Racism: No longer overt but still present in the classroom
As a black child in the segregated south, Lisa Delpit recalls teachers extolling her to, “Act your age, not your race.”
A MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner and former Georgia State University professor, Delpit maintains that racism, while not as overt, still taints America’s classrooms in subtle yet damaging ways.
“It exists as much in the north as the south,” said Delpit in a telephone interview from her home in Louisiana. “The country believes at its core that black people are less than — it is a mindset that the entire society has.”
Delpit expands that theme in “Multiplication is for White People,” a follow-up to her best selling book “Other People’s Children.” She opens her new book by debunking the notion that low-income black children are born at a disadvantage, noting that there is no achievement gap at birth and that black infants lead in many developmental benchmarks, according to some studies.
She argues that the academic struggles of black students — despite reforms created to help them, including the No Child Left Behind Act — are due in part to the perception that these children cannot excel because the obstacles in their lives cannot be overcome.
“The question is how do you convince others that a people who have been marginalized are as competent and capable as everyone else,” she says. “My bias is when you believe it, you will see it.”
And Delpit says she has seen it in schools where poor minority students excel despite what many contend are insurmountable odds.
“In Baton Rouge, where I am now, there are two schools a mile apart serving the same population of low-income, African American children. In one school, the children have won state recognition for high scores and high performance,” says Delpit. “In the other, there is absolute failure.”
If the children share the same backgrounds, what accounts for the difference in performance?
Delpit says we ignore the simplest explanation: Many poor African-American children are not being taught. They attend desultory schools where worksheets and seat work are standard, where teachers seldom leave their own chairs to teach and where few probing question are ever asked. As a former teacher and someone who has spent her career training teachers and observing, Delpit has been surprised that teachers in low performing schools “apparently believed that it was okay to remain seated and not involved with the students when a visitor was in the room.”
“It has to be what goes on in that school,” says Delpit. “If it were just poverty, if it were just the community, if it were just the parents, then no one could do anything.
“But if there is one school of extremely poor children where the students are performing extremely well, it removes the basis for saying it can’t happen.”
The key, says Delpit, is teaching. “Good teaching is desirable, but any teaching is preferable to classrooms where teachers have abdicated the role completely. And good teaching is miraculous.”
Good teaching requires connecting to students and their worlds, something that she says is being overlooked in the celebration of rescue efforts such as Teach for America. While acknowledging the dedication of many Teach for America recruits, Delpit has concerns about the reactions of these young people when they encounter challenges.
“One of the things we know is that black and brown children don’t just learn from a teacher, they learn for a teacher. If they feel connected to a teacher, they are much more likely to learn,” she says.
Freshly minted Ivy league graduates dropping down into poor communities like missionaries in a foreign land often lack that vital bond, says Delpit.
“Without knowing the community, without knowing the kids, without knowing the culture, you are destined to have great challenges in teaching,” Delpit says. “What happens is that many of the TFA folks start to blame the parents and the community because, if they are not successful, it cannot be them — they have been told they are the best and the brightest. It must be these families and these communities. ”
But can children only learn from people like themselves?
No, but children must see some teachers who look like them, share their backgrounds and know their culture, Delpit says. Otherwise, “They are going to come to believe that academic success doesn’t look like them and isn’t something they should be aspiring toward or working toward. ”
“Children succeed when schools focus on extraordinary instruction,” says Delpit, who fears the testing frenzy set off by No Child Left Behind undermines such instruction.
“We are making school less interesting and expecting students to learn more and it just doesn’t work that way,” she says. “There is little tolerance for difference, for creativity, or for challenge.”
Delpit’s book opens with a conversation she had with Diane Ravitch, who also wrote a book raising alarms about the current direction of reform. The two education icons agree on several destructive trends in education, including the path taken by the charter school movement.
Delpit regrets what she calls the corruption of the original promise and purpose of the charter movement by anti-public school forces, saying, “Now, because of the insertion of the ‘market model,’ charter schools often shun the very students they were intended to help. ”
Conceived as research and development labs to improve all schools, charter schools, if they do succeed, hold tight to their ideas to win the standardized test race, says Delpit. “So now, charter schools are not meant to contribute to regular public school education but to put it out of business.”
