I’m not an Oprah Winfrey fan. I used to watch her show years ago, but after I became a Christian, her “godforce” talk became unpalatable. Being an unbeliever, she tends to get caught up in “various and strange doctrines” and fads.
I watched her show about a year ago to live-blog her dressing-down of James Frey, the Oprah Book Club darling who told big lies about his life in his disgraced memoir, A Million Little Pieces.
Oprah is in the news again. She recently built a girl’s school in South Africa, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, to the tune of $40 million. Part vanity project, part personal therapy, part charity, the school will educate impoverished young African girls for free. (Newsweek)
The school is downright luxurious compared to what the girls are used to: 22 acres, a beauty salon, high-quality sheets, spacious rooms and closets, china. Understandably, some natives think the school is a bit too opulent, especially for girls who come from extreme poverty. People love to tell other people how to spend their money. Sure, Oprah could have built a very nice school for a fraction of the price, but she wanted the girls to have lavish surroundings because “beauty does inspire.”
“I wanted this to be a place of honor for them because these girls have never been treated with kindness. They’ve never been told they are pretty or have wonderful dimples. I wanted to hear those things as a child,” Oprah said. (This is the “part therapy” I mentioned earlier.)
Some may wonder why Oprah didn’t build such a school right here in the U.S. and why she hasn’t taken a similar hands-on approach. Although she’s given money to inner city schools, she said she stopped visiting them. American children — or should we say poor American children, inner city American children? — don’t value education the way kids in other countries do. Oprah said (emphasis added):
“Say what you will about the American educational system—it does work,” she says. “If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education.” And she doesn’t think that American students—who, unlike Africans, go to school free of charge—appreciate what they have. “I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn’t there,” she says. “If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”
And parents bear a large portion of the blame for these attitudes. Love of learning, in my humble opinion, begins in the home, not in a government school classroom.
One reason I get so angry when black Americans whine about racism and blame it for all sorts of things, from the academic achievement gap to illegitimacy to black incarceration rates, is that many blacks across the rest of the planet would give anything to come to the U.S. and live like the poorest black Americans (who have air conditioning and cable TV!).
We Americans, black and white, are so spoiled. We take for granted things like free government education, proper sanitation, an economic system under which we can make a decent living if we actually work, private ownership rights, access to safe, plentiful, and relatively cheap food — the ingratitude is sickening.
[A commenter "corrects" me. Government schools are not free; they are supported by taxpayers, as I am aware every time I fork over large portions of my income to the government as a member of the self-employed cabal. 
Pardon the imprecise expression.]
The main impediments to success in America are entrenched generational pathologies, like broken families, that must be overcome, and the failure to take advantage of America’s rich opportunities. If you’re willing to work, you can get a job. It may be low-paying or “beneath” you, but it’s a start. As you acquire skills and develop good work habits (and not just show up), you can move up. You can go to school part time and learn a trade, or become an apprentice for someone willing to help. I tend to be hard on people because my tolerance for sloth and excuse-making is quite low. If you haven’t done all that’s in your power to improve your life, don’t blame anyone else for your pitiful circumstances. I have little sympathy for you.
Well, I’m just about done. Read Clarence Page’s column about Oprah’s school, “Oprah’s Truth Does Not Hurt.” He agrees with her comments about inner city children but says her “poke” at materialism of poor black students “delighted conservative commentators.”
I take issue with his generalization of “conservative commentators” (and by implication, conservatives in general). They may be “delighted” that a black person as high-profile as Oprah said publicly what they discuss only in private lest they be branded racists. The so-called delight lies in the hope that inner city blacks will take Oprah’s remarks to heart and learn to value a good education.
But Page is a liberal, and what else can you expect from one of them?
Oh…sorry about the generalization, Mr. Page. 
Addendum: Just to clarify, I think Oprah has done a good thing, opulence and all. I don’t know if I made that clear in the post.
Related posts:
- Turn Off That Idiot Box!
- The Mission: Middle-Class vs. Lower-Class Families
- Professor Laments Lack of Well-Read Students
- Are Government Schools “Hiding” Blacks’ Test Scores?
- Black Homeschooling on the Rise
- Prince George’s County: Grade F
- Acting White
- Black Marriage
