Our month of the gaps to continue next week!

SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2014

In a nutshell, here’s why: Next week, “Our month of the gaps” will continue. Here’s why:

In the course of creating her 10,000-word report for The Atlantic, Nikole Hannah-Jones stumbled upon a deeply unfortunate world.

She describes a public high school—Tuscaloosa’s Central High—where even the brightest seniors can’t seem to qualify for college. Her reaction?

Students at this all-black school need to attend school with more white kids! Hannah-Jones is principally concerned with their “segregation.”

On balance, we’d like to see superlative kids like D’Leisha Dent in mixed-race school settings too. But that is not the primary problem that fine young person is facing.

The Central High of Hannah-Jones’ description is a remarkable place—a place where even the brightest seniors can’t qualify for college. There’s little reason to suppose that the situation would be massively different if those same kids had gone to school with a handful of white kids—and that’s the best Tuscaloosa could have done, given its demographics.

We think Hannah-Jones’ focus is heinous, uncaring, cruel. We think the same of Professor Perry’s ridiculous presentation about the Brown decision, in which she gasped at the fact that black kids are “disproportionately” represented in gifted and talented programs.

Earth to this heinous Princeton professor, who attended nothing but private schools:

By any normal academic standard, superlative kids like D'Leisha Dent don’t qualify for gifted programs! To judge from Hannah-Jones’ sketchy report, Dent is in an AP English class for one reason only—because the other kids at Central High perform even more poorly than she does.

D’Leisha Dent seems to a truly superb young person. Why isn’t she doing better in school? Why doesn’t she qualify for the four-year colleges she very much wants to attend?

Our journalists and academics spill over with throwback explanations and frameworks. In these presentations, an older generation refuses to abandon its generational themes and see to the needs of the young.

Starting on Monday, we’ll examine the size of the achievement gaps which define our public schools and our student population.

We won’t restrict ourselves to the gap between “the rich and the poor,” as Eduardo Porter ever-so-safely did in the New York Times last week. We’ll also look at the very large gaps which obtain between our white kids and our black kids.

We’ll marvel at the very large size of those appalling gaps.

Those gaps reflect our brutal history, a history no living person created. That said, we can’t address those daunting gaps by pretending that they don’t exist—by feigning surprise at the disproportionate representation of black kids in “gifted” programs.

Professor Perry should be ashamed of the very bad work she has done. In our view, she and the rest of her crappy elite don’t seem to care about Dent very much.

Same as it ever was! Overpaid, worthless elites of all “races” are walking away from our truly superlative black kids.

In the next month, we’ll discuss the size and genesis of the gaps our swells prefer to avoid. Life at Princeton can be sweet. But that doesn’t do a whole lot for Dent, a truly superlative kid.

104 comments:

  1. These posts are superb, just superb.

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    Replies
    1. Not only that, they are superb. That said, it should be repeated. Not enough superlatives are directed Somerby's way. Same as he always is. Underpaid white guys who care
      so much they left the classroom for the comedy circuit.

      Delete
    2. Are the two venues mutually exclusive?

      Delete
  2. That is one way to look at it. Of course there are problems. The posts are numbered funny as KZ points out. So not everything is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which way are you looking at it? In my book the only reason you would not number correctly is to be deceptive, like Maddow.

      By the way, way, when we refer back to this post, what number should we call it?

      Delete
    2. Trolls can't count, so don't trouble your head about it. Oh, wait, trolls don't count, so just buzz off.

      Delete
    3. @ 2:30

      Further proof Your Trolls Get Results!

      Delete
  3. In this post, Dent stands for all of the hardworking ambitious kids shut out of academically challenging activities, not by race or skin color but by academic preparation. What should have happened differently for Dent? Don't bother saying she needed a dad. What would that have added to her prospects, specifically?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Horrible consequences of feminism wouldn't you say. Plus they probably won't have sex with you either, right. Just the dumb good looking jock types?

      Delete
    2. What would a committed father with an ethic of responsibility have added to Dent's family and prospects? These are the types of questions modern progressives are truly confused about folks.

      Delete
    3. Yes. She deserves what she gets for not choosing her father better.

      Delete
    4. According to some worthless elite uncaring conservatives, D'Leisha's problem may have been the single cell contribution we know a father had to have made. Sticking around (assuming he didn't...we just don't know) could have made things worse. Just ask your average white male serial killer with an alcoholic abusive father.