She also shares the skepticism of many posters on the blog toward the big money pouring into education by what she describes as “the antidemocratic forces of extreme wealth.”
Delpit laments the power now exerted on policy by the Broad, Gates and Walton foundations. “Thus, educational policy has been virtually hijacked by the wealthiest citizens, whom no one elected and who are unlikely ever to have had a child in the public schools. I am angry that with all of the corporate and taxpayers’ money that is flowing into education, little-to-none is going to those valiant souls who have toiled in urban educational settings for many years with proven track records.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
(All comments posted to this blog will go into moderation and require my approval to post.)
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211 comments Add your comment
mountain man
February 12th, 2012
9:39 am
So I gather that white Teach For America teachers hould not teach in majority black schools – according to Delpit. So where is the racism?
Beverly Fraud
February 12th, 2012
9:50 am
“She argues that the academic struggles of black students — despite reforms created to help them, including the No Child Left Behind Act — are due in part to the perception that these children cannot excel because the obstacles in their lives cannot be overcome.”
Is it not fair to ask if some of those who held the “perception that these children cannot excel” in Atlanta where Beverly Hall, Kathy Augustine and the Executive Directors who ended up resorting to cheating and turning a deaf ear to the knowledge of cheating?
Yet aren’t these are THE very same people who tried to excuse THEIR cheating by saying “some people don’t believe that poor minority children can learn”?
And if the preceding two questions are indeed legitimate, can we have an honest conversation about the fact that the “perceptions” about poor minority students appear to cross ALL racial lines?
Maybe if these people TRULY believed in poor minority students, they would RESTORE THE DISCIPLINE. The funny thing is, many of those who DO believe in the students advocate for RESTORING DISCIPLINE in the belief that these students would respond positively to STRUCTURE and DISCIPLINE and thus be prepared to rise above their circumstances into something better.
Too bad the people who were so quick to play the race card, appear to have their OWN ISSUES when it comes to their belief in poor, minority children.
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
9:54 am
racism is such an overused word it has totally lost any meaning it used to have. 20 years ago the mere implication (justified or not) would destroy a person. today most people no longer care because most people know its a relexive claim used when the accuser has no real case.
mountain man
February 12th, 2012
9:55 am
Simple experiment to prove Delpit’s theory that TEACHERS made the difference between those two schools a mile apart: switch the students. If the teachers are solely the difference, then you will ee a reversal of the cores. I doubt that teachers are the full reason.
Dr. Proud Black Man
February 12th, 2012
9:59 am
Let me get inmy 2 cents worth before the discipline and I.Q. Crowd swamp this thread:
“They attend desultory schools where worksheets and seat work are standard, where teachers seldom leave their own chairs to teach and where few probing question are ever asked.”
“We are making school less interesting and expecting students to learn more and it just doesn’t work that way,” she says. “There is little tolerance for difference, for creativity, or for challenge.”
That’s about it. R.I.P. Whitney!
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:04 am
this whole tantrum is little moer than an I don’t like rich people – especially white ones. the author would serve “her community” better by taking a hard, honest look at it.
I work at a mostly black college and know from first hand experience that motivated black kids can accomplish damn near anything
-just like white, asian, gay or whatever kids can. imagine.-
more than that, there are a whole hell of a lot of people, and a large bunch of them are white, who will bend over backwards to help these black kids if they want it.
lets be really blunt here: the school systems most in disarray are the mostly black systems run by mostly black administrators.
last I looked Beverly Hall ain’t white
what’s that expression: physician, heal thyself?
