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Sowell: Does Black Success Matter?
Creators Syndicate ^ | August 16, 2016 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 08/15/2016 3:13:30 PM PDT by jazusamo

We keep hearing that "black lives matter," but they seem to matter only when that helps politicians to get votes, or when that slogan helps demagogues demonize the police. The other 99 percent of black lives destroyed by people who are not police do not seem to attract nearly as much attention in the media.

What about black success? Does that matter? Apparently not so much.

We have heard a lot about black students failing to meet academic standards. So you might think that it would be front-page news when some whole ghetto schools not only meet, but exceed, the academic standards of schools in more upscale communities.

There are in fact whole chains of charter schools where black and Hispanic youngsters score well above the national average on tests. There are the KIPP (Knowledge IS Power Program) schools and the Success Academy schools, for example.

Only 39 percent of all students in New York state schools who were tested recently scored at the "proficient" level in math, but 100 percent of the students at the Crown Heights Success Academy school scored at that level in math. Blacks and Hispanics are 90 percent of the students in the Crown Heights Success Academy.

The Success Academy schools in general ranked in the top 2 percent in English and in the top 1 percent in math. Hispanic students in these schools reached the "proficient" level in math nearly twice as often as Hispanic students in the regular public schools. Black students in these Success Academy schools reached the "proficient" level more than twice as often as black students in the regular public schools.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: charterschools; education; minorities; sowell; thomassowell
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1 posted on 08/15/2016 3:13:30 PM PDT by jazusamo
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To: abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; Battle Axe; ...
*PING*
Thomas Sowell


2 posted on 08/15/2016 3:15:02 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo

“Only 39 percent of all students in New York state schools who were tested recently scored at the “proficient” level in math, but 100 percent of the students at the Crown Heights Success Academy school scored at that level in math. Blacks and Hispanics are 90 percent of the students in the Crown Heights Success Academy. “


I’m not taking away from the kids that did well but why aren’t there more whites and Asians enrolled?

It IS a public school.

.


3 posted on 08/15/2016 3:22:05 PM PDT by Mears
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To: jazusamo

If “black success” is defined as “acting white,” clearly it doesn’t matter. If it is defined in that community as “no limits n-—ga” (Treyvon’s self-caption), then its heroic.

There’s a big gap between Thomas Sowell and street culture.


4 posted on 08/15/2016 3:25:19 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: jazusamo

If “black success” is defined as “acting white,” clearly it doesn’t matter. If it is defined in that community as “no limits n-—ga” (Treyvon’s self-caption), then its heroic.

There’s a big gap between Thomas Sowell and street culture.


5 posted on 08/15/2016 3:25:23 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Mears

I hear you and don’t know the answer other than it might be that the Crown Heights Success Academy school is in a minority area.


6 posted on 08/15/2016 3:28:07 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: jazusamo
I recently read a quote by Thomas Sowell that went something like “the Democrat Party's War On Poverty has done to the black family what the KKK and Jim Crow laws never could”.
7 posted on 08/15/2016 3:50:23 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (The Rat Party,try as it might,just isn't very good at hiding what it *truly* is.)
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To: Gay State Conservative

LBJ’s 1964 “Welfare Socialism” destroyed the inner city family and morals...and LBJ knew that it would when he stated, “This will keep those ni**ers” voting Democrat for the next 200 years.


8 posted on 08/15/2016 3:53:59 PM PDT by newfreep ("If Lyin' Ted was an American citizen, he would be a traitor.")
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To: Mears

Charter schools are not for the most part allowed to discriminate in any way in terms of admissions other than a pure lottery. So, most likely, it’s just a function of who lives around there. I’m fairly certain in fact that those schools would love to have a more balanced ethnic makeup, as white and Asian kids generally score higher, have more active and supportive parents, etc., and thus make their job that much easier. But likely it’s not an option.


9 posted on 08/15/2016 3:56:21 PM PDT by Behind the Blue Wall
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To: jazusamo

Some of these charter schools, KIPP schools for example, are really amazing in terms of their accomplishments. As I was researching schools for my kid a couple of years ago, I noticed that a couple of KIPP schools operating deep in the badlands of South Central L.A. scored in the top five schools in the state, not adjusting for demographics whatsoever.


10 posted on 08/15/2016 3:58:35 PM PDT by Behind the Blue Wall
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To: Mears
Because it is in Crown Heights. 80% of the residents are either Black or Hispanic and a good number of the Whites are Hasidic Jews who generally have their own school system.
11 posted on 08/15/2016 3:59:29 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: jazusamo
real black success does matter...and the whole population rejoices when they do, especially if they come from poor or dysfunctional families.

but what bothers me is the almost endless dwelling on the blackness, not the individual student, as if the blackness caused this great accomplishment, not the student...

12 posted on 08/15/2016 4:04:01 PM PDT by cherry
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GO, TRUMP, GO!

Please bump the Freepathon or click above to donate or become a monthly donor!

13 posted on 08/15/2016 4:22:16 PM PDT by jazusamo (Have YOU Donated to Free Republic? https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Behind the Blue Wall; Harmless Teddy Bear; jazusamo

Thanks to all of you for your informative replies.

.

.


14 posted on 08/15/2016 4:27:55 PM PDT by Mears
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To: jazusamo

#AllSuccessMatters


15 posted on 08/15/2016 4:33:32 PM PDT by Pollster1 (Somebody who agrees with me 80% of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20% traitor. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: cherry
If black success was considered half as newsworthy as black failures, such facts would be headline news — and people who have the real interests of black and other minority students at heart would be asking, "Wow! How can we get more kids into these charter schools?”
real black success does matter...and the whole population except for cynics rejoices when they do, especially if they come from poor or dysfunctional families.
Unfortunately, demagogic cynicism is an extremely potent political force. In America, only just less so than elsewhere.

16 posted on 08/15/2016 4:40:09 PM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion ('Liberalism' is a conspiracy against the public by wire-service journalism.)
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To: Mears
You are welcome.

Some of the many of the arguments against the success of charter schools is that they only cherry pick the best or they only work in non-minority areas.

Well here you have a minority school that admits by lottery so there is no cherry picking possible.

And it is a success.

It provides basis for the argument that it is not the students but the system that is the problem.

17 posted on 08/15/2016 4:50:25 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: jazusamo

I didn’t watch much of the Dem convention, but I did happen to catch a bit when a group of Black kids from New York, all who came from some kind of distressed or underprivileged background, were on stage heralded as exemplary students with high graduation rates. They thanked Hillary because they said it was her foundation that set up the program that allowed this small group an opportunity to get a good education. I felt I was the only one watching who thought “why isn’t every kid in every county entitled to the same high level of education? Why are we applauding a person who supports keeping 99% of public school kids in failing systems just because she helped a few dozen escape the failing system?”

The left lives in a perpetual state of denial, patting themselves on the back for their efforts to save a few while hundreds of thousands unseen drown from the weights they tied around their ankles.


18 posted on 08/15/2016 6:02:26 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: jazusamo

Nope. You be “actin’ white.” Or Uncle Tom. Or a sell out. Or a coon. Or any other horrid thing the rest of the crabs in the bucket call you as you try to pull yourself out.


19 posted on 08/15/2016 6:45:28 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Hillary Clinton, the elderly woman's version of "I dindu nuffins.")
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To: Organic Panic

Oreos. Black PHD’s are Double Stuffed Oreos.


20 posted on 08/15/2016 6:57:01 PM PDT by polymuser (Enough is enough)
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