Home
In this issue
July 30, 2010
David Hazony : Reason and logic offer the weakest motivation for being good; A reconsideration of the true root of evil on this earth
Caroline B. Glick: See no evil
July 29, 2010
Jori Finkel: Largest restitution claims ever filed in U.S. courts by a single family against another nation ($100 million)
The Kosher Gourmet by Noelle Carter: Light, bright-flavored passion fruit mousse
July 28, 2010
John Keilman: For today's youths, there may be a downside to high self-esteem
Glenn Garvin: Is life wasted on the living?
July 27, 2010
Thomas H. Maugh II: Israeli scientists devise way for disabled to control computers, wheelchairs by sniffing
Caroline B. Glick: The new, improved Obama
July 26, 2010
Mort Zuckerman: Prerequisites for a two-state solution
Lisa M. Krieger: Professor fired over comments on homosexuality gets $100,000
July 23, 2010
Rabbi David Aaron: Feeling Totally Alive
Caroline B. Glick: Change we must believe in
July 22, 2010
John Rosemond: Mothers who fall short --- by design
The Kosher Gourmet by Carol Mighton Haddix: The summer slump: Lazy cook's version of cobbler is simple, seasonal and sumptuous
July 21, 2010
David L. Ulin: The dance of chaos and fate
July 20, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Other Butterfly Effect
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Kagan's Shariah problem
July 19, 2010
Jeff Jacoby: Look who's defending states' rights
Kathleen Parker: Americans must not be cowed by Muslim objections to cartoons
David Hazony: Answering WWMD --- What Would Moses Do?
Caroline B. Glick: A war on whose terms?
July 15, 2010
John Rosemond: To tell a child 'You can be anything you want to be' is irresponsible
The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta : Ice pops for grown-ups
July 14, 2010
Rabbi Yonason Goldson : In Judaism, Second Amendment states' rights would never be up for debate
Patrick Goldstein : Dimmed star
July 13, 2010
Julian E. Barnes : U.S. military turns to TV for surveillance technology
Libby Lazewnik: Lazy Days (SHORT STORY)
July 12, 2010
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Disloyalty or opportunity?
Gene Weingarten: Rhymin' sly man: If Shakespeare had worked the Catskills …

Jewish World Review Dec. 23, 2009 / 6 Teves 5770

Black Education

By Walter Williams


Printer Friendly Version

Email this article

Share and bookmark this article



http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Detroit's (predominantly black) public schools are the worst in the nation and it takes some doing to be worse than Washington, D.C. Only 3 percent of Detroit's fourth-graders scored proficient on the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test, sometimes called "The Nation's Report Card." Twenty-eight percent scored basic and 69 percent below basic. "Below basic" is the NAEP category when students are unable to demonstrate even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level. It's the same story for Detroit's eighth-graders. Four percent scored proficient, 18 percent basic and 77 percent below basic.


Michael Casserly, executive director of the D.C.-based Council on Great City Schools, in an article appearing in Crain's Detroit Business, (12/8/09) titled, "Detroit's Public Schools Post Worst Scores on Record in National Assessment," said, "There is no jurisdiction of any kind, at any level, at any time in the 30-year history of NAEP that has ever registered such low numbers." The academic performance of black students in other large cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles is not much better than Detroit and Washington.


What's to be done about this tragic state of black education? The education establishment and politicians tell us that we need to spend more for higher teacher pay and smaller class size. The fact of business is higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes mean little or nothing in terms of academic achievement. Washington, D.C., for example spends over $15,000 per student, has class sizes smaller than the nation's average, and with an average annual salary of $61,195, its teachers are the most highly paid in the nation.

Letter from JWR publisher


What about role models? Standard psychobabble asserts a positive relationship between the race of teachers and administrators and student performance. That's nonsense. Black academic performance is the worst in the very cities where large percentages of teachers and administrators are black, and often the school superintendent is black, the mayor is black, most of the city council is black and very often the chief of police is black.


Black people have accepted hare-brained ideas that have made large percentages of black youngsters virtually useless in an increasingly technological economy. This destruction will continue until the day comes when black people are willing to turn their backs on liberals and the education establishment's agenda and confront issues that are both embarrassing and uncomfortable. To a lesser extent, this also applies to whites because the educational performance of many white kids is nothing to write home about; it's just not the disaster that black education is.


Many black students are alien and hostile to the education process. They have parents with little interest in their education. These students not only sabotage the education process, but make schools unsafe as well. These students should not be permitted to destroy the education chances of others. They should be removed or those students who want to learn should be provided with a mechanism to go to another school.


Another issue deemed too delicate to discuss is the overall quality of people teaching our children. Students who have chosen education as their major have the lowest SAT scores of any other major. Students who have an education degree earn lower scores than any other major on graduate school admission tests such as the GRE, MCAT or LSAT. Schools of education, either graduate or undergraduate, represent the academic slums of most any university. They are home to the least able students and professors. Schools of education should be shut down.


Yet another issue is the academic fraud committed by teachers and administrators. After all, what is it when a student is granted a diploma certifying a 12th grade level of achievement when in fact he can't perform at the sixth- or seventh-grade level?


Prospects for improvement in black education are not likely given the cozy relationship between black politicians, civil rights organizations and teacher unions.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Walter Williams Archives


© 2006, Creators Syndicate.

Insight (Our Columnists)

 Arnold Ahlert
 Mitch Albom
 Barbara Amiel
 Michael Barone
 Tony Blankley
 Andy Borowitz
 David Broder
 Stratfor Briefing
 Mona Charen
 Linda Chavez
 Ann Coulter
 Greg Crosby
 Larry Elder
 Suzanne Fields
 John Fund
 Frank J. Gaffney
 Lloyd Garver
 Jonah Goldberg
 Julia Gorin
 Jonathan Gurwitz
 Paul Greenberg
 Lewis Grossberger
 Victor Davis Hanson
 Betsy Hart
 Nat Hentoff
 David Horowitz
 Laura Ingