Posted on 02/26/2003 6:03:42 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
But we must always remember, government schools are not there to educate the children. Government schools are there to teach people that everyone should be judged on the basis of skin color, and that judging people by the group to which they belong is the right approach.
btw, how's the snow over your way ?
That was making some African-American parents unhappy Tuesday.
At one choice calling center, set up to place 1,200 students who didn't get any of their choices, one African-American mother learned that all four of her children will have to be sent to schools in the northern part of the city.
It was bound to happen sooner or later -- integration quotas pissing off black parents as well as whites. It only helps school choice and drives another wedge in the old Democrat base.
It has happened everywhere it has been tried. There really is no basis for affirmative action percentages to be sought or forced. Kids should go to the best school they can get to, And standard tests will ensure that schools are accountable if the kids don't keep up. Vouchers would solve the problem automatically with much less government intervention.
I live in a middle class neighborhood that has been successfully integrated 50/50 for over 10 years.
My child is white, so he could, if he chose to (I homeschool), go to the local neighborhood school. But my black neighbors must send their kids across town on a bus to attend school because even though we choose to live in a neighborhood that is 50/50 our neighborhood school is not allowed to have a 50/50 racial balance. But my kid could get a waiver to attend the neighborhood school because they need more white kids in the local school and less black kids.
So the white kid gets the advantage of a school that is minutes from home, and is newer and nicer than the across town school (since the school board made these schools especially nice in hopes of attracting more students), and the black kid has to ride the bus for 45 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon.
Talk about racial discrimination, that's how I see it.
Our neighborhood association has been "after" the school board for years, but to no avail.
Income is the LIBERALS' new integration yardstick.
Schools find new route to diversity ; New integration plans use income to place pupils***Confronting a chronic achievement gap between rich and poor pupils, a growing number of American school systems are aiming for a new vision of diversity: desegregation by income rather than race.***
Cambridge Becomes Latest District To Integrate by Income*** Eventually, school enrollments in the district will be expected to deviate by no more than 5 percentage points from the district's overall percentage of K-8 students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which currently is 40 percent.
Supporters of the shift hope to erase existing family-income disparities between schools' student enrollments, which range from about 21 percent to 72 percent of students qualifying for the subsidized meals.
"This is what most integration will look like in the 21st century," predicted Richard D. Kahlenberg, a school law expert who recently published a book on wealth-based school integration. He is a senior fellow at the Washington-based Century Foundation that advised Cambridge on its plan.***
It's different when it's your ox being gored: In Newton, worries grow over schools***A malaise has seeped into Newton's schools, fueled not only by the proposed cutbacks, but also by social issues in curriculum, exploding special education costs, and fears that the schools' creative extras are being scuttled. Newton's schools have long been synonymous with excellence, but some parents wonder if the armor is getting chipped.
''It's losing its luster. It hasn't lost it yet,'' said Mathew Bardin, parent of an elementary school child. ''It just seems to me there's too much touchy-feely and not enough 1-plus-1-is-2, enough practical education.'' ***
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