Oklahoma Turns Against APUSH?

January 27, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 2 Comments

Oh Senator, you certainly do manage to stay colorful, don’t you?

In case you don’t recall, Senator Brecheen was the figure kind enough to spend 10 minutes on the floor being shocked that somewhere deep in Appendix G of the Common Core standards, among a few hundred various books, poems, and documents cited as examples of different reading levels, Toni Morrison has written a dirty book.

The only logical solution is to read it on the floor, complete with gasps and euphemisms mostly made up of first initials and the word “word” – “N-word”, “A-word”, “K-word”, etc. Therefore, Common Core was all about promoting rape and sodomy and undercutting American values. His solution was quote Elijah from the Old Testament, who insisted the impure be chased down and executed by sword.

Needless to say, our repeal of Common Core may have saved many lives.

Now he’s after AP-USH, no doubt mostly because we’re tired of Texas having all the fun and looking the craziest. Here’s the text of SB650 as he’s proposed it, although it was no easy task hunting it down. I don’t know how OkEd and Swisher do this full time.

STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 55th Legislature (2015)
SENATE BILL 650
An Act relating to schools; prohibiting state funds from being used to support certain U.S. history courses; prohibiting the State Board of Education from awarding certain grants until certain course framework reverts to framework in place at certain time; directing the State Board of Education by certain date to adopt certain history program; establishing criteria for program; allowing display of certain grade-level documents; providing for codification; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1210.704 of Title 70, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. No state funds shall be used to support advanced placement U.S. history courses in Oklahoma schools as the courses are designed as of the effective date of this act.
B. Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, the State Board of Education shall not award any grants to school districts or make any expenditure of state funds, as authorized by Section 1210.703 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes, for equipment, instructional materials, course development, professional development or training, examination awards or examination scholarships for advanced placement U.S. history courses until the framework for the course is changed and reverts back to the course framework and examination that were used prior to the 2014-2015 school year.
C. Prior to the 2015-2016 school year, the State Board of Education shall identify and adopt an advanced placement U.S. history program and corresponding assessment that:
1. Are not in contradiction with the subject matter standards for U.S. history adopted by the State Board of Education; and
2. Include the following foundational and historical documents as part of the primary instruction in any U.S. history, honors U.S. history, and advanced placement U.S. history course offered in Oklahoma public schools:
a. organic documents from the pre-Colonial, Colonial, Revolutionary, Federalist, and post-Federalist eras of the United States,
b. major principles in the Federalist Papers,
c. the writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of the founders and presidents of the United States,
d. America’s founding documents that contributed to the foundation or maintenance of America’s representative form of limited government, free-market economic system, and American exceptionalism,
e. objects of historical significance that have formed and influenced the United States’ legal or governmental system and that exemplify the development of the rule of law, including but not limited to the Magna Carta, the Mecklenburg Declaration, the Ten Commandments, and the Justinian Code,
f. U.S. Supreme Court decisions,
g. acts of U.S. Congress, including the published text of the Congressional Record,
h. United States treaties, and
i. other documents, writings, speeches, proclamations, or records relating to the history, heritage, or foundation of the United States, including, in whole, but not limited to:
(1) the Declaration of Independence,
(2) the U.S. Constitution and its amendments,
(3) the Mayflower Compact,
(4) the Bill of Rights,
(5) the Articles of Confederation,
(6) the Virginia Plan,
(7) the Northwest Ordinance,
(8) the motto of the United States,
(9) the National Anthem,
(10) the sermon known as “Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop,
(11) the sermon known as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards,
(12) “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech by Patrick Henry,
(13) “Remember the Ladies” letter by Abigail Adams,
(14) the writing “Common Sense, Section III: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs” by Thomas Paine,
(15) the essay “Federalist Paper No. 10” by James Madison,
(16) George Washington’s farewell address,
(17) Monroe Doctrine,
(18) at least a complete overview of the book entitled “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville,
(19) the document known as “Declaration of Sentiments” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
(20) Independence Day Speech at Rochester by Frederick Douglass,
(21) “House Divided” speech by Abraham Lincoln,
(22) the “Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln,
(23) the Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln,
(24) the “Surrender Speech” by Chief Joseph,
(25) the poem entitled “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus,
(26) “The Gospel of Wealth” by Andrew Carnegie,
(27) “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” by Frederick Jackson Turner,
(28) the “Atlanta Compromise” speech by Booker T. Washington,
(29) the “Cross of Gold” speech by William Jennings Bryan,
(30) Roosevelt Corollary by Theodore Roosevelt,
(31) “New Nationalism” speech by Theodore Roosevelt,
(32) “Peace Without Victory” speech by Woodrow Wilson,
(33) First Inauguration Address by Franklin D. Roosevelt,
(34) portions of the book entitled “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck,
(35) “The Four Freedoms” speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt,
(36) “Day of Infamy” speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt,
(37) “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” by George Kennan,
(39) the address that became known as the “Truman Doctrine” made by Harry S. Truman,
(40) Address on Little Rock by Dwight Eisenhower,
(41) Farewell Address by Dwight Eisenhower,
(42) Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy,
(43) “The Decision to Go to the Moon” speech by John F. Kennedy;
(44) “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
(45) “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.,
(46) “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech by Malcolm X,
(47) “Great Society” speech by Lyndon B. Johnson,
(48) “The American Promise” speech by Lyndon B. Johnson,
(49) First Inaugural Address by Ronald Reagan,
(50) “40th Anniversary of D-Day” speech by Ronald Reagan,
(51) “Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate” speech by Ronald Reagan; and
(52) the address to the nation speech made on September 11, 2001, by George W. Bush.
School districts shall permit teachers to display grade-level appropriate excerpts from or copies of the documents, writings, speeches, proclamations or records listed in this subsection in school classrooms and school building common areas as appropriate.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 2015.
SECTION 3. It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
55-1-396 EB 1/27/2015 3:31:09 PM

