Berkeley's Unbearable Whiteness of Science

American Thinker ^ | January 04, 2010 | Thomas Lifson

[neverdem]

The racial madness that has left-wing America in its thrall finds its apogee in the Berkeley, California public schools. Berkeley High School is now poised to eliminate science laboratory classes because "science labs were largely classes for white students." Eric Klein writes in The Easy Bay Express:

The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High's School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley's dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.

Five science teachers will lose their jobs if the proposal is adopted when the School Board meets next week:

It will come before the Berkeley School Board as an information item at its January 13 meeting. Generally, such agenda items are passed without debate, but if the school board chooses to play a more direct role in the High School Redesign, it could bring the item back as an action item at a future meeting.

All Berkeley High students, whatever their race, would lose the opportunity to get a solid grounding in science, opening up the door to achievement in higher education and life via scientific study. Notes Klein:

Mardi Sicular-Mertens, the senior member of Berkeley High School's science department ... who has taught science at BHS for 24 years, said the possible cuts will impact her black students as well. She says there are twelve African-American males in her AP classes and that her four environmental science classes are 17.5 percent African American and 13.9 percent Latino. "As teachers, we are greatly saddened at the thought of losing the opportunity to help all of our students master the skills they need to find satisfaction and success in their education," she told the board.

So in order to "help" black and Latino students, the idea is to eliminate the opportunity for said students to make something of themselves through science. Those students who excel will be disfavored, while those who do not will be given more resources. The problem is that science training is one of the elements of educataion least susceptible to the multicultural indoctrination that pervades education in Berekeley and far too many other places. Replacing science with something dreamed up by the education-school-trained "experts" is unlikely to bring any improvement, even for its purported beneficiaries.

The sheer racism of identifying science as something primarily for whites seems not to penetrate the addled minds of those who fancy themselves advocates for black and Latino students. The absence of any consideration of Asian students is also striking. The city of Berkeley has more Asian households (12,641) than black households (10,874) or Latino households (8,466).  

Consider that the university which makes its home in Berkeley and dominates both local employment and community's character has a majority undergraduate population of Asian students, thanks to the fact that California voters approved a state law eliminating racial preferences in state institutions. The science majors at the University of California, Berkeley overwhelmingly comprise Asian students. U.C. Berkeley also boasts 21 faculty members who have won Nobel Prizes, primarily in the sciences. The list of laureates includes two Asians and one Latino, all three science winners.

Aside from the repulsive racism of this move, the broader issue to be considered is whether society is better-served by cutting down the achievers and investing in the stragglers -- or whether everyone benefits from the achievements of those who apply themselves enough to excel. I have no hesitation in saying that I am in the latter camp. How does it benefit anyone to have an America made up of mediocre minds?

As a matter of simple justice, it makes no sense to favor those who do not adapt to the norms and expectations of schooling and persist in behaviors that lead to failure. Berkeley High's worse-than-average performance among black and Latino students almost certainly has something to do with the ideology informing its approach to racial problems. Teaching people that they are victims does nothing to encourage excellence. But rather than reconsider its failing efforts, Berkeley High is doubling the dosage of a medicine that isn't working, and which carries bad side effects.

If the Berkeley public schools go ahead with this plan, they deserve condemnation and ridicule on a national scale.

Hat tip: Larry

Thomas Lifson is editor and publisher of American Thinker.

[HiTech RedNeck]

A saner school would see if focusing tutoring on the at-risk students would improve matters.

[Boucheau]

“This is an act of blatant racism against whites.”

No one is listening. It can’t happen here. Whites can never be victims of racism as they are the very definition of racist—it’s in their genes, don’t ya know.

Besides, they have all the money, so they have to be vilified before we can steal from them willy-nilly.

People are dumb sheep, save just a few. Until the pain gets unbearable, you can count on pretty much nothing happening, principle and justice be damned.

They should be rioting over this as they are attempting to STEAL the minds of humans with white skin, but that’s just my opinion—I am known as an extremist lately.

I mean, why would we fight for the edification of young humans with white skin, right? How silly!

[proud_yank]

In a regular/normal town, yes, but Berkeley, I doubt it.

