Far-left race hustler

Morality Gap Mirrors Asian/white versus black/Hispanic IQ Gap

Compiled by Lewis Loflin

"Behavioral Study on Students Stirs Debate -- Fairfax Report Finds Possible Racial Bias" so screamed the Washington Post. What the study revealed was failure in academics also mirrored measures of "moral character" right along racial lines. So the left concludes again it has to be racism in the study, not that the study was correct. This is another white minority school system, but if this was racism, why didn't Asians fail the test? Asians scored the same as whites, the usual blacks and Hispanics, which by no surprise, is much the same as the measured IQ gap. Thomas Sowell attributes this IQ gap to culture, which directly relates moral outlook and values that the test measured. Instead of dealing with the facts, it's the race card again.

"The Fairfax County School Board...which oversees one of the country's largest and most diverse suburban school systems, is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to accept a staff report that concludes, in part, that black and Hispanic students and special education students received lower marks than white and Asian American students for demonstration of "sound moral character and ethical judgment." Such findings have prompted a debate on the potential bias in how teachers evaluate student behavior and how the school system analyzes and presents information about race..."

The report on student achievement under "Essential Life Skills," first presented to the board March 27, quantifies the moral-ethical gap this way: "Grade 3 students who received 'Good' or better ranged from a low near 80 percent...for Black and Special Education students, to about 95 percent...for Asian and White students." The report also indicated that Hispanic third-graders scored 86 percent on the measure.

The findings on third-grade morality reflected the number of elementary students who received "good" or "outstanding" marks on report cards in such areas as "accepts responsibility," "listens to and follows directions," "respects personal and school property," "complies with established rules" and "follows through on assignments." Such categories, which draw mainly on teacher observations, are common.

For older students, the report's findings on moral character were based on the number of state-reported disciplinary infractions, a measure where minority students tend to be overrepresented. Disparities among groups were found, however, to be slimmer for eighth-graders and negligible for 12th-graders. The analysis also reported gaps among groups of students in skills such as being able to "contribute effectively within a group dynamic," resolve conflicts and make healthy life choices.

So what is the problem if the facts as presented are correct? It shows differences between races, a political correctness no-no. What is their solution? To change the test. To quote, "School officials said they were seeking to broaden the definition of student achievement and devise new ways to measure progress toward key goals to prepare a 21st-century workforce. Officials acknowledge that their initial findings are not conclusive...There is a fundamental difference between looking at race vis-a-vis the achievement gap in academics, where you have hard data," and gaps in areas subject to possible teacher bias." It's racism again, not the students or the facts.

To quote, "The Fairfax school system is the region's largest, with more than 165,700 students. About 48 percent are white, 11 percent black, 17 percent Hispanic and 18 percent Asian American, and 6 percent are listed as other or unspecified. Two of the board's 12 members belong to racial or ethnic minorities...Schools Superintendent Jack D. Dale said some administrators were "surprised" by the findings that emerged from the analysis. He said looking more deeply into the data could lead to new understanding about social and cultural differences in students, something he views as critical in a system with students from about 200 countries."

In other words they refuse to acknowledge that students do differ, but again they "were perplexed that disparities in measures of character education seemed to echo academic achievement gaps. Educators typically examine racial and ethnic patterns in academic data to spot problems and direct resources to students who need them most. Members of the NAACP's Fairfax chapter criticized the school system's use of such methods for the character education analysis...the school system should take steps to ensure that teachers are unbiased in their assessment of students...to study whether teachers "have a full understanding of whom they teach, and their different learning styles and family backgrounds."

American education must get back to education as a first priority, not socialist' style egalitarianism.

Ref Washington Post April 10, 2008

 


Thomas Sowell, man of reason

[ Homepage ] [ Deism ] [ Christianity in America ] [ Debunking Islam ]
[ Article List ] [ Sullivan County, TN ] [ Bristol VA/TN ]

[ Killing Children ] [ George Bush Defends Saudi Terrorism ] [ Islamic Fascism ]
[ Palestine Myth ] [ Arlene Peck on Arabs ] [ Muslim Immigration Must be Halted ]

Visitors since
March 2002