This Raging Fire

New York Times ^ | November 15, 2010 | BOB HERBERT

[Second Amendment First]

*

Now comes a report from the Council of the Great City Schools that ought to grab the attention of anyone who cares about black youngsters, starting with those parents who have shortchanged their children on a scale so monstrous that it is difficult to fully grasp.

The report, titled “A Call for Change,” begins by saying that “the nation’s young black males are in a state of crisis” and describes their condition as “a national catastrophe.” It tells us that black males remain far behind their schoolmates in academic achievement and that they drop out of school at nearly twice the rate of whites.

Black children — boys and girls — are three times more likely to live in single-parent households than white children and twice as likely to live in a home where no parent has full-time or year-round employment.

*

The terrible economic downturn made it more difficult to douse this raging fire that is consuming the life prospects of so many young blacks, and the growing sentiment in Washington is to do even less to help any Americans in need. It is inconceivable in this atmosphere that blacks themselves will not mobilize in a major way to save these young people. I see no other alternative.

The first and most important step would be a major effort to begin knitting the black family back together. There is no way to overstate the myriad risks faced by children whose parents have effectively abandoned them. It’s the family that protects the child against ignorance and physical harm, that offers emotional security and the foundation for a strong sense of self, that enables a child to believe — truly — that wonderful things are possible.

All of that is missing in the lives of too many black children.

[Second Amendment First]

Black children can’t wait for Washington to get its act together. They don’t have time to wait for the economy to improve. They need mom and dad and the larger community to act now, to do the right thing without delay.

This is not a fight only for blacks. All allies are welcome. But the cultural imperative lies overwhelmingly with the black community itself.

Mr. Herbert, I would like to consider myself an ally, but please don't start bringing in the racist rhetoric.

Why doesn't the "community" start encouraging the young people to go to school to actually learn something like skills in mathematics and science and literate English, rather than hanging out trash talking and thinking the only way out is through drug dealing or some sport involving a ball.

Cultural change comes hard, and takes a long time, but nothing short of a profound cultural change is essential. Let the message go out that walking down the aisle carries with it great responsibilities but can also be great fun, and watching your kid graduate with honors is a blast.

Unless it is a dumbed down affirmative action honors that wouldn't mean squat in a Chinese or Indian school.

Unfortunately, the current President does not set a good example. Harvard Law Review editor who never wrote an article published in it. Junior senator who never voted anything other than present. Newly elected president awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Herbert, try to hold your children to a higher standard. That would be a good start.

I would dearly love to see your children succeed. It would be a great benefit to this nation we share. Please don't sell them cheap.

[wintertime]

ping for later.

[sargon]

The first and most important step would be a major effort to begin knitting the black family back together.

Whenever someone speaks out about this, they're either called racist if they're not black, or Uncle Tom or some such if they are black (e.g. Bill Cosby)

Until black leaders from ALL sides of the political spectrum are willing to stand up and admit that this is a problem which is caused by their own culture of irresponsibility, this problem will only become worse.

I am thankful people like Bill Cosby have spoken out, despite withering criticism from people of his own race. But it will take many others, and it needs to be primarily from black leaders, because of the fact that when it comes from non-blacks, "racism" is always the knee-jerk cry...

[April Lexington]

I smell another trillion dollar Federal program in the wind... How many zillions have we spent on black education since 1964? What have we gotten for the money? How much more dhimitude from white America? Where does this all lead? Like Irish bank debt... what if we just let it default?

[April Lexington]

What if we just throw them all out of schools and let the natural culture emerge? Would we be any worse off?

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

“The first and most important step would be a major effort to begin knitting the black family back together. There is no way to overstate the myriad risks faced by children whose parents have effectively abandoned them. It’s the family that protects the child against ignorance and physical harm, that offers emotional security and the foundation for a strong sense of self, that enables a child to believe — truly — that wonderful things are possible.”

And government will achieve this end...how? How will government propose to make the black family stronger?

[Second Amendment First]

The most ironic part is that during the period of slavery, some of the people would gather behind the barn or whatever, to use sticks in the dirt to learn to read, and they did this knowing that if caught, they would be whipped.

I wonder what they would think of this generation that given all the opportunities, squander it all.

[kelly4c]

I don’t think there’s anything that WE can do. Aside from really getting tough on gangs and gang violence in the schools and on the streets. Can’t change the culture, it runs its natural course.