      Delete
    5. 4:54, you and those like you are great contributors to the condition that millions of kids like her are disadvantaged by absent fathers.

      Delete
    6. Sticking around (assuming he didn't...we just don't know) could have made things worse. Just ask your average white male serial killer with an alcoholic abusive father.

      Social standards that bring shame to absent,alcoholic, and neglectful parents reduce the numbers of them. Excuse makers who are compelled for some odd reason to muse about how her absent father "might have been worse" increase them.

      Delete
    7. Actually the inability of men in general to live up to old fashioned family responsibilities and their fascination with weapons, mostly engendered by their male parent, is the real problem.

      Delete
    8. Possibly engendered by their male parent but definitely engendered by liberals in the entertainment industry wouldn't you say?

      Delete
    9. Like Kelsey Grammar and Bruce Willis.

      Delete
    10. How embarrassing for you that you even attempted that as a defense of liberal actors, directors, studio execs who glamorize and promote gun violence @9:08

      Delete
    11. Arnold Swartzenegger, Clint Eastwood. Seems bipartisan to me, but I'm still waiting for the film glamorizing schizophrenic shooters or domestic gun violence.

      Delete
  4. "We think Hannah-Jones’ focus is heinous, uncaring, cruel."

    We think Somerby is full of shit and loves to hear himself type.

    We also think Somerby himself doesn't have anything important to say or he would have said it long before now.

    All this hemming, hawing, teasing, promising and not delivering? Sure sign of a self-impressed pseudo-intellectual with really nothing to say.

    About the only reason to come here any more is to read the comments, which are always better researched, better written and far more to the point than the blog itself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Except cacambo, I've seen a very few pseudo-researched off-the-point comments and a whole lot of garbage. We must not be reading the same blog.

      Delete
    2. Well, I agree there is a whole lot of garbage.

      And I also agree that cacambo is a particular master of the pseudo-researched, off-the-point comment.

      But if you really want to read pseudo-researched, off-the-point comments, try David in Cal. He puts cacambo to shame.

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    3. We enjoy both cacambo and David in Cal immensely. So do our ilk.

      KZ

      Delete
    4. A minor quibble: actually David in Cal is actually an expert in hopeless insurance reportage and statistical analysis.

      Delete
    5. Umm, no he is not. David in Cal is only "expert" in the logical fallacy of "appeal to authority." He claims expertise (which is quite common among Internet combox denizens), or he claims to know someone with expertise, usually some relative, who just so happens to be working, or has had the precise experience, of whatever happens to be under discussion.

      Delete
  5. For those who have lost count:

    "Solving Tuscaloosa: Hannah-Jones Speaks!"

    "Solving Tuscaloosa: A Columnist's Kid!"

    "Solving Tuscaloosa: We'll Be Here All Week!"

    "Solving Tuscaloosa: In Search of Solutions!"

    "TUSCALOOSA LIBERALS: Attempts to Explain!" (Part 3)

    "TUSCALOOSA LIBERALS: A puzzle emerges!"

    "TUSCALOOSA LIBERALS: Attempts to explain!" (Part 5)

    "Why not visit Tuscaloosa?"

    "Racial separation in Tuscaloosa schools!"

    "TUSCALOOSA LIBERALS: In search of Central High's senior class!"

    "TUSCALOOSA LIBERALS: Portrait of a superb young person!"

    "This story is about Tuscaloosa schools!"

    "Welcome to Tuscaloosa's schools!"

    "Our month of gaps to continue next week!"

    "AVOIDING THE GAPS: At Central High!"

    "AVOIDING THE GAPS: A mockingbird down!"

    "TWO WOMEN: Howell Raines was brusque, too!" (Yep, D'Leisha is in this one!)

    "TWO WOMEN: And their respective plights!" (Yep, D'Leisha again!)

    "What the heck is 'segregation?'"

    "WAYS TO DIVIDE: On the basis of region!"

    "It's a myth that Brown ended segregation!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But wait! There's more!

      "TWO WOMEN: Auletta falls for a second time!"

      "TWO WOMEN: A familiar old story!"

      "AVOIDING THE GAPS: Porter picks and chooses!"

