Is “acting white” a legacy of integration policies that shortchanged blacks?
As the white adoptive parent of two black children, Harvard Law graduate Stuart Buck began to read about education and race and became intrigued by the “acting white” epithet sometimes directed at at high-achieving minority students.
That personal interest grew into a professional one that culminated in a book due out in May, “Acting White, the Ironic Legacy of Desegregation.”
A doctoral student in education at the University of Arkansas, Buck says his research led him to a surprising conclusion, that the “acting white” criticism had its roots in desegregation that wrenched black students from schools and communities they knew and threw them into new schools where they were often reviled, shunned and underestimated.
“The analogy I would draw is treatment for cancer,” said Buck, speaking by phone from Arkansas. “Segregation is like a cancer that we had to get rid of, but the treatment that saved our lives had unintended side effects.”
While black students often attended segregated schools that lacked the resources of white facilities, Buck says the schools served as the connective tissue in a community that historically valued education.
“In segregated schools, black children had consistently seen other blacks succeeding in the academic world,’’ he says. “The authority figures and role models — teachers and principals were all black. And the best students in the schools were black as well.”
While black parents welcomed integration, they had hoped for a merger of black and white schools. Instead, they witnessed the destruction of black schools and the erasure of the culture, community and closeness that the schools had created. Their children marched off to white schools where they experienced hostility and were tracked into lower-level classes. In his research, Buck found many examples of where even new facilities that had housed black schools were abandoned because white parents weren’t willing to send their kids to black schools.
“They did not want to send white schoolchildren into black schools, to be taught by black teachers and disciplined by black principals,” he says.
A University of Georgia and Harvard Law graduate, Buck cites Butler High School in Gainesville, which was built in 1962 but closed seven years later as part of the desegregation plan.
Black principals were demoted or fired, and teachers made to feel unwanted in the integrated settings. Buck notes that Gainesville had 115 white teachers and 70 black teachers in 1966. Three years later, 22 black teachers remained.
The loss was significant to the city’s black students because black teachers usually lived in the same community, knew the families of students and delighted in their successes.
There was an affection that was not easily replicated with white teachers who did not live in the same communities, attend the same churches or shop in the same stores.
In losing their school, Gainesville’s black students lost their mascot, their school colors, their yearbook and newspaper. Buck says the uprooting of black students from familiar and supportive environments was made even more difficult by the reception in their new schools.
Buck draws on news accounts of the era in which white students commented, “This is our school and they are just going to have to adjust.” White female teachers, raised to fear black men, were not comfortable teaching black high school boys.
Buck cites the research showing that capable black students are still less likely to be in advanced classes than white peers. Either out of overt racism or “liberal guilt,” Buck says white teachers did not hold black students to high expectations.
Once reassigned to desegregated schools, black students “were sitting in a classroom with mostly other black students in what they believed to be the ‘dumb’ class, watching as the white students headed to the ‘smart’ class down the hall,’’’ writes Buck.
Dispirited, black students began to associate achievement with white students and ostracize peers who joined the white kids in the ‘‘smart’’ classes down the hall.
Among the research that Buck mentions: The findings of Harvard economist Roland Fryer Jr. that while the popularity of white students rises with grade-point average, black children become less popular the better their grades.
He cites the experience of Ron Kirk, the first black mayor of Dallas, who recalled getting beat up at his newly integrated junior high school for being black and again in his neighborhood the same day for not being black enough.
Buck believes it is important to understand anti-school attitudes because he believes that students must be willing partners in education. “From youngest ages, children love learning, but something happens around 10, 11 or 12,” he says. “We have to understand why it is that children, black or white, don’t want to learn.”
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166 comments Add your comment
Proud White American
February 28th, 2010
10:16 am
We suggest that teachers should clearly instruct students of the overwhelming European American role in the foundation of the United States of America, and of their cultural and scientific contributions that have benefited all races. Such teaching would reduce alienation among White students and lessen resentment among minorities toward White students and teachers. Just as teachers frequently teach students about “great Black men” and the “great achievements of the Black race,” they should not be reluctant to speak about the founding fathers as “great White men” or speak about “great White achievements.” In many schools, the term “White race” always is accompanied with a negative connotation such as “The White race oppressed Blacks.” Such double standards must end if an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual understanding is to exist in public education.
