Wednesday, February 20, 2008

New York’s Department of Education Seeks to Desegregate by ENDING a Racial Quota!







I know, what’s this world coming to?

Aren’t racial quotas and overt racial discrimination the accepted ways to assure racial “diversity” and non-discrimination?

Now I’m really confused.

It seems that back in the 1970s (1974 to be exact), in a case called Hart vs. Community School Board, a judge ruled that a NYC public school board had deliberately zoned out white students from the Mark Twain Intermediate School on Coney Island, leaving the school almost entirely attended by minorities.

Well, times change and today the Mark Twain Academy is, according to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, “a racially mixed, highly-sought-after, excellent school.”

He's asking the courts to terminate the racial quota ordered in 1974, that mandates that 60% of the school’s seats must go to white students, for this school and others, in an attempt to make race a non-issue in admissions.

The story came to light because of a story last June about a young girl of Indian descent (Nikita Rau), denied admission to the Mark Twain Academy because of this quota. Her test scores were higher than the standard used to admit white students, but lower for that used to admit minorities (now, mostly Asian and East Indian students).

Wow! What a refreshing concept!

That RACE “should NOT be a NON-ISSUE in admissions.”

You’d think that would just be common sense, but I guess too many people still have a vested interest in perpetuating this racial spoils system.

4 comments:

WomanHonorThyself said...

ah yes my friend..where will all the victimology go if we use common sense and achievement instead of quotas!!!..great work!

JMK said...

As they say Angel, "Common sense isn't all that common."

Uncle Joe said...

There has to be a better way to make sure that everyone has an equal chance to get a good education. Racial quotas are well meaning but how to put them into practice has proven to be full of problems.

Public schools can't effectively teach so many students and government leaders refuse to level the playing field for private schools that could do a better job.

The truth is, not everyone is cut out for college, and that's fine. But, there are many who are that just can't get the tutoring they need from their public school. Leveling the playing field sometimes means teaching a student how to study, how to learn, and how to work hard to achieve a goal. I had one teacher in public school who took the time and effort to actually discuss, demonstrate, and teach those things to us. I realize now that she was by far the best teacher I ever had in grade school.

The government's way is to lower everone's quality of education to the least common denominator and brag about how they have leveled the playing field among poorly performing students and more highly performing students. But, all they really do is lower the standards for students who could do better down to the level of students who don't do better, for whatever reason. That method is easier, cheaper, and more doable than actually trying to raise the performance of all students. There has to be a better way. Getting rid of quotas is a start, but I feel that they need to make sure they are not letting the students that would benefit from the quotas miss an opportunity that they should have but don't because the educational system has failed.

JMK said...

Yes, the educational system has failed and one of the primary culprits responsible for that failure has been the teacher's Unions.

Instead of having an educational system that revolves around the student's needs FIRST, SECOND and THIRD....we now have a system that puts the needs/desires of teachers ahead of those of their students.

It's a disaster!

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