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Message |
    
indi13
Citizen
Username: Notupset
Post Number: 5
Registered: N/A
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 1:31 pm: |     |
There is a great little op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, Jan. 23, about where the focus needs to be to "zap the gap." |
jfburch
Citizen
Username: Jfburch
Post Number: 1252
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 2:01 pm: | |
What's the gist for those of us who don't get the paper? |
indi13
Citizen
Username: Notupset
Post Number: 6
Registered: N/A
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 2:23 pm: | |
Paraphrasing/Quoting: "Young black children lag significantly in school readiness before traditional school programs and expectations of discrimination could have much effect. Black underachievemnt, especially among males, is present even in the best schools and is only weakly correlated with indicators of school quality...The most important influences on young children's development are family, home and the immediate social circle. Social scientists have fournd measurable differences in the quality of these factors that may account for black-white gaps in skills that may affect school..performance....The most important mental and behavioral patterns, once established, are difficult to change once children enter school...Reform must look to private behavior more than public policy. Parents, not their surrogates (schools) are in the best position to alter the parenting behavior that that affects the child's environment and development. There is no substitute for cultural change and behavioral reform within the black community itself. Parents must take a hard look at how children are raised, especially in the early years, and ask how parenting practices can be improved."
My personal opinion is not that we should give up on underachieving students, or that we should do nothing in our schools to address the achievment gap, but that we should be smart and focus most of our energy on where it can do the most good. |
eliz
Citizen
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 674
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 2:36 pm: | |
I don't think it is a great op ed but you should be able to view it here:
http://online.wsj.com/wsjgate?subURI=%2Farticle%2F0%2C%2CSB107481818393409637%2D email%2C00%2Ehtml&nonsubURI=%2Farticle%5Femail%2F0%2C%2CSB107481818393409637%2DI ZjfYNmlal3mp2qZ3yIcaiDm5%2C00%2Ehtml
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jfburch
Citizen
Username: Jfburch
Post Number: 1255
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 2:46 pm: | |
(Thanks for the link--I tried to get there from the homepage but couldn't as a non-subscriber....)
Since they don't reference the studies or the "social scientists" I can't take it as much more than opinion.
I do know of research into some of those areas, but results are hardly conclusive as they make it sound, and while it's well known that the gap is pervasive--across all socio-economic strata--it's not uniform and treating "young black children" as a homogeneous group is highly problematic. |
bobk
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 4423
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 3:06 pm: | |
Jf, the authors aren't exactly lightweights as shown in the following, although the University of Chicago economics department is pretty conservative.
Mr. Heckman, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the 2000 Nobel Laureate in Economics, is the co-author of "Inequality in America: What Role for Human Capital Policy" (forthcoming from MIT Press). Ms. Wax is a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
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jfburch
Citizen
Username: Jfburch
Post Number: 1256
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 3:29 pm: | |
That's not the point--the point is that there is not, to my knowledge, consensus among studies or social scientists who look at this stuff--and it's not clear from the editorial if they are referring to their own work or that of others.
But, in a classic case of spin, they write as if their opinion was common knowledge or generally accepted findings.
Their opinion may or may not be well grounded--but I have no way of knowing. And, yes, it's an op-ed piece, not a journal article, but it's still possible to be a little more forthcoming about their sources and the grounding of their opinions, but then, they'd have to want to. |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1834
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 3:46 pm: | |
yea, they must be evil. |
Diversity Man
Citizen
Username: Deadwhitemale
Post Number: 594
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 5:01 pm: | |
Yes, evil.
Evil White Men.
DWM
D(E)WM |
lumpyhead
Citizen
Username: Lumpyhead
Post Number: 636
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 5:05 pm: | |
Common sense must be evil. |
Dad23
Citizen
Username: Dad23
Post Number: 38
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 5:37 pm: | |
I don't think their sense is common to all. |
harpo
Citizen
Username: Harpo
Post Number: 1078
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 5:51 pm: | |
Common sense? There's a rather large logical flaw in the authors' argument. Did everybody read it?
The argument begins by saying that "[a]mong African Americans, the gender gap in higher education is widening dramatically, with more women than men going to college. Recent discussions of this important social trend fail to face up to a key source of the problem and prescribe the wrong solution. Strategies to recruit and retain black men in college are too little too late because the difficulties black men face can be traced to low achievement at the onset of elementary school."
Having said that, the authors never identify or even mention any difference between the experiences of female and male children in African-American families. Their article inadvertantly flags a fascinating question: If both little girls and little boys in African American families "are exposed to much lower levels of cognitive and emotional stimulation than white children, even in families with comparable income, education and IQ" and "watch more TV, read fewer books, and converse and go on educational outings with their families less often" and "are more likely to be raised in homes without fathers, family mealtimes or fixed routines," then how come this environment only has a negative impact on educational attainment among African-American boys?
The most important sentence in the article is:
"Social scientists have found measurable differences in the quality of these factors [meaning, the influence of family, home and immediate social circle] that may account for black-white gaps in skills that affect school and job performance." That all-important qualifier -- the word "may" -- tells me that it also "may not" be the cause at all.
It looks to me like it was a much longer piece that was very heavily edited, and I'll give the signers the beneifit of the doubt that in the original draft, they cited the research they suggest led them to their hedged conclusions. The whole point of science (and Hecker is a scientist) is to let everybody look at your data. Until we know what it is, it's hard to credit any assertions about them.
I know that Hecker is white, and I know Wax is a woman but don't know her color, so I don't think any criticisms of this article are based on an animus against white males. I suspect Wax actually wrote the article, since Nobel winners seldom do more than sign things. My own bias is that whenever economists and lawyers talk about Ianything, I'm slow to buy.
I also know for sure that the latest hobbyhorse in rightwing think tanks is arguing against spending any more money on public education and that they are using the "achievement gap" (read "race") as a wedge issue. I think this article as edited is a political document, not a scientific document. Which is why it was published on the opinion page of the WSJ.
It's really hard to distinguish common sense from common prejudice. Data helps a little, but even that subject to interpretation. |
indi13
Citizen
Username: Notupset
Post Number: 7
Registered: N/A
| | Posted on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 8:33 am: | |
I for one am not against spending money, if that is the right way to fix things, but lets be sure we are spending it the right way. Common sense tells me that if kids come to kindergarten with a good intelectual base, and are encouraged to read and learn by their parents they are likely to do well. Perhaps spending money on parent training of expectant or new parents in a community would be well spent. Making sure they are aware of how important the earliest years are in developing the child, preparing him/her to succeed would be good. I am guessing kindergarten teachers could identify children who are at risk of contributing to the racial achievement gap (and of course non-black children who are at risk of falling behind). The parents of these children need to be in the loop, and are more important in terms of helping the child than any new thing the school can do. |
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