Posted on 02/19/2023 6:13:03 AM PST by MtnClimber
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) — it’s the mantra repeated endlessly by virtually every significant institution in our country except, very recently, for the governments of a few red states. But with that sole exception, every institution you can think of, from universities, to major corporations, law firms, art museums, symphony orchestras, Hollywood, charitable NGOs, etc., etc., not to mention the federal government and all of the blue state governments — all of them are on fully on board. While the DEI concept might have a few nuances here and there, stripped to its basics it means one simple thing: we commit to having 13% or more of our high status positions (high paying jobs, executives, board of directors) be African Americans.
Let’s put aside for the moment whether such a commitment can be accomplished consistent with the law prohibiting discrimination in employment, and consider an even more basic question: Is it even physically possible for every significant institution in the country to accomplish this result at the same time? Where are the people going to come from to fill all the positions?
The problem is that there is a fundamental disconnect between two main planks in the progressive platform for our utopian future. In that platform, DEI is plank A. But plank B is that the black children must be forced to attend failing Democrat-run unionized public schools in big cities.
This disconnect sprang onto the front pages in the past few days when something called Project Baltimore analyzed some data from the Maryland Department of Education, and reported that there were 23 schools in the Baltimore City district where not a single student tested at the “proficient” level on the state math exam. From the Daily Caller, February 10:
In 23 Baltimore City Schools, zero students tested proficient in math in 2022, according to a report by Project Baltimore. Through an analysis of 150 Baltimore City Schools, 23 of them, including 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three high schools and two middle schools, no students met math grade-level expectations, according to a report by Project Baltimore.
And it wasn’t just that 23 schools had not a single student testing proficient in math. More generally, only about 7% of the students from all of the schools met state math proficiency standards:
Approximately 7% of third through eighth graders at Baltimore City School met grade level expectations in Math in 2022, according to the Maryland State Department of Education.
And the results in reading were not much better. In many articles that I have found discussing this subject, absolutely nobody dares mention the race of the students. But here is a racial breakdown on the Baltimore City public schools from U.S. News: 75.7% black, 14.2% Hispanic, 7.5% white, and a tiny smattering of others. It’s completely obvious from the data that the Baltimore City schools are completely failing to get the black kids to learn basic reading and arithmetic.
Is it just Baltimore? Absolutely not. Throughout the country, the African American kids are heavily concentrated in Democrat-run cities with unionized public schools, and in every single case the schools are failing to teach the kids. Consider just a few examples:
- Detroit. From Public School Review, September 15, 2022: “Detroit Schools: District Is Failing Its Students According To Test Scores. Dismal test scores have been released for Detroit public schools. The numbers show that not only are few Detroit students considered proficient in math and reading, but the improvement has also been nearly non-existent over the past decade in the city. . . . CNS News reports that according to the U.S. Department of Education, only seven percent of the eighth-graders in Detroit are considered proficient in reading. This figure comes from recent scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test from 2011. To make matters worse, math scores for Detroit were even lower, with just four percent of Detroit eighth-graders scoring proficient on the national math examinations.” Detroit public school enrolment is 82% black, 13.6% Hispanic, and 2.4% white, with a handful of others.
- Chicago. From the Daily Caller, February 14, 2023: “In 55 Chicago Public Schools, not one student met grade level expectations in either math or reading during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a Wirepoints report. Out of 649 Chicago Public Schools, 22 schools have zero students who met grade level expectations for reading while no students were proficient in math in 33 schools during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a Wirepoints report.” Chicago schools are 35.8% black, 46.5% Hispanic, and 11% white.
You can check out the data for essentially any big city school system, and the results will be the same.
In its article on Chicago, the Daily Caller found a comment from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. She came up with the preposterous explanation of “Covid”:
“The bottom line is everyone suffered in the pandemic.. because of the pandemic,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in October. “The disruption was everywhere, and it was bad regardless of whether schools were remote or in person. We are focused now on the urgent need to help kids recover and thrive.”
As long as these schools are the only option for most black kids, the odds that thousands of institutions professing their deep commitments to DEI can all meet their goals at the same time are about zero.
Low IQ can be a problem. Bad parenting can be a problem. Bad schools can be a problem. But, when you have large cities where all three are the norm then all the DIE in the world won’t fix it.
