Teacher: African-Americans Most Poorly Behaved Students

NBC4.tv ^ | October 22, 2002

[maxcygregg]

LOS ANGELES -- A high school science teacher in Pasadena is on paid administrative leave for claiming in a letter to teachers that African-American students are the most poorly behaved at the school.

Scott Phelps has taught at John Muir High School for 12 years. He was put on leave Monday by the Pasadena Unified School District for what board member Ed Honowitz calls a "disturbing" letter placed in teachers' mailboxes on Friday.

Phelps denies he is racist, saying he was trying to make a point that standardized test scores will go down next year at Muir because ninth- and 11th-grade classes are primarily low socio-economic African-Americans lacking academic focus.

"If you look at their scores and track them over the years you will see that they're horrible,' Phelps said. "I'm not singling out a group. I'm not saying that low test scores are caused by low socio-economic students, I'm saying that low scores and low socio-economic students are directly related."

"There are cultural behaviors... but once you talk about it racist," said Phelps.

District spokesman Erik Nasarenko would only say there was an investigation into allegations of misconduct.

"People found the material within the email to be offensive. That is what is under investigation right now," said Nasarenko.

If misconduct is found, Phelps could be terminated.

Phelps wrote that "overwhelmingly, the students whose behavior makes the hallways deafening, who yell out for the teacher and demand immediate attention in class, who cannot seem to stop chatting and are fascinated by each other and relationships but not with academics ... are African-American."

"You can't classify whole groups of kids based on stereotypes," Horowitz said. "In addition, we need to do a good job educating every kid in this district no matter what background they come from."

The Muir student body is about 47 percent African-American and 42 percent Hispanic.

[ChocChipCookie]

It sounds like this teacher tried to state the truth as objectively and dispassionately as he could. It will be entertaining, to say the least, to watch school officials squirm their way out of this one.

[bluecollarman]

There are some truths that we are not allowed to express.
Here is one of my own pet peeves. One that would suggest I am a racist.

I observe that "Black voters in general are uninformed and easily led, showing no indication that they possess independent thought processes." I offer this little excerpt from the Mason Dixon poll

Results from Florida poll:

RACE BUSH MCBRIDE KUNST UNDECIDED
Whites 53% 40% 1% 6%
Blacks 5% 88% - 8%
Hispanics 63% 32% - 5%

There is no way a free thinking group or class of peoples in a free and open government, could think this lopsided. Unless of course, there was some kind of problem.

Black leaders have been trying to paint me as a racist all of my life. They are finally succeeding.

So...I will just continue to judge a man "On the content of his/her character" and suffer through the name calling.

[john in missouri]

I'm consistently disappointed to see close to 90% of blacks voting for whatever Democrapic candidate happens to be on the ballot.

It's not all due to groupthink, though I daresay a goodly portion of it is. But unfortunately, conservatives have rarely gotten out there and really fought for the black vote. We've just flat written it off and left it to the liberals.

And yes, part of the problem, unfortunately, is that white conservatives don't always care quite enough about black issues.

Of course, the white liberals don't give a damn about black issues -- else they would do something to actually help solve black problems instead of simply perpetuating them. But the liberals have no compunction about saying they care ("I feel your pain") -- in order to reel in extra votes.

That's my (admittedly non-expert) view, anyway.

[SicTransitGloriaMundi]

If misconduct is found, Phelps could be terminated.

...for extreme prejudice?

[Moonman62]

"You can't classify whole groups of kids based on stereotypes," Horowitz said.

How about classifying whole groups of kids based on observations?

[bluecollarman]

"And yes, part of the problem, unfortunately, is that white conservatives don't always care quite enough about black issues."

Well, they are never allowed to care. They will be painted as insincere, uninformed and pandering the moment they try.

Democrats jealously guard the black vote, they have become the new slave masters.

Blacks leaders and liberals will also attack any black that expresses a conservative view. It is disheartening.

You are correct, liberals do not really care, they are just using them. But see...even that would be considered a racist statement. It is a no win. Only through integrated churches have I seen hope.

[Jeff Chandler]

Clever. LOL!

[Jeff Chandler]

I was already called a racist by a fellow FReeper for stating that Chief Moose was put in on "Affirmative Action".

Yeah, dat's a terrble thing ta paint a law emforcement officer wif.

[Joe Hadenuf]

"You can't classify whole groups of kids based on stereotypes," Horowitz said.

(How about classifying whole groups of kids based on observations?)

LOL! My thoughts exactly.......

[beard]

That is so funny and so true! :>

[tcostell]

All of the research from Thomas Sowell's "Ethnic America" backs up exactly what the teacher is saying. His assertion (meticulously documented) was that it is the minority culture of victim hood which is hurting Black people in America, and not racism. And that those minority groups who hold values like education and hard work as their core values (like the Japanese minority in California for example) continually out perform those that do not.

One particularly compelling example he sites is the example of the Japanese minority in California, and the Mexican minority in California. Both groups arrived in the States at approximately the same time, doing (for the most part) the same kind of work (agriculture) but now, the Japanese minority makes approximately 127% of the average annual income, and the Mexicans only 87%. It's very difficult to attribute this to racism.

I'd highly recommend the book.

[Congressman Billybob]

Take a look at Chief Moose's Ph.D. in "Urban Studies" and listen to him speak. Ask yourself whether this is a man who holds a doctorate level education. Sometimes the bias of affirmative action is in the program the student goes through.

As a Ph.D. dropout (for now) I can confirm that most Ph.D.s are not earned in basket weaving. But some are. And the students receiving these lackadaisical Ph.D.s are more likely to be black students like Chief Moose. Harsh truth, but thruth nonetheless.

Congressman Billybob

This column is based on the fine work by FReepers in a thread on FR. Click for "Ballistics and Bullsh*t"

Click for "Til Death Do Us Part."

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

[RWG]

Same experience here. If my behavior is racist then it is. I am not interested in achieving consensus by denying empirical evidence.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

It's true. Black students, especially black boys are awful in the classrooms. They are the most violent and vicious.

Many black girls are also really awful.

It's the welfare culture that they buy into, the mothers (there's no fathers) with the chip on their shoulder, the "you owe me" attitude, the "it's all the school's fault that my boy is bad" attitude.

Get off welfare, get married to one person, stay married, stay working, and I think one would have a better life. Stop having children with different people, be responsible, be on time, be nice!

Many of these so-called black parents are lacking these social skills.

[boris]

Here is a LINK to the L.A. Times version of the story.

--Boris

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[bankwalker]

To prove he's not racist, he should take the extra step and say this only applies to African-Americans who are democrats. African-Americans who are Republicans are perfectly civilized.

Then, maybe he and everyone else would come to understand that he is not making a statement about African-Americans per-se, but about democrats. Democrats are our murderers, rapists, car-jackers, and thieves. And they fill our prisons.

Worth repeating....

[BluH2o]

Don't remember the exact percentage, but as I recall, over two thirds of black children are born into single family homes, a polite way of sayng out of wedlock. Lacking direction and discipline at home will certainly go along way towards exhibiting the same traits in a classroom enviroment.

[marshmallow]

Most good basketball players in the NBA, are black.

Ooops! Am I allowed to say that? I am? Whew!

This PC stuff gets confusing. Certain statements may be true, but not all true statements may be uttered. The sensitive, progressive guy needs to know which subset of true statements is currently permissible.

[rdb3]

I asked for empirical evidence, not a game of "connect the dots." Basically you are asking the readers to infer the affirmative action claim.

No dice.