Growing Roses In Concrete Reflection

Jeff Duncan Andrade - Growing Roses in Concrete

The Stress of The Under Privileged 
After watching this video it brings me back to the idea of the vicious circle known as privilege. Jeff Duncan used Piedmont as an example, which in this case can be considered the over privileged that prosper if there is no change to the current situation. Piedmont is thriving where as East Oakland continues to suffer as a community and will continue to do so if there is not a change. The statistic that citizens of Oakland are twice as likely to have PTSD than our soldiers returning from Iraq is just hard to even imagine. You have to keep in mind that these soldiers eventually make there way home, where as it's at home that Oakland's citizens are generating this stress.



George Carlin is a great comedian / author who unfortunately passed away in 2008. He does a great job explaining education and the problems in the work place. He also speaks about the flaws in the idea of the "American Dream"

Motivate Your Students 
What Jeff Duncan is doing is absolutely worth noting. He is applying a new teaching method that is geared to motivate the youth. If not in a school setting, where else can we expect to reach these kids and motivate them so they can become successful? If the school provides the motivation that these kids are missing in their lives they'll be more than happy to actually come to class for one and they'll actually care about learning. This is how Jeff Duncan manage to get 90%+ of his class to attend a 4 year university. If the students are stressed at home and stressed at school, of course they're going to turn away and do something out of the norm. They're going to turn to whatever makes them feel good about themselves and allows them to gain some kind of self value. They're likely to turn to gang activity to make a name for themselves in an attempt to gain respect for once in their lives. That how Oakland ends up with these ridiculous crime rates.



This video went viral awhile back and it immediately popped in my head once we reviewed the Andrade video in class. This lads name is Jeff Bliss and he is from Duncanville High. He may not be the most literate person but to be honest that may not be a bad thing with the situation given.

Discuss
1. Other than poor education, what are the contributing factors to East Oakland's crime rate?
2. How can we motive Oakland's youth to go to class? How can we make it enjoyable for them to be there?
3. How can we apply Jeff Duncan's teaching strategy on a larger scale ?

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Henry Bowers is a very white rapper from Sweden but nevertheless, this is a very nice song about struggles and motivations.