No matter because it’s all a scam to begin with. They will give them the job with the titles and the money. But they will be the equivalent of No-Show jobs. Or jobs where you “work” from home. No one will assess their output. Any meaningful work that needs to be done will be done by other people (of other races). If they can’t find enough qualified people to fill the jobs, then they will just drop all the educational requirements.
In summary, they will just create Do-Nothing jobs. It is the equivalent of a corporate tax that will be passed on to the rest of us to pay.
“Low IQ can be a problem. Bad parenting can be a problem. Bad schools can be a problem.”
As I’ve noted before on the IQ side - yes, there is the Bell Curve. But there is also a left side of the Bell Curve and I’ve worked with a number of blacks that can easily hold their ground against the non-blacks I’ve worked with. In order to blame the Bell Curve for 23 SCHOOLS failing to provide one student who meets math standards only makes sense if there’s no more than about 6 students in each school, since any higher count would result in at least one kid being smart enough to at leader meet our already-meager standards. So toss that one out.
As to parenting - there are many thousands (probably millions) of success stories of immigrants who come here, don’t speak a word of English, and then watch their kids graduate from top universities. So unless black parents are actively telling their kids to fail, I’d rule that out too, since immigrants have proven that parents are NOT required for success in school - at least given the times and places they were educated.
Finally it’s the schools...and that is the answer. If the schools do not want the kids to get an education, and the parents are unable to help - guess what, there’s no one left, even for those on the left side of the Bell Curve.
Which leads to one final question, which most other parents, even conservatives, conveniently ignore, since public schools are FREE, after all: Considering that the people running Baltimore Schools, who we know hate us, also run our public schools, what exactly, are they doing to our children in our schools, our ‘wonderful’ public schools???
It’s a rhetorical question since the answer DOES NOT MATTER, as long as the schools stay ‘free’. Right?
I believe more male teachers would cause a complete change.
My male teachers were far superior to any of my female teachers...except for 1...my Latin teacher....a brilliant gem!!
They will give them the job with the titles and the money. But they will be the equivalent of No-Show jobs...they will just create Do-Nothing jobs. It is the equivalent of a corporate tax that will be passed on to the rest of us to pay.That's exactly how this will play out. Anybody that's been in business a while knows of people that you can't get rid of for one reason or another who got shuffled off into a no-work, low-expectations position.
The problem is that they are now determined to put the under-skilled DIE hires in the cockpit of the next jet liner you climb aboard. The news lately says they will put the low-fitness DIE hires into the firefighter corps and the Navy. Let's hope we don't need rescue from a burning building or a strong national defense.
collectivism and group warfare, + guarantee of equality of outcomes + reverse racism + government interventionism + excessive regulations = inefficiencies + higher costs + decreased innovation = decreased prosperity and increased misery and suffering
>>In summary, they will just create Do-Nothing jobs.<<
It will be far worse than that. The real purpose of this is to give black activists an income so that they can be full time activists.
It’s the right hand side of the bell curve that is the high iq side
“It’s the right hand side of the bell curve that is the high iq side”
Daaaa!!! I guess I’m on the Left Side then. Thanks!
Not so fast. Higher IQ students tend to come from higher IQ parents, who would chose not to live in Baltimore or Chicago, or, if they do, have higher paying jobs that allow them to send their children to private schools. Thus the use of 1 in 6 students (equivalent to 16% of the population with an IQ above 115) is not likely to represent the IQ distribution of Baltimore or Chicago public schools.
However, with the total school population in Baltimore or Chicago, the claim that there would be at least one student meeting the reading or math standard is a reasonable point.
Also, since the Bell Curve IQ distribution applies to parents, bad or lack of parenting skills could be compounding the effect of the student IQ distribution.
Finally, the Bell Curve IQ distribution also applies to public school teachers, and given the conditions in Baltimore and Chicago, are not likely to fit the normal IQ distribution.
Compounding all of this is the type of political and social culture that exists in Baltimore and Chicago.
It is probable that all of these combine to result in the failure of students in these schools to meet minimum standards.
Defund public schools!
We have to burn the village to save it.
I agree with your evaluation. In my career as an engineer I worked with several black engineers who were very smart and were great to work with. But, their parents were also professionals so they did not grow up in the ghettos with the social pressures and poor schools. And they tended to have two-parent households.
Hence the push to develop AI. They will just watch the AI do its job and press a button if it goes off the rails (as it were).
The real purpose of this is to give black activists an income so that they can be full time activists.
And ESPECIALLY the DMV. Aargh!!!
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