Name: Anonymous 2009-05-11 12:16
And should society just accept this fact and move on?
I hear constant excuses that the sole reason black kids lag behind all other races academically is because they are economically disadvantaged, and the schools are so poor in their areas that they can't possibly succeed. I've even heard this recently in Philadelphia, where the new school superintendent is lobbying to reallocate funds from the performing schools in the burbs to the failing ones in the city. Basically they want to take money from schools where the students excel, and send these funds to the schools where "students" run wild, assault their teachers, and basically waste everyone's time and money.
Anyway, I've started looking at different PA school districts in the process of deciding where to buy a house. On the PA state dept. of education website, you can pull up district report cards, and I've noticed, even in the most prestigious school districts, there is still a large achievement gap between the white/asian students and the blacks. For example, the state target for overall proficiency will be like 56%, the asians will be @ 98%, whites @ 96%, but the blacks are like 73%... I see this same discrepancy in district after district. These black kids are getting the same education and opportunity, why are they still lagging? Granted, a 73% proficiency rate for blacks is unbelievable if you compare to the inner-city schools, but why do they still lag their peers?
I hear constant excuses that the sole reason black kids lag behind all other races academically is because they are economically disadvantaged, and the schools are so poor in their areas that they can't possibly succeed. I've even heard this recently in Philadelphia, where the new school superintendent is lobbying to reallocate funds from the performing schools in the burbs to the failing ones in the city. Basically they want to take money from schools where the students excel, and send these funds to the schools where "students" run wild, assault their teachers, and basically waste everyone's time and money.
Anyway, I've started looking at different PA school districts in the process of deciding where to buy a house. On the PA state dept. of education website, you can pull up district report cards, and I've noticed, even in the most prestigious school districts, there is still a large achievement gap between the white/asian students and the blacks. For example, the state target for overall proficiency will be like 56%, the asians will be @ 98%, whites @ 96%, but the blacks are like 73%... I see this same discrepancy in district after district. These black kids are getting the same education and opportunity, why are they still lagging? Granted, a 73% proficiency rate for blacks is unbelievable if you compare to the inner-city schools, but why do they still lag their peers?