It could be possible. UC Berkeley has a very strong science and engineering departments that receive lots of research funding. You'll get some liberals in those academic fields, but not nearly as many or to the same extent as the more useless fields (classic soviet literature, world studies, etc).

[proud_yank]

has a = has

I was travelling all day and my grammur skillses are lakking.

[EDINVA]

The school (and its students) seem to be a product of its local political environment and there isn’t any sanity there as you and I understand it. I’m all for having liberal ghettos. Keep them in one place. If they want all of their kids to fail, rather than a few, who am I to question their judgments? It’s egalitarian, you know! So very progressive.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Science tends to be non political except in the voodoo sciences like today’s climatology. So why, normally, should a liberal care for science.

[EDINVA]

You wanna bet the non-liberal science profs at UC Berkeley don’t LIVE in Berkeley, much less send their kids to public school there?

I absolutely believe science is critical to all students to learn, but I wouldn’t say it’s ‘useles’ to pursue studies in classic soviet literature, world studies, etc. We still need to have people who study the arts and humanities.

[Rocky]

Social engineering. The Leftists are smarter than everyone else. They can fix all of our problems, even our bad thoughts, if we will just give them enough power.

They don’t need science, anyway. Whatever the Leftists declare about nature, that’s the way it is. Nature has to follow the orders of the Left. If you want to know whether gravity still applies today like it did yesterday, you need to consult with Big Brother.

[Republic of Texas]

Why don’t they just lock the kids in cages for 8 hours a day. Seems like it’s their goal, perhaps they should just announce it and get it over with.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

So why, normally, should a liberal care for science.

Why, when it's so Eurocentric, so linear and all? How many on any given school board in the country, let alone Berkeley, have a Bachelor of Science degree?

Todays topic: Why Leroy can't solve acid-reduction equations.

[Rastus]

Good. Maybe this will open some eyes in Crazytown and they’ll stop pulling the D lever like little drones.

[Hexenhammer]

Why would you want to teach children critical thinking skills and the scientific method? They might actually USE those skills and realize the left is full of shit, based of bad science, bad sociology, and bad morals.

The money saved will no doubt be used to drill students in pseudo-scientific earth appreciation classes where children are told everything they do is evil and that we’re all doomed.

[proud_yank]

Science tends to be non political except in the voodoo sciences like today’s climatology. So why, normally, should a liberal care for science.

People in scientific fields still have their views and tend to express them, many of my profs did, though they're usually not going to be as radical as profs in depts such as humanities. My point was that the science/technical side of UC Berkeley is esteemed and well-recognized, and they may offer opposition to what is being proposed in Berkeley schools.

[mitch5501]

at least that was a noble law 8-)

[Shimmer1]

Too stupid to live ping!

[proud_yank]

You wanna bet the non-liberal science profs at UC Berkeley don’t LIVE in Berkeley, much less send their kids to public school there?

Some yes, some no. Often times scientific & technical depts at a university will work with both public and private junior and senior high schools in the community to help develop students who show an interest and/or excel in those areas and to help schools develop a cirriculum, advisory boards and summer camps/classes. I did some of that when I was in school.

My point was that eliminating this from schools there may get some strong opposition from the university.

I absolutely believe science is critical to all students to learn, but I wouldn’t say it’s ‘useles’ to pursue studies in classic soviet literature, world studies, etc. We still need to have people who study the arts and humanities.

My attempt to be witty was pretty lame, and I shouldn't have written that. You're right & I agree that it is important to have expertise in those areas, and I do think people in scientific/technical fields should be well-rounded.

[proud_yank]

Very well put. The laws of supply and demand clearly mean we demand it and the govt supplies it. With someone else’s money, of course.

[Bon mots]

Great.
Turn Berkely into a Rap Music studio.

[Post Toasties]

How ironic that the Lunatic Left tried to make hay by calling George W. Bush anti-science in defiance of reality. Now the Left reveals itself as being who is truly anti-science, first by perpetrating the global warming hoax and now with trying to remove the high school science curriculum from Berserkley.

[jamaksin]

pi ain’t a squared, em’s is rounded - duh!