Posted on 02/06/2021 3:31:02 PM PST by DeweyCA
Alison Collins, the Vice President of the San Francisco Board of Education, has been leading a push to eliminate standardized testing as part of the admissions process at San Francisco’s most prestigious high school. Lowell High School has long been one of the top performing high schools in the country but its student body is majority Asian and white. Collins’ proposal would instead use a lottery system for admissions.
For decades Lowell High School — one of the top-performing public schools in the country — has been considered a point of pride for the district and the city, something of a private school experience at a public school price. But the school has come under fire in recent years for its lack of diversity and instances of racism as the country faces a racial reckoning with the past…
Lowell, with nearly 2,900 students, currently enrolls less than 2% Black students compared with 8% districtwide and less than 12% Latinx students compared with 32% in all schools…
Asian American students represent 51% of enrollment at Lowell, compared to 29% districtwide.
In case there was any doubt where Collins is coming from, back in October she stated during a board meeting that merit and meritocracy were racist systems.
“When we talk about merit, meritocracy and especially meritocracy based on standardized testing. I’m just going to say it, in this day and age we cannot mince words. Those are racist systems,” Collins said.
She added, “If you’re going to say that merit is, like, fair, it’s the antithesis of fair, and it’s the antithesis of just. And so, you can’t use equity. You can’t talk about social justice and then say you want to have a selective school that keeps certain kids out from the neighborhoods that you think are dangerous. That’s all kind of Trumpian language.”
This week, a writer for a San Francisco publication posted a video of Collins’ statement. [Note there is a jump cut in this clip, but I don’t think there’s any mistaking what she’s saying.]
Collins said that on Oct. 13. Three days later on Oct. 16 she posted a similar statement on her personal blog. Here’s a sample of that:
We cannot become an anti-racist education system if we can’t name racism in our system…
Being a “model-minority” is not something to covet or celebrate. Talking about a racial divide isn’t being “divisive”.
It is not Native American folks’ jobs to decolonize our education system. It is not Black and Brown folks’ job to eradicate racism.
A children’s worth should not be defined by grades or test scores. Neither should their “merit” determine their right to receive an excellent education.
Her reference to anti-racism is likely taken from Ibram Kendi’s book which argues people are either racist or anti-racist with nothing in between. The “model minority” reference is to Asian students around the country who are sometimes called the model minority because they excel in academics despite being a relatively small portion of the overall population. Asians are over-represented at competitive colleges like Harvard and at competitive high schools like Lowell. This fact upsets woke educators like Alison Collins because it suggests that minorities can succeed in the existing system regardless of race. And if that’s true then the anti-racist project is the wrong solution to the existing problem.
The last line I’ve quote above is particularly interesting and not just because of the typo. I would agree that the “worth” of children is not defined by grades and test scores. But the idea of meritocracy is that merit is a measure of consistent effort and hard work. Getting straight A’s doesn’t just happen. It requires a lot of time and study on the part of the student. So students who have put in that work have academic merit. They’ve demonstrated a willingness and ability to get the most out an education. Students who don’t do that work do not have as much academic merit.
It will be interesting to see how this argument plays out. Some colleges are already moving in this direction. The UC system in California is no longer requiring SAT scores for admission for similar reasons. But what about grades? Collins would like to get rid of those as well, at least at Lowell. Should kids who barely graduated and frequently skipped class in high school be given an equal chance to be admitted at UCLA as those who worked their butts off and took AP and honors classes?
I’m pretty sure what Collins would say. If meritocracy is racist then judging students on grades or test scores has to end. Make admission to UC Berkeley a lottery where every high school graduate has an equal chance. And really, shouldn’t Yale, Princeton and Harvard do the same? Like Lowell high school, they also admit a disproportionate number of Asian students. It’s not equitable.
The result of this mindset, if applied broadly, will be a lot of marginal students who muddle through Berkeley and a lot of truly outstanding students who don’t get in to any UC school at all. This strikes me as a very stupid way to allocate scarce resources but it seems to be where we’re heading.
But here’s the worst part of this, the part that I don’t think Alison Collins has thought through at all. If this new approach becomes widespread, how many years will it take before students realize there’s no point in pursuing academic merit. If higher grades are both pointless and tantamount to racism, who could be for higher grades? Might as well take it easy in high school and hope your number comes up in the lottery. At least then we’ll have equity.
Leftists really do not have a grip on reality. They think that they are morally and intellectually superior to the rest of us and so they feel that they should have all power to create their insane utopian dreams which consistently turn into nightmares.
Meaning what? Whites are smarter? That statement is insulting.
I guess we know how they feel about MLK.
If that idiot is on there, it is clear evidence that San Pelosi-shitsco’s Bored of Eddikashun’s Standards don’t include merit of any kind.
Really, what is an illiterate *sshat with no brain whatsoever doing in any position except President of the DimbulbcRAT party?
