Oprahs African all Girl School

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Mar 17 2007, 01:53 PM) [snapback]407529[/snapback]</div>

Good point and right on the mark hycam it's called a "Double Standard" and of course it's against what they believe in and all that they have said in the past but hey they are the looney :wacko: left what did you expect a consistant, logical and rational discourse? Get a friggin clue! :lol:

Wilkdow

p.s. Did I sound enough like one of them in my prior post for you to say Wth!?!?

 

Kow and Priusguy, Oprah didn't go into Africa with guns a blazin' in order to install a western style educational venue in Africa. Far as I can tell, no innocent people have been killed and maimed. She doesn't have these children at gunpoint advising them that they have to stay or they'll be in peril. If they don't appreciate the education and they can't stand the yogurt, they're of free will to leave. Your comparison to Iraq is illogical by any standards.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Mar 17 2007, 02:16 PM) [snapback]407542[/snapback]</div>

Yep she would rather keep them alive so that they can be tortured longer by denying them access to family and loved ones, food that they abhor and who knows what kind of sick western propaganda they are shoving down their throats. You are one maladjusted and evil person to support this "My way or the highway" authoritarian rule. That’s just sick, get a friggin clue will ya? <_<

Wildkow

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Mar 14 2007, 08:39 PM) [snapback]405740[/snapback]</div>

Yes, take away the ability of a teenager to fulfill "need" for instant gratification and indulging meaningless choices and it's the end of civilization as we know it. Oh the horror, might as well throw out the consitution because freedom is over with. Those poor kids will have to go through years of psychiatric care for post traumatic stress disorder now that they've been scarred for life from being separted from their junk food.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Mar 17 2007, 01:40 PM) [snapback]407559[/snapback]</div>

It is obvious that you are unfamiliar with the manner in which private schools are run in the United States and the rest of the world. The students and their families must accept and abide by the rules of the institution or look for another place in which to obtain an education.

The "Hand Picked" admittees are free to drop out or transfer to other schools if they don't care to live by Oprah's rules.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Mar 17 2007, 12:53 PM) [snapback]407529[/snapback]</div>

I thought that you believed in letting people spend their own money as they see fit as opposed to having the government and other busybodies dictate to them what they should do with it, or is that only true for those whose politics you approve?

 

I'm going to take the moderate stance on this one.

Based only on the above (and recognizing that I probably don't have all the facts) it looks to me like Oprah has given a considerable quantity of money to provide an education to girls who someone considers the "best and brightest" in the hopes that they can grow up to contribute to solving the problems of Africa.

This is philanthropy of the best sort.

The girls, apparently, are free to leave if they don't like it, but the education they are getting is too valuable to give up lightly.

The diet is irrelevant, in my opinion, as long as it is adequate and nutritious. No kid likes nutritious food. Tough! I highly doubt that Oprah is trying to cut costs on the food, though the on-site food services managers could possibly be doing so.

On the other hand, everyone needs the emotional support of friends and family. I'd like to know the rationale behind such strict limits on visiting. If the facility is physically too small to accommodate the requested visits, that could be legitimate. Or if the security situation in Johannesburg is so bad that there would be real safety risks involved with allowing more people in, that could be legitimate. Otherwise, I think they should alow the girls more contact with their families.

It sounds to me like they have some problems, which are being blown out of proportion by one side, and dismissed by the other side, and that they maybe need to work on.

On the other hand, if it's just 2 or 3 parents who are complaining, then it's a non-issue. It would be interesting to have more information.

 

fshagan said it...no good deed goes unpunished.

Why is it that there are so many in our society keen on knocking folks down who are trying to do good? I don't understand it, and it makes me really, really sad. Is there some perverse, sadistic pleasure that people like hycamguy and wildkow take in slandering famous people when they do good? Is it based on jealousy? If not, what?

I've asked this question before of an acquaintance of mine. When Sandra Bullock donated her million dollars to the Red Cross for the tsunami relief fund, he said "she only did it to get publicity for a movie." I remember staring at him in disbelief. After a little discussion, he confessed that he really didn't know WHY he said it, but that it struck him as insane that someone could/would donate a million dollars to anything.

So, by what you all have said, it makes it appear that you think she's only opened this school in some attempt to create a bunch of little Oprahs, as some kind of egotistical cloning exercise. And that in doing so, she's created a schedule of visitiation and food to fit her warped sense of how everyone should live. If you really think that, then you DO need professional help. And really, unless you're well-versed in boarding school standards AND South African culture, I'm not sure that any of us can comment on our view of "cruelty" at this school.

While I only manage to catch Oprah on TV a few times a year, here's my perspective: Oprah does not recognize herself as an educator; while she may have established ground rules for the school, I know that decisions made on a day-to-day basis have been made by a school adminstrative staff. And I'm sure that staff is well-versed in the cultural mores of South Africa. And as Godiva said, I guarantee that there are some fibs being told about the food. I mean, come on.

