Posted on 03/06/2011 6:54:04 PM PST by reaganaut1
HUNTSVILLE, AL — A retired engineer who calls himself a concerned citizen is jumping headfirst into the racial debate at Huntsville City Schools.
Claiming to speak for the "silent majority", Hugh McInnish fired off a five page letter to the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday. The memo is a response to the DOJ's own letter last week, in which the agency accused the school system of fostering racial inequities in areas such as advanced learning and student discipline.
McInnish blasted those assertions, and said there was no evidence of racial bias towards students of any color. He told WHNT News 19 that achievements or punishments students received have been based solely on performance, with racial elements being used as a distraction.
"What I'm saying may very well be divisive, but it's the truth," said McInnish. "I think that the majority of the community, if they would express themselves freely, would agree with me."
In his letter, McInnish referred to a series of charts and graphs on student test scores and performance by both black and white pupils. The charts show white students scoring at significantly higher levels than black students. McInnish said it's the primary reason why more white students have been placed in advanced learning classes.
"If there is unfairness, it's because life is unfair," said McInnish. "To demand that the school board and community correct things with which they've had nothing to do is grossly unfair."
(Excerpt) Read more at whnt.com ...
Exactly why federal govenment should have no role in education.
said there was no evidence of racial bias towards students of any color. He told WHNT News 19 that achievements or punishments students received have been based solely on performance, with racial elements being used as a distraction. "What I'm saying may very well be divisive, but it's the truth," said McInnish.
They’ve founded a tool that works well on many white folks... its called white guilt. Most white folks want so badly to show they are not “racists” that they grovel shamelessly when the charge of racism is flagrantly and fraudulently dangled in their faces. Most white liberals have no soul and therefore no bearing for truth and self respect, so they presumably lead the way for all white folks (see Chris Matthews) in the “white guilt grovel”. However, many, many other white folks, largely on the conservative end of the human spectrum, have at their core an affinity for truth, and as a result refuse to bow down to grovel. When we a charged with racism, we say” Racism? No... Biased, Yes... biased for freedom and truth and against idiot socialists!”
Unfortunately, it is not just whites that are subject to this guilt. Even as a dark skinned Indian (from the Subcontinent), I am subject to the same guilt. I am seen as such a “outlier” and an abnormality for being a conservative thinker that it is sickening.
In addition, stay away from your grandchildren so as not to give the FBI their bonus targets when they corner you...
I have family that works in the education system. The number one differentiator in student performance is parents' interest and involvement in their children(s) education. Far too many parents ignore their kids until they bring home a bad report card, then they come storming in and blame the teachers for not giving little johnny an education. In general, the kids that do well are the ones that have parents that are in regular contact with the school staff. The kids whose parents ignore school work until it is too late? They're the ones with poor attendance records, incomplete work, work not turned in, sleeping in class, poor testing performance, and in general no interest in getting an education. I'd guess it is part of that entitlement mindset - they think someone is just going to hand their nearly illiterate backside a job or something. {snort}
Read to your kids until they are able to read, then read with them. Help them with their homework, demonstrate to them that it is important enough that you are willing to put the time in - they had better too. Yes, I did exactly this and it seems to have worked. ;-)
Our society is deeply sick, as evidenced by its self-loathing, fear that the gods must be angry (e.g., global warming,) and the strong tendency to see good as evil, and evil as good.
Western civilization has and had its flaws, and Europeans have not always treated other cultures as they would like other cultures to treat them. But few are those of whom the same cannot be said.
United we stand, divided we fall. United in our shared understanding of the principles of ethics, liberty and personal responsibility.
That, and lack of constitutional authority.
The only thing government schools do is send home a tuition-free curriculum. The **real** work of teaching and learning is done by the parents and the child, himself, IN THE HOME.
If academically successful institutionalized and homeschooled children were compared there would be little to NO difference in home habits and values of the parents, and the TIME spent IN THE HOME in formal, at the kitchen table, studying!
In other words government schools are paid big bucks, do nothing, and the results are entirely due to the AFTERSCHOOLING done ( or not done) by the parents and the child.
