Tuesday, April 20: If you like/hate this post, you might like/hate a recent post on minority students’ test scores even more.
Monday, April 17: For someone who says she’s tired of ranting, I still do a lot of it, don’t I?
I, of all people, know better than to rely on a single news story, but that headline fired me up. I fell hook, line, and sinker for the Associated Press’s slanted coverage. Look at the headline. How could I resist? As the day progressed, however, I started to second-guess myself. After further research, I figured out what’s really going on.
Although I still believe the achievement gap between blacks and whites is at the center of this issue (whether people admit it in public or not), I completely missed the point. The “resegregation” angle may be worth exploring, but the larger issues are the takeover of 25 suburban schools (based in part on a misinterpreted, century-old statute), coveting thy neighbor’s tax base, and “diversity” bean-counting.
I was right, but the conclusion was based on very limited information. More later.
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Update (11:03 a.m.): I’d forgotten about this post. Last year Nebraska wanted to force whites to return to bad government schools. Now the state wants to separate students based on skin color. (Access the old story here)
Coerced segregation or integration? Make up your mind!
Later…I’m hearing two different views on this Nebraska thing. Some say it’s what blacks want; other say it’s what whites want. Could it be a little of both? I’d love to hear from someone in Nebraska who knows exactly what the deal is.
Even later…A couple of dissenters tell me (though they can’t resist the ad hominem) that I know nothing about the legislation and my assessment is all wet (paraphrasing, of course!).
Let me say this. I haven’t read the bill, although I’ll probably track it down and link. It’s not rocket surgery, for Pete’s sake. The point is that these things all have a common thread: the achievement gap among black and white students. While each bill or concept may be slightly different than the others, they all amount to the same thing. Government schools are hamstrung. If parents don’t get involved and push their children to excel, there’s not much civil servants in the system can do. In desperation, politicians come up with bills like the one in Nebraska. What is so complicated or unique or esoteric about this bill?
If you don’t like this post, guess what? It’s a personal problem. This blog seems to cause some people a whole lot of stress. Life is too short. Just surf somewhere else. You’ll live longer.
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Oh. My.Word.
I thought I was sleepwalking this morning when I read this: lawmakers in Nebraska have written a law mandating the racial segregation of government schools.
Wait a second, didn’t the Supreme Court end government-mandated race segregation, even though the decision was based not on legal reasoning, but on a flawed sociological study and social engineering motives of the justices?
And a Republican governor signed the bill into law! I know why. The people in Omaha are fed up with black parents complaining about the achievement gap between students, so they’re giving blacks their own schools. Does this mean the faculty will be predominantly black, too? Hmmm…
Let me make a distinction. If a school is mostly black because whites have left the district, that’s not illegal. Americans are free to move wherever they want. And take their kids with them. If people want to start a private, race-based school, they can, as long as they don’t accept government funds. If the government separates people on the basis of race, it’s illegal. Just thought I’d clear that up.
Whatever the legislature’s reason for doing this, they will never get away with it. The academic achievement gap is a no-win situation in America. Differences between blacks and whites mean there will always be racial disparities. While skin color preferences are designed to artificially minimize disparities, they don’t change the fact that for whatever reason, blacks generally perform worse on standardized tests than whites. Black children lag behind their white peers academically. Facts are stubborn things. They don’t change with the times or mold themselves to fit hare-brained, politically correct theories.
Well, I’m not mad at the politicians for writing and passing an unconstitutional law. They’re trying to placate black parents who keep calling them racists, but it won’t work. You can separate students based on skin color, dumb down school for everyone else, teach “afrocentrism”…whatever. There’s no miracle achievement-gap closer.
They’ll just have to void the law and suck it up. For parents who’re tired of all the complaining, black or white, there’s always HOMESCHOOLING.
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