In New York City, public schools took a nosedive when community control kicked it.
Undereducated parents angry about their (often school-resistant) children's getting low marks decided that teachers (mostly Jewish in those days) just didn't understand (black) students.
The Jewish teachers were transferred out of these districts, and in the…
In New York City, public schools took a nosedive when community control kicked it.
Undereducated parents angry about their (often school-resistant) children's getting low marks decided that teachers (mostly Jewish in those days) just didn't understand (black) students.
The Jewish teachers were transferred out of these districts, and in their place were put less experienced black teachers who "understood" black children and gave them higher marks for doing less work. This increased the students' self-esteem.
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, right about almost everything, vehemently disagreed with the new school policy.
And we have been seeing the results for over half a century. In order to fix the problem, Columbia University's Teachers College revised curricula to serve what they must have decided was an increasingly learning-challenged population.
I always wonder why blacks don't see how insulting this is! That said, black families need to start valuing education. That is the real problem. When education becomes a family value, kids will achieve.
Education is already a family value. So many amazing resources prove that. Check out Dr. Ben Carson’s autobiography for one of many. Check out the educational materials offered by The Woodson Center in DC. I wish you could meet my neighbors and the students I teach in a homeschool hybrid, etc.
Yes, education is a “family value” across all races (more prevalent in certain cultures than others, though — think Asians, regardless of economic status). As with most problems in the black community, it comes down to the stunning percentage of children being raised in single parent households (overwhelmingly with no stable male presence). The research is clear: fatherless children (especially boys) are far more likely to have behavioral problems, become criminals, and spend time in prison. This is the critical point, and schools cannot compensate for this lack.
This is such an excellent point. There needs to be more conversation about this-but alas the left will deem it racist or anti-single parent or anti-gay. It’s such common sense!
I agree -- it is such a strategic essentialist myth that Black people don't value education. It seems to be such an important cornerstone in some families.
I was really impressed when I read the article in 1776 Unites about the segregated schools (I forget the precise name) and the struggle to get a good education in a Jim Crow South. And then there are the HBCU, how they have struggled against tremendous odds to provide quality education and how even today they remain underfunded but are still delivering. Howard and Morehouse for instance.
As Khalid and Snyder (two Carleton professors who are trying to give left perspective against 'wokery') pointed out one of the downsides of desegregation was the loss of many Black educators as positions were eliminated.
I do think the public education system has not served the over all Black population of the US well and there has been so much lost potential and that the US is poorer for it.
It is truly excellent that you are trying to solve this problem with a homeschool hybrid. More power to you.
It is supremely ironic that black activists (and their Woke White Women "allies") are now *demanding* segregation--classes exclusively for black students, black proms, black graduations, and in college, black-only dorms.
It is also a myth that black children do better when they are in classes with white children.
No. Black children do better when they are not with children of any complexion who cannot or will not apply themselves to their studies. This is true of white children too.
No child benefits from a chaotic classroom. It only takes a couple of rude attention hogs (and that's putting it nicely) to disrupt lessons.
Black children did very well in segregated schools when their dedicated, determined black schoolteachers ruled kindly and firmly -- and despite substandard text books and the rest of the nonsense segregation imposed upon them.
For all that I am against segregation, it is also true that busing children 45-60 minutes away from their homes starts and ends the school day badly. Very few students benefit from long, unruly school bus rides.
Another thought -- one only has to look at the education in some majority black countries such as Jamaica or Nigeria which now have higher literacy rates than California (which equals Rwanda) to clearly demonstrate that black children do just fine in classes which are all black. It is the quality of the teaching and the conditions of the classroom which make a difference.
The fact of the matter was that desegregation was not the magic bullet that it was portrayed to be.
Instead of putting the money into ensuring that substandard classrooms were brought up to the highest standard and that all children benefited from the same high level resources in which ever classroom, they went down a route which did not work and doomed many -- something which I believe is now quietly acknowledged.
As an aside -- my parents sent me to a private school which was a long bus journey from my home. For the last few years of high school I took the train. In the end I very much appreciated the education but the bus rides were hell on earth at times. There are reasons why even though the state high school near us had problems (really low rate of going on to higher education etc) , I wanted my children there including to be able to walk to school. In the end, they appreciated their education and have all done well.
