American Thinker: For those of us old enough to remember its beginnings, the United Negro College Fund’s iconic “A mind is a terrible thing to waste” campaign is still haunting. It began in 1972 with images of black students shut out of college classrooms, and ended with an almost undeniable appeal: donate to UNCF so that black kids can get an education.
But 45 years later, we’re still wasting minds. Many are black, but almost just as many are brown. In any poor California community, kids trapped in teachers-union-dominated classrooms are the least likely Californians to read or perform basic math at grade level. They are also the least likely to graduate from high school, much less go on to college. And now we have learned that beyond “terrible,” a mind is undeniably a dangerous thing to waste.
Though derided by the teachers’ unions as an urban myth, experts in education and corrections have observed a correlation between reading proficiency in the third grade and incarceration. They do not yet use this data to project the number of additional prison beds that will be needed, but some in the field think they should. California and New York reportedly once used fourth-grade reading scores but abandoned the practice. They should rethink that decision.
America has the largest prison population in the world (more than 2 million) and the second highest per capita incarceration rate. Although the average rate is 698 per 100,000, there are enormous differences between various subgroups.
The rate is 459 per 100,000 for White men, but that number rises to 3,074 for Blacks and 1,258 for Latinos. These differences mirror the striking disparities in academic achievement and NAEP test scores between the groups.
The failure to achieve reading proficiency by age 8 or 9 is a warning sign, a marker. more here
It’s the parents failing their kids, not the schools,
and I’ll stand by that. The schools aren’t helping much,
but it still falls on the parents.
It is also the parents who are voting for the dems who are getting teacher’s union money.
The “free” K-12 education is a joke.
As much as it pains me, I cannot put the full blame on the unions – you cannot expect equal outcomes or even ‘mostly equal’… a Shetland pony will never win the Kentucky Derby against Thoroughbreds. Until we admit human variations in IQ this will continue to be an issue. But I still hate unions.
It’s not bad schools, it’s bad genetics inherited from their parents. They go to prison because of bad genetics, too.
Of course, after a generation of affirmative action we have illiterate and innumerate teachers with the same bad genes.
Teachers are expected to teach whatever the latest fads in education happen to be, no matter how ill-conceived or unproven. Take unsound doctrine and couple it with a discipline-free environment and it’s a wonder teachers can accomplish anything at all.
Our Jr. High has adopted the practice of “Saturday School”. If your child has an unexcused absence during the week they must spend four hours at the school on Saturday.
This is not to improve their young little minds for missing out on learning during the week, but rather to recoup the funding lost for each child that has an unexcused absence.
This explains a great deal about our educational system.
If fault lay only certain teachers in the US, you would see large numbers of black and brown receiving Nobel prizes for discoveries in medicine and science in other parts of the world. You would have countries in Africa and South America rivaling the western countries in standard of living, freedom and productivity.
At some point, reality wins.
Public schools are the bullpen for the penal system.
Seems a shame so many that could get accepted to college just on race alone never take the opportunity to strive and over come their circumstances. Is it hard, yes, is it worth it, definitely. Just ask Ben Carson and scores of others who didn’t just sink into despair or never tried. The parents the schools the union the communities don’t help, but a person can still overcome their circumstances if they have the will.
it couldn’t be that they don’t teach reading and writing anymore because of time constraints. it takes too much time turning them all into little victims to have time to teach the three r’s.
and it’s not the “parents” it’s the “parent” as in too many single mom’s having to try and instill discipline in young men.
After reading this article, I am convinced that Trump is right about the Department of Education. The Federal Government, aside from setting a few standards, has no business enforcing a specific curriculum or method. Students learn through different methods and at different rates, there can never be a “One size fits all” approach to education, and that’s why Common Core is such a disaster for both our students and our schools. I still maintain that early students need to focus on the basics – Reading, Writing, Math, and Critical thinking skills. If we give them that by the 6th grade, they can teach themselves anything else they want to learn.
Give ’em all X-Boxes and Tall Boys and they’ll be just fine.
For a half hour.
The rate is 459 per 100,000 for White men, but that number rises to 3,074 for Blacks and 1,258 for Latinos.
This has NOTHING to do with education, and everything to do with heredity.
To fantasize that the education system can magically undo thousands of generations of trait selection is beyond idiotic.
You can’t educate away their inherent nature. Pretending you can is the pavement on the road to failure.