Still Clueless After All These Years

To follow up on the Minneapolis Foundation's study I referenced last week, we now have the Minneapolis Star Tribune's reaction, "a call to action to reduce racial, ethnic gaps."

A new Minneapolis Foundation report about racial and ethnic disparities in Minneapolis confirms something we already knew: Deep racial gaps persist in education, employment and income.

Persist is a curious word choice for this "troubling" situation.

• One in four African America students are suspended from school each year.
• The reading gap between white and non-white students was 50 percentage points in 2010.
• More than half of all American Indian, Asian and black children in the city are living in poverty.
• Only about 20 percent of families in poverty are paying for housing they can afford, making them extremely vulnerable to homelessness.
• People of color make up about 40 percent of the population in Minneapolis, yet they hold only 17 percent of the jobs.

The Editorial calls this document a study, a report, an analysis.  Actually, it's an invoice. 

These outcomes are not happenstance.  They don't simply emerge and persist.  They are the direct and long predicted consequences of decades of big government pursuing some cosmic vision of social justice, liberalism if you will.

In K-12 education, every fall we hear the promises like "making every child college ready" and new strategies that will be used to address the achievement gaps, assuming you approve the referendums.  Every spring we hear the excuses of poverty, unruly students, immigrants, unsupportive parents, crumbling facilities, unexplained high costs, and the annual revenue shortfalls.  Undeniable and unsaid are the continuing policies of grade inflation, curriculum deflation, and social promotion.  The needle doesn't move because more fundamental issues like discipline, accountability, competition, innovation, and transparency remain off the union bargaining table and off the Editorial pages.

At the end of the Editorial, the authors urge that we "focus on ... proven methods for success."  May I ask given the stark realities above, what unproven methods have we been mistakenly applying instead all these years?  And why?

Comments

[Hiram]

At the end of the Editorial, the authors urge that we "focus on ... proven methods for success."

Yes, the classic dodge. The proven method for success is have children born to well off parents in Edina. We need to find ways to make that happen more.

[Speed Gibson]

Actually, the trick is to keep good systems like Eden Prairie from going bad. The parents there weighed in and shipped out their Superintendent that tried to ruin two schools instead of fixing one.

[J. Ewing]

You would think a thorough "study" would include putting the question into context. In this case, that would be "Why do Minneapolis Schools have the greatest achievement gap (disparity between white and minority) in the NATION?" It would seem that a simple solution might be to do what some other greatly advanced education systyem, say /Mississippi/ is already doing, to achieve much greater success. Or just dissolve the MPS system entirely. Most kids would learn more watching TV all day.

[IndyJones]

Why achieve when you are a third generation minority that aquires free medical, housing, and EBT card. Wait till it gets to the totally disfunctional 51% minority. Detroit, Montgomery, Memphis, and Atlanta....here we come!

[J. Ewing]

We need to nip that in the bud. Welfare reform went a long way, getting rid of the "easy" 70-80%, but the people you describe need more than just the incentive of "root, hog, or die." They don't know what you mean by getting up EVERY DAY and being somewhere at a certain time, or having a work ethic or proper attitude or proper dress or a proper education for a... what do you call it? Oh, yeah, job. Really, I have met some of these folks. It won't be easy, but we have to get the schools to quit creating more of them than are absolutely unavoidable.