Meritocracy Is A Racist System
That is true if a person is not worth spit and needs to grievance pimp up some benefits.
It’s only racist if your race continually fails to earn their keep.
My first reaction was “what?!?” because a student’s public school is based on their parents’ address. But thinking it through, moving to a lottery is a good first step towards destroying the public school system as we know it. Move it entirely to a voucher system.
I am in favor of vouchers for many reasons, including the racial (really income level) disparities. Poorer neighborhoods generally have poorer schools. But mostly because the current method is just stupid. Every child has unique talents and unique needs. They should be free to go to one or more schools based on those needs. Why should they be forced into a cookie cutter program that pushes most kids to the lowest common denominator? I could imagine where a kid may attend one school 2 days a week, and another school 3 days a week, to either gain excellence and/or to catch up on areas they need improvement. Why march them around to the sound of bells every 50 minutes, like a prison? Trying to learn 6 subjects 50 minutes at a time each day is not a really good way to learn anything. It’s just good for the teachers.
It’s alright though, because everything’s racist and if you’re reading my comment, you’re a racist too.
As I have said before, I bet this person welcomes the merit system when a medical professional is working on them or a legal professional handling their case or what if the engineer designing the safety of the airplane she is in wasnt there on merit? These people dont think. They want participation trophies. The ones that are smart and want to be better will just go somewhere else and make more money bc people will know their pedigree is based on merit not participation
That’s not really wrong. A meritocracy of any kind will have racially unequal results. A meritocracy only requires neutral rules not even results.
The Congo and Israel are not different because of skin color. Denmark and the CAR are not different because of religion. Detroit of 1950 and Detroit of today are not different because of the Constitution.
I’m really confused. From what this person states, merit has no place in academics. That a D student who doesn’t turn in homework and skips class should be allowed into a university displaces a person with better grades, knowledge, and work ethic. And this is because blacks and hispanics, in general, either can not or will not put in the effort and get the necessary results?
So where does she state that merit has no place in high school and college sports? That a poor athlete who doesn’t work hard in practice, skips training should be on high school and college sports teams displacing better athletes. Why should blacks and hispanics (baseball for example), be over represented and asians, specifically, but also whites under represented just because they can not or will not show up to practice sessions and perform the training to get the necessary results?
Meaning what? Whites are smarter? That statement is insulting.
. . .
Of course it is. Racist leftists have been insulting minorities this way forever.
There is no meritocracy in public school assignments, at least not in California. I don’t know why she mentions it in the conversation. It is based entirely on where you live. Some people do cheat and list grandma or aunt Sue as their primary address but for the most part people are stuck with the school gerrymandered to their home.
Further still, the old quote “figures lie and liars figure”. Who cares if the school is 51% Asian vs 8% for the entire district? That’s because people of all races tend to congregate in neighborhoods with other people of their culture. Especially 1st and 2nd generation immigrants. It’s why every city as a Chinatown, a Koreatown, a Little Italy, Jewish predominated neighborhoods etc.
You can say the same about the NBA and NFL. In many cases, the best players are from certain groups. Hockey, is another. Meritocracy has to do with ability and intellect, not social engineering.
The funny part is how much DJT got so many minorities to vote for him because of showing people hard work paid off, not handouts. Not punishing success.
Dems and these morons in SF do exactly what’s wrong with America, continue to Balkanize people and expect the Communist system to produce prosperity. It never does and never will.
Been to a government office recently?
Meritocracy exists in college, and in K-12 in the form of grades and SAT scores. If you learn, and do the work, you merit the better grades and admission to the better colleges.
But, it doesn't necessarily have to result in racially unequal results. Race has nothing to do with it. In a perfect system, some years one race may do better than another (snapshot in time) but overall it should be pretty close to equal outcomes. Of course, we'll never have a perfect system but we should have a system where every kid has an equal opportunity to excel. That is not the case and it has nothing to do with self-segregated neighborhoods. It has to do with crappy schools, lack of discipline, etc.
If these leftists teachers were really interested, they would volunteer to work at the worst schools in the poorest neighborhoods. But they stab each other in the back at the chance to work at a better school.
Meritocracies are great in professional sports, but racist elsewhere.
"...where a man is judged by the content of his character, not the color of his skin." - MLK, 1963
"Your skin color is your uniform." - George Lincoln Rockwell, 1964
Guess which one they are following?
“You can say the same about the NBA and NFL.”
I reject the idea that those are meritocratic institutions. If they were, far more white players would play, though blacks would still be represented in greater proportions than in the general population. The NFL cares more about social engineering than winning.
DJT is a leader. A strong America is good for American blacks. A decent number of blacks (probably mostly men) saw that. Same for non-illegal Latinos.
I have recently been to the local DMV. 100% obese women regardless of race. Ugh. Thank God I had everything I needed so I don’t have to go back for many years.
WE know it’s racist but why can’t minorities see it?
That’s exactly what she’s saying....
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