Teachers should reject teaching materials that foster anti-White racial hatred. They should especially be aware of material from the ADL (Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith – a Jewish supremacist organization). ADL material promotes minority resentment and hostility against White Christians, as well as self-guilt among young White students.
Hypocritically, the ADL supports the Jewish supremacist nation of Israel and its half-century of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians; legal torture of political prisoners (the only nation in the world where torture is officially legal); development of illegal biological, chemical and nuclear weapons; the military invasion and occupation of neighboring Lebanon for 17 years (resulting in the death of at least 30,000 civilians); and the state-sponsored segregation of Jews and Palestinians in schools, settlements and housing. While the ADL has campaigned against traditional Christmas carols in American schools, it has supported Israel, a theocratic nation that promotes the Orthodox Jewish religion and acts to suppress the Christian and Muslim faith. The ADL favors opening America’s borders to the non-European Third World, yet supports Israel with a “Jews only” immigration policy that even prevents Palestinians who were born there from returning home. While the ADL stirs up minority resentment against White Americans in American schools, it supports Israel’s ethnic Jewish supremacism.
Proud White American
February 28th, 2010
10:18 am
Because of Black pressure groups such as the NAACP and Jesse Jackson’s PUSH, school administrators are often reluctant to punish Black students who perpetrate violence and discrimination against Whites. Jesse Jackson’s intimidation against the school board in Decatur, Illinois for expelling Black gang rioters makes other school administrators reluctant to take steps to limit black violent offenders. Students who engage in gang violence, Black or White should be removed from public schools. No student should have to be intimidated or endangered by such elements. Furthermore, there must be a single standard for exercise of free speech in public schools. If Blacks are permitted to wear Malcom X or Martin Luther King hats or T-shirts to class, White students should have the same right to have T-shirts, hats, or belt-buckles displaying the Confederate flag or other symbols of White pride and solidarity. Tolerance is a two-way street. Only in an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual respect of differences can the races get along with each other when pernicious federal programs force the races together against their natural desires and wishes.
catlady
February 28th, 2010
10:26 am
I would strongly suggest that what we are calling race is in fact class. I teach in a system with NO black kids (a few biracial). 85% of our “diverse student population” are diverse only on their hair color! (blonde, brown, or red) The other 15% are bicultural (white/Latino) or Latino. HOWEVER, we have the same sort of dynamic–a high proportion of kids who don’t value education, whose parents value “education” because it provides 2 meals and daycare.
Most of my colleagues are people who grew up here in the mountains. Many speak poor English–things like” pit-cher” for picture, “I seen him” and “I had went to the store.” (the latter two are by the speech teacher, a fifth grade teacher with a masters, and an administrator). I can assure you none of them are black.
Ben Thinken, agree with you totally on the loss of community schools. We have seen that here in the last 40 years.
ST671–my observations entirely.
catlady
February 28th, 2010
10:33 am
Why is it the ones that seem to post the first time I submit are the ones that complain about a previous post not showing up, but the ones where I might be making a substantive observation get caught in the filter?
catlady
February 28th, 2010
10:34 am
Is the key to getting things to post the use of the word “filter”?
ScienceTeacher671
February 28th, 2010
11:02 am
Enter your comments here
ScienceTeacher671
February 28th, 2010
11:02 am
I think the filter likes soundbites more than thoughtfulness.
VOR
February 28th, 2010
11:40 am
Lost my post last night…Just wondered why we even talk about this issue. As several have said, all races have ignorant kids that bash the high-achievers. I was a black girl in a predominately white school and I got a lot of flack for being in the gifted program. This is similar to the black on black crime conversation. All races tend to commit crimes against their own. But, we isolate the discussion to blacks.