And...If there is any teacher or “educator” or disagrees with me, then show me the studies that PROVE **where** learning takes place, **how** it happens, and **who** is doing the real hard work ( parents, child, or teacher). SHOW ME THE PROOF. Where are the links?
Here in Louisiana our education budgets are just as limited as elsewhere. Yet before a school board can consolidate schools in the interest of economy, a federal judge has to approve the action to be certain that there is no discrimination against blacks. This is preposterous in the year 2011. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and this government enslavement has been going on ever since.
No where in the U. S. Constitution does the word education appear. Education is a matter of local and state governments. I pray that in my lifetime I will see a governor with the gonads to tell the feds to butt out.
BTW, this micromanagement by the feds only occurs in the South. Go figure.
Yeah! Blame the parents. But...When the parents excel at AFTERSCHOOLING, who takes the credit? Answer: The school of course!
So?...Why shouldn't these parents be upset? Huh? They are spending big bucks in property and other taxes, likely both parents are working just to pay the taxes,...and...the kid is in school for at least **SIX** HOURS ( or more) for 180 or more days a year!!!
If homeschoolers get their work done in a 1/2 hour to three hours ( depending on the age of the child) why can't the government school teach these kids in **SIX** or more hours???
These are children! They are NOT day laborers. A child, after spending **SIX** hours in an institution should never have to any homework whatsoever. **SIX** hours is three times longer than needed especially in the elementary grades.
By the way, my homeschoolers never spent more than **TWO** hours a day in formal study. In the early grades K-2, it was about 1/2 hour! Yet, they entered college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13. All finished all general college courses and Calculus III by the age of 15. The two younger earned B.S. degrees in math by the age of 18. The two older children now have masters degrees.
The kids who do well are the kids with parents who AFTERSCHOOL. They are the kids with parents who are doing everything successful homeschoolers are doing.
And..If I am wrong, they show me the controlled studies that PROVE I am wrong. Hm? Where are the links to the studies that show exactly how much is learned in the classroom as compared to how much is learned IN THE HOME!
“Europeans have not always treated other cultures as they would like other cultures to treat them.”
Cultures are not morally equivalent. Non-western cultures are usually intellectually and morally inferior. Westerners should not, for example, treat Mohammedan culture as we would have it treat Western culture. Mohammedans need to follow our rules. But, we have no moral obligation to follow, respect, or refrain from eliminating (when convenient for us) such colorful Mohammedan cultural practices as “honor” killing, female circumcision, the murder of non-Mohammedans, etc.
On the intellectual side, would you like to buy a cellphone designed in Upper Volta? Oh...they don’t design much of anything in Upper Volta, let alone cellphones.
The Japanese, Koreans, and a few other countries have “cultures” worthy of respect, but most of the “cultures” in the 192 or so countries in the world should disappear for the good of their own people and the rest of the world.
You’ve chosen to interpret what I said other than as I intended it. Reciprocity and the golden rule do not require tolerating or acquiescing to evil.
Response to “racist” charge: “and you’re a child molester”. Childish behavior can be stopped with equally outrageous childish behavior.
What’s more, the child molesting charge is a real one, unlike the racist charge. Drilling a hole in a baby’s skull and sucking the brain out is certainly child molesting.
I didn’t “choose” to interpret your words in any other way than they appeared. I have no access to your intentions other than your words. In any event, I understand that I was responding to something that you didn’t mean to say.
I agree with you. When I home schooled we got the days work finished in 3-4 hours. Friends who had children in public or private school would get their children off the bus then spend the same number of hours on homework. I always thought they were doing the real teaching.
The failure I see now is that schools in many areas won’t allow the students to take books home therefore parents can’t see what their child is doing or assess their progress and needs.
If homeschoolers get their work done in a 1/2 hour to three hours ( depending on the age of the child) why can’t the government school teach these kids in **SIX** or more hours???
My homeschooled son had the answer to that question at age 15. He attended public school driver’s ed and his comment was “if the student’s came into the classroom, took their seats the first time asked and paid attention to the teacher so he only had to go over the material once we would out of there in 30-45 minutes max but they don’t so we spend 2 hours”. He was thoroughly disgusted by the behavior of the other students and considered the class time wasted.
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