This deserves commentary by those much smarter than myself, although I’ll of course rant about this more soon. My favorite part is that getting these documents and the accompanying silliness into law is “immediately necessary for the preservation of public peace, health and safety.”

That’s right folks, funding be damned – THIS is an EMERGENCY.

RELATED POST: Nooobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

40 Credits & A Mule, Part VII – Sleeping Giants

January 26, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

I gotta say, this blogging stuff was so much easier when Dr. Barresi was saying crazy stuff to local news stations for me to excerpt and mock. Of course, the #WTF? stuff is always more fun than the #WhatNow? parts – just ask any Middle Eastern country on the long side of revolution in the past decade.

It’s taken me awhile to get to the dramatic conclusion of this epic, so let’s review – “Previously, on Blue Cereal Education Dot Com…”

Part I – I made the case that land ownership was central to citizenship, suffrage, and participation as a ‘full American’. This seemed reasonable, and by the standards of the day was a huge expansion of democracy and the ability of the ‘common man’ to claim a voice in his government. It did not, however, include everyone we would consider appropriate today – it was a white man’s game.

Part II – Land ownership carried mythical benefits alongside the practical. In addition to being a source of opportunity, income, and republican (small ‘r’) participation, it promoted an agricultural lifestyle – hard work, responsibility, patience, and fortitude. I’d include ‘grit’, but I’d need a ‘trigger warning’ – people are touchy about that one for some reason…

Part III – The combination of practical needs, terrestrial benefits, and supernatural calling led an expanding ‘Merica to treat the Native populations and Mexico as obstacles to overcome rather than peoples to be engaged. The grand ‘us’ and ‘them’ of human history continued.

Part IV – Land ownership becomes a condition as much as an accomplishment. Because not everyone can ‘have’, those who do come to see themselves not as the most fortunate but as the most deserving. Those unable to procure land due to race (or gender, or whatever) were already categorized as ‘less than’ (hence their ineligibility), and this lack of opportunity became circular. Chickens and eggs – which came first, the unworthiness to be a full American or the lack of opportunity to fully participate in the republic?