      "Dowd was wronged by Miss Lewinsky!" (Yep, D'Leisha again!)

      "How important is 'resegregation?'"

      Delete
    2. KZ can't count that high. Is it 9,900 posts or 10,000?
      We always get confused when the 6,000,000 cars pull out in front of us from Ft. Lee. It's enough to make you want to
      pull your rough unruly thumbs out?

      That said, how much do crappy, worthless elites get overpaid? And do wortheless women elites get only 77% overpaid compared to men?

      KZ

      Delete
    3. Obviously, KZ, you care nothing about crappy, worthless, elite women, or you would have noted the incredible gains they have made.

      Why, just 14 years ago, a certain blogger's college roommate was telling us the crappy, worthless, elite women were making only 73 percent of what crappy, worthless, elite men make.

      Delete
    4. We're glad he took the initiative to create that conversation.

      Delete
    5. The 14 counts against Gov. Ultrasound still don't seem that heinous to our blogger. Yet, Hannah-Jones article does.

      Question: Could this be a legitimate article written in good faith, though merely bungled?



      Delete
    6. KZ 3:56-

      Well researched and to-the-point, as usual. Well done. Keep up the good work!

      Delete
    7. Glad you ilk it. And keep up those infrequent comments.

      Delete
    8. Yes. The more infrequent the better.

      Delete
    9. Oh FUCK YES! THIS!!!

      Please, please, please increase the infrequency KZ!!

      We can take it! Make your comments as infrequent as you possibly can.

      Delete
  6. A month of this? Please tell me this is parody or performance art.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't think a case has been made.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those gaps reflect our brutal history, a history no living person created.

    Yes and no, at best.

    If you mean the brutal history, certainly one factor but for which some black kids would likely be doing some degree better, is the single greatest factor today in those gaps, then no.

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    Replies
    1. You forget. No living person created this history. It must have been zombies.

      Delete
    2. Zombies took the initiative to create brutal history? Tell me you invented that.

      Delete
    3. I am only taking what our briliant blogger said to its only logical conclusion. Unless it was dogs who created this brutal history.

      After all these years of blogging, our blogger has not had to correct himself even once. Thus, it must be true.


      Delete
    4. You do know by "living" he meant living today, right?

      Delete
    5. Somerby is trying to find a rationale as to why those gaps exist. I think his explaination is mostly unconvincing- ingrained during past centuries, however, at least he brings to light an issue liberals dare not address. Unless they can frame the topic in a 1950's-60's civil rights context, demonize "the south" or "the white male", they have nothing to offer. They've been challenged in the course of this series, and not a one has come forth with an explaination.

      Delete
    6. 5:34 Of course. We all know Bob tries never to add unnecessary words in an effort to be economical in word usage. That said, "today" would have only added one word to the total.

      You do now the Maddow people pay us by the post, don't you?

      Delete
    7. Which means I get extra $ for saying I meant to write "know" instead of "now." Good thing Sister Rachel makes the big bazookas (which she stuffs in her trousers, BTW, not her pants.)

      Delete
    8. 5:54 Until Somerby says something about an actual gap we don't need to come forth with any explanation. So far he hasn't. But it has been just a week.

      Meanwhile, how's your dad. Still not drinking we hope. Staying away from his cousins?

      Delete
    9. So that's the best the "enlightened" liberal can come up with? Pitiful. You just don't have it in you.

      Delete
    10. "Unless they can frame the topic in a 1950's-60's civil rights context, demonize "the south" or "the white male", they have nothing to offer."

      Don't sell them short. When yelling RACIST! fails they still have "not enough funding" but never mind that (parented) students in schools that spend less than a third of the $30,000 per student per year spent by public schools have a 25% higher graduation rate and twice the college graduation rate.

      Delete
    11. 6:47 I don't have anything for you. I heard your one note.
      It's a D flat. D-d-d-daddies.

      Delete
    12. "You do know by "living" he meant living today, right?"

      What would Bobfans do without his loyal sidekicks, always ready to explain what he really meant rather than what he wrote.

      Delete
    13. That's right, troll, when TDH wrote "no living person created the history," we have to assume he meant that no living person ever created the history, so he must have meant the walking dead.

      After all TDH wrote "no living person." And that's dispositive.

