Posted on 10/22/2002 9:45:22 PM PDT by 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.
And your use of broken English (read: Ebonics) is proof of what? Or, what is your point?
Shh!!!! You can't say stuff like that anymore!! LOL. That is an extremely obvious point, though well spoken and seldom acknowledged.
Listen to the press conferences and you'll get my point. I don't give my supervisor's lack of eloquence a second thought, but if he were unable to pronounce simple articles, I would question his credentials.
It seems he said the most poorly behaved students are African-American. Yet the first sentence the the article claims: "...African-American students are the most poorly behaved at the school" There is a huge difference between the two assertions. One is specific, the other a generalization. Just another slanted article using tricks to stir the pot.
My nomination for post of the day!!!
Fact is, there is a problem.
It can be summed up like this:
Far too many black Americans, led down the primrose path by so-called "leaders" (I call 'em "bleaters") like Jackson, Sharpton, et al, have bought into a whole series of what are essentially liberal lies:
"You are not in control of your destiny. The white man is, and he will never let you succeed. It doesn't really matter what your character is, how hard you work, etc. You are at the bottom and are destined to stay there."
"Academic achievement is for whites. Black kids who achieve academically aren't really black. They aren't really being true to their race. They're traitors."
"The black path to success is through sports. If you can't be a sports superstar, well, you're out of luck."
"Never mind your behavior. Most of your problems are the white man's fault, and the fault of society."
"Anger is the proper response to being in an economically disadvantaged position."
"Crime is a more viable way for young black men to get something out of life."
"Government is your salvation."
"Black conservatives who succeed did so by becoming house slaves to Whitey."
"Black liberals who succeed did so by being courageous and standing up for blacks."
As long as these self-defeating paradigms permeate black society, it's no wonder blacks are restricted wholesale from making any progress.
Fact is, black Americans can succeed, and have done so from the beginning of our nation -- just not in the numbers one would hope for
So what's the answer? The only thing I can think of is for the light of truth to dawn, one mind at a time. The only way this can effectively happen is through those inside the black community who have awakened from the drugged stupor of liberalism. This places a large responsibility on the shoulders of black conservatives, but it can happen. Public speaking, and writing, are keys.
Wrong. Bush 2 has Rice and Powell to prove he is serious about courting at least moderate and conservative blacks. Most blacks don't think for themselves because they leave it to Jesse and Al to do it for them.
BUMP
Fact remains, the great majority of the time, conservative Republican candidates have simply written off the black vote. It's too hard to win it. It's too complicated. There's too much Jackson/Sharpton groupthink. It's too hard to swim upstream. The perceived gain, traditionally, hasn't been considered worth the cost of a major investment in effort.
"The Bell Curve" is full of $h!t. There's nothing wrong with black Americans that can't be attributed to one form or other of cultural malaise, or to lower levels of prenatal and early childhood nutrition, possibly including a lower incidence of breastfeeding among many black mothers.
IMHO *all* of the "bell curve" difference is resolvable if the right cultural factors and expectations were changed.
Genetic differences between races are small compared with the genetic differences between one individual and the next, even when the individuals compared are of the same race.
Too late? Hardly! On the contrary, when the forest is entirely full of dead wood, that is the time for a fire to begin.
For an entire generation, we've had the same tired bleatership running the same tired show, with the same tired non-results. The NAACP has been reduced to shadow-boxing a flag from 150 years ago. That's supposed to be "advancement of colored people?!"
All we need is a leader. One who can articulate conservatism to black people. Not Alan Keyes. He can't do it. Probably not Jesse Lee Peterson. He's headed in the right direction, but I think he's gotten a bit too stuck in a reaction mode to Jackson. Perhaps someone who interns under Peterson and then goes on to do his own thing. Someone with genuine character and communication.
A leader is all we're waiting for. He (or possibly she) may even be growing up, right here on this very board, even as we speak.
The number cited above is 88%. My memory of the 2000 election is 94 or 95% BlackRat vote.
It would appear that perhaps there is some progress in the range of 6 or 7%. That is to say, there is an enlightment rate exceeding 6%. Many say the goal should be enlightenment of 10+%. It looks like there might be good progress.
That hopelessness is perpetuated by a litany of liberal lies, and the practices and ways of life that stem from those liberal lies.
One of those lies is that blacks "can't" achieve. I suggest you read the last line of my previous post until you understand it.
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