Part V – Education is the new land. We advocate universal access. We extol it as the key to all things – fiscal opportunity, social advancement, moral purity, personal fulfillment. As with land, lack of access becomes lack of worthiness. Inequity leads to inequality leads to rejection leads to judgment – ‘us vs. them’ with a side of ‘what the hell is wrong with you people?’

Part VI – I suggested we’re doing with students and education what we spent a century and a half doing with various demographics and land ownership and a voice in the republic. I argue that we’ve conflated ability, opportunity, and values with personal worth and potential – to the harm of a substantial percentage of our kids.

I closed with a vague promise to resolve that in this final post.

But I can’t.

It’s just too big. Too many cultural, psychological, logistical, fiscal, emotional, and historical factors out of our control – some completely, others merely mostly.

I can shine some light on the nature of the problem. We may even find some consensus about what’s WRONG. The hard part is in the fixin’ – what we do INSTEAD. That’s the problem with revolutions – you may get enough people to agree about what to tear down, you just can’t get enough people to agree what to build in its place.

I have some more great analogies – one in which we demand coaches train their athletes in a wide variety of sporting events but we only measure races with hurdles, and we keep raising the hurdles for the kids who can’t jump them or who refuse to stay on our track. That’s a good one. There’s another in which some stuffy doctors present research showing the richest and healthiest people in the world eat mostly vegetables and pâté, so they push through legislation mandating a vegetable and pâté diet (without providing the funding to properly prepare either). That was fun, too – and it had the cutest clip-art.

The point of the first, of course, was that hurdles are an inadequate measure of all possible athletic ability, and that not everyone has the same athleticism or interest – for a wide variety of reasons. The second was about correlation and causation – the rich and healthy eat pâté; pâté doesn’t make you rich and healthy. Successful students pass stupid tests; stupid tests don’t create successful students. Like I said, I was pretty amused by them.

But I’ve already laid out six posts of historical analogies involving land and culture and race. These not only make it sound like I’m smarter than I actually am, but they correlate in a very real way with actual problems in education today.

It’s time to fix it.

Are the schools going to be a part of that? They’d have to, I’d think. But they’re not enough.

We need to change the way we think about race and poverty and culture and American values. I’m a big fan of our founding documents and ideals – heck, I even still like capitalism. But we’ve managed to maintain an ugly leavening of racism, elitism, and outright social Darwinism through too many eras to believe it’s not deeply entrenched in the problems we face today.

We need to ask ourselves why so many kids from so many backgrounds find so little of value in the curriculums we push, or the values we demand they share. At best, much of what we prioritize seems pointless to them; at worse, it contradicts who they believe they are and the things they value. Ask your best students their honest opinions about what they’re learning in school – some find parts they really like, but I’m horrified how many confess they’re just doing what they’ve been told to do. They endure, and they get the grades, but that’s all.

It’s like being at the dentist for 13 years straight.

If we can look in the mirror and tell ourselves with conviction they’ll thank us someday because we know what’s good for them and they don’t, OK. Maybe so. But what did YOU carry away from High School that changed your life? Improved your world? Gave meaning to some part of your existence? If you CAN think of something, was it in the curriculum, or did it come from somewhere else?

It seems like most of what we do in school serves only to prepare students to do more of it in more school. That’s not just pointless – it’s unethical and abusive.

And stupid.

The title “40 Credits & A Mule” was inspired by several blog posts by P.L. Thomas about our American myth that students from poor families – especially students of color – who do well in school can overcome their background to the extent they’ll end up economically and socially on par with white peers. They don’t. Their circumstances improve, but you’re better off being a white high school dropout than black with a few years of college in terms of lifetime earnings.

The promise is there, you see – but it’s not substantiated by reality.

I don’t know how we fix it, but I think it begins when we refuse to perpetuate the lie. We refuse to give the tests that rank our kids by ZIP Code while claiming to rank them by accomplishments.

We refuse to follow the outdated factory structure mandated by our states and our expectations.

We refuse to continue forcing so many kids into a choice only between rejecting our system and everything it stands for OR accepting themselves as failures – unworthy players in the only game in town.

