There a lot of terrible takes here from people who possess the intellectual gleam of a skinned cat.

For one, the school is at fault because this isn't an isolated incident, the entire school is (statistically) dumb as the box that holds the bricks that are as dumb as what's generally implied. What alarm was sounded in that particular school and every school that is like it (there's no way that this is the only place that this is happening) before this story broke out. How long has this even been taking place (unqualified students being promoted to the next class and having to essentially start from their freshman year again if they intend to graduate)? How many kids on the streets in Baltimore (young men especially) are victims of this system?

The community is at fault, for blindly getting behind anyone with black skin that waves a blue flag because clearly they have been no help. The trends of social media unfortunately champion these people when the communities themselves have no idea as to what they're motives even are.

The culture of the community should be brought into question, because I can suspect with confidence that a majority of these students at these schools are being brought up in broken homes (either single-parent households, mom/dad is "shacking up" with a girlfriend/boyfriend who contributes nil to the household from a moral standpoint or if the child's parents are married, then the struggle to keep things afloat deters the nurturing of a healthy environment). Most of Hacker News is getting through their one, relatively plush job by the skin of their teeth without having to micro-dose MDMA to prevent themselves from shoving their garden hose in their car exhaust...so sit for a moment...put yourself in this black woman's shoes, with three children (who knows how old the remaining two are), potentially no spouse, three jobs and little social mobility. Much respect to this woman for actually speaking out, because I bet a lot of people in her community share the same sentiment as her son – they're embarrassed. It's an embarrassment on many levels! Most people in these situations lack the willpower to even stay abreast on what's going on their own house, so it's likely even more difficult for the community as a whole to muster up the courage and strength to address these multiple issues head-on and stay steadfast on them without being manipulated by politicians or celebrities once their efforts pick up steam.

It's easy to blame the student(s) and their parent(s) if this was happneing somewhere else or to someone else. But in this particular case it's lazy and the greater effects of the environment as a whole are disregarded. Some of you have enough trouble juggling between sitting your own children in front of a computer screen for the afternoon and brown-nosing a superior who's one "Me Too" tweet away from the whole company having to fold and you being forced to spend 7 months baking sourdough bread and "finding yourself" while you wait for the next "Who Wants to be Hired?" post on Hacker News.

It's unfair and repulsive to sit and read people turn into armchair critical theorist when the line between your ignorance and whichever blameworthy party that you can point a finger at is about as thin as Jeff Bezos' eyebrows. It's unfortunate because some of the top comments actually have compassionate observations, but everything in between (including the replies to these comments) is pathetic.

Thots.