[oldenuff2no]

I've seen all this information before and have trouble reading it again. Somewhere in all of this it will always become the white mans fault.
I would be banned if I said what I really want to say. I'll just state that no friend or family member of mine was born with a silver spoon in their mouth and no one held their hands and led them to success. They did not have a free ride and most spent years paying off student loans after graduating from college. No one made life or the education process easy for them. The put forth the effort to succeed and they did. They didn't get any special breaks or a “head of the line pass”. No preferential treatment of any kind in any way. I come from a multiracial family with friends of every color and background. I'm pretty sick and tired of people sitting on their behinds and being professional victims at others expense.

[Second Amendment First]

No, there isn’t anything we can do. As a white person, my opinion is worth nothing, as a taxpayer my dollars are never enough, and as a citizen I am vilified as a right wing extremest.

[jessduntno]

“How many zillions have we spent on black education since 1964?”

And to what effect? The black middle class is gone, the percentage of fatherless homes at 70% and the uneducated have never been higher and the leading cause of death among black males is black males ... worst of all ... they vote 95% Democrat. Talk about twisted.

[denydenydeny]

There is no way to overstate the myriad risks faced by children whose parents have effectively abandoned them.

Does Mr. Herbert realize that in his portrait of these damaged, broken children, he is describing a certain elected official we all know?

[Bon mots]

The elephant in the corner:

---

IQ and the Wealth of Nations

From Wikipedia

Country	IQ (2002)	IQ (2006)	PPP-GNI per capita 2002	QHC
Hong Kong	107	108	27,490	60.8
Singapore	103	108	23,730	60.7
North Korea	105*	106*	1,000	38
South Korea	106	106	16,960	75.4
Japan	105	105	27,380	71.4
People's Republic of China	100	105	4,520	39.7
Republic of China	104	105	23,400	79.4
Italy	102	102	26,170	78.9
Iceland	98*	101	29,240	80
Mongolia	98*	101*	1,710	48.1
Switzerland	101	101	31,840	82.2
Austria	102	100	28,910	80.7
Luxembourg	101*	100*	53,230	76.4
Netherlands	102	100	28,350	82.8
Norway	98	100	36,690	89
United Kingdom	100	100	26,580	76.7
Belgium	100	99	28,130	84.1
Canada	97	99	28,930	77.8
Estonia	97*	99	11,630	64.5
Finland	97	99	26,160	85.1
Germany	102	99	26,980	78
New Zealand	100	99	20,550	76.2
Poland	99	99	10,450	62.7
Sweden	101	99	25,820	82.9
Andorra	N/A	98*	19,000	58.7
Australia	98	98	27,440	82.8
Czech Republic	97	98	14,920	64.5
Denmark	98	98	30,600	85.4
France	98	98	27,040	78.1
Hungary	99	98	13,070	64.1
Latvia	97*	98*	9,190	65.5
Spain	99	98	21,910	75.8
United States	98	98	36,120	86.6
Belarus	96*	97*	5,500	57.2
Malta	95*	97	17,710	66.4
Russia	96	97	8,080	64.5
Ukraine	96*	97*	4,800	61.8
Moldova	95*	96*	1,600	46.2
Slovakia	96	96	12,590	63.2
Slovenia	95	96	18,480	72.4
Uruguay	96	96	7,710	64
Israel	94	95	19,000	75.3
Portugal	95	95	17,820	67
Armenia	93*	94*	3,230	50.2
Georgia	93*	94*	2,270	51.2
Kazakhstan	93*	94*	5,630	49
Romania	94	94	6,490	53
Vietnam	96*	94	2,300	39.5
Argentina	96	93	10,190	64.7
Bulgaria	93	93	7,030	59.1
Greece	92	92	18,770	76.1
Malaysia	92	92	29,570	78.5
Republic of Ireland	93	92	8,500	52.1
Brunei	92*	91*	19,210	50.8
Cambodia	89*	91*	1,970	28.6
Cyprus	92*	91*	18,650	67.6
Lithuania	97*	91	10,190	65.4
Republic of Macedonia	93*	91*	6,420	54.4
Thailand	91	91	6,890	50.3
Albania	90*	90*	4,960	51.2
Bermuda	N/A	90	36,000	75.8
Bosnia and Herzegovina	N/A	90*	5,800	51.4
Chile	93*	90	9,420	59.5
Croatia	90	90	10,000	61.7
Kyrgyzstan	87*	90*	1,560	48.1
Turkey	90	90	6,300	50.2
Cook Islands	N/A	89	5,000	45.7
Costa Rica	91*	89*	8,650	53.7
Laos	89*	89	1,660	24.9
Mauritius	81*	89	10,820	52.2
Serbia	93*	89	2,300	53.8
Suriname	89	89	6,590	50.6
Ecuador	80	88	3,340	47.4
Mexico	87	88	8,800	52.9
Samoa	87	88	5,570	49.7
Azerbaijan	87*	87*	3,010	47.2
Bolivia	85*	87	2,390	49.7
Brazil	87	87	7,450	51.1
East Timor	N/A	87*	3,940	46.7
Guyana	84*	87*	3,070	40.2
Indonesia	89	87	1,600	28.1
Iraq	87	87	1,027	30.7
Myanmar	86*	87*	930	42.4
Tajikistan	87*	87*	1,640	27.5
Turkmenistan	87*	87*	4,780	41.7
Uzbekistan	87*	87*	1,640	39.4
Kuwait	83*	86	17,780	49.9
Philippines	86	86	4,450	51.6
Seychelles	81*	86*	18,232	60.6
Tonga	87	86	6,820	40.5
Cuba	85	85	5,259	46.2
Fiji	84	85	5,330	51.9
Kiribati	84*	85*	800	37.1
New Caledonia	N/A	85	21,960	54.9
Peru	90	85	4,880	49.2
Trinidad and Tobago	80*	85*	9,000	52
Yemen	83*	85	800	24.5
Afghanistan	83*	84*	700	13.2
Belize	83*	84*	15,960	56.1
Colombia	88	84	5,490	44.2
Federated States of Micronesia	84*	84*	6,150	48.4
Iran	84	84	6,690	40.2
Jordan	87*	84	4,180	43.4
Marshall Islands	84	84	1,600	44.2
Morocco	85	84	2,000	39.9
Pakistan	81*	84	3,730	31.7
Panama	84*	84*	1,960	26.2
Paraguay	85*	84	6,060	56.6
Puerto Rico	84	84	4,590	45.2
Saudi Arabia	83*	84*	15,800	63.6
Solomon Islands	84*	84*	12,660	44.1
The Bahamas	78*	84*	1,590	41.5
United Arab Emirates	83*	84*	24,030	48.8
Vanuatu	84*	84*	2,850	31.4
Venezuela	88*	84	5,220	47.4
Algeria	84*	83*	5,530	39.9
Bahrain	83*	83*	16,190	49.3
Libya	84*	83*	7,570	49.3
Oman	83*	83*	13,000	40.6
Papua New Guinea	84*	83	2,180	38.4
Syria	87*	83	34,700	38.9
Tunisia	84*	83*	6,440	40.6
Bangladesh	81*	82*	1,720	29.8
Dominican Republic	84*	82	6,270	46.8
India	81	82	2,650	36.3
Lebanon	86	82	4,600	55.8
Madagascar	79*	82	730	28.6
Egypt	83	81	3,810	37.3
Honduras	84*	81	2,540	41.9
Maldives	81*	81*	4,798	38.5
Nicaragua	84*	81*	2,350	41.3
Northern Mariana Islands	N/A	81	12,500	51.3
Barbados	78	80	14,660	60.9
Bhutan	78*	80*	1,969	24.1
El Salvador	84*	80*	4,790	42.6
Guatemala	79	79	4,040	34.6
Sri Lanka	81*	79	3,510	47.7
Nepal	78	78	1,370	26.9
Qatar	78	78	19,844	45.6
Comoros	79*	77*	1,640	24.6
Cape Verde	78*	76*	4,920	40.5
Mauritania	73*	76*	1,790	20.5
Uganda	73	73	1,360	25.4
Kenya	72	72	1,010	27.3
South Africa	72	72	9,810	38.3
Tanzania	72	72	580	23.2
Ghana	71	71	2,080	33.7
Grenada	75*	71*	6,600	45.3
Jamaica	72	71	3,680	46.5
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	75*	71	5,190	48.4
Sudan	72	71	1,740	24.6
Zambia	77	71	800	21.8
Antigua and Barbuda	75*	70*	10,390	53.2
Benin	69*	70*	1,060	20.5
Botswana	72*	70*	7,740	29.4
Namibia	72*	70*	6,880	31.1
Rwanda	70*	70*	1,260	18.5
Togo	69*	70*	1,450	26
Burundi	70*	69*	630	15.2
Côte d'Ivoire	71*	69*	1,450	18.1
Malawi	71*	69*	570	24.3
Mali	68*	69*	840	13.4
Niger	67*	69*	800	13.5
Nigeria	67	69	800	27.3
Angola	69*	68*	1,840	13.7
Burkina Faso	66*	68*	1,090	10.7
Chad	72*	68*	1,010	20.4
Djibouti	68*	68*	2,040	22
Eritrea	68*	68*	1,040	21.4
Somalia	68*	68*	500	15.2
Swaziland	72*	68*	4,730	22.2
Dominica	75*	67	4,960	48.8
Guinea	63	67	2,060	22.5
Guinea-Bissau	63*	67*	680	20.3
Haiti	72*	67*	1,610	20.4
Lesotho	72*	67*	2,970	24.3
Liberia	64*	67*	1,000	21.2
Saint Kitts and Nevis	75*	67*	10,750	45.5
São Tomé and Príncipe	59*	67*	1,317	37.9
Senegal	64*	66*	1,660	20.7
Gambia	64*	66*	1,540	21.3
Zimbabwe	66	66	2,180	25.2
Republic of the Congo	73	65	630	17.9
Cameroon	70*	64	1,910	23.1
Central African Republic	68*	64	1,170	19.1
Democratic Republic of the Congo	65	64	700	26.9
Ethiopia	63	64	780	16.7
Gabon	66*	64*	5,530	32.2
Mozambique	72*	64	990	18
Sierra Leone	64	64	500	13.8
Saint Lucia	75*	62	4,950	51.1
Equatorial Guinea	59	59	9,100	30.4

