True anthropological studies have been censored for a few decades now. But with the advent of human genome research, which is being done for real in other parts of the world, I think we will soon have answers to lots of questions. People need to realize though that it's okey for us all to be different. All groups of people have strong points and weak points. This is a very sensitive subject though and most people with sense will not touch it with a ten foot pole.
That only means that 88-90% of black kids in the Shaker Heights school system are from middle-class or even rich families!
It's time - especially in rather-affluent suburbs like Shaker Heights - to put liberal ideology aside and admit that poverty doesn't explain why so many black kids do so poorly in even schools in affluent liberal suburbs like Shaker Heights.
Shaker Heights does have a "changing neighborhood" problem on its west end and on its south side - but of economic status, not of race; these areas are sliding from middle-class mixed-race to poor mixed-race. But there just aren't enough black kids in poverty in that suburb to explain the reality by poverty.
Of course. Blame someone or something else. That's the time tested approach we've all come to know and love.
The old poverty causes poor academic performance ruse. I wonder how many white people are live in poverty in this area. I'll bet it's a similar percentage of the population.
My personal opinion in this matter is that all to often black students expect to be given decent grades because they exist and show up. This is a attitude society has been reinforcing for thirty years and it is the nature of man to take the easy academic path, so when it's available many do just that. There is no need, hence no desire to acheive for far too many students in general.
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Perhaps some kind Freeper can help me understand this thinking. As I kid I never thought what does it mean to be white. Why would I? I was a poor white kid living on welfare that never thought for an instant my skin color had anything to do with who or what I am or what is my potential. Nor have I ever thought I needed to act white. What ever that means
Why would a black kid wonder what it means to be black? Who thinks up this nonsense? What value is there is framing your world in this way? Why is there a need to deconstruct your identity in terms of skin color?
Gee.........ya think??
I defy anyone to closely examine today's black culture and point out one aspect of it.......just one........that suggests a desire to excel, improve, educate, edify, or prosper beyond thuggism or pro sports (I know I know....little difference there any more).
Martin Luther King must be spinning in his grave.
Because they can? Seriously, when the system rewards failure, look for people, seeking reward, to fail. To me, its that simple.
Probably for the same reason whites lag behind blacks in foot races and other sports. - Tom
"It's things like talking too properly when you're in informal social settings," he continued. "It's hanging around white friends and acting like you don't want to be with your black friends. It's really about behavior patterns and not achievement."
Mr. Ferguson speculated that what Professor Ogbu saw was a clumsy attempt by black students to search for a comfortable racial identity. "What does it mean to be black?" he said. "What does it mean to be white? The community needs to help kids make sense of their own identity."
The answer to all those questions is no. Has this Mr. Ferguson checked to see that these high achieving black kids that supposedly only hang around white friends are not doing so because they've been rejected by their black friends for their high achieving ways? Hell, there are probably teachers who don't hand out graded test papers in class precisely because to do so would make their star pupils' lives a living hell.
Ferguson actually managed to talk himself into a circular argument. If the automatic assumption amongst low achieving minority students is that anyone who is a good student thinks himself superior to them, then it's quite obvious that they would reject him for this crime. The good student soon realizes that the only to fit in (which is incredibly important to school kids) is to not be a good student anymore. Everyone stays in the gutter of low achievement because anyone who tries to pull himself up gets punished by the group.
In the end, this Ferguson guy is simply clutching at straws. If one is interested in school, then it shows in the quality of one's work. This study that Ferguson ran probably just asked the black and Latino students if they "worked hard" and they answerred "yes" as much as white and Asian students did. But then it didn't investigate what "working hard" meant for both groups. It simply reported, and did not observe.
I mean, how is it possible that Ferguson can say that black and Latino students are definitely just as interested in school and work just as hard as whites and Asians ... and then acknowledge that black and Latino students lag behind in "things" like Homework Completion??? If you were interested in school, you would damn well do your homework. It's one of the best ways of measuring one's interest in school.
Ferguson is obviously a Leftie; he actually has the answers in front of him, he's just not gonna let himself admit it because it goes against the victim ideology. All his "identity" bullshit also pisses me off. It's obvious that whatever meaning these black students have come up with regarding being black, it doesn't involve getting As. Why do we need to actually have some meaning of what it is to be black? Isn't that seriously limiting?