Posted on 02/19/2009 5:17:41 PM PST by reaganaut1
For decades, high-school students have taken community-college courses to dress up their resumes and prepare for college.
Now, competitive middle-schoolers in Florida are flocking to sign up for high-school classes.
For parents and students, it's a great chance to get ahead. And school districts have something else to brag about: seventh- and eighth-graders completing courses such as Algebra II Honors and biology that had been reserved primarily for ninth- and 10th-graders.
But the nation's foremost scholars in middle-school education are worried the fast-growing trend is leaving minority children behind. They also question whether the practice is legal because, nationwide, it has tended to result in students being segregated by race.
In Florida, high-school-level classes at middle schools are filled mostly with white kids. That's the case even at some schools where most of the kids are black or Hispanic, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis of public records from the Florida Department of Education and school districts.
The trend has sparked a lively debate nationwide between those who say middle-school students aren't ready to be treated like high-school students and those arguing that the brightest children shouldn't be held back because minorities aren't signing up for certain courses.
...
Though officials at the federal Office of Civil Rights wouldn't speculate about whether local schools have broken any rules, some of the country's leading scholars say it could be just a matter of time before such disparities trigger an investigation.
Orange County officials said they monitor the diversity of their advanced classes and want their racial makeup to mirror the student body as a whole. But many minorities aren't choosing the high-school classes -- a situation that should change as more kids learn about the program, said Dianne Lovett, the school district's senior director for advanced studies.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Ooooooh! That is good!
Show me the law that says minority students aren’t allowed to do this. No law? Then what’s stopping them? They’re perfectly free to sign up for high school classes, too. No one is holding a gun to their collective heads and forcing them to stay out of the high schools or, indeed, to not study.
The black kids I see are just as smart as the white kids. The difference is the amount of time they spend applying seat of pants to seat of chair and cracking those books.
RACISTS!!
Thank heavens I was able to escape FL after a few years.
Look at the diversity of the NBA.
Regardless of “group differences in intelligence”, the sad fact is that all too many black students deride any black student who excels academically as “acting white”.
Such accusations are often accompanied by ostracism and eventually beatings or worse.
Hispanic students also do not respect members of their ethnic group who excel academically.
Sad, but true. They do it to themselves.
Having said the above, in no way do I support allowing any student into an advanced class if they can’t qualify.
Not only are such unqualified students taking up (and wasting) a place that should be filled with an intelligent and motivated student, but the unqualified student soon fails out of the advanced class.
Positioning a student for failure is a variety of sadism which I find abhorrent. I still believe most of America agrees with the above - unless they are some “race based activist”.
The black kids I see are just as smart as the white kids.
My black kids have been in these courses.one is taking her prenursing reqs b+ average
They aren’t being left behind, they are voluntarily choosing not to keep up. Why race to the finish line. It takes much less effort to just not ever finish.
The Messiah says laziness is ok. Being black and lazy is the American way. The field will be leveled by chopping off the legs of those who work.
Group differences in attitude is a big part of it.
Investigations? For what? Analytics of the dynamics of success?
Every miserable Liberal policican will give a minority 200% consideration if they show ANY promise...look at Obama, he and Michelle both were advanced due to AA programs, not achievement.
No matter how many trillions are spent in well-intended government programs, intellect cannot be purchased.
The Liberals read a study that nutrition is a key to success, so they provide free lunch and breakfast to lower-income kids...results....more food in the dumpster and test scores remain low.
You cannot trade cash for IQ, you can trade cash for drugs, sex or a candy bar, but not brains. Look at Pelosi, she has millions and she’s seems mildly retarded.
These gifted and talented programs were instigated by white liberals to have an excuse to remove their children from the company of blacks in public school classrooms.
Anyway, I still think if the Black students studied, more of them would get into the programs--regardless of difference in IQ. Studying. What a concept.
Something tells me that Asians aren’t among the minorities being “left behind.”
That was the wrong turn the country made in the 60s. When the civil rights legislation happened and the court cases, it all should have been limited to forcing an end to all race-discriminatory LAWS and ordinances and should have left private relations of all types alone. The minority folks would have come farther faster economically as discriminatory employers found their costs of doing business fatally higher than non-discriminatory employers, etc.Things would have sorted out much more smoothly and less rancorously. LBJ welfare, especially AFDC, together with the social, housing, and work discrimination laws went to maintain the black population at the bottom of the society. Sometimes I have thought that was the rationale behind AFDC.
if the opportunity is there, but the minority kids are not taking it, then don’t hold back the white kids. and don’t aggressively advertise to minority kids either. if your desire is equality, then advertise to all at the same level. anything else is a form of racism/favoritism
a saying i use to use seems to fit here:
“don’t limit me by YOUR limitations”
Maybe your black kids could have a word with my white kid about studying harder, LOL!
IIRC it's maybe a page or so. The lying RAT media made it sound like this was the theme of the book, but it isnt.
But the nation’s foremost scholars in middle-school education are worried the fast-growing trend is leaving minority children behind.
So instead of these minority children striving for a realistically achievable goal the lefty libs will take away the initiative of the students now presently using it. Easier to knock you down a few notches than expect or for that matter suggest they strive for this achievable goal.
I’m actually reading the Bell Curve right now, but I haven’t gotten to the part about race and IQ though.
the most important part of that book are the last two chapters on social policy. I hope you enjoy them and that they challenge you
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