(FYI- I did not write this. And I usually do not agree with any editorials published by this conservative rag… but I will make a few comments along the way. Please read it if you care about education. Ponder…)
“”Gov. Tim Kaine’s recent directive ordering an inquiry into racial disparities in gifted-student programs is fine on the surface — seeking information is hardly ever a bad idea — but it is potentially troubling nonetheless, for two reasons.
An earlier editorial explained the first reason: The racial disparities do not show up only in gifted programs. They appear in a host of education metrics, from dropout rates to SAT scores. Time and again, Asian students outperform the norm; black and Hispanic children lag behind. (And time and again, female students outperform male students.) Suggesting something is wrong with the administration of gifted programs could paper over a much broader issue — and end up penalizing Asian students who have done nothing but study hard and score well. A better solution would involve improving elementary education in primarily minority schools, so pupils wind up at the same starting line in later grades.
The second reason has to do with ideological mischief.
In a recent commentary for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Katherine Kersten exposed a report by something called the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development. The task force, part of a “Teacher Education Redesign Initiative,” blames the poor academic performance of minority students on a lack of “cultural competence” among teachers.
To redress this supposed problem, the task force recommended that teachers in training be required to write their “autoethnography,” in which they are supposed to confess their latent racism and sexism. The goal is to make future teachers conversant with their own histories of “white privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression.” The report suggests teachers should be able to “explain how institutional racism works in schools,” to learn the history of “white racism, with special focus on current colorblind ideology,” and to recognize the “myth of meritocracy.”
In short, UM’s answer to the problem of poor minority academic performance is not to offer lagging students additional tutoring and intensive remediation — but to blame teachers for not recognizing how racist they are. Instead of educating students, it wants to re-educate educators. That would perpetrate a cruel hoax on both.
By all means, let’s have an examination of the reasons for racial disparities in Virginia’s programs for gifted students. But let’s make sure it’s an honest look — and doesn’t become an excuse to hammer teachers with radical left-wing dogma.”"
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My Grumpy Opinion: Take it for what it is worth! And consider the source, as always.
In regards to the ending….’Radical left-wing dogma”, I propose a truce. Get real. It is not dogma. It is BS. Face it. Teaching the gifted is easier than teaching the non-gifted. Colleges and universities are always looking for data to explain why some students don’t perform well according to the “very important standards of that day”. Educational trends are very cyclical. Study the history. We still haven’t found what works and we still don’t have all the data! It is an evolving science. Some students don’t want to learn and can’t be forced to learn. This fact covers the entire socio-economic strata. Some parents didn’t learn well in school and have no skills or interest to promote learning at home. They are in survival mode. Some adults have made poor choices since their parents made poor choices. The tradition carries on through the generations. People need to be motivated and find motivation to break self-defeating cycles of poverty and ignorance across all races and geographic locations. Cetain segments of our diverse society encourage competition and high grades. Learning is not one size fits all. Learning styles and home life play large roles in outcomes.
How to motivate people to encourage educational interest in their children?
1. Turn of the ******** TV. Mute all commercials.
2. Go to the public library on a regular basis to check out books. Include non-fiction. Skip the DVD’s. Check out cookbooks and health related books and ponder the possibilities. Include your children in healthy nutritional choices. Skip the McDonald’s lifestyle.
3. Role model reading to your children. Read aloud to your children and discuss books, authors and our world.
4. Go outside and have fun in nature. Respect mother earth and take care of it. Volunteer when you can.
5. Give teachers a break. Stop tenure in K-12. Fire the bad apples. (They exist and I have met them.) Encourage teachers to be free-thinkers and allow them some creativity. The teaching profession (K-12) is the most micro-managed group of poorly paid professionals in our society. They have the hardest jobs and are expected to perform miracles while some people sit in their Ivory Towers of data collection and promulagate new trends and more pointless staff-development crap. Crap piled on top of crap.
rant-rant-rant!!!!!!! It is NOT left-wing dogma. It is eduspeak crap. Let’s offer lagging students intensive tutoring, remediation, Saturday schools and year round opportunities. Let’s teach about birth control and prevent teenage pregancies. Let’s put our money where our mouths are. End the wars and fund local education!!!! Yes, let’s improve elementary education from the grass roots up.