      Delete
    14. Right. When he wrote "no living person created the history" is oh so wrong to read that as "no living person created the history."

      This is but a small example among a multitude of them over time of how lazy and sloppy Somerby is in his writing, and how badly he needs somebody to help him clean up and focus his prose.

      Can you imagine the reaction of a professor of freshman composition if one of his students turned in such a sentence?

      And Somerby has a degree from Harvard?

      Delete
    15. No native speaker of English would have any trouble understanding "a history no living person created" to mean "a history no person alive today created." And yes, it's wrong to read that as "a history created by dead people."

      Here's a little test for you. After reading this blog entry, what gap is TDH talking about?

      A) The space between teeth
      B) A clothing store
      C) Differences in test scores
      D) The Golf Association of Philadelphia
      E) It's impossible to tell

      If you answered anything other than C, then you might be a troll or an idiot. Here's how to tell which. If you're only claiming not to understand the blog entry, then you're a troll. If you're seriously concerned over the lack of polish in a blog, then you're an idiot.

      And, yeah, Somerby has a degree from Harvard. It's shocking that his prose isn't up to the standard of whatever community college is your alma mater, but there it is.

      Delete
    16. Yes, deadrat. Keep your lips firmly planted on Somerby's posterior to the point that you will vigorously defend sloppy writing that no high school teacher would accept.

      And no, the correct answer to your "false choice" question is E. It's impossible to tell.

      Somerby has yet to produce a coherent argument or a scrap of evidence to support it about any "gaps."

      He has touted something about remarkable gains in both math and reading, while presented very selective evidence from one of two forms of a test he has proclaimed to be the "gold standard."

      Meanwhile, he keeps promising us for days on end that he will finally get around to "gaps" which have something to do with long-ago brutal history.

      That could be a very interesting and worthwhile post -- in the hands of a skilled writer and industrious researcher with respect for his readership.

      Somerby may have been such a person a long, long time ago. But a full month and 26 posts before this theme suddenly appears?

      Not to mention all the years he's been blogging about education?

      Why do I suspect that this brilliant "brutal history" thought just crossed Somerby's mind, he rushed to his blog to type it up, and he will wind up demonstrating once again that he has no idea where to go with it.

      Delete
    17. No living person contributed to the week long absence of any information on gaps of any kind. It is possible the absence is a good faith effort. We don't know.

      Delete
    18. Am I missing something?! By "gaps" doesn't that refer to test scores/academic achievement? Those proof positive statistics have been referenced on this blog numerous times.

      So where do we stand? Liberals apparently now dispute any discrepancies in achievement. They're in shutdown denial and proud to play naive fools to do so. Problems just don't get solved that way. Feelings don't get hurt that way, but in this case the result is a permanent underclass.

      Delete
    19. It could very well be D. No living person contributed to the creation of GAP and golf is brutal. And cruel.

      http://www.gapgolf.org/default.asp

      Delete
    20. Anonymous @12:38,

      Since you answered something other than C, differences in test scores, you're a troll or an idiot. I can be pretty sure you're a troll, since you've adopted two trollish themes -- anyone who criticizes your claims is an ass-kissing Bobfan and Somerby might have been good but it was a long, long time ago.

      However, I doubt you're an idiot. Although you say it's impossible to tell what TDH is talking about, you go on to complain three paragraphs into your comment about TDH's treating of "both math and reading" tests. So you knew the answer was C. But apparently you couldn't resist pretending otherwise at the top. It's a minor point, but you also couldn't resist a snide shot at TDH for "proclaiming" the NAEP to be the "gold standard" of testing. But, of course, TDH never proclaimed for himself that the test is auric, but merely that others do. Twenty seconds in the google on "naep gold standard" finds over 300,000 hits, of which less than 200 are TDH's.

      I'd be pleased to read your critique of TDH's claims about test scores. But your complaints are mostly about his presentation. HIs writing is sloppy, and he's taking too long to get to his point. It's a vanity blog, for God's sake. If you think it's worth what you're paying for it, then move on. But stop pretending that TDH's "sloppy" language has led you to believe that TDH meant that zombies created our peculiar institution and the Jim Crow era.

      Let me note how amusing it is that you complain that TDH isn't an industrious researcher and then "suspect" that the "brutal history" trope just crossed his mind. Another 20 seconds in the google would have told you that TDH first used this phrase almost four years ago. But you had a narrative to present and you sure weren't going to let facts get in the way. Who told us about that phenomenon?

