Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Publik skools

Data coming out that isn't pretty.
The report argues that the achievement gaps start at young ages, noting that while 12 percent of black boys in the fourth grade boys are proficient in reading, 38 percent of white boys are proficient. In eighth grade, 12 percent of black boys and 44 percent of white boys are are proficient in math. According to the report, poverty levels are only part of the equation because poor white boys (defined by eligibility for subsidized school lunches) are doing as well as black boys who do not live in poverty.
I hate to tell the New York Times or anyone else, but this report is NOT jaw-dropping to anyone who has had to read a piece of correspondence from anyone with a high school diploma.  However, what is jaw dropping is the fact that people are looking at race.  That doesn't happen much, because there's a fear of being labeled a racist.  It's like the new third rail of politics.  But Trog has no fear!

Am I out of line to be thinking of this story?
Blacks struggle with 72 percent unwed mothers rate
I don’t think I am.

No sir, not out of line at all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I graduated from High School in 1962 with a 2.8 GPA. Ten years ago I enrolled in a community college to take CNC classes. On the enrollment forms, I was credited with a 4.0 GPA because requirements have been dumbed down so far.

It is not necessary to go down the food chain to HS Graduate level to find illiteracy. I know several people with Master's degrees who have trouble writing a coherent declarative sentence and one who did not know what an interrogatory statement was. (She teaches second grade.)

We are so screwed.

Gerry N.

Ragin' Dave said...

Every day that goes by I realize just what I was NOT taught in school. And how poor my education truly was. It's not a pretty sight, and it's not a happy situation that I'm learning some pretty basic shit just to have a foundation to learn MORE in order to do my job.

The publik skool sistim is a failure. However, the linked article is about more than just the skool sistim's failure. It's about society's failure to even discuss the problem due to skin color.