princesslady

I don't know if this is the right section for this but ima try. sorry if it's against the rules for this but it seemed like a topic starter. Since most topics here are like old.

Do you all think oprah is right or wrong for building a school in south Africa, rather than a school here in America? Most people are pissed others agree. What do u think?

__________________

Spin Da Ish

Ok there aremore aficans dieing than us americansand also yes i do belive she did a good job doing so. they need education so they can go somewhere in thier lives. if we dont teach tehm thier just humans who aren't 'on a leash' and just begg for food and water. that liek saying that if i was right in giving a homless person who was starving a sandwich.

__________________

Hear-It-First

Priestess Angel

I agree with Spin Da Ish. America's educational system is much better compared to South Africa's as far as I know. They need it way more then us. I mean if you are born in America then you are most likely going to go to school and have the chance to make something of yourself. In South Africa it is not as likely. Correct me if I am wrong anyone.

__________________

Spin Da Ish

no i dont think your wrong at all but there are a lot of drop outs in america. and its all becuase of drop-outs not becuase they cant find more schools. Aficans need a place to be educated and oprah made one

__________________

Hear-It-First

Priestess Angel

Yeah, I know. I guess what I was trying to say is that kids in America most have the choice whether to stay in school or not and make something of themselves. I mean a shortage of schools is just not a problem for America. If there is a problem with America's educational system it is how they manage it and its students. But in Africa a shortage of schools is a problem so it's good that Oprah did what she did.

__________________

Spin Da Ish

yea man like in america theres more tahn enought room in schools to have every kid in, they can stay or not but we would still have room. In africa there are so little schools, puting one humousgous school would make everyone come but not all of them would be teached. more celebrities should do as oprah did cuz normal people can't afford to do so

__________________

Hear-It-First

Violent

We have enough schools in the US as it is, I'm actually impressed she did that since its more of a worthy cause. Kids in Africa need knowledge too not just us.

__________________

Obey the forum rules!

Kasai

America? Enough schools for kids? I guess you guys werent around when the educational system was saying that there were 30 kids in a classroom because of low teachers. The fact of the matter is? There is no more room in schools without more teachers. Teachers need better benefits. I mean, they are the ones who teach our future.

And as for whether Oprah was right or wrong? She was definitely in the right. Africa needs to gain a nice foothold, that way they can walk without any help.

__________________

Violent

For us here its always a maximum of 20-25 students per class I don't know about you, but we really have enough in my eyes. Africa definitely needed it more than us thou, so many people there are non educated.

__________________

Obey the forum rules!

Chubz

Yeah...30 kids in a classroom isn't that much, especially in urban areas. It's to be expected. The complaint about there being more kids than teachers is always being flung around, because the teachers unions use it to try and get some more money. They always say "oh, well back in the day there were never that many kids in the schools." Well, depending on where you lived, there has been little variation in number of students. My father was from Britain, and when he went to school (back in the 50's-60's) he had just as many kids in his class as we do now over here in BC, (the population being obviously smaller than in London). The main difference was that if someone got out of hand back in the 50's/60's, they got a whack, which generally kept them quiet. Now if the kid gets out of hand, the teacher can't do anything...so while the class size has remained the same, the way the class is run is done completely differently, so it feels like you have 60 kids rather than 30. So then they say "oh, class size has increased" when in most areas it hasn't. It's remained fairly the same (this isn't true as a whole, I'm sure there's areas where class size has increased quite a lot....but the BC Teachers Union is making the same claims over here, when in fact there has been no real surge in size).

As for Oprah, yes I think it was good she did that. Education is supposed to be provided by the Government, and North America is not running out of money anytime soon. Poor schooling over here is a matter of politics and governance, and if Oprah opened a school in the states, she'd have to give it to state authorities, or make it a private school. But she's not opening a private school, she's opening one for the public.

The government infrastructure is absolutely poor over in South Africa, so education is not guaranteed as a public right. The government itself can't afford to open new schools, and the one that is being opened will more than likely be run by a private organization, run for the public. Access to education in these areas is nigh impossible because of the economic conditions. In North America however, access to education is easily attainable as the government is forced to provide the education (however, to what degree the school recieves funding and how much money it gets are a different matter).

It's a completely different ball game over in South Africa, so anyone who complains aboot Oprah opening up the school probably hasn't read a book on conditions in South Africa, or else they'd keep quiet.

The one thing I don't really like though, is that Oprah doesn't do this stuff unless cameras are recording and people are taking pictures. Oprah's charity work is really a mass publicity stunt, so I have a problem taking her charity as being whole-hearted. I'd like to see information of her shelling out a couple million as an anonomous donation,without making herself look like some charity-God. Of course, you could argue that by making this stuff public she is bringing 'awareness' about a certain subject. But I still don't buy all of it as being pure-hearted charity.

Like...for example, I saw one show where she had a bunch of people who had lost their houses in Katrina come to the show to apply to have Oprah build them a house...of course they get the cameras rolling, and she comes out on stage and is like "guess what ya'll? I'm gonna build ALL of you houses!" and then everyone started crying. Well, yeah, nice try at getting ratings Oprah...You can't say that THAT was trying to bring 'awareness' about Katrina....it freakin happened right in America's backyard. If you have to bring awareness about a subject like that to a country's OWN people, then the citizens of that country have a big problem which even Oprah can't solve. I mean, that show was publicity, publicity, publicity. She could still help people without airing herself writing a cheque on tv, and the help would seem more genuine.

If she needs to show herself writing cheques on TV to motivate people, then the cause is already a lost one. "Hey, Oprah has millions of dollars to spend! Let's be like Oprah and send some of our money!" Like...sure...for a good cause and everything, but if I was some starving kid from Ethiopia, and received some charity money from people who sent it just because they saw Oprah send money, I'd use their charity money to buy a plane ticket, find where they live, and then kill them for being so ignorant that the only way they know of the injustices of the world is by seeing Oprah talk about it.

Ugh...I'm gonna stop now....

__________________

Many Thanks To SasuraiHell For The Sig!

worldpeace2529

i think one thing that concers both the iraq war, and the help kids in africa thing: AMERICA SHOULD LEAVE THE OTHER COUNTRIES ALONE AND MAKE ITSELF BETTER INSTEAD, WHAT HAPPENS IN OTHER COUNTRIES IS THEIR BUSINESS.