'White flight' in Boulder

Rocky Mountain News ^ | 12/19/05 | Berny Morson

[winner3000]

One of the major problems I can see in the situation described by the article is Bilingual schools. They make integration into American life slower, and therefore are as counterproductive as welfare.

[stephenjohnbanker]

racism...........blah, blah blah, blah..................

[KellyAdmirer]

"Whites are disproportionately requesting open enrollment in schools with high test scores; Latinos are disproportionately requesting open enrollment in bilingual schools," Howe and Eisenhart wrote.

Well, it sounds like everyone has an agenda here, not just the "Anglo" families. If the Mexicans want integration, they can just start choosing schools without the bilingual curriculum. Maybe the MEXICANS are the racist ones, or maybe they should JUST LEARN ENGLISH.

Incidentally, for those unfamiliar with Colorado, the teachers' union urgently supported a referendum that passed recently that authorized bilingual education, so it is state law that it has to be available.

[Clioman]

"Is this the same Columbine where there was a shooting a few years ago?"

No. But be patient...

[Irene Adler]

"And just where in the nation do parents NOT have this latitude? DUH."

The right to do this without picking up and moving your residence to a new district is actually quite rare in the U.S. DUH.

[manwiththehands]

I used to live near and work in Boulder. I find this article fascinating only because I thought that just about everyone in Boulder was middle-class at worst. The entire town is stinkin' uppity and liberal.

[Ryan Spock]

"For a liberal community, we aren't looking so liberal in the white flight we've experienced from some schools in the last 10 years," says Phillips...

Au contrere! You are looking very liberal, Mr. Phillips. That is liberalism by definition. Liberals want one thing for themselves, and then preach to the "common man" about what he should be doing, which is quite different.

[MineralMan]

Named for the Columbine, a flower that grows in Colorado:

[MineralMan]

Also the state flower of Colorado.

[bordergal]

Hopefully that will now change with the new immigration legislation that passed in the House.

Sanctuary cities are about to see some consequences, and about time, too.

[MineralMan]

"Over half of the cheerleaders at my daughters school will not graduate this year because they are pregnant. All Mexican. "

And probably Roman Catholic. No abortions for these girls. It's another reason for the large families. We should be cheering.

[bordergal]

Not to mention test scores. Anyone can look at the California STAR test results online, the invariable result is that the higher the hispanic component of the student population, the lower the overall test scores.

[MineralMan]

"And just where in the nation do parents NOT have this latitude? DUH."

Uh, in a lot of places. Most cities do not have open enrollment like this. In many large school districts, the district decides which school children go to.

[Laserman]

You are joking, right?

[Polyxene]

More "do as I say, not as I do." Should be the dem/lib/socialist motto!

[GOP_Proud]

< "Any school worth its salt, with good teachers and good principals and good attitudes, can get these kids to achieve well," he says. >

Ummm, well, maybe. But while the kid that doesn't speak English very well gets extra effort by the teacher, a kid who speaks English twiddles his thumbs waiting for the other kid to catch up.

Bottom line: The lesson has to be dumbed-down to fit the non-English or little-English speaking kid afloat. The whites are not leaving because they're white and the kids are brown. They're leaving because their child's education is suffering due to the Hispanic child's lack of English skill.

[Cliff Dweller]

Aha! That explains it. Thanks for explaining it to the horticulturally challenged!

[OldFriend]

The fact that Colorado has school choice means that the schools are doing well. They have an incentive to keep students in their schools by providing a good education.

I suspect that the arrival of hispanic students means that the levels of achievement have deteriorated and this is the driving force behind the 'flight'.

It's not racist, it's making sure your child gets the best education possible.

[Laserman]

"ecause I thought that just about everyone in Boulder was middle-class at worst."

Actually, you are not far off. Boulder has one of the lowest minority populations of anywhere in Colorado. As one who lives in the county (but NEVER the city), I have watched as minorities are driven out by land use policies that force home prices through the roof. Also, the anti-chain mentality (snobbishness to the max) makes shopping in Boulder much more expensive.

It is not only the normal population that is this way either. The University has only a miniscule minority enrollment.

Basically, Boulder is a white elitist town with a "just for show" minority population living in subsidized "affordable" housing. "Five square miles surrounded by reality" is they way we like to put it.

[Buffettfan]

Home owners that pay property tax ares sick of paying to educate the kids of parents who have no business being in this damn country. Liberals love to blame everything on white racism.