens all of the time? The FBI has itself said that it estimates the proportion of rape claims that turn out to be false hover at around 25-30%. Some people estimate that it may be as high as 40% in some jurisdictions.
You make the predictable assertion that we are all blaming everybody else for our ills and infer that we should just “man up to it.” But men did not do this to themselves did they? I don’t think so. Is it right to not complain when something is most definitely wrong and needs to be corrected? NO! To say nothing is to make things get a lot worse.

I appreciate you reading my long winded comments and look forward to your response
Respecfully
rohara

- rohara

You keep hearing complains about how schooling is getting worse, in part due to the government being involved and in part due to the gradually lowering of standards so that everyone passes, which is a flawed behaviour. I won’t go into that though and I will just post an 8th grade final exam taken in Salina, Kansas, US in 1895.

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2 . Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications. 3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of lie, lay and run
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Fi nd the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent..
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8 Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U. S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States .
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3.. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e.’ Name two
exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane,
fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America .
5.. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver ,
Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena , Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall &Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

I wonder about something though. In part of affirmative action, would we have ebonics tests instead of the orthography one?