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:07 am
somebody get back to me when the black community puts as much emphasis on Neil Tyson or Ron McNair as it does Carmello Anthony or 2pac
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:09 am
brutal fact of the day #1:
societally we have tossed billions into the rat hole of inner city education. and for reasons fair and fowl it has not made any freaking
difference
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:12 am
brutal fact of the day #2:
until the black community values education more that it does now,
spending money on educating a sub culture which doesn’t want it is
a luxury we can’t afford anymore
Maureen Downey
February 12th, 2012
10:14 am
@Bootney, Get back to me when the white community puts as much emphasis on Sally Ride and Helen M. Free as it does on Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian
Maureen
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:17 am
brutal fact of the day #3:
one of the reasons that the tired old saw of “racism” doesn’t work
is because more and more our increasinly diverse society has people
of all colors making it, getting educations, and as best as anyone
can in this economy making it work.
every sucessful latino, asian, african in this nation makes a mockery of this “we can’t succeed” crap
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:25 am
and for the record….
I’ve said here REPEATEDLY that the idiots who run this state
–mostly white, just to be clear, and the idiot voters in this state,
again, mostly white, to be clear –
are far more interested in UGA’s defensive line coaches sock drawer than they are in education.
you’re allegedly a journalist – look it up
Midway
February 12th, 2012
10:30 am
Wow, who would have guessed that racism is the reason for the declining test scores in DeKalb County? DeKalb schools have been run by blacks for years now, school board, superintendent, teachers, support staff.
Maureen how about a follow up story on black against black racism in the DeKalb County School system? Sounds like a pretty big problem.
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:36 am
evre heard of the LSPSAMP (Louis Stokes Peach State Alliance for Minority Participation) initative?
hundreds of dedicated, driven, hardworking educators of all races going above and beyond to help educate, motive, and promote the incredible work of mostly black students in science and technology
yet another hole is the authors stupid premise
A Black parent.
February 12th, 2012
10:37 am
As much as I hate to,but I totally agree with Bootney. I had a teacher tell me that he didn’t want me to sit in on his class,to observe my son,because he didn’t want me watching him.
Maureen Downey
February 12th, 2012
10:40 am
@Midway, Dr. Delpit isn’t saying that the solution is black leadership or black teachers. She would argue that the solution is leadership and teachers who believe that black children can succeed, whether those educators are black, white or plaid.
I wish folks would talk about a point that I have brought up in the past and that is central to Dr. Delpit’s book:
If poverty and culture are insurmountable, as some posters here contend, then why are some schools succeeding despite facing those obstacles?
Either it can’t be done or it can be done.
Since it is being done, why don’t we talk about how it is being done.
I don’t think every teacher or principal is capable of producing high achievement in kids who bring these daunting obstacles with them to the classroom. But clearly, some are.
We need to know more about how they do it. We need to both celebrate it and replicate it.
Maureen
teachertoo
February 12th, 2012
10:46 am
Preparing students for tests is not teaching. Encouraging children to work hard, find the joy in learning and exploring our world ..that is what teaching is. Take the slogans out of schools, put community back in. Some children do come to school with a deficit in vocabulary, do you know what teaches vocabulary? Books and conversation. Worksheets do not encourage conversation, neither do tests with bubbles.
M'Karyl
February 12th, 2012
10:47 am
@Maureen…thank you for your interjected comments…but really now…do you think that these ppl care what the point is to this article…no, they just need to vent some of their White Supremist rhetoric, ignorance and such…nothing new…really…what was foul yesterday is still foul today…lol
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:48 am
I’ve said it before here, I’ll say it yet again. I see really incredible things being done by motivated, supported black kids DAILY.
it all depends on desire, support, and determination.
regardless of race, regardless or class, regardless of culture
Coach
February 12th, 2012
10:54 am
“There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well.” -B.T.W.
Black people are far from the only group that experiences this same growing educational phenomenon. Add the schools in Polk County also or in hundreds of rural or under-educated White and Hispanic communities across the United States. This is another non-race issue used in the wrong context by someone trying to promote the “someone who looks like them” attitude. Did she really say that?? Nobody else of different pigment could get away with that. Was Ron Clark Black?