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
11:57 am
Several people who have made recent posts seem to be off track. Their comments focus more racism and segregation than the subject of integration shortchaning Black Americans. The Civil War and Jim Crow are over. You need to get a grip. We are now in a diverse global society and need to address who we can live in communities of mutual respect, acceptance and harmony. Peace….
ScienceTeacher671
February 28th, 2010
12:23 pm
Proud African American, a serious question that I hesitate to ask on a web board because it might come across as flip: Do you believe that the answer to this and other problems facing the Black community lie largely within or outside of the Black community? Or do you think a dual response is necessary?
My thought is that I mainly teach younger teens, who are inclined toward a lot of personal “drama” at times. I try to teach them that they cannot control others, but they can control their response to those others. We have a lot of children, black and white, who make destructive and self-destructive choices.
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
12:41 pm
Correction from previous post – “HOW we can live in communities of mutual respect, acceptance and harmony.”
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
1:01 pm
@ Proud White American – “pernicious federal programs force the races together against their natural desires and wishes.” If I am not mistaken, our country is diverse and inclusive. The United States is a melting pot of varied ethnicities, races, cultures, religions….. And please explain – “natural desires and wishes”. Is this a fancy term for segregation of the races? Any type of prejudicial attitudes are out of synch with our nations’s quest towards equality and justice.
The increase of racist slurs and incidents on elementary, middle, high and college campuses throughout our nation all point to a revival of hate crimes and overt racism in the U.S. T shirts should not be used as a symbol. Wearing a Tshirt to celebrate Martin Luther King Day is honoring a symbol of world peace and understanding. On the other hand, your desire for children to wear shirts for the Confederacy do not represent peace and understanding. Please do your research on the cause and effects of the Civil War on our nation.
Negative responses to diversity threaten to destroy the precious foundation of our national unity, which is a commitment to equality, freedom and justice for all people. It is possible to redefine the meaning of “America” by helping people learn how to bridge the chasms of ethnic, racial and gender differences and create new ways of honoring ourselves and one another.
just a little question
February 28th, 2010
1:58 pm
@ Proud African American
Why does one need to feel “pride” in a race? You and “Proud White America” seem to be cut from the same cloth. Aren’t we all people first or do you only see things through the social construct of race?
Southron Man
February 28th, 2010
2:13 pm
“The increase of racist slurs and incidents on elementary, middle, high and college campuses throughout our nation all point to a revival of hate crimes and overt racism in the U.S.”
Typical liberal speak. The only people I hear using the dread “N” word these days are black folk.
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
2:31 pm
Response to the above posts: Please read for meaning….that is the foundation of reading comprehension.
I so clearly stated: Negative responses to diversity threaten to destroy the precious foundation of our national unity, which is a commitment to equality, freedom and justice for ALL people. It is possible to redefine the meaning of “America” by helping people learn how to bridge the chasms of ethnic, racial and gender differences and create new ways of honoring OURSELVES AND ONE ANOTHER.
Pride is reflective in the blog subject. The blog name is in reference to the title of the blog and the article which described the legacy of integration policies. If you reference my first blog, I was taught by my great great aunt, grandmother and parents to have pride in my race. They grew up in an era or segregation. Pride in one’s race does not define one as not being inclusive and embracing diversity. An excellent example is the Olympics. The atheletes exhibit price in their cultures and embrace the cultures of the other participants. I view my life similarly. By the way…my great grandfather on my maternal and paternal sides are European Americans. My grandfather on my paternal side is Native American. I am an African American that has an ethnic background that is multicultural. In no way have I suggested in any of my posts that I see our society through the social construct of race. If I did…I would not be embracing my own family.
Southron Man
February 28th, 2010
3:15 pm
“By the way…my great grandfather on my maternal and paternal sides are European Americans. My grandfather on my paternal side is Native American.”
But yet you have thrown them all under the bus and just acknowledge your African-American ancestry.
