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Date Posted: 18:57:50 04/19/02 Fri
Author: Had his "gruntled" dissed Lion
Author Host/IP: qam1b-sif-86.monroeaccess.net / 12.27.214.87
Subject: Re: It Kind of Makes You Wonder. What DID They Learn?
In reply to: Rose...with my two cents 's message, "Re: It Kind of Makes You Wonder. What DID They Learn?" on 12:22:19 04/19/02 Fri

There are those of us who foresaw problems back in 1954 when the United States Supreme Court espoused the doctrines set forth in Brown v. Board of Education.

Many of us who believed then, and still do, that treating anyone in a disparate manner in accessing government funded resources simply because of the color of their skin is wrong saw the problem and were shouted down for mentioning it. We were lumped with "Jim Crow" segregationists and mindless sheet wearers because we dared look dispassionately at reality and suggest remedial efforts.

One of the major "wrongs" perpetrated upon black and minority students by the old segregated system was that the students of "black only" schools trailed far behind their white counterparts in academic achievements. Poor schools and learning environments overseen by incompetent teachers could not help but turn out poor students. The Supreme Court addressed the legal basis of the problem but ignored the real world social problems that existed then and have intensified today.

Some of us suggested, and were soundly trashed for doing so, that we needed to establish remedial programs for black students making the transition to fully integrated classrooms where they lagged behind most white students. None of us said that this was because blacks are inferior learners but you would think we had. What we said was that blacks had been denied the learning opportunities their white counterparts took for granted. We thought we ought to bring these students up to speed before "dumping" them into the classroom. Once again, the price tag for wishful thinking on the part of social engineers was to be paid by their supposed "beneficiaries." Black students were overwhelmed and grades reflected that fact.

At that point, two things happened.

Resentment, most probably justified in my view, on the part of the blacks built a social web in which black students were discouraged from "acting white" by trying to meet the academic standards the white students had been expected to meet for generations. Any black student who made teh effort was shunned by whites, as was common, and they suffered the derision and social ostracism of other blacks who had given up the almost useless effort to "keep up."

Well intentioned "progressives" determined somehow that the true fault lay in the standards rather than the accomplishment of the students. They proclaimed tests as being "racially prejudicial." Dedicated educators and teachers were blasted as being "racists" by the "more enlightened" newly arrived "progressive professionals" for having the temerity of suggesting that these newly arrievd students could meet the existing standards if they were given additional time to catch up. That flew in the face of the day dream hopes of those who envisioned a marvelous world of overnight "cultural diversity" and other high sounding catch phrases.

Once again, the minority students paid the price of the wrongs commiitted by both groups... those who would dismiss them as "sub-human" out of mindless hatred and those who would deny reality in favor of pipe dream uptopian worlds. The latter group won the battlefield of opinion by playing on the desire of most Americans to right definite wrongs perpetuated far too long for insidious reasons based in ignorance.

If you are playing a game that you know you cannot win, you would do the normal human thing in reaction. You would stop trying and begin to denigrate both the game and those capable of playing it well. That's a lot easier to do than to force yourself to develop competency in the game being played. That's what happened to those who followed that first groundswell of dark-skinned classroom populations. The inability to function on the level that existed when they arrived in the newly mixed race classrooms caused frustration and they quickly discerned, however wrongly so, that this situation existed solely to continue to hold them down as a race.

Educational standards were lowered repeatedly in an attempt to make it appear as if the good-hearted, well-intentioned, but demonstrably wrong, "progressives" were right all along. Just dump these kids in the classroom and they will flourish. See? They all meet the standards, never mind that the standards were lowered to make this happen.

People's characteristics in any population tend to be measured in what is called a "bell curve." Those of median performance make up the large "bulge" containing the scores of those who perform slightly below the median and those who perform slightly above average. At either extreme are the low and high achievers or scorers. This would be true were you to measure the academic perfomance of whites and blacks individually and that point was not missed by the social engineers. They used this reality to argue that the median average of minority students should be the norm used for measuring the performance of minority students and the scoring for white students should be "dumbed" down as well so that the students who were below average would miraculously become "above average." After all, being considered "below average made the non-performers feel "bad about themselves" and we don't want that.

When those on the lower end of the white student bell curve realized they could get more recognition without all the work put in by their higher scoring counterparts, they adopted the ways of the ones reaping the greatest benefit from these misguided social experiments - the lower scoring minority students. They began to adopt the clothing styles, speech patterns and musical inclinations of their black counterparts and bought into the "being dumb and/or illiterate is cool" way of thinking.

Last night, I watched a rerun episode of a popular television series that has stopped production. I have always been impressed with the scripts, story lines and many of the concepts set forth by that program until I paid close attention. The background music was what is called "gangsta rap" on that episode. The lyrics profaned women, law abiding citizens and any effort to accomplish in society. The lyrics were delivered by a functional illiertate who seemed to take pride in his inability or unwillingness to speak proper standard American English. One of the characters in the episode was a young man between 18-22 years of age. I was struck by his speech patetrns. He sounded like an ignorant ghetto dweller and the thoughts he professed were abhorrent to me and all responsible people capable of cogent thought. His moral values were those of a common street criminal. I realized that I had seen several episodes of late in which such low moral standards were the stock in trade of every character below the age of 30 in that show.

I'm with the old cartoon character Pogo. "We have seen the enemy and it is us." Can it be changed at this late date? Yes, but it will cost us a lot more than it would have for now we are fighting a battle for the hearts and minds of young people we sold out. For far too many of us parents, that happened because we turned our children over to government run schools and let the "progressive" educators destroy their futures so long as we didn't have to be bothered. Soem of us did not, but we have to pay teh bill for the failure of others. If we have any chancer as a society to remain what this nation was intended to beccome, parents of today's children, black, white, brown or yellow skinned, MUST start paying the tab. It will cost a lot, but usually not in cash. It will be expensive in the tender most needed to be expended in this battle - parental involvement. Turn off the tube and read with your child. Teach him or her about core moral values and social beliefs. Let him or her see you living by those same standards and he or she will blossom forth.

Keep it up as you be doing dese days and yo, you gonna be capped by a brother what be a white dude but don' wanna be dat.

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