In New York City, public schools took a nosedive when community control kicked it.
Undereducated parents angry about their (often school-resistant) children's getting low marks decided that teachers (mostly Jewish in those days) just didn't understand (black) students.
The Jewish teachers were transferred out of these districts, and in their place were put less experienced black teachers who "understood" black children and gave them higher marks for doing less work. This increased the students' self-esteem.
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, right about almost everything, vehemently disagreed with the new school policy.
And we have been seeing the results for over half a century. In order to fix the problem, Columbia University's Teachers College revised curricula to serve what they must have decided was an increasingly learning-challenged population.
I always wonder why blacks don't see how insulting this is! That said, black families need to start valuing education. That is the real problem. When education becomes a family value, kids will achieve.
Education is already a family value. So many amazing resources prove that. Check out Dr. Ben Carson’s autobiography for one of many. Check out the educational materials offered by The Woodson Center in DC. I wish you could meet my neighbors and the students I teach in a homeschool hybrid, etc.
Yes, education is a “family value” across all races (more prevalent in certain cultures than others, though — think Asians, regardless of economic status). As with most problems in the black community, it comes down to the stunning percentage of children being raised in single parent households (overwhelmingly with no stable male presence). The research is clear: fatherless children (especially boys) are far more likely to have behavioral problems, become criminals, and spend time in prison. This is the critical point, and schools cannot compensate for this lack.
This is such an excellent point. There needs to be more conversation about this-but alas the left will deem it racist or anti-single parent or anti-gay. It’s such common sense!
I agree -- it is such a strategic essentialist myth that Black people don't value education. It seems to be such an important cornerstone in some families.
I was really impressed when I read the article in 1776 Unites about the segregated schools (I forget the precise name) and the struggle to get a good education in a Jim Crow South. And then there are the HBCU, how they have struggled against tremendous odds to provide quality education and how even today they remain underfunded but are still delivering. Howard and Morehouse for instance.
As Khalid and Snyder (two Carleton professors who are trying to give left perspective against 'wokery') pointed out one of the downsides of desegregation was the loss of many Black educators as positions were eliminated.
I do think the public education system has not served the over all Black population of the US well and there has been so much lost potential and that the US is poorer for it.
It is truly excellent that you are trying to solve this problem with a homeschool hybrid. More power to you.
It is supremely ironic that black activists (and their Woke White Women "allies") are now *demanding* segregation--classes exclusively for black students, black proms, black graduations, and in college, black-only dorms.
It is also a myth that black children do better when they are in classes with white children.
No. Black children do better when they are not with children of any complexion who cannot or will not apply themselves to their studies. This is true of white children too.
No child benefits from a chaotic classroom. It only takes a couple of rude attention hogs (and that's putting it nicely) to disrupt lessons.
Black children did very well in segregated schools when their dedicated, determined black schoolteachers ruled kindly and firmly -- and despite substandard text books and the rest of the nonsense segregation imposed upon them.
For all that I am against segregation, it is also true that busing children 45-60 minutes away from their homes starts and ends the school day badly. Very few students benefit from long, unruly school bus rides.
Another thought -- one only has to look at the education in some majority black countries such as Jamaica or Nigeria which now have higher literacy rates than California (which equals Rwanda) to clearly demonstrate that black children do just fine in classes which are all black. It is the quality of the teaching and the conditions of the classroom which make a difference.
Also note that education can be conducted quite well with simple chalkboards and books rather than fancy smartboards and tablets.
Amazing that, isn't it?
The fact of the matter was that desegregation was not the magic bullet that it was portrayed to be.
Instead of putting the money into ensuring that substandard classrooms were brought up to the highest standard and that all children benefited from the same high level resources in which ever classroom, they went down a route which did not work and doomed many -- something which I believe is now quietly acknowledged.
As an aside -- my parents sent me to a private school which was a long bus journey from my home. For the last few years of high school I took the train. In the end I very much appreciated the education but the bus rides were hell on earth at times. There are reasons why even though the state high school near us had problems (really low rate of going on to higher education etc) , I wanted my children there including to be able to walk to school. In the end, they appreciated their education and have all done well.