Things must’ve got pretty out of control before the speaker had to go “off script” and scolded his audience. I couldn’t help wondering where were the administrators and organizers of the event? I’m sure “not disrespectful” is written all over the school rule book but it didn’t stop the students from breaking the rule freely. I believe that a community needs “self moderating” their own behaviors, with administers and peers (and yes the speakers too if necessary) call out bad behaviors when they happen in real time. It’s at least a more effective way than relying on the policing of administrators only. What do you think?
One of the most important rules for moderation and administrations that tell the students how to behave to be effective is a general respect for the system. And that was really at the core of the speaker’s point. When he says “Jewish/white kids are quiet” he means that Jewish/white kids are respectful of him and are charitable enough to let him speak. Black students don’t do that - they don’t respect the authority of the educational system - and that’s why they don’t listen, why they talk during the presentation, and why they don’t learn what teachers try to teach. That is the point he is trying to make and he did a great job of it.
From the written words on the link (the video didn’t play soon enough for me) it sounds like the reason for the speaker is that the students were so totally out of control. Hopefully the speaker got through to them. A culture change is needed- recognized by the school- but how to implement it… How to change a community’s culture when the belief within it is that it can’t??? This is not behavior many of the parents want but one they individually have no control over. Hopefully this speaker could get through to some students to spark a change.
Actually he went off script in response to one person talking. The audience was not out of control at all. It was kind of surprising to me - some would say an overreaction. But he is a powerful speaker.
Yeah, I had a hard time finding the disruptive moment and it was hardly anything. Maybe he had his tangent semi-planned … But it was powerful nonetheless.
I’ve been in plenty of assemblies with students of all races. Talking among students while a guest speaker is speaking isn’t something more prevalent among one race or another, one socioeconomic group or another. Falling asleep is also very common among all teens, although less disruptive.
Hey, I just went to a ladies’ luncheon event at a hotel ballroom among affluent suburban (predominantly white) women, and they kept talking throughout the speaker’s presentation. They only shut up when the winners of raffle tickets were announced. It was pretty rude!
My son is a white, Jewish UMC kid in a school full of white, Jewish UMC kids. There’s a group of boys in the school, only a handful, but enough to really annoy my son and other kids who want to learn, who will not STFU in class. They yell. They call out randomly and constantly. The other day, they were stealing each other’s shoes. Rudeness and poor upbringing are not race or class specific.
Oh, interesting. CC didn’t like my common internet abbreviation for a refusal to please stop talking already and put in asterisks instead. Got it. No abbreviations for swear words on CC. For **** in the preceding post you can read “stop talking when the teacher tells them to” in a really exasperated tone.
^^ there are banned words that will always be **** , probably from back in the days where the political forum existed. Some of them are not necessarily offensive in some contexts , but they will be blocked any way
@doschicos “Talking among students while a guest speaker is speaking isn’t something more prevalent among one race or another, one socioeconomic group or another.”
You don’t know if that is true or not.
According to the actual speaker, race does seem to be an issue:
NeoDymium, your statement "Black students don’t do that - they don’t respect the authority of the educational system - and that’s why they don’t listen, why they talk during the presentation, and why they don’t learn what teachers try to teach. " is contrary to my experience. I have seen plenty of “Jewish/white” students disrupt class and never seen one instance of a black student doing similar. That isn’t to say it could not happen but is to say that broad generalizations based on race, color and religion are probably rarely fruitful.
I should’ve known better that this is the direction the discussion would take, but I actually meant to ask what you think about the guest speaker got off script and address the disciplines that were supposed to be the duty of school administrators? Was it outrageous to take about something irrelevant to what he was there for?
I’m seeing this a lot, too. My mother in law will start an entirely different conversation with someone else at the table if she decides she’s done listening to the original speaker. Just talks right across them like they weren’t there. I was boggled by the behavior, but I’ve also seen it on cruises where people were at a large table.
I think it’s an etiquette and consideration issue, not a racial or cultural issue.
I see this in our new synagogue all the time. Children and adults feel free to talk to each other at any time - during prayers, during the rabbi’s sermon, whenever they feel the need. My dad was a rabbi and the disrespect being shown by these congregants disturbs me greatly.
@fractalmstr My own experiences, and those of others here, do count for something. I don’t know this speaker from a hole in the wall so whose to say he is 100% factual. He had a point he wanted to make. Speakers can resort to hyperbole and exaggeration to make a point.
If I was the school administration and/or a parent of a child in the audience, I’d be a little perturbed by the broad racial generalizations made by the speaker and for veering of the path of the topic he was hired to present.
I guess we respectfully disagree. While I do agree with you that the speaker was probably exaggerating his point, there was likely some truth in it, or else he wouldn’t have gone through the effort of saying it.
Ignoring the problem (if there is one) by being politically correct ends up helps no one in the end.
I am pretty sure that you will find this attitude pretty common among kids of all types these days. That said, I listened to the video and am also assuming he planned this - he wanted to make a point and he wanted the kids to really listen and pay attention, and this seemed to grab everyone’s attention. It seemed effective and he had a good message for the kids - work your hardest, pay attention, I did it you can do it too… albeit via an unorthodox method.