Happyness is dumb-shaped.

[MajGenl.Meade]

19 Nov 2014 The Times (South Africa)

Jaden and Willow Smith share their ‘wisdom’

JADEN and Willow Smith — offspring of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith — bring out new albums this week and shared some ideas with The New York Times.

Here are some choice quotes from the interviews:

On their music:
Willow, 14: Whip My Hair (her debut, platinum-selling single, released when she was 10) was a great thing. When I look back I think, “Wow, I did so much for young black girls and girls around the world. Telling them that they can be themselves and to not be afraid to be themselves.”

Jaden, 16: I’m going to imprint myself on everything in this world. On making music:

Willow: I mean, the beat is usually what moves me. Or I think of concepts. Then when I hear a beat that is, like, elaborating on that concept, I just go off.

On education:
Jaden: Here’s the deal: School is not authentic because it ends. Our learning will never end. The school that we go to every single morning, we will continue to go to. You never learn anything in school. Think about how many car accidents happen every day. Driver’s ed? What’s up?

Willow: I went to school for one year. It was the best and the worst . . . best because I was, like, “I know why kids are so depressed.” It was the worst because I was depressed.
—© The Daily Telegraph

[BoSoxGal]

Their comments on education are spot on; American public schools are particularly dreadful for gifted and creative students. I wish my parents had known about Montessori or Waldorf schools.

[Joe Guy]

I agree with the comments on Driver's ed. Teaching kids to drive is a waste of time because people who are lousy drivers are... well... they exist.

Birth control? What's up?

[MajGenl.Meade]

You never learn anything in school. Think about how many car accidents happen every day. Driver’s ed? What’s up?

Obviously logic wasn't taught at all... perhaps he has a point... didn't have much of an acting curriculum either, apparently. Like (to quote Willow)

[kristina]

Have to say I'm very glad that most of what I said when I was a teenager was never transcribed/recorded and sent out for the world to see...

[rubato]

You seem to have problem with black people. Otherwise you would parse the utterances of a 14 and a 16 year-old in a way which was age-appropriate.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

No way! You're black?

[rubato]

No way! You're black?

My mother was born in Adis Alem* Ethiopia in 1927. All of us tanned fairly easily but I would not call us black.


Your tone has become nastier overall and more hostile in recent weeks; is everything ok with you? You can be nasty and hostile, if that is your wish and the true expression of your soul I would prefer it to false pleasantness, I would just not want it to be driven by physical misfortune or some other tragedy.


yrs,
rubato

*West of Addis Ababa the name means "New World".

[MajGenl.Meade]

Interesting - thank you.

Apparently you don't think that your introduction of racism into this (accusing me of seeming to have a problem with black people) is indicative of nastiness and hostility? I do.

BTW, my question was a nasty response (that's true) to your nastiness. I was suggesting, as you clearly understood, that perhaps it was your utterances that should be parsed as one would for teen-sagers.

The o.p. was about young persons pontificating. Agree or disagree, that's all it was about.

[wesw]

young people know everything. just ask them.

my public high school was great. filled with teachers from the neighboring former teacher s college, now a university( la di da...)

every thing was open to the students, the doctor s and lawyer s and professor s s children went there with poor black kids, as well as the country folk, black and white, rich and poor.

a child could have gone anywhere from there if they played their cards right

[Guinevere]

Public education remains one of this country's greatest legacies. There is no question that legacy and the opportunity it provides has been continually chipped away by the right over the last decades. However this is and always has been excellent public educational opportunities for all students at all levels. In fact, among my peers, and those of my sister, the vast majority of us who stayed in public education went to better colleges and have more successful careers. The kids I grew up with who went to private schools, including some of my cousins, did not get into prestigious colleges or universities, and now largely are hourly workers or don't work at all.

I cannot yet speak for the current generation but I've seen the public school education my boys, my godson, and the children of various friends are getting and it is top notch - they boys are both in the enrichment programs and my godson in the top school in Chicago (test in). Most of the kids I know at elementary - secondary age are in public school.

As for the Smith kids, given the resources and experiences available to them, I do no doubt they can be bored by school. Of course, they are in the top 1% economically and most kids don't have those opportunities.

[rubato]

Interesting - thank you.

Apparently you don't think that your introduction of racism into this (accusing me of seeming to have a problem with black people) is indicative of nastiness and hostility? I do.

BTW, my question was a nasty response (that's true) to your nastiness. I was suggesting, as you clearly understood, that perhaps it was your utterances that should be parsed as one would for teen-sagers.

The o.p. was about young persons pontificating. Agree or disagree, that's all it was about.

The young persons in this case were not pontificating, they did not seek an audience nor do they appear to have had a prepared message. They were responding to questions by a media outlet who intended to use their names as 'bait' to attract an audience. They were being made to appear to pontificate so that thoughtless people like yourself might blame it on them.

In fact, their innocence and willingness to speak candidly was being cynically exploited. Adult celebrities of average ability generally have learned to protect themselves from this kind of thing and avoid talking to the media except under controlled circumstances.

And taken together your posts of the last year, since you returned from Africa, do suggest that you are selecting for the bad behavior of black people.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

OK.

The news items I have chosen from the SA Times are intended to underline (1) crime and the failures of police and prosecution - crimes including those committed by the pale-looking runner chap and the Brit (go ahead - tell me I'm anti-special needs and Asian) and (2) the societal failures of South African governance leading to huge problems for the population and indeed the future survival of SA as a democracy. Oddly enough, most South Africans are black and therefore most victims and most perpetrators are black.

Perhaps to keep you pure, I should in future only concentrate on stories about identifiably white people. Please hold your breath until I begin

[Lord Jim]

your posts of the last year, since you returned from Africa, do suggest that you are selecting for the bad behavior of black people.

Gee whiz, and what Meade's posts about SA suggested to me is that since he had recently lived there for several years he has a knowledge of, and interest in, events there...

And I sincerely hope he continues to post on developments there; I find the stories to be an interesting and educational addition to the range of discussion on this board...

Certainly more interesting and educational than somebody posting (repeatedly) debunked, discredited, proven false assertions...(like "Carter inherited inflation from Nixon" to give but one of many examples...)

Your tone has become nastier overall and more hostile in recent weeks;

Well if anyone ever accuses you of that rube, I will rise to your defense...

Your tone has been consistently nasty and hostile for many years; it's difficult to imagine how it could become any more so...