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
3:20 pm
@Science Teacher671
I applaud your educational commitment and I too experience the daily “drama” of so many youth. In reference to the subject of the blog, understanding resilience and strength among African American youth requires first acknowledging their experience in the United States and recognizing the continuing legacy of oppression and discrimination that affects their daily lives.
We as an educational community must also acknowledge the reality of under-resourced schools, family disruption, negative media influences or negative peer influences that so many African American children face daily. But these obstacles can be overcome by a productive and caring community that focuses on the needs of each individual student.
Educational institutions from pre school to secondary school should ensure that they are providing the resources and support systems that will equip each child to develop to their potential. Caring and well educated teachers and administrators will provide the foundation that so many children need to develop.
By developing the necessary skills for critical and flexible thinking and problem solving and by engaging with academic material and active academic learning experiences designed to meet the needs of our global society, African American children will be better suited to meet societal challenges. It is my sincere belief that this should be the goal of education for ALL children in our nation.
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
3:22 pm
@Southern Man – The definition of an African American is a mixture of varied ethnic groups with Africa being one of the genetic groups. How do you define African American?
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
3:27 pm
Correction: The definition of an African American is a mixture of varied ethnic groups with African ancestry being an inherited gene. Where in Africa? Who knows? I was not raised to view my ethnic group to be European American or Native American. In fact, my birth certificate says “Negro”.
I was however raised to be proud of my family members who did not have the African gene in their known history.
Southron Man
February 28th, 2010
3:47 pm
“How do you define African American?”
As a liberal moniker invented by Je$$ie “shakedown” Jackson.
http://tinyurl.com/y8hhgc6
Now a question for you; I strive for my kith and kin to live in a colorblind society espoused by Dr. King. What do you strive for?
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
4:28 pm
For many, African American is more than a name expressive of cultural and historical roots. The term expresses black pride and a sense of kinship and solidarity with others of the Black African diaspora. The terms to define people with African descent were invented by white Americans. The terms used to identify American blacks were conferred upon the group by whites and were included in the wording of various laws and legal decisions which became tools of white supremacy and oppression. There developed among Black Americans a growing desire for a term of their own choosing. Thus, the term African American became more widely accepted in our country.
As we strive for an inclusive society, I pray that these labels disappear and we become one nation. With the increasing multiracial population, this may become a reality in a few generations. Until then, I must acknowledge that our society is not blind to racial differences. As to colorblind, I cannot agree with your comment SouthernMan. My family reunions are like a rainbow. They have family members with blonde straight hair, curly brown hair, kinky black hair, blue eyes, brown eyes, hazel eyes, thin lips, fully lips, light skin, tan skin, brown skin and dark brown skin…..we are all one family. Some of us are African American, some European American, some Hispanic American and some Native American. We love each other and embrace our cultural similarities and differences. We are truely American and proud to be Americans.
Southron Man
February 28th, 2010
5:00 pm
” As to colorblind, I cannot agree with your comment SouthernMan.”
Okay let me rephrase myself; I hope that my kids will live in a society where “they are judged on the content of their character and not on the color of their skin.” Can you agree with that? Btw its “Southron” not “Southern.”
Hank Williams Jr.
February 28th, 2010
5:38 pm
Southron Man… You cannot argue with ignorance. I have read your discussion with proud affican and to listen to this loser especially upholding oblama and his band of thugs and telling me the Civil War is over tells me all I need to hear from this J.Jackson/ Sharpton socialist. Hell yes the war is over. You are not a slave no more, ok?
Thank Abe Lincoln not MLK or Jessie/Al and the clan.
I for one will NEVER appoligize for what happened 150 years ago and STRONGLY disagree with any state that thinks they need to do so. THAT INCLUDES GEORGIA AND SONNY PURDUE.
Hank Williams Jr.
February 28th, 2010
5:45 pm
Oh, proud affican…..
Yea I wanted to PUKE when you said how great a speaker oblama is……
He hasnt written the first speech (of lies by the way) thats come out of his mouth.
Yea, he’s something else, aint he.