We refuse to turn our best and brightest into cynical rule-followers forced to seek ways to escape the reality of their daily grinds rather than embrace the many wonderful ways life can be lived productively and meaningfully.

We make them fire us and justify it. We make them cut our funding and explain it. We let them try to find someone to replace one of us, ten of us, a hundred of us, because we won’t do this to our kids anymore.

Let the State tell the papers why our entire graduating class doesn’t get diplomas. Let the universities explain why they won’t admit any of the thousands of young adults whose value we refuse to measure with a single number between 0 and 4 any longer.

I think I’m advocating revolution. Starting with you, and me, and like, one other guy who’s already pretty weird and we may not actually want on our team. If we were to win, I have no idea what we put up in place of what we’re doing now, but I know this has to stop.

That will probably be a non-issue for us, anyway. We’ll be early casualties, not heroes or leaders. And when we go down, I’m not sure anyone else is picking up this flag. Still… could be fun, don’t you think?

Wanna get in trouble with me?

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Related Post: 40 Credits & A Mule, Part I – This Land

Related Post: I See The Difference In Educational Privilege Every Day… (From the Washington Post / Daily Kos)

#EdReform is NOT that Difficult

January 22, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 4 Comments

Sometimes we just make things too complicated.

How do we this? How do we that? How can we overhaul our public education system without changing anything about it? How do we reach diverse students from inequitable backgrounds and make them all the same person by 3rd grade? How do we recruit and retain higher quality teachers without increasing fiscal incentives, but while stomping out every last vestige of the things that used to make it a fulfilling career?

How do we patch up old wineskins to endure new wine without bursting?

Simple – we don’t.

But that’s OK, because the old wineskins have outlived their usefulness. And just between you and me, new wineskins needn’t be all that complex or much more expensive than the old – and they might just lead to much better varieties of wine.

My Five New Wineskins of Public Education – none of which are all that crazy or even particularly expensive compared to what we spend on, say, testing vendors.

New Wineskin #1: A few key districts simply refuse to administer any state standardized tests. It would be better if there was PTSA buy-in, and the younger the age group, the better. It would be more effective if there were 3 or 4 districts of some size, at least one of which is generally very successful at such things and another of which is not. Unite, refuse, then see what happens – it’s on the state to make the next move.

Upside: Everything’s better with numbers, and a little diversity refutes any suggestion this is about who’s ‘winning’ or ‘losing’, or who has ‘high standards’ and who doesn’t. The state could, of course, refuse to issue diplomas to hundreds or thousands of children. They could defund entire districts, maybe even seek legal action. But that’s some pretty harsh PR, going up against educators and parents ‘standing up for the children’.

Downside: Requires a lot of people to agree to take a huge risk all at once, trust one another to hold the line, and possibly all lose our jobs. So, that would suck. Then again, we all talk a good game about standing up for what we believe. I’ve read your motivational posters and sig files, so… will you?

New Wineskin #2: Districts start offering different types of diplomas. Students planning on going full legit university take full legit academic classes. They AP, they IB, they read and write and inquire and think – they can even Common Core if you wish. Those thinking they’d prefer something more practical or vocational will still be exposed to basic science and math and such, but we don’t need to drag them kicking and screaming through a complex thesis sentence or Algebra II before cosmetology school. Our cultish obsession with ‘core subjects’ can be replaced with something useful – not coldly utilitarian, but based on where students are going and what they want to do.

Upside: Dialing back our obsession with the full Enlightenment Era / factory model “core curriculum” would allow us to teach useful math through shop or repair classes, practical reading alongside a touch of ‘real’ literature, or otherwise manifest our idealism in more balanced fashion. We could offer curriculums students might not hate and find absolutely pointless all day every day. Students strong in traditional subjects could do more than endure hours of mediocre instruction as their teachers struggle to manage and cajole the kids who simply do NOT want or need to be there.

