This chapter started off very interestingly but started to drag a little bit towards the middle. It dealt with names and how they correspond to a child’s life.
In the previous chapters the authors wrote about how parents don’t really have influence on their child’s life and how conventional wisdom is generally wrong; this chapter was no different. They stated that there are certain trends among various different racial groups in name choices.
I found it very true about both the most common black and white names they mentioned. I also very strongly agreed with some of the more outlandish sounding names that some black girls’ sport. Names that are very strongly black related are generally given to a child to ‘confirm’ them with their predominately black neighborhood. I believe this to make sense but sad. The book stated that if a black wanted to study calculus or ballet that they would be considered ‘acting white’; if pursuing what one desires leads to the wrong group, is it wrong?
I think its somewhat tragic that maybe the reason I don’t see many blacks in higher level classes is not because they are not capable, but because it is not socially acceptable. What happened to bettering oneself and one’s own race? What happened to the ideals MLK taught? Why now do black discriminate amongst their own if one of them decides they like astrophysics instead of basketball? Is that such a bad thing? It’s a horrible waste of potential. If more blacks would pursue some of these desires and if it’s was viewed as okay to pursue them, maybe stereotypes would be abolished.
The main theme of this chapter was that it does not depend on the name that someone has that determines success, moreover it depends on the type of parent who would name their child the name they receive. If a parent has lower education or is in a lower socioeconomic status, they are more likely to name their child a certain name, same holds true for higher education and social status. Upto a certain point, success is I guess predetermined. One must of course work hard in order to earn the things they want, but some people have better chances than others.
The epilogue to the book about the two paths to Harvard really ended the book well. The two paths were a black kid who was abandoned by his mom and beaten by his dad and a white kid who grew up rich in a nice neighborhood who ended up being the unibomber.
Life is too screwed up to put generalizations on it.
-Bluey OUTTTTTTT
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