Can Trump help narrow racial gaps in schools?

There is understandable fear in the land among many African American and Latino families about a Donald Trump presidency.

It’s not just incidents of racism and hate; it’s what his policies will mean for their well-being and for their children. So it’s a good time for a new study out this month that shows how much ground black and Latino children have to make up in California.

Many of the biggest racial disparities are in education, according to the scorecard compiled by Children Now, an advocacy group based in Oakland. For example, in Sacramento County, while 49 percent of white third-graders read at grade level, only 26 percent of Latino students and 22 percent of African American students do. And while 44 percent of white eighth-graders meet state standards in math, just 22 percent of Latinos and 16 percent of African Americans do.

The racial gap is evident even in wealthier counties. In San Francisco, for instance, while 73 percent of white third-graders read at grade level, only 30 percent of Latino students and 16 percent of African American students do. And the differences are even bigger across counties. A paltry 23 percent of black third-graders in Fresno County read at grade level, but 65 percent do in El Dorado County.

The facts are simple, the more a child is in contact with academic English the quicker they gain the required command of their native tongue (academic English) and become literate and fluent.

The American educational model requires students to be fluent in their native language by the end of the third grade with additional support in the fourth grade. American students are expected to be self initiated learners by the fifth grade and are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, goals, achievement, and their career choices from then on.

Students from at risk socioeconomic levels (poverty level) are exposed to a very limited sample of academic English words per day (< 750 words daily). Students from middle class backgrounds = @ 1500-3000 words per day. Students from upper middle/ upper class families = > 5000 words per day. Also, the higher the educational level in the home, the more formal the language sample a student hears ( less slang) and the more likely critical thought is encountered within the conversation.

This is why there is a direct association between socioeconomic levels and student performance as well as the direct relation between Academic English in the home vs Slang or English as a second language. One has only to see the percentage of free and reduced lunch students in a school to know the percentage of students in a district that are below basic in reading and math skills in any district in the nation within the MOE ( prior to testing each years students).

The solution them becomes crystal clear, America must return to the Melting Pot it has been until the last thirty years of “diversity”. Make American English the official language of the United States of America. Do away with the misguided use of ESL teaching and learning. By drawing a line in the sand of national expectations in language and learning, end bi-lingual education, and demand assimilation or deportation for those desirous of citizenship, the plying field becomes level, the standards straightforward and clear, the citizenship requirements and performance standards clearly evident.

Studies show that families that immigrate and assimilate are fully integrated within societies within two generations.

You can’t have change without change. It’s time to go back to the future and learn to be and raise American citizens worth of the name citizen.

Studies show that families that immigrate and assimilate are fully integrated within societies within two generations.

Basic problem is that we have an existing immigrant and non-immigrant populace that has been government sponsored for decades, has no intention of assimilation with its "racist" neighbors, and is angrily waiting for others to assimilate to them.

Why expect better from newcomers bearing an even more alien world view?

(You can't expect much from the kids when the parents actively disavow assimilation or even peace.)

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