Downside: Tracking has a poor history, rife with unintended negative consequences. Schools would have to figure out logistics of such variety, and perhaps cooperate with neighboring districts. We’ll all be accused of giving up on kids and not caring about high standards because we’re no longer requiring our kids to do a bunch of stuff none of the people making the laws can do either.

New Wineskin #3: Universities should stop requiring high school diplomas and businesses should stop requiring degrees. Let’s be honest – that stuff is mostly a convenience for the institutions rather than real requirements for what students or employees will be doing. We’re always hearing universities complain the freshmen all require remediation anyway, and it seems few companies hire based on WHICH degrees you have – they’re just happy you have… something. Institutions and industries can come up with more appropriate entrance expectations or preparatory training.

Upside: Doesn’t require legal changes or universal buy-in. A generation ago, many organizations had their own competency tests based on the actual job. Problem was, there were racial disparities in the results, leading to civil rights issues. So… new system – require college degrees! It was overkill in most cases, but also shifted the ‘qualifications’ burden to the universities (without actually resolving the disparities). It’s a new age in terms of how companies deal with diversity – let’s ditch this unnecessary complication.

Downside: Might threaten current socio-economic caste system.

New Wineskin #4: Allow teachers to teach the subjects they want and students to choose what they want from those offerings. Like colleges do when trying to garner all that scholarship money by wooing new students with those colorful course descriptions, let high schools offer shorter, more interesting options from which to choose. Some should be close enough to ‘core subjects’ to expose students to the fundamental tenets of each, but generally the framework should be flexible enough that everyone involved doesn’t hate themselves for being there. You take 3 or 4 weeks, then you sign up for new selections. Some may build on one another; most could stand alone.

Traditional cores would still be offered for those so inclined, or for students unwilling or unable to flourish either academically or behaviorally in more interesting classes. Don’t get your panties in a wad about this creating a ‘caste system’ or ‘tracking’ – that’s pretty much what ‘on-level’ classes are now. We’d just be allowing anyone who wishes to escape that limitation and actually learn stuff without requiring the rigor of AP or IB to do so.

Sorry if it chafes to let ‘normal’ kids have an enriching classroom environment also.

Upside: Much higher interest and engagement, by both teachers and students. Core ideas and skills can still be taught, but as they arise naturally and in context. Stronger students can discover the ‘fulfilling’ aspect of more challenging classes when actual choices are involved, and weaker students who gravitate towards something less rigorous will still be exposed to ideas and skills they’d not be encountering otherwise.

The focus would be on learning, and on moving forward from where you are rather than dying in the ditch of ‘where we wish you were’.

Downside: Unless other factors are addressed to improve teacher motivation and retention, there’s potential for ‘blow-off’ classes for both the teacher and the students – you know, unlike currently. The freedom to have excellent classes also means the potential to increase inequity. One advantage to forcing every student in a given state to endure the same outdated, tedious, pointless curriculum is that no one school or any one teacher can be all THAT interesting or successful; there’s a certain ‘unity of mediocrity’. Removing the rusty anchor of ‘standardization’ allows some classrooms to be amazing, meaning others are less so by comparison.

New Wineskin #5: Put me in charge. Unlimited legislative and judicial authority, and extensive resources. Perhaps a concubine or three.

Upside: T-shirts for everyone.

Downside: Oh, please.

#WhiteSilence, Teacher Edition

January 16, 2015July 31, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 4 Comments

In the current conversations regarding racial parity – especially in regards to public education – there are a number of strong, persuasive voices trying to stir awakening, promote understanding, and challenge perceptions. Some focus on human stories, some are heavy on statistics and graphs, and others weave analogies and throw together a pretty good meme now and then.

Some are teachers. Some are not. Some are even white.

Strange, though, in a system overrun with white educators, that we don’t see more from a demographic otherwise quite active on social media. There are retweets, and comments, and a few blog posts, but nowhere near what the raw numbers would suggest.

Why?

In the interest of trying to shine a little Vitamin D on this issue, I’m going to audaciously speculate – based partly on personal experience, partly on conversations with others, and partly on sundry perceptions and me just making stuff up over the years.

