Black families have no choice in Pinellas***I could not agree more. Here is the ideal scenario: Give black parents the same freedom that white parents have to choose the neighborhood school down the street or a few blocks away. Find ways to attract the best and brightest teachers to work in these schools. Provide state-of-the-art equipment and the resources needed for these schools to succeed. No more shell games. Give black children the same chance to learn as white children have. Do not bus black children unless they want to be bused.
I will bet a month's salary that if we let blacks have neighborhood schools as part of their choice plan, parents will become true stakeholders and will participate in their children's lives at school. Everyone, black and white, will benefit.
When race is at issue, we fear the inevitable. And we fear the truth: Left to our own devices, we will segregate ourselves along racial and ethnic lines. Whites will associate with whites. Blacks will associate with blacks. After 2007, voluntary integration will teach us this harsh lesson.***
Florida blacks eye boycott over graduation exam ***"These kids have done what they are supposed to do," he said. "They have gotten the credits they need. They have done community service work. This test is damaging kids psychologically, because there is too much weight to it."…………………. The students being supported by the activists have been given six chances to pass the test with a passing test score of at least 40 percent, but have failed at least one element.
But no matter how many chances are given to pass, a single test should not determine a student's future, said Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida NAACP. "There is more to education than writing an answer," she said. "You have students that can do so many other things, and all should be used to determine if they should be promoted."***