SHORT TIMER…. WILL BE ONE TRICK PONY….. AMERICA LEARNED IT’S LESSON
Ihateracists!
February 28th, 2010
6:13 pm
Southron – I love how southerners and conservatives hold MLK, Jr up today as an example of a good negr0. Yet, every major politician and newspaper denounced him and called him a c0mmunist after his war opposition. He was more hated than Jesse and Al combined! Our government branded him as one of the most dangerous men in America and stalked him…and then he was assasinated.
Why does African-American pride bother you? Is it any different from someone being proud of their Irish or Italian heritage? I see NOTHING wrong with that and hear it ALL of the time. “White” pride tends to be about hating another group. And most “Whites” are Europeans that know where their roots come from. Most African-Americans are biracial and, thanks to slavery, we know very little about our heritage. I would need a $500 DNA test just for some scientist to start guessing where my African family came from. This is why states apologize for slavery….not because anyone here today had slaves….but because it still has a very big affect on today.
Ihateracists!
February 28th, 2010
6:14 pm
Oops…”assassinated”
Ihateracists!
February 28th, 2010
6:20 pm
I LOVE all of the hate that Obama gets on here. LOVE it. It makes my heart smile.
Hank Williams Jr.
February 28th, 2010
6:21 pm
blablabla
Hank Williams Jr.
February 28th, 2010
6:25 pm
love it for as long as it lasts my friend… Like I said, he is a BIG mistake and if blacks think he is giving ANYONE a free ride you are an idiot like him.
GOOD BICYCLE!!
NEVER AGAIN!!
Ihateracists!
February 28th, 2010
6:27 pm
Yeah, the free rides ended with Bush. But, unfortunately, only 2% of the country benefited from that.
Ihateracists!
February 28th, 2010
6:32 pm
I don’t know anyone that was looking for a free ride. That’s reserved for big corporations that keep screwing us all. But, the GOP has done a great job of convincing yall that liberals, unions and minorities are your problem. SMDH!
Hank Williams Jr.
February 28th, 2010
6:32 pm
Hold on to your hat if you thought that was bad and hope you survive the next 3 YEARS. You people just dont get it do you???
Southron Man
February 28th, 2010
7:03 pm
“Southron – I love how southerners and conservatives hold MLK, Jr up today as an example of a good negr0. Yet, every major politician and newspaper denounced him and called him a c0mmunist after his war opposition. He was more hated than Jesse and Al combined! Our government branded him as one of the most dangerous men in America and stalked him…and then he was assasinated.”
You make a lot of assumptions don’t you?
Lee
February 28th, 2010
7:12 pm
So Maureen, is the blog topic tomorrow going to be “How the legacy of integration policies have shortchanged whites?” Fair and balanced reporting, dontchaknow.
Inquiring minds and all that….
NOBama 2012
February 28th, 2010
7:13 pm
For all you proud people, look on the front page of ajc.com….Miguel Starks arrested for Robbery, he is a Clayton County High School graduate and Quarterback for The Citadel……So now lets start blaming the white people for this.
Educator2
February 28th, 2010
7:27 pm
As stated before -”This article was posted to stir controversy on this blog and sensationalize..
I am sure that Maureen knows her bloggers well enough that a intellectual dialogue would never occur on this topic due to the racist agenda of some to post their IQ theories, etc at every opportunity regardless of the subject. Therefore, I challenge Maureen to not choose topics that by design will create a racial divide. Thus, it serves no purpose to post this article and provide those with a racism agenda on this blog a platform to post their ill informed, racist “facts”.”
Maureen , my point has been proven correct!
Proud African American
February 28th, 2010
7:33 pm
@ 2012…..Robert Cook is also in today’s AJC. He is a cop killer and was a graduate of a Geogian high school. And? Are we going to blame any race of people? Not intelligent minds. Educated people understand that crimes are not color conscious. They are individual choices. Your comments do not show anything but blatant racism. This is the kind of mindset that prevents our country from being an inclusive society. AND…….I am soooooo happy that the Honorable Barack Hussein Obama is President of the United States of America.