1) Any conversation on race in which a white person participates seems to require so many disclaimers – “I’m not a racist” being the most obvious, but still awkward to verbalize. “Some of my best friends are black” is a classic – and yes, people actually still say this.

“I’ll probably say this the wrong way, but…”

“I’m not saying ALL __________ (insert group identification about which one is about to generalize) are the same, but…”

Or even:

“Yeah, I get what you’re saying, but…”

Their ‘buts’ make them nervous. The bigger the ‘but’, the bigger the potential problem. Often they choose to just… not.

To keep this post under length, I deleted two paragraphs of my own disclaimers. I’m not sure what that means in terms of irony.

2) Reasonably educated white people – teachers – are terrified of saying something wrong. Not merely incorrect, you understand, although that’s problematic as well, but something inappropriate, or taken badly, or, the worst of all evils… racist.

Yeah, I know – compared to actual real-world discrimination it seems pretty trivial to worry that someone on Twitter might think you’re a jerk. And it is. But we’re far more swayed by our hopes, lusts, or fears, than our cold intellectual calculations regarding what we SHOULD feel. So we don’t post. Worse, we don’t reply, or question, or insist on clarifications. If we’re not in complete accord, we just move on.

3) White educators feel grossly underqualified. If you’ve never been a minority of anything, it’s hard to truly fathom the experience for those who are. Women have a better shot at it than men, I assume – but I, um… I don’t actually know, being a SWAMP (Straight White Average Male Protestant) and all. Gays, other minorities, even folks from non-dominant religions have some context. The rest of us have a few movies, books, and whatever history we’ve read.

You know that reaction you get when someone who’s never been in combat tries to talk about war? When people without kids try to lecture on parenting? That sensation you get as a teacher reading “expert” advice from people who’ve never run YOUR classroom? Yeah, that’s who white people don’t want to become when trying to speak about anything even remotely related to race.

None of this means they have nothing valuable or sincere to add; it means they feel pre-emptively invalidated in whatever they have to say. If you wish to do more than rah-rah voices of color, you shut up. No one likes to feel stupid or marginalized.

And yes, I hear my pigmented friends shouting “EXACTLY!” in response to that last statement. I recognize the irony and imbalance in the claim. But your broken leg doesn’t heal their stubbed toe; relativism is useful to promote understanding, but it doesn’t negate experience.

4) The lines between racism, prejudice, ignorance, questioning assertions, challenging assumptions, and just plain arguing are WAY too blurry when race is involved. There are so many raw nerves out there that unless those involved have a particularly close and trusting relationship, the chances anything they say will be received poorly are high.

Of course, if they DO have a particularly close and trusting relationship, they’re probably not the ones who most need to be having these sorts of discussions.

5) Some of them are very frustrated by patterns in their students they believe they’re not supposed to notice. Their band kids can be frustratingly single-minded, and those three kids from the Ukraine kinda have a style all their own… but when faculty notice “Hispanic attitudes” or what they think of as “Black behavior,” they’re afraid to think it too loudly, let alone talk about it they way they do those Drama kids.

Their daily experience tells them there are patterns of behavior among certain groups, and that stuff that drives them crazy tends to come from the same demographics. BUT, they don’t feel like they’re allowed to state the obvious – and that makes it worse. It build resentment because it must remain unspoken – the Voldemort of public education.

Except, of course, for bloggers calling out disparities in disciplinary measures.

Because we’re being all figuratively naked here, I’ll tell you – and this is something most of my white teacher friends believe but will never say publicly and only carefully express privately – most of the time they can’t fathom WHY it’s not OK to simply expect minority students to behave the same as everyone else. As with stereotyping, when these things can’t be addressed comfortably, they build up power – muddling and obstructing other thoughts and feelings related to race.

There’s a type of honesty that’s not ugly – we need to find it and practice it and disinfect our collective subconsious.

6) They’re tired of being told that everything any minority kid – or ethnic anyone anywhere – does is THEIR fault. You want me to just let some students behave disruptively or do poor work because my grandparents treated them badly? Isn’t that “soft racism”? The “soft bigotry of low expectations”?