This is Mrs.Norman Maine
February 12th, 2012
10:55 am
I am not surprised that many here miss the point. Delpit makes a good argument. My children attend schools in Dekalb county where most (if not all) the teachers and administrators are Black. Children are lumped into different teams based on their academic ability which is apparently determine by the CRCT. My son who is not a good test taker scores on the lower end and he is placed accordingly. I have been shocked by the malaise exhibited by his teachers as for a good part of the year, he is taught to that stupid test. Once he left the the theme school he attended while he was in elementary, the amount and complexity of his homework and school assignments slacked off tremendously. Apparently his teachers have decided that he is not worth teaching all because he did not do well on some asinine test. I am forced to supplement his education with reading, museums and other educational activities as they have abdicated their duties and abandoned his education. I will not allow this to happen for my son. He’s going to learn despite them. If you extrapolate what is happening to my son in Dekalb county and apply it to schools all over the country, and the author’s point is proven. I have no doubt that is exactly what is going on.
By the way, we are not poor we are solidly middle class. I say that to point out that economics is a factor but race is the defining issue. I know my son’s teachers would not be allowed to get away with their minimal effort if they were teaching in integrated schools.
Dr. Proud Black Man
February 12th, 2012
10:55 am
“I wish folks would talk about a point that I have brought up in the past and that is central to Dr. Delpit’s book:
If poverty and culture are insurmountable, as some posters here contend, then why are some schools succeeding despite facing those obstacles?”
Much easier to throw out the usual stereotypical assumptions.
cgatlanta
February 12th, 2012
10:56 am
Identifying the problem is easy. If the parents value education, the children will learn (whether the parents are smart or not). If the parents view education as acting a certain color, or their jealous, or they just don’t care, then it will never work.
Simple.
white teacher / black students
February 12th, 2012
10:56 am
Part of the problem is that some black educators and parents feel it is necessary for black children to be taught by black teachers. In black districts like APS, many of the schools are staffed almost entirely by black teachers that are abusive and incompetent. It is in the black teachers’ classrooms that I hear teachers belittling the children with a constant barrage of negativity. Many of these teachers do not speak with proper grammar themselves, despite APS’ standards that specifically state teachers should communicate in standard English! I say it is the quality of the teacher or school that matters – not the racial make-up. If we are preparing children to live in a global society, we must let go of the race card and focus on education. Period. I am a white teacher in a mostly black school, and I love my kids as if they were my own!
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
10:58 am
brutal fact of the day #4
there is a large and growing culture on anti-achievement in this nation. it is not unique to any specific race or region.
this means white folks do it to
what tips the scales way against the tripe of the book/author is simple logic. more public money has been throw at the inner city (re: black) community) than at the poor white folks living in the mountains
this causes two unfortunate things for race baiters and the logic impaired.
1-it shines a really harsh light on the failings of the “inner city” community and the reasons why.
2-even if more whites are falling behind (and they probably are), since the population ratios are so different, it illustrates a LARGER percent of the “inner city” community is not being successful.
I realise by the books standards I may be being “racist” by applying logic to this, but …
its been 5 decades since we started throwing money into societal engineering, with nothing resembling an overall postive result.
Zooteacher
February 12th, 2012
11:05 am
@ A Black Parent. I am a secondary science teacher in the Muscogee County system. I would welcome a parent to sit in my classroom and observe their student and me. I can’t even get them to respond to e-mail’s or phone calls, let alone come to school for a conference concerning thier students progress.
liberalefty
February 12th, 2012
11:05 am
as a black lefty liberal, i find this article mostly bullpuckey…maybe i’m just tired of blaming all our ills on the “white boogeyman” instead of on the parents of these kids.But blaming whitey can be a lucrative business…
liberalefty
February 12th, 2012
11:07 am
i guess the parents of the kids get a pass…its racism because their child cant succeed
Sick of the Race Card
February 12th, 2012
11:07 am
First, I am black. But I am sick of the race card being pulled. Stop putting all the responsibility of education on the school, teachers, administrators etc… Where is the parent responsibility??? Yes, the teachers get paid to teach, but ultimately, it is the parent’s involvement in the childs education that reinforces what is being taught. For the students that are failing in these inner city schools, where is the parent involvement?? There is none because their priority is standing in line for umpteen hours to get the latest pair of Jordans instead of using that same time to help their kid read a book. My child is an A student. You know why, because my husband and I are involved in her education. Stop blaming everyone else for your childs failures if you were the one who failed them first.
