← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Avalanche
Thread ID: 7219 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2003-06-09
2003-06-09 04:42 | User Profile
[url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,88772,00.html]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,88772,00.html[/url] Racist Math and Discriminating Against a Minority Friday, June 06, 2003 By Joanne Jacobs
2 + 2 = ?
On Number 2 Pencil (http://www.homestead.com/swygert/files/no2pencil.html), Kim Swygert rounds up the controversies over graduation and promotion exams. Basically, everyone wants to blame the test instead of blaming the school for not teaching algebra or the student for not learning. Or they just blame racism:
*ââ¬ÅI call it a testocracy,ââ¬Â said Ron Walters, the director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland. He said that the tests used for high school graduation in Florida are culturally biased, as are most tests across the country now being used to measure the performance of schools, teachers and pupils.
ââ¬ÅThe sum total of these tests is that they are a strong reflection of the white Anglo-American-European experience in American culture,ââ¬Â and unfair to Hispanic and black test-takers, Walters said.*
Most Florida students eventually pass the reading and writing part of the state's graduation exam; they falter on the math. I wonder what part of math reflects Anglo-American experience. Perhaps most of the numbers are white, and blacks only get 13 and 17, while Hispanics get 23 and 29. What color is a triangle? What does the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle equal in the ghetto, the barrio and the 'burbs? And how come Asian-Americans are capable of learning algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus, despite their non-Anglo culture?
Newspapers are running stories about B students who can't get a 60 percent on a multiple-choice math test in multiple tries. I'd love to know what grades these students got in math. From the Washington Post:
*Tyler Douglass, 18, a senior at Cimmaron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas, has been a solid student: He has a B average, has taken a smattering of honors classes and is qualified for Nevada's Millennium Scholarship, which would award him as much as $10,000 in college scholarships over four years.
But like many students in Las Vegas, he has not passed the state's math exam.*
His mother says itââ¬â¢s a ââ¬Åflawed examââ¬Â because students werenââ¬â¢t taught all the material on the test. No, it's a flawed system, Mom. If your college-bound son wasn't taught algebra and geometry in high school, what was he taught? Math Appreciation?
California students also are struggling with the math section of the graduation exam. This site links to sample questions, and points out that most of the questions on the math exam cover knowledge that's supposed to be taught in seventh grade. It's possible to pass with the minimal 55 percent score without answering any algebra questions.
Discriminating Against a Minority ââ¬â Lefties Showing people writing left-handed is banned by a textbook publishing company's guidelines. Kate Gladstone of Handwriting Repair writes on Education News (http://www.educationnews.org/Harcourt-Steck-Vaughn-now-has-a-publishing-guideline-forbiddi ng-their-illustrators-to-draw-photograph-anybody-writing-left-handed.htm):
According to educational-issues researcher Diane Ravitch, the USA branch of the educational-publishing conglomerate Harcourt/Steck-Vaughn now has a "publishing guideline" forbidding their illustrators to draw/photograph anybody writing left-handed.
What's wrong with lefties?
Muslims traditionally regard the left hand (and left-handers too) as seriously unclean and disgusting; they forbid using the left hand except for, uh, personal-hygiene purposes ... and they DEFINITELY forbid it for such important daily tasks as writing, eating, etc.
Yes, but this is America.
Fun facts: Saudi Arabia has a law against using the left hand in public. Usama bin Laden is a natural lefty.