      I've asked the irony fairy and the self-awareness pixie to drop by and smack you with their wands. But they're kinda busy, so it could take a while.

      Delete
    21. "writing that no high school teacher would accept"

      I bet Dent's high school teacher would.

      Delete
    22. "So where do we stand? Liberals apparently now dispute any discrepancies in achievement. They're in shutdown denial and proud to play naive fools to do so."

      Bullshit!

      The achievement gaps between black and Hispanic (funny how little Somerby mentions Hispanic) students and white students is one of the most, if not the most, important educational issues today.

      And contrary to what Somerby serves and his fans swallow, it is also widely and frequently reported, discussed, argued educational stories in a variety of forums, not the least of which is the mainstream media.

      Good lordy, unless your as damned lazy as Somerby, go to Google News and search "achievement gap."

      Then go visit any university School of Education and find out how much this issue is being "ignored." It isn't.

      But I am glad that Somerby is taking on this issue. Finally. After all these years.

      Or at least he has been telling us he will. For a month. Over 26 posts.

      But I'm sure he finally get to it some day with fresh insight and original research, study and anaylsis available nowhere else instead of reinterpretation of old, dated material he pulled off the Web.

      Or not.

      Delete
    23. For it being such an important matter it sure doesn't get much coverage on the liberal side of the mainstream corporate media. And after all, the marquee here does say "press corps". Generally speaking people get their news throughout the day via radio, or, come home in the evening and watch their favorite news programs. They don't stop by the local university on the way home from work to pour over the latest research data. Maybe the public is indeed lazy, but what does all this say about our inept millionaire news celebrities? I DON'T hear them talk about this all important issue, ever.

      Somerby offered a challenge and it seem his critics, and defenders of corporate media just cannot bring themselves to come up with a single explanation, or even a coherent thought. So tied up in knots they deflect to a silly discussion of "zombies", like their corporate media heroes anything to avoid the subject.

      Delete
    24. So where do you get your news about education? From this blog? I hope not, but I strongly suspect you do from the regurgitated "it sure doesn't get much coverage on the liberal side of the mainstream corporate media."

      The achievement gap gets LOTS of coverage. Even a rudimentary five-second search of Google News would give you some idea of the kind of coverage it gets -- at least enough of an idea to cause a thinking person to wonder why Somerby is selling such a false bill of goods.

      I have no idea "generally speaking" where people get their news, so I won't pretend to guess.

      But I do recall the wise words of John Oliver: "The Internet? Isn't that where we go to read opinions we already hold?"

      You want to talk about a "silly discussion"? Somerby can't even discuss this article without resorting to name-calling, and pointing out that the "elite" education of its author, as if that is a fatal sin.

      Delete
  9. Why don't worthless elite bloggers cover students like Vanessa Brewer?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I would suggest that the media's ignorance is general. Bob rightly points out that they often get even the simplest points wrong in the area of minority education. That's an area where Bob is an expert.

    I find the media almost hopeless when they report on general insurance or when they analyze statistics. These are areas where I'm an expert. In particular, the media did a dreadful job of explaining in advance how Health Reform would work.

    The media are poor at undestanding legal issues, as is shown by their wrongheaded coverage of the Duke Lacrosse accusation scandal and the George Zimmerman trial. Those who depended on the mainstream media may have been shocked at Zimmerman's fairly rapid unanimous acquittal and by the state Attorney General's declaration that the lacrosse players were completely innocent. These developments were no surprise to those of us who looked at other sources (including Bob Somerby's outstanding analysis of the Zimmerman evidence.)

    What other areas of knowledge represent media ignorance? As far as I can see, their main areas of competence are the political aspects of things, re-stating press releases, and presenting articles that agree with their biases.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Superb comment, DinC. More like these please.

      Delete
    2. "Bob rightly points out that they often get even the simplest points wrong in the area of minority education. That's an area where Bob is an expert."

      I wholeheartedly agree that Bob is an expert in getting even the simplest points wrong. After all, he still insists D'Leisha can't get into college.

      Delete
    3. Rule No. 1 for white people in any discussion of race: Be sure to bring in Duke lacrosse and George Zimmerman. We will never have racial harmony until every black person in America repents of those sins.