I think I agree with Daniel just about everything he wrote. I do wonder about the reason for such a severe visitation restriction--having never been part of boarding schools, I have no idea what the standard is. I do know this: it wouldn't be a boarding school if unlimited visitation is allowed. Wouldn't that just be a non-boarding school? And with unlimited visitation, would the school then turn into a kind of shelter for the family, if they were always there? I'm sure that visitation is a BIG DEAL--and that it probably takes the child out of school-sponsored activities and events tha are important to their experience...just a thought.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Mar 17 2007, 03:25 PM) [snapback]407574[/snapback]</div>

Hand Picker? So Oprah is raising up the next ruling class of westernized black africa women? Nice to know that their culture isn't important who would have guessed? This Liberal need to indoctrinate others is called meglomania.

Obsessed with fantasy, possessed with my schemes
I mixed reality with pseudogod dreams
The ghost of violence was something I seen
I sold my soul to be the human obscene


Wildkow

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Mar 17 2007, 04:31 PM) [snapback]407635[/snapback]</div>

Roll your eyes as much as you want. Your analogy is faulty.

There is a major difference between this school and your local slammer. The parents of these girls have a choice. No one is forcing them to send their daughters to Oprah's school. There are plenty of other options just as your parents had with you, as you have acknowledged. On the other hand, one does not always have the option of getting out of jail whenever they feel like leaving - some inmates do not have the means to post bail and sentenced prisoners and those who are charged with capital offenses are held without bail.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(livelychick @ Mar 17 2007, 05:00 PM) [snapback]407623[/snapback]</div>

The goose and the gander baby! You can dish it but you can't take it. What a hilarious knee-jerk response or was that just a jerk response? You have just described liberalism, your ilk on this board and yourself to the 'T'. Nothing good a person can do if it isn't the liberal way that you all can't tear down or find something bad about it. So enjoy and bon appetite! More coming. . .[attachmentid=6924]

Wildkow

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Mar 17 2007, 05:57 PM) [snapback]407667[/snapback]</div>

No one is forcing any of those girls' families to send them to that school. If they don't care for the curriculum or the rules, they are free to go elsewhere. Perhaps you and the other rightard contrarians can be instrumental in convincing a conservative philanthropist to set up a competing school.

 

We also don't know to what extent the disruption is causing.

They say the visits were limited to four family members. For 150 girls that's 600 people if every single one has a visitor.

We also don't know the what the parents are defining as "family". In some cultures that includes uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. In some cultures the village is the "family". You can't expect the school to accomodate 1000 people every weekend.

It could very well be the school was becoming an amusement park on weekends.

We just don't know.

I don't think these conditions are worse than some boarding schools. It's a private school, they make the rules and it's free to these girls. If they don't like it, they can leave and 100 girls will fight to take their place.

BTW if anyone bothered to read the Newsweek article, it said Oprah was planning on building a house and retiring there. (If she *ever* retires.) When she does she'll be sleeping on the same sheets and eating the same food as the rest of the school. (Me...I prefer 600-800 count sheets.)

 

What pissed me off when I saw her on Letterman talking about this is that there is SO MUCH that is needed here- (it was not long after Katrina) Let's face it- there is alot that need to be done HERE- by all of us!

She does alot- and it doesn't all get the publicity.....so maybe we shouldn't be tooo judgemental-

 

Ok, first of all, Africa is not a country. It's a freaking continent!!! This is equivalent to saying that because there was a flood in San Jose, Costa Rica, you should send money to Ottawa, Canada. Please don't use the term Africa when you are talking about a specific place in a specific country. Even within USA, you know how different people and cultures are between the states. There are millions of people starving in USA too, just look at the shelters across the country! Don't expect to see starving children near the runway when you get down in the Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. <_<

Anyway, if Oprah opened a school somewhere with a good heart, who are we to criticize? They get a free education with good technology around to learn, good meals and intelligent friends. These students might be from lower middle class familes, but I have a hard time believing they were starving to death before coming to this school. Just because people are starving in South Africa, doens't mean that all South Africans are starving. There are people who drive BMW's (and Prii!) in there too!

Sorry, I just get annoyed when people think all Africans are poor, starving and have AIDS.

Good for Oprah for doing something useful. It may have flaws, give her time to correct them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(barbaram @ Mar 17 2007, 08:48 PM) [snapback]407724[/snapback]</div>

Blacks are often criticized for the lack of support of their "homeland" (even though many blacks have roots that extend back longer on this continent than most whites). When the famines in Africa were being addressed by people like Bob Geldorf, there was a bit of self-criticism among folks like Michael Jackson, Gordy What's-his-name-from-Motown and others that blacks were not involved in social action in Africa.

What they meant was that famous and rich blacks weren't involved, of course, as black America has been supporting aid to the countries in Africa over the years through their churches.

I don't really like Oprah; I think she is pretty self serving and always ready for her camera shot. But I will this about her, she is generous with her money, and supports a multitude of charities here in the US. And she has risen above quite a bit of adversity, with hard work and determination. So while I don't really like the Oprah-of-TV-fame, I like very much the Oprah of hard work and charitable giving. She should be praised, not criticized when she does something good.