A Poem quote that is so appropriate for today’s blog:
Yes, I believe we can
trust this voice…
It’s as American,
as calm and confident,
as the wheat fields
of his Grandma’s Kansas–
it’s as charged
with electricity & hope
as the stubborn streets
of the South Side of Chicago–
it’s as serene and full of grace
as the islands of his native Hawaii.
.
He said we could have a new politics
that went beyond the tit-for-tat
and had the audacity to hope
that we really were better than that.
NOBama 2012
February 28th, 2010
7:50 pm
@Proud African American not my point. A black male graduates from a majority black high school, earns his way to the citadel then robs somebody….Why?
FYI, Obama is half white….
Maureen Downey
February 28th, 2010
7:58 pm
Educator 2, I write a lot of blog entries each week, 29 in the past week alone. I write about all sorts of things, including new books that I think are interesting and that are going to spark discussion. I thought Buck’s book, which comes out in May, met that criteria. In addition, he graduated UGA and has many Georgia examples in his book. I am not going to limit my postings because I fear some posters will not be respectful or thoughtful. There is not a single topic that doesn’t attract a bizarre comment or two. It comes with an open forum format.
Maureen
dbow
February 28th, 2010
9:55 pm
Hey proud white guy. I agreed with you right up to the point you lost your mind and started spouting off about the Jewish people. get your facts straight and stop towing the party line. Think for yourself and investigate the truth about what’s really happening over in the middle east. I’ve been there and seen first hand that those “poor” palestinians want nothing but deny Israel’s right to exist ans will stop at nothing. They kill off their own in an effort to destroy a sovereign nation and you have the audacity to compare this article to that situation? You’re a mess.
Legend of Len Barker
February 28th, 2010
10:43 pm
I started researching segregated high school sports in 2004 and in the past couple of years have moved into looking at the total school atmosphere.
Of the 144 schools that were members of the GIA in 1968, only six continued as high schools in 1970 (Atlanta, Macon, Columbus, Augusta, and Savannah schools had jumped to the GHSA between 1966-68 and aren’t included). Of those five, only two remain open as high schools now: Monroe (Albany) and Hancock Central. Montezuma’s D.F. Douglass closed in 1998, Taliaferro County closed in 1982, and Liberty County shut down in 1972. Boggs Academy, a private school, closed because of a lack of funds in 1984.
The remaining 138 were downgraded to elementaries and junior highs. Some, such as Herctoma in Statenville were abandoned entirely. The segregated elementaries generally suffered a worse fate. Even though the majority of the buildings sprang up in the 1950s, most GIA elementaries have either been demolished or left to the elements. I’ve attempting to document as many locations as possible.
The heritage of these schools has been largely ignored. A few high schools made minor changes. Some switched nicknames, such as Crisp County (Rebels to Cougars) and Brooks County (Tigers to Trojans). Berrien incorporated the year of total high school integration into the school’s crest where it stands beside the date the school was opened.
Largely, the schools just moved on. Teachers found themselves scatters. Principals were demoted to either junior high level or let go. Valdosta city schools had a lawsuit when the teachers from Pinevale felt their experience was being ignored.
Not all students were equal in 1970. Unless they were very large, like Washington and Howard of Atlanta, they had to scrounge for whatever they could. Lakeland High & Elementary had a book drive in the late 1950s, begging for any donations for their library. At least they had a library. In 1963, the state came close to pulling funds from Bleckley County unless they upped the standards of their segregated schools. None had libraries. The rural elementaries were underfunded to the point that they all had outhouses and were in two-room buildings.
Shannon, M.Div.
March 1st, 2010
12:12 am
ScienceTeacher671, when I was in high school, there was a “pep rally” in which the principal made presentations to some students who had excelled academically. For instance, I remember that the star student (highest SAT score in the school) received a bouquet of roses. It was kind of awkward, but also kind of neat. I’m not sure that it did much to change the culture of the school, but it was a nice gesture.