      Delete
    4. Works like this:

      Person No. 1: "Did you see 12 Years a Slave."

      Person No. 2: "Yeah. Slavery was horrible."

      Person No. 3: "Oh yeah? What about Duke lacrosse and George Zimmerman?"

      Delete
    5. But I must admit we have made progress. Discussions of race used to go like this:

      "Did you see 'Roots'"?

      "Yes, slavery was horrible."

      "Oh yeah? What about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton?"

      Delete
    6. And of course, on this blog, discussions of race often go like this:

      "Did you see where some guy was waving a White Flag at a rally in front of the White House while a main speaker was telling Obama to surrender with his hands in the air?"

      "Oh yeah? Well, mean things were said about Al Gore, too."

      Delete
  11. "As far as I can see, their main areas of competence are the political aspects of things, re-stating press releases, and presenting articles that agree with their biases."

    Indeed, a superb regurgitation of the theme of this Web site, which fully explains why TDH is No, 1 in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Illinois has a new approach to educating minority students. What do you think of it?

    Different standards for different students
    ...Illinois students of different backgrounds no longer will be held to the same standards — with Latinos and blacks, low-income children and other groups having lower targets than whites for passing state exams...In reading, for example, 85 percent of white third- through eighth-grade students statewide will be expected to pass state tests by 2019, compared with about 73 percent for Latinos and 70 percent for black students...

    But the complex new approach of different standards for different groups is troubling to civil rights activists, who are not convinced that school districts will be held accountable for failing to educate minority students, and to some local educators, who say the lowered expectations will send a negative message to students....

    State officials...stressed that different passing targets for groups should not be confused with what students have to score individually to pass a state exam. All children need the same score to pass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The problem here is that standards are tied to things like school funding. If a standard were just a measurement that showed how well a student did in comparison to others, there would be no need to have separate standards for different groups. When those standards are tied to school funding and teacher evaluations, then it becomes unfair to penalize the schools and teachers who have large numbers of under-prepared students entering their classrooms, and adjustments need to be made.

      That civil rights activist believe schools must be held accountable for failing to educate minority students, suggests that the gap occurs once kids enter school, not that it is in place upon entry because of the experiences children have in the five years before they ever get to a public school.

      I wish testing had remained an educational assessment tool and never been tied to practical matters such as how schools are allocated resources. Since they are, I still do not understand why schools that do poorly are punished by being given fewer resources, not more, to deal with the demonstrable problems of their students. It is as if those who devised this system believed that kids do poorly because schools and teachers aren't trying hard enough -- not because they have difficult problems that are harder to address educationally speaking.

      Delete
    2. That has to be the most racist policy I've ever heard of. Must be the brainchild of progressives.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, "progressives" like Jan Brewer of Arizona.

      Can you say "projection"?

      I knew you could.

      Delete
    4. I believe Deadrat is referring to Brewer's second attempt at giving more money to schools whose students score higher on standardized tests, and less money to schools that score lower.

      Wiser heads in Arizona have so far prevailed.
      Slightly more new money will go to schools that show more improvement.

      Nevertheless, many in Arizona truly believe that the best performing schools should get the most money, and vice-versa.

      After all, hasn't capitalism proved beyond any doubt that economic competition will always produce the greatest good for the greatest number?

      I can envision big boards in the teacher's lounges, with each teacher's scores posted weekly, the way car dealerships do with their salesmen.

      Each week, the principal will hand a crisp one-hundred dollar bill to the top performer.
      There is nothing better than commissions and spiffs to keep employees at their most productive. (With an occasional negligible loss of integrity.)

      BTW, I spent 30 years in car dealerships, my wife spent 20 years in K-8 teaching.

      Delete
    5. There is nothing like that new classroom smell to inspire those little crumbgrabbers to perform well.

      Delete
    6. IMHO centralized decision-making has led to a series of bad programs. The fundamental problem is that educational decisions are made every day and in every class. A centralized program cannot remotely deal with the real issues, almost all of which are local. Se, we have had a series of bad programs to deal with flaws in the prior bad program.

      Head Start and School Lunch were well-intended, but they've provided little educational benefit. Other state and federal programs have added complexity and reduced local control and made it harder for schools to simply focus on teaching their students.