You have no idea how deflating it was to discover that Bill Cosby – a guy we were SURE was legitimately BLACK, but who wanted people to speak properly, pull up their pants, and take a little personal responsibility – is some kinda serial rapist. Dammit! How SELFISH of him to do this to us – er… I mean, to those women!

7) They resent the implication that everything they’ve accomplished – every challenge they’ve overcome or misery they’ve endured – doesn’t count because it’s all White Privilege, so it was easy for them… so get over themselves.

This would be a good time to remind the reader that I’m not making these arguments or validating these impressions. I’ve been there – I get it – but this is not me at the moment. (“Doctor, I have this, uh… ‘good friend’ who has this, uh… little problem…”)

This is an incomplete and oversimplified list, but I’m sure you’ve noticed it’s built on perceptions and feelings and fears and frustrations rather than facts, people, or specifics. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know I believe those are the things that most drive human behavior and attitudes.

I hope sunlight will help reduce our confirmation biases, our spurious correlations, and our general ‘blurry thinking’ when it comes to race. If you don’t think I’ve quite found that light, the Comments section is below. Help me. Having deleted my best disclaimers, I’m pretty sure somewhere in here I’ve been unintentionally offensive to someone. But I don’t know how to move forward with this so-called ‘conversation on race’ we keep hearing we’re having unless we find a way to better communicate what’s really on our minds.

I’ve shared mine as best I can, and now I’m taking the liberty of approximating others’.

We’ll see what happens.

Related Post: Dear Student of Color…

40 Credits & A Mule, Part VI: Return of the Jedi

January 15, 2015June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

This is part 6 of 7 – some recap seems in order:

Who gets to be a ‘full’ American? Who gets suffrage, representation, and due process?

Land-owners were the initial default. Land provided opportunity, American Dream-style. It was a universal measure of personal responsibility and capability. It inculcated virtue, and perhaps won supernatural favor. And, finally, it gave you a vested interest in the success of the young nation.

What began as a checklist for civic participation became the default measure of a man. What was intended to protect representative government from the incompetent or slothful became an anchor on those who didn’t fit certain checklists as of 225 years ago. You are unworthy. Not quite a full American – and thus not quite a full person.

The issue became your state of being rather than whatever rules you had or hadn’t mastered, or whatever goals you hadn’t met. It was self-perpetuating and self-reinforcing. It became circular:

Presumption: You provide for yourself and your family, so you are worthy to help run the country. You own land and do responsible things? Here’s your ballot.

Evolution: You provide and are provided for – because you are worthy. You own land because you’re so responsible – here’s your halo.

I suggest we’re doing something similar with education today – both public and higher.

Consider Alyssa – a wonderful young lady in AP classes from a two-parent Methodist family. She works hard, makes good grades, stays out of any real trouble, and wants to be a neuroscientist. Obviously she deserves some credit for her accomplishments. She’s demonstrated great capability, and made good decisions.

She’s also from the right family, and – more importantly – the right ZIP code. She goes to the right school, has the right social circle, the right economic status, and the right looks. She’s the right amount healthy and she was born at the right time for her particular skill set to shine. None of these things are entirely in her control.

She’s our ‘white homesteader.’ She’s done nothing malicious in making her ‘land’ productive. She does tend to wonder what’s wrong with students who don’t do the same – not out of racism or vanity, but simply because it’s bewildering to her that anyone would not want to do well, or not be able to do well. It’s just not that hard.

Compare her to Dionne – another wonderful young lady, but one from very different circumstances. Her life might be happy enough, or it might be reality-show dysfunctional, but in any case does NOT unfold in the same universe as Alyssa’s. All of the rules are different and their experiences mutually exclusive.

Dionne’s AP Chem grade (or the fact that she’s not even taking AP Chem) reflects many things OTHER THAN her capability or choices. Her ability and agency matter a great deal as well, but they’re not sovereign.

Dionne is a beautiful black girl, descended from freedmen. Plenty of Black Americans ‘bought in’ to Anglo-American values – they sought land, self-sufficiency, education, progress, etc. But they weren’t merely denied the resources to join such a culture – they were actively punished for making progress along those lines.