[Smokin' Joe]

What if we just throw them all out of schools and let the natural culture emerge?

This may not be popular, and it surely is not politically correct, but here goes.

When I as a youth went from a predominantly white school to what had been a nearly all black one as the school system where I grew up was integrated, the resounding complaint of the white teachers at the previously black school was that we white children were undisciplined, noisy, even rowdy.

Previously, the school had been a model of student conduct, strictly enforced, but now thrown into the cauldron of "racism" by the questions which arose from black teachers disciplining white kids, and white teachers disciplining black kids (bussed into what had been predominantly white schools), etc.

Being within 50 miles of the Federal Capital didn't help, as there was no shortage of "activists" around to take up the standard of any complaint.

The net effect was one of a loss of discipline, not just for blacks, but for whites as well, who claimed rights 'as equal' to any black miscreants whom the white teachers dared not discipline--or whom gutless white administrators let off the hook when black teachers tried to.

The very people who incited riots in the name of "equality" are responsible for the loss of standards for that generation and subsequent ones through the mindset that anyone who "acts too white" is an "Uncle Tom" or "Oreo".

The addition of drugs in mass quantities may have broken the backs of the riots (which were burning mostly black neighborhoods, anyway), but it broke the drive of generations while those who would profit off that continue to bleed their victims, the neighborhoods, and their people.

The race pimps of today claim that the wounds were inflicted from outside the black community, but in fact, the most grevious ones came from within, were enabled, even encouraged from within, and continue to be so.

When once George Washington Carver was held up as one to be emulated, now it is rappers and sports 'stars', few of whom really are worthwhile role models.

Unless and until the festering cultural carbuncle is dealt with, things just aren't going to improve except in the instance of those who break away or manage against peer pressure to hold dear the traditional values of family and expectations that their children will achieve.

Until the Socialist enablers step aside, regardless of their race, and let the community heal its own problems, it just won't happen.

This was and continues to be the result of an ongoing assault on the family by the Marxists who would replace the guidance of parents, grandparents, and God-Fearing clergy (not the likes of Rev. Wright) with the dominion of the State. They have lost control of their experiment, and now at best milk it for every dime they can while they abandon their own people to the maliase they have inflicted on them with their nonsense.

[kelly4c]

You nailed it. In a nutshell, that is the new reality. And to be honest, I’m getting so sick of the lack of common sense and ability of people to ignore the large pink elephant in the middle of the room and call themselves the enlightened ones.

[ari-freedom]

the first step is to read this book by Zig Engelmann:


"In the summer of 1966, the Anti-Defamation League expressed interest in making a film showing the achievements of the disadvantaged black preschoolers we had been working with at the University of Illinois. Two years earlier, these kids had been selected for the project as four-year olds on the basis that they came from homes that were judged particularly disadvantaged and nearly all of them had older siblings in classes for the mentally retarded. These kids came to our school half-days as four-year-olds and as five-year-olds.