      NCLB is a badly designed program, but many schools were ignoring the real needs of their bad students. The referenced Illinois modification is a bad idea, but NCLB was unfair in the way it impacted schools with many disadvantaged minority students. I suppose we can look forward to some future bad program to deal with the problems created by the new Illinois system.

      Delete
    7. "Head Start and School Lunch were well-intended, but they've provided little educational benefit."

      OK, David, you've made a very strong statement there. Now support it with evidence.

      Delete
    8. The shorter DAinCA: they can afford cake; let them buy it.

      Delete
    9. No,
      Michelle says the kids should eat whole grains and fresh vegetables, and get more exercise.
      The school boards claim the kids just throw out the good food, which the schools can't afford to buy, and that they have no budget for P.E, either.

      Conservatives say Michelle is meddling in local affairs.

      The kids today may be better at math then we were, but they are also a lot fatter.
      Has anyone checked the correlation between math skills and obesity?

      Could there be a causal relationship? I mean, how many jocks in your school were math whizzes?
      Are we creating a pizza v green salad gap?
      Is anybody investigating?
      Do liberals care?

      Delete
  13. So cleaning up Somerby's prose, we learn (I suppose) that no person living today created the brutal history that has resulted in the persistent and wide achievement gap between black (and Hispanic!) students and white students.

    So why has it taken him 26 posts and an entire month to finally say that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why hasn't he said what the gaps are?

      Delete
  14. Ah! I see you got that from the Chicago Tribune, one of those "media" that can't get the simplest points right about minority education, and is only competent in typing up press releases and writing stories that agree with their biases.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Meant as reply to David in Cal @ 10:51.

      Kinda funny though how useful the mainstream media becomes when we want it to be.

      Delete
  15. This is a variation of a similar theme we have seen before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which one? This is a "variation" of several themes we've seen before.

      Delete
  16. How does Somerby know Professor Perry attended nothing but private schools?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Rachel, for one, would never bore us with these tiresome tales of academic test results and what they may mean. They mean nothing! Give us something that matters, for instance has there been any rodeo clown hijink misconduct of late?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually they mean a lot. A while back I posted some figures about the percents of criminals who are illiterate or functionally illiterate. If you cannot read, your job prospects are limited. In the juvenile justice system it is about 85%. What kinds of jobs do you think are available to dropouts? Not only do these gaps create a permanent underclass, they contribuge to a criminal underclass. Someone needs to care about this.

      Delete
    2. What has become of Rachel? Bob seems to have disappeared her.

      Delete
    3. There is only so much one can say about a tomahawk throwing Annie Oakley sure shot who sweat while endearing herself to us on color television which she herself doesn't deign to own. That said, rubes like you just don't seem to care.

      Delete
  18. Wikipedia perhaps. She was raised in a prosperous strongly Catholic home (something she discusses in her bio of Rose Kennedy). She no doubt went to Catholic schools. Then she went to the University of Louisville (part of the state system), Oxford, and the University of Virginia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry -- meant to reply to 2:21.

      Delete
    2. So Bob is wrong again?

      Delete
    3. I think @ 3:41 is wrong. That still doesn't explain where Somerby got the information to make his statement.

      Delete
  19. Trolls -- channel your efforts toward FCC.gov/comments and support net neutrality.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "We think Hannah-Jones’ focus is heinous, uncaring, cruel."

    "Earth to this heinous Princeton professor, who attended nothing but private schools . . ."

    Aren't we glad to have such a staunch defender of "American discourse" who leads by example in showing us how adults should discuss serious issues?

    ReplyDelete
  21. BLOGGER ULTRAGAP STILL HASN'T COVERED ONE

    "Starting tomorrow: Our month of the gaps!
    MONDAY, MAY 26, 2014

    It's time the gaps were explained and explored: Tomorrow, we'll start a month-long series about our nation's "achievement gaps."

    For reasons we'll be explaining, it's time that these very large gaps were explained and explored. Mainstream and liberal journalists are routinely reluctant to do so."

    ReplyDelete
  22. I hate to draw anyone's wrath, but there is more factual information about gaps in education of black and white children in the article by the heinous, worthless, overpaid private school educated Imani Perry than there has been in this series to date. And about Hispanics!

    ReplyDelete
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