Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Then and now
David Brooks, September 8, 2005:
David Brooks, September 2, 2008:
posted by Anonymous : 9/02/2008 10:22:00 AM
The first rule of the rebuilding effort should be: Nothing Like Before. Most of the ambitious and organized people abandoned the inner-city areas of New Orleans long ago, leaving neighborhoods where roughly three-quarters of the people were poor.
In those cultural zones, many people dropped out of high school, so it seemed normal to drop out of high school. Many teenage girls had babies, so it seemed normal to become a teenage mother. It was hard for men to get stable jobs, so it was not abnormal for them to commit crimes and hop from one relationship to another...
That's why the second rule of rebuilding should be: Culturally Integrate. Culturally Integrate. Culturally Integrate. The only chance we have to break the cycle of poverty is to integrate people who lack middle-class skills into neighborhoods with people who possess these skills and who insist on certain standards of behavior.
David Brooks, September 2, 2008:
On Monday, an ugly feeding frenzy surrounded her daughter’s pregnancy. But most Americans will understand that this is what happens in real life, that parents and congregations nurture young parents through this sort of thing every day.There's a shitload more where that came from. Brooks is obsessed with teenage pregnancy and unwed mothers, especially when they are poor and black.
posted by Anonymous : 9/02/2008 10:22:00 AM