Educator2
March 1st, 2010
12:28 am
In all due respect, the number of blogs you have written is an irrelevant point. The mention of the author being a UGA graduate is also irrelevant. My concern is a post that involves “race” as its core subject or a post that can easily be interpreted to have “race” as its core subject, will reasonable cause “racial” based comments. These comments are most often offense to many of your readers. I do not expect you decide your post using “fear” as a factor but I do challenge you to lead this “open forum format with a sense of insight to all your readers. The control over a “bizarre comment or two” is often unavoidable on an “open forum format”, but the likelihood of “bizarre” comments increase according to the topic selected. Thus, you have the opportunity to lead this “open forum format” through your posting selections. I challenge you to be more thoughtful in your posting selections in an effort to not foster a racial divide.
ScienceTeacher671
March 1st, 2010
5:55 am
In other words, Educator2, you think the blog should avoid any controversial topics involving race, because there are some dolts who post here?
Miquel
March 1st, 2010
6:58 am
Here we are with the, “I didn’t attend an HBCU, and I turned out to be just fine. I work in Corporate America (and I love it) and just look at me.” So, to paraphrase, who needs intergration? It’s people like K.I.M. who really makes my blood boil. There’s no mention of the people who were attacked by dogs, cops and other forms of racial injustices. It’s all about what they achieved. But, she would be the first one to say, “I’m not selfish”.
I would like to say, to the people before me, and the ones before them, both black and white, THANK YOU!!!
Maureen Downey
March 1st, 2010
7:39 am
Educator2, I still disagree. Race remains an issue, in the culture and in the classroom, as do many other controversial education topics that bring out the best and worst in comments. I have quite a canvas to work with each week, no limit on my entries, no limit on public comments. I can’t ignore volatile or divisive topics given that I have all the space in the world to explore them. In fact, on this blog, even the basic issue of public education is controversial with some posters. And opening the door brings in other voices. I have already heard from an African-American teacher who has written her own book about integration and I plan to talk to her. (She is local and that is a factor in writing a Georgia-based blog. It’s a fact of journalism that people like to read about events in their area so I am responsive to national issues with a Georgia connection.)
Maureen
Lee
March 1st, 2010
7:50 am
@Educator2, re: “…a intellectual dialogue would never occur on this topic due to the racist agenda of some to post their IQ theories, etc at every opportunity regardless of the subject.”
I would love an “intellectual dialogue” about IQ and race and the effects it has on the educational process. However, the moment someone says that whites have a higher IQ than blacks, the cries of racism start – just as you did above.
Many posters on this blog talk about the socio-economic factors and the impact they have on the educational process. However, they fail to recognize the correlation between IQ and poverty – i.e., a person with an IQ of 120 will have a greater earnings potential than a person with an IQ of 85.
In response to your statement above, I would say that an honest dialogue will never occur on this topic due to the politically correct who try to silence those who disagree with them. “Racist” is such an overused word nowadays, it has lost it’s meaning.
Chris Murphy, Atlanta, GA
March 1st, 2010
8:41 am
ScienceTeacher671
February 28th, 2010
9:48 am
It is true that both black and white academic achievers have often been ridiculed and teased by their less-achieving classmates. Perhaps, at least in Georgia, this goes back to a culture which largely denigrates education.
Yes, but we’re damn proud of the football teams and players, aren’t we? And how many books, or teachers, or supplies could be financed with the money proposed for artificial turf? Just what the heck is important in this state? (Sorry for the rhetorical question, I know some won’t understand where I’m coming from. And yes, I know that the Cobb money for stadiums is a separate bond issue; but if they could find the money for turf, why can they not find it for academic resources?)
Bremen City Conservative
March 1st, 2010
8:46 am
“Racist” is such an overused word nowadays, it has lost it’s meaning.
Amen!
south ga teacher
March 1st, 2010
9:59 am
So…whats the point? re-segregate? What exactly are we supposed to do with this information? It doesn’t matter the color or your skin. Until parents value education, schools, and teachers their kids won’t.