Comments about ‘Culture affects education’

Shame on you. The American way is now "If you want it you ask the government to go take it from someone else and give it to you." Work for it! That is so 1950's. Where have you been. With your attitude I'm not sure you should be allowed to vote.

How a person from practically an all-white town, Elk Ridge, and from a county where the population is 95% white can make ignorant generalized statements about an entire group of people is sadly reflective of her bias and ignorance.

I am Latino. I graduated in the top 5% of my class. I was president of a national honor society. I am currently working on MSW at the U. Many other Latinos I know value education as much as any other group.

I suggest that this sorry excuse for a teacher take a look at himself/herself and eradicate her/his very evident biases towards Latinos.

I'm in total agreement that culture shapes lives. And, in my 40 years as an educator I've found the very same problem of a lack of interest in education in a majority of the Latino population. My contacts in the Provo School District tell me that their major obstacle is latino parent involvement with their student's education. They've provided free English classes, with little or no participation. Students who can speak English refuse. Thus, the District has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars providing multi-lingual assistance. The problem is not with the educators, it is with the latino community who came to this country illegally, demanding all the benefits without working for it. I'm glad to hear that some have put forth an effort to acquire an education and be productive in America. However, the evidence is obvious, the majority still hold on to their Latino preference for work/money; not education.

"not Lou Dobbs",

How a person who claims to have graduated in the top 5% of his class can take very limited personal experience and apply to a larger population is sadly a reflection of his lack of knowledge in the area of statistics. Not to mention lack of reading skills.

You'll note the author did not say anything about Latinos as a race. He wrote of latino culture compared to asian culture. Interesting that a presumed white racist would give such high marks to asians. Maybe he isn't racist, but just honest enough to call it like it is.

James Rawson, not lou dobbs (I bet it is your favorite show) and the original poster sound like racist to me.

It is sad that Rawson is an educator and is in a position to let his biases and racism influence young minds. How he immiediately connected latinos with illegal immigration is a biased and racist stereotype.

And to notlou dobbs, funny how you say nothing of how the author of the letter to the editor took her/his limited personal knowledge and applied it to a larger populaiton. How well can she know Latino culture living in a county where it is 95% white?

Also Latino is not a race. There is only one race and that is the human race. Sorry to bust your racist bubble.

Many white racist give high marks to Asians "the prefered mainority" for racists.

I bet the des news does not print this response.

It sounds like he could use a little more perspective, no offense. I understand he's been teaching for a long time, but to say that it's the Latino culture that is deficient may not necessarily be the case. How do you know it's not the American culture (as well)? Or just like many of the other posters remarked, that Utah County, and the entire state of Utah actually, is 95% white.

All it takes is a little understanding.

I am an educator, I taught in two at-risk junior highs. Teachers have many roadblocks to topple before we can spark the fire of achievement in students.

Parental involvement is the number one problem or solution. Some parents just expect low grades to be changed. Other parents have no clue about their student lives. Some parents expect more from the student and CONTACT THE TEACHER to request information from the teacher. Consistant parental contact are the dream of good teachers.

Distruptive, unmotivated students are the second problem. I prepared good lessons, I truly wanted to teach the students but the disrupters could pull the whole class down. I talked to the students, sent students to other classes, called parents more than once, used in school suspension. But the consequences were a reward to many students and they continue to act out. Involved parents would have stopped this problem and the student would be back on track and the class undercontrol and learning again.

Culture is a third reason for success in school. A lot of students are more responsive to their peer group than to parents or teachers. Involved parents let their students know how important an education is.

Students from all backgrounds also flourish in the presence of good, sensitive and motivating teachers. With Terry Gunn's and others' approach to biased cultural attitudes, it's no wonder their students don't flourish.

The students' achievement excels in proportion to the expectations we place on them. If Terry Gunn has limited expectations and other teachers are teaching all Latinos as "illegals" here to suck our system dry, I applaud those students who are able to survives and indeed thrive despite the "education" provided by these individuals.

Maybe responsible members of our community should also be concerned whether parents are payed living wages, so some can stay home and take care of their children or ensure they do their homework. When some parents are forced to work 2 or more jobs just to put food on the table, there is little time to supervise homework and nourish their minds. Let's not always blame the victims, however easy it is to do.