The school, The Bereiter-Engelmann preschool, received a lot of bad press. It was called a pressure cooker. Sociolinguists took shots at it on the grounds that we ostensibly did not understand "black English," or even know the difference between "thinking and speaking."

Despite our alleged mental deficiencies, we managed to teach these kids more and make them smarter than anyboy else had done before or after. That was our goal, particularly with this first flight of kids--to set the limits to show what could be done. We felt that this demonstration was particularly important because Headstart was looming in the wings, and it was clearly moving in a direction of being nothing more than a front for public health, not a serious educational project. We saw this as a great contradiction because disadvantaged kids were behind their middle class peers in skills and knowledge.

We taught reading, language, and math to our preschoolers. And they learned these subjects. They also learned to learn well and therefore how to be smart. A film showing what these kids could do might moderate what seemed to be the inevitable mandate of the Office of Economic Opportunity to designate Headstart as a "social experience" based on the model of the middle-class nursery school. It seemed obvious that the model would not work.

We rounded up seven of the kids who were in our top group. (We grouped kids for instruction according to their performance.) They were in the middle of summer vacation, and we didn't have an opportunity to work with them before the film to "refresh" or rehearse them. A professor at the University of Illinois found out about the filming and asked if she could bring her class to view it. Why not?

So seven little black kids came into the classroom, sat in their chairs in front of the chalkboard with big bright lights shining on them, with two big cameras on tripods staring at them, and with a class of university students in the background. And these kids did it. There were no out takes, no cut sequences, nothing but the kids responding to problems that I presented, the types of problems I had taught them to work. These were not necessarily the problem types that one would present preschoolers as part of a 12 grade sequence, but they were good problems to show that these kids could learn at a greatly accelerated rate.

On the film, the kids worked problems of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and fractions. They worked problems in which they found the area of rectangles and problems in which they found the length of an unknown side of the rectangle (given the number of squares in the rectangle and the length of one side). They worked column-addition problems that required carrying and problems that did not require carrying. They even worked problems involving factoring expressions like 6A + 3B + 9C. And they used the appropriate wording: "Three times the quantity, 2A, plus 1B, plus 3C."

The kids told me how to work a simple algebra problem: "The man at the store tells you that 1/4 of a pie costs 5 cents. You want to buy the whole pie. How much is the whole pie?"

After telling me how to work the problem by multiplying the reciprocal of 1/4, I wrote the answer as $20. The kids jumped up to correct my sign error, one boy observed, "Wow, you have to pay that much for a pie?"

And the kids did dimensional analysis involving the equation: A + B = C. They told me how to rewrite the equation so it told what A equals (A = C - B), what B equals (B = C - A), and what C equals (C = A + B).

The last problem type I presented on the film was the simultaneous-equation problem:

A + B = 14
A - B = 0

They had worked on similar problems in which A and B were the same size (inferred from A - B = 0) and they quickly told me that the numbers were 7 and 7. There was still time left so I presented them with a brand new problem type:

A + B = 14
A - B = 2

I pointed out that when you start with A and minus B, you end up with 2. So A is bigger than B. They frowned, they thought; and finally the little girl sitting on the end of the group -- who is now an engineer -- said in a wee voice, "8 and 6." These were kids who had not yet entered first grade.

The film made no difference in deterring Headstart from becoming a program that produced no real gains. Nor did it give notice that failure with disadvantaged kids was a failure in instructional practices. We had shown , however, that all the disadvantaged black kids we worked with could learn to read and perform basic arithmetic operations in the preschool and that the average IQ gain of these kids was 24 points."

[ari-freedom]

“No one made life or the education process easy for them. The put forth the effort to succeed and they did.”

Effort is not enough. Kids need to be taught with methods that actually produce results.

[monocle]

The problem will continue to worsen until African Americans stop blaming their ills on the American society. Blaming their ills on past discrimination is an excuse to quit without even trying. If the going gets tough, they blame others for their own failures rather than learning from their mistakes and moving forward.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It is inconceivable in this atmosphere that blacks themselves will not mobilize in a major way to save these young people. I see no other alternative.

Ya wanna bet? By "mobilize in a major way" I suppose he means grousing that someone else isn't doing something for them. You don't need to be Karnak to predict grousing and demands for tax money. Just don't expect anyone to do anything useful.

[kittymyrib]

Any race that votes overwhelmingly to keep Charlie Rangel in office, knowing what a crook he is, is too far gone to save. But we really need to cut off dwindling taxpayer funds for this group of ingrates.