“Excuses are tools incompetent individuals use to build monuments of nothingness and those that dwell on them are seldom good at anything”
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
11:08 am
I’m curious:
how does — what was that stupid thing M’Karyl said — “white supremist rhetoric” prevent black kids from studying at home, paying attention in class, or turning in their homework?
Parent Teacher
February 12th, 2012
11:11 am
I think the main problem that posters are having is that this started off saying “Racism.” This statement immediately puts people on the defensive.
I for one agree with many of bootney’s points. It is not racism to me as much as it is class warfare. Systems that are majority black often have administration that are also black both in the school and in the board offices. It can’t be racism if it is the same race inflicting the harm, or in this case propigating the idea that low income poverty stricken students can’t learn.
The arguement that it is racism to me is flawed. It is just as much black on black as it is white on black or any other race involved.
Lee
February 12th, 2012
11:13 am
Let’s see, you have black students sitting in a classroom with a black teacher in a school with black administrators which is a part of a school system run by even more black administrators which is governed by a black school board. But the reason the black kids are not learning is {{{RACISM}}}.
Give me a break.
Even in schools with mixed demographics, where the black kid is sitting in the same classroom with the same teacher using the same textbooks as the white and asian kids, they lag behind. Why is that?
The excuse du jour is socio-economics. This author brings up the old standby excuse – racism. Since she cannot find overt racism, the next big problem is [get ready for it] RACISM THAT YOU CANNOT SEE.
Yeah. That’s it. INVISIBLE RACISM!
ByteMe
February 12th, 2012
11:13 am
There’s a rule in software programming that goes like this: outstanding software programmers always create more/better code than average software programmers. Doesn’t matter the process (and in software, you have a lot of choices of processes to create code), what always matters is the individual programmer and great programmers produce great code faster than average programmers. I’ve been doing it for 30+ years and it was back when I started and it’s still true now.
From what I’ve seen, teaching is the same way: outstanding teachers get outstanding results from students, regardless of the processes around them. Average teachers get average results, poor teachers get poor results.
But hiring a teacher is very different from hiring a programmer. Programmers usually go through multiple interviews to get a job and competition for jobs is fierce because supply of talent is limited. Anyone want to claim public schools hire teachers the same way?
Maybe we need to re-think how we staff our schools. Figure out which teachers are “outstanding” and give them the biggest challenges.
Midway
February 12th, 2012
11:15 am
Maureen, I think my comment, “Maureen how about a follow up story on black against black racism in the DeKalb County School system?” still applies. For all the reasons you point out in your column.
How are things supposed to change? In DeKalb the new superintendent, Cheryl Atkinson, was totally raked over the coals by Steen Miles a local newspaper column a couple of weeks ago because Dr Atkinson has been trying to right the ship. You can’t change things in DeKalb unless you make some pretty drastic changes. Dr Atkinson seems to have some pretty good ideas that seem to fit model that your column suggests. Yet here we go already with the protection of the status quo.
Right now DeKalb school officials and county power brokers seem to be only interested in the power of their positions and not the responsibility.
How do you right the ship in DeKalb?
Zooteacher
February 12th, 2012
11:18 am
Any teacher who would tell you they don’t want you in thier classroom watching them, must have something to hide. Maybe they have blisters on thier butt from sitting at their desk to long and not actively engaging their students for learning.
confused
February 12th, 2012
11:19 am
Delpit’s claim that “… black and brown children don’t just learn from a teacher, they learn for a teacher. If they feel connected to a teacher, they are much more likely to learn” illustrates two problems. . 1) American public education lacks a clear understanding of its purpose. 2) Don’t treat students differently according to their race unless someone of that race deems this difference acceptable.
A teacher and a parent, I agree that we want students to connect with their teachers. Nevertheless, the connection cannot compensate for basic skills. And the idea that one teacher or each classroom teacher can teach life and academic skills (at least in the current classroom where the teacher is managing 20 different “learning styles” and processing the necessary paperwork to illustrate the appearance of teaching) is not only absurd but also detrimental to students’ success.