This didn’t stop the dominant culture from belittling them for not matching their successes, of course. It doesn’t prevent belittling those today who at some point simply changed their priorities and dropped out of that particular value system.

In Dionne’s case the issue is not emulating prior conditions, but overcoming them.

Anders is a kid who doesn’t want to be in your class – or anyone’s class – at ALL, near as you can tell. He’s not particularly defiant, but he’s also rarely tempted to give much. It would take three of him to make one passing student. His test scores put you on lists and you’re constantly asked to send him work he’s already ignored. You go to meetings about him called by his counselor; the parent chair is always empty.

Anders is my Amerindian, although he might be Hispanic, or White, or Black, or whatever – there are racial issues wound up in these, but they’re not exclusive or always definitive. Many Amerindians had no interest in the Anglo-American value system or way of life, but they were forced to partake – and stakes were high if they failed. They lacked buy-in, but they also were denied good tools, seed, land, etc. It’s not much of a stretch to think a comparable state exists between many teenagers and whatever public school system holds them captive in 2015.

Pick something your kids spend time on that you totally don’t understand – video games, soccer, angsty music, whatever. Something you at least partly despise. Master it. Spend the hours it takes to really get decent at Call of Duty. Practice soccer until you’re good enough to compete. Consume YouTube until you want to run hot skewers into your eyes and ears to make the bad things stop!

That’s how Anders feels about Grammar, and Physics. He may be right.

I’ll add a Zack – they’re always named something like ‘Zack’ – who’s surviving AP Chem and otherwise getting by even though he’s NOT particularly bright and doesn’t have a great work ethic. He’s charismatic, knows how to play the game, and while not exactly a charlatan, succeeds more through people skills and an instinct for edu-bureaucracy than anything. He’s probably destined for administration.

Which of these are worthy? Which deserve to be a full American? To get a full ride to an elite university? Which are making the best use of the opportunities presented to them, however flawed they may be?

You’re so thankful for Alyssa – students like her give you the energy to get through the day. But how often is Alyssa essentially rewarded for her upbringing and Dionne marginalized for not ‘working hard enough’? How angry does Anders make you even though he doesn’t really do anything to you other than not be taught? Zack’s an annoying little turd, but he’s passing and no one’s mad at you because of him so… whatever.

Anders has been given very little reason to adopt the same values and goals as the rest. For all our talk of nurturing kids’ individual strengths, his just aren’t on the curriculum map – and there’s nothing you can personally do about that. Dionne may have tuned out, but no wonder – even when she does ‘buy in’, she lacks many of the proper tools and supplies, literally as well as figuratively.

And Zack… well, there’s always that kid who just does OK for reasons you never quite understand, yes?

Changing the nature of American public school won’t be accomplished by ‘higher standards’ or tougher testing. We can argue about this set of standards or that for another ten years if you like, but – and I hate to be the one to break this to you – for the vast majority of kids not currently ‘succeeding’ in our schools, it just doesn’t matter one tiny little damn.

We have a culture fundamentally shaped by our past – that’s how history works, it’s why we study it. We have generations of mostly well-intentioned peeps whose views of one another are shaped by that history. Our psyches are riddled with logical fallacies and vestigial reactions we don’t even recognize. It’s not rational, it’s not fair, and it’s sure as hell not standardized.

We have a rather narrow definition of what sort of learning is valued and tested and college and career ready, and that means a rather narrow idea of just what kind of education we’re willing to begrudgingly and inadequately finance. Our definition ignores more reality than it includes.

Meaningful change might INVOLVE academic standards and teaching strategies, but it won’t be founded on them. It’s going to be people-heavy and cliché-light. It may not even begin in school. That’s what I’ll tackle in the next and final post on this topic.

It’s taken me six parts to try to unwind my version of the problem. That leaves me exactly one last segment in which to resolve it. I’m not optimistic.

Related Post: 40 Credits & A Mule, Part I – This Land