Comments on: I Need Your Help

By: Mwangi

Mwangi — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:32:11 +0000

@Bambam: I fully intend to make this an Africa wide tool – which is one of the reasons I have tried as hard as possible since day one to speak about subject matter that’s relevant to all Africans in the diaspora. Any ideas for how I should set up this platform? Should I set up a forum? Set up a section of the blog where people can contribute. Get more people to send guest posts?

By: Bambam

Bambam — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:39:20 +0000

Hey?
I like your blog a lot. Now if only you could try and liase with the African community here in Australia. I reckon you should provide a platform for all African communities represented in Oz e.g. the Sudanese, East Africans, Ugandans, West Africans, Southern Africans, all of them basically. Its great to connect with you on your insights on the Africans in the diaspora. However also do consider serving your readership with a platform to share their views and experiences on your blog or simply through other links.

By: The Week That Audio Built and Zangalewa » The Displaced African

The Week That Audio Built and Zangalewa » The Displaced African — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:05:24 +0000

[...] PostsAfter asking for help last week, I am glad to say some of you gladly obliged. I will be releasing the guest posts that have been [...]

By: Caustic Blonde

Caustic Blonde — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:15:03 +0000

I am not Catholic, but I attended a Catholic school. I do not have any intention of converting to Catholicism as there are a lot of things in which I don’t agree, but I would not have a problem sending my child to a Catholic school.

By: Mwangi

Mwangi — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:26:09 +0000

@seinlife: No, I think I understood what you were saying. You don’t like schools that are based around a religion and indoctrinate the youths into their faith. My response was pretty much in response to that – I may have agreed were it not for my experiences in a Catholic based (Opus Dei no less) school. Thank you for respecting my views man, respect yours too

By: seinlife

seinlife — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:17:57 +0000

i just re-read my post and i don’t want to be misunderstood – am not anti-catholic just anti school mixing with religion period. So am anti-all religious links to school (am an equal opportunity disliker of them all..LOL)
So @mwangi et.al. i totally respect your views and appreciate what you express based on your experiences.:-)

By: Mwangi

Mwangi — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:24:02 +0000

@seinlife: Blogging on my blog is more than encouraged my friend, plus,it’s not like I was writing one sentence responses on your blog either .
Sadly I have nothing much I can add to the debate about American public schools as I am on the other side of the world in a place where my sister’s public school that is of such a high caliber that they actually managed to send spiders to space by collaborating with NASA – needless to say my sister’s school looks like a mesh between the Indian subcontinent and Asia with a sprinkling of Caucasians, Africans, Arabs and Mediterraneans thrown in for good measure.
The only thing I would add to is I would actually support private catholic schools, if for no other reason because of my experience going to one in Kenya and also because of the experiences I have heard from other people who went to Starehe in Kenya -which may not be a strictly private catholic school but is really close.
Say what you will but these schools actually strove and to a large extent managed to raise up better rounded men and women who were not just academic beings but involved in all aspects of life such as sport, poetry and yes religion. So, purely from my experiences of being in four very different high schools – and two Christian schools- I would chose to keep religion centered high schools in the community any day.

By: seinlife

seinlife — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:55:54 +0000

I totally agree with @caustic point on parents not caring enough about their kids but there are many factors as to why public education especially inner city is otrocious and funding certainly plays a role.
If you notice city residents always vote ‘No’ to school levy’s when they show up on the ballot. Why? because they think their schools are being mismanaged. In some cases this is probably true but by saying no they are saying no to the children in that school district. So with no computers, outdated books, bad teachers (coz you need money to attract good ones) then how to make do?
I certainly concur that disruptive kids can be dealt with in a more ideal way but those kids are probably disruptive coz they are bored and unchallenged. Again if the schools were well funded and equiped with the right tools that disruptive child would probably feel more fulfilled at school. But that is not to say that is the case for all disruptive children, alot of the inner city school children come from broken homes where for example a single mom on crack or overwhelmed with bills and consumed with work is unable to care for her kids so they end up taking care of themselves and getting into very bad stuff. Again i strongly believe if the school was well funded perhaps a counsellor would be helpful in this case.
Some inner city schools have resorted to using ‘vouchers’ allowing eligible students to attend school in the suburbs. This is obviously not solving the problem (maybe for just that one student) but not for that particular school.
I personally would send my kid to public school after all i pay property taxes and part of that funds my designated school. The difference would be that i would be more involved in the school and it’s going on’s. I am particularly against private catholic schools coz i don’t want my child to undergo any religious indoctrinations (i will be the only teacher on religious matters period…LOL…another topic for another day). I might consider a charter school…..
Yikes….sorry for rabbling…blogging on your blog @mwangi

By: Mwangi

Mwangi — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:05:22 +0000

@gal: Now you know somewhere in the catalogue of US programs that have existed there is a program that is exactly like that….after all there was “I want to marry a midget” or something like that, Jay Leno used to have some segments of his program dedicated to showing the ignorance of the typical American amongst other mentally enlightening programs that have filled the airwaves……..

By: gal africana

gal africana — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:17:19 +0000

haha gotta luv the US…what will they think of next! making money for charity by displaying ignorance. At least she owns it…no embarrassment there!