In Dekalb County, many students do see teachers, in-school administrators, and the infrequent central office administrator visitor” who look like them, share their backgrounds and know their culture.” How helpful has that been? Would be curious to hear Delpit’s analysis, especially since we have so many teachers and administrators with “advanced degrees of education.”
Parent Teacher
February 12th, 2012
11:19 am
I do think there is a point to be made about a cultural divide. It is difficult to make connections with students due to cultural differences. During training sessions we are often taught to be tolerant of others but what would be more useful is to learn how to relate to students and how to accept differences. Unfortunately this is one of those intangible areas that can’t be taught. Teachers don’t necessarily have to have cultural similarities but need to have common ground to build from. This is difficult to do and I have found that it works best when a teacher shows a genuine interest in students. For me it is difficult to connect with most of my students. I see 150+ students a day over 180 days, there just is not time to build connections that are meaningful with most of these students. But you do what you can for those who accept the help and those that fight you along the way you spend less energy on them. This is not to say that you don’t try but you just don’t have the energy or time for all of them.
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
11:22 am
@ Mrs. Norman
CRCT is among the stupidist things in existance. its purpose is to give some idiots at the capital some papers to push. any resemblence to educational value and CRCT is purely coincidential
depending on where you live, there are resources available to you to help overcome this. if all else fails, try contacting the TRIO program at Perimeter. they may know of resources the community at large doesn’t
I suspect your child will succeed since you are creating a supportive environment and are involved.
you can also explore the possibility your child may be slightly learning disabled (by “accepted standards” created by the same lack of brains who created CRCT) if so, ADA kicks in and you can demand a retest under more controlled circumstances
one thought – knowing the system as I do, it is entirely possible the teachers have been told to not “waste time” on him by an administrator going only on CRCT results.
Maureen Downey
February 12th, 2012
11:24 am
@MIDWAY, Self-preservation is the first reaction of most everyone in any system under siege or pressure. She will have to deal with that, but I think it is too early to judge Cheryl Atkinson.
I am less concerned with the central office staff in DeKalb than I am in the leadership of individual schools there. I hope she makes school-based leadership her priority. Certainly, she ought to dissolve redundant or unnecessary positions and look carefully at the family/friend hires over the years, but I think she has to reinvigorate her schools first. The school-to-school differences in DeKalb are stark, and I think it goes to leadership in the buildings.
(For the record, every school system has a history of hiring family and friends. I have visited many rural systems where three generations work for the district, which is often the county’s largest employer. And the hiring of family and friends has been a long tradition in DeKalb. It isn’t race at play. It’s human nature, which is why so many companies have nepotism policies.)
Maureen
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
11:26 am
@ Midway
the ship in DeKalb is the Titannic.
all the work in the world won’t save it – nor frankly, should it be.
the best possible result here is to let it sink and learn from its
many mistakes. then build a better ship
A teachers brother
February 12th, 2012
11:32 am
My sister teaches in Alabama where state law is that if a class is majority black then the pupil-teacher ratio cannot exceed 17-1. Still tough for the kids to learn though simply because of environment. Many of her kids don’t have a father in the home, come from backgrounds where there is physical, verbal, and the other kind of abuse which is the worst kind, and just plain bad situations. There’s no reading materials, no emphasis on doing homework, the parent never watches the news but instead gratuitous rap videos play all day.
From what I’ve seen most of the problem is the whole culture and value system of where they come from. They can still be motivated to excel and to achieve. But overcoming that cultural hindrance is the biggest hurdle. When a black kid is teased by other black kids for academic excellence, for (acting white) then you know you have a problem.
Another reason I believe it is cultural is by just taking a look at the amazing success of Asian kids in the inner city schools of LA and other places. Most of them go on to college but they excel in the same tough inner city schools that the black kids fail in.