================= Joanne Jacobs used to have a paying job as a Knight-Ridder columnist and San Jose Mercury News editorial writer. Now she blogs for tips at JoanneJacobs.com while writing a book, Start-Up High, about a San Jose charter school. She's never gotten a dime from Enron. [url=http://www.joannejacobs.com/]http://www.joannejacobs.com/[/url] =================
Comments on her blog: Where are the leftist activists when we need them? Seriously, why is sensitivity so one-directional? There are non-American practices that offend Americans. But since when did foreign countries suppress depictions of those practices to avoid offending Americans? In her article, Kate Gladstone asked: > ** "After all, some religious and cultural groups in the USA consider it evil and/or disgusting to have dark skin - what if one or more of those groups opposed having pictures of anyone identifiable as an African-American?" This will never happen, because in the PC US, taboos only apply to people who don't belong to "protected classes." Left-handers are fair game; blacks are not. Besides, taboos of PC-favored peoples matter more. Muslims rank far higher on the PC scale than Afrophobic racists. (Not that I think anyone should appease racists of any stripe.) Lastly, why stop at textbooks? They only occupy a tiny percentage of the sensitive student's life. Why not regulate all public behavior out of fear of offending THEM? For starters, let's stop left-handed kids from displaying their hideous habit in front of their classmates. ====================== Another thought: There are large segments of the population who would be deeply offended by any depiction of gay couples, or even inter-racial couples. Does Harcourt have guidelines prohibiting the depiction of these? ======================
2003-06-09 05:14 | User Profile
Originally posted by Avalanche@Jun 9 2003, 04:42 ** *Tyler Douglass, 18, a senior at Cimmaron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas, has been a solid student: He has a B average, has taken a smattering of honors classes and is qualified for Nevada's Millennium , which would award him as much as $10,000 in college scholarships over four years.
But like many students in Las Vegas, he has not passed the state's math exam.* **
Of course, Tylder D. blames a racism for why he can't add 2 and 2 on a very easy state test. Tyler D. has a good GPA and has even taken some honors classes and a scholarship. So, obviously his inability to add 2 and 2 is not a result of any academic deficiency on his part.
The real racism is that black idiots are given good grades and scholarships that they do not deserve, simply because they're black. If I were a white teacher, I'd give every black a B or a C, even if he couldn't tie his shoes. Why? So I wouldn't be accused of racism for giving him the F that he deserves. So that I wouldn't have to see his mug again next year. If I were a black teacher, I'd give every black an A or a B. Why? Because I'd be racist and just as dumb!
BTW, I bet money that the designers of the state test bent over backwards when making the test with the goal of helping blacks do better relative to whites. They don't want to be accused of being racist either.
2003-06-09 12:43 | User Profile
The sad part is that White women eat this BS up and go around repeating it.
2003-06-09 16:42 | User Profile
ââ¬ÅThe sum total of these tests is that they are a strong reflection of the white Anglo-American-European experience in American culture,ââ¬Â and unfair to Hispanic and black test-takers, Walters said.
Sniff. Sniff.
Good to see that even mainstreamers get this one.
2003-06-09 17:09 | User Profile
Originally posted by Avalanche@Jun 9 2003, 04:42 ** ââ¬ÅThe sum total of these tests is that they are a strong reflection of the white Anglo-American-European experience in American culture,ââ¬Â and unfair to Hispanic and black test-takers, Walters said.* **
Asians, Jews, and others have no problem with these tests. They often do better than the native white Americans. This is nothing but racist white-bashing for whatever combination of genetic and cultural inferiority exists in blacks. One example of that inferiority is this blatantly stupid blaming of whites for Tyler D. not being able to add.
And, it isn't just white women, many white men have accepted these lies about blacks being oppressed.
2003-06-09 18:52 | User Profile
Originally posted by Happy Hacker@Jun 9 2003, 12:09 ** One example of that inferiority is this blatantly stupid blaming of whites for Tyler D. not being able to add. **
And what's the answer? More of my family's money confiscated by government to throw at the public schools that I would never send my kids to. It's enough to make one want to secede.
2003-06-09 19:20 | User Profile
**And what's the answer? **
Costa Rica, dawg. Peace out.
2003-06-10 04:26 | User Profile
Originally posted by Happy Hacker@Jun 9 2003, 11:09 > Originally posted by Avalanche@Jun 9 2003, 04:42 ** ââ¬ÅThe sum total of these tests is that they are a strong reflection of the white Anglo-American-European experience in American culture,ââ¬Â and unfair to Hispanic and black test-takers, Walters said.* **
Asians, Jews, and others have no problem with these tests. They often do better than the native white Americans. This is nothing but racist white-bashing for whatever combination of genetic and cultural inferiority exists in blacks. One example of that inferiority is this blatantly stupid blaming of whites for Tyler D. not being able to add.
And, it isn't just white women, many white men have accepted these lies about blacks being oppressed.**
And they are equal to what?
2003-06-10 09:38 | User Profile
I'm still waiting for them to release a non-racist version of the math test. It would be good for the comedy value.
I vaguely remember a story about how some school district did compose a "racially neutral" test.... and Whitey still outscored the rest of them on it.