The biggest problem black kids face is their own culture and values system. Black America has met the enemy. And it is staring back at them in the mirror.
bootney farnsworth
February 12th, 2012
11:33 am
brutal fact of the day #5:
education is the very last priority – if it is a priority at all- in the business of education.
professional education “administrators” couldn’t care less about the success of students, the ability/inability of faculty, and the impact they have on either.
from the board of regents down to elementary school prinicpals, they (as a whole) don’t give a damn. they are in it to build bogus numbers so they can amass power and influence.
the only real difference between a crack dealer and a professional educational adminsitrator is the crack dealer is at least honest about
what he is and how much he really doesn’t care
Capsized in DeKalb
February 12th, 2012
11:34 am
Maureen,
“We need to know more about how they do it. We need to both celebrate it and replicate it.”
Why doesn’t Delpit explain the differences between the two schools in Baton Rouge? Why doesn’t she explain why on is successful and one is failing?
I agree with you, we need to focus on how they do it and replicate it!
Especially in DeKalb.
I am fine with nepotism if the relatives are fully QUALIFIED for their positions. The problem with our failings in DeKalb is that the family members are NOT qualified to run entire departments of the school system. Try having an intelligent rationale conversation with a top ranking administrator who has risen through the school system based on the family relations and NOT their accomplishments.
It’s a sad story.
On a more current subject, try asking Rep. Howard Mosby WHY he has submitted a map for redistricted school board districts?
Because its fair? Because its the law? Unintended consequences?
Rep. Mosby, try creating a map that makes sense for the students of DeKalb and not a map that makes sense for the board members.
South Fulton Teacher
February 12th, 2012
11:37 am
I am a white and have taught in South Fulton for 15 years. I agree with Delpit’s general assertion regarding racism. However, I have observed fair more black on black racism than racism connected to whites and other ethnicities. I believe this to be an extension of classism. I have had many black students that had a deeper connection to me than the had to any black teacher. To that end, I also agree with Delpit about culture. While I do not share my student’s culture, I do make an onging, open attempt to understand their culture – and they know that I am always trying to understand them. It is a shame that adults have to “run” education.
resno2
February 12th, 2012
11:39 am
“Excuses are tools incompetent individuals use to build monuments of nothingness and those that dwell on them are seldom good at anything”
I don’t know who originally said this, but if our leaders, from the White House down to the city level has this little note of brilliance posted above their office doors there might be a whole lot more accomplished in this world.
teacher teacher
February 12th, 2012
11:39 am
I have heard this story before where one inner school is successful while another one in the same neighborhood is not. What they don’t tell you is that the one that is successful only takes the best students from that area, no behavior or chronic behavior problem students, and possibly not even special ed. students. This is like comparing apple and oranges as they say. I would be willing to bet that this school was completely set up different. Of course, this would not be said.
There is no one cure all for public school success, but there is no way that public schools can be successful until there is discipline back in the classrooms. On top of that, parents need to be held more accountable for their child’s behavior and effort in school. Parents that are, no matter what race, have children that are a lot more successful.
A teachers brother
February 12th, 2012
11:39 am
They can’t overcome the culture. When you come from a subculture that doesn’t value education and where there are no reading materials, rap videos instead of the news are what’s on tv, the parent doesn’t care if homework gets done, no newspapers, no books, and usually only a single mom in the home then your odds of success are greatly diminished.
Prof
February 12th, 2012
11:49 am
Where does Dr. Delpit write that it is white teachers who assume poor black children cannot perform well? I don’t see the word “white” used by her at all. Rather she is arguing that this is too commonly an assumption that all teachers make, whatever their race.
One sees what she means at once by remembering our own local APS debacle. Here the teachers –most often black– who enabled the student cheating apparently did so because they believed it was the only way that the children–poor and black– could pass the tests. The AJC reported one black teacher as saying: “They’re all as dumb as dirt.”
Racist beliefs about black children can be held by black folks as well as by white folks, I believe to be Dr. Delpit’s point.
liberalefty
February 12th, 2012
11:59 am
if the 2 schools in BATON ROUGE are seperated by a mile yet one is successful and one is failing, why didnt the article state the reasons for the disparity?
liberalefty
February 12th, 2012
12:07 pm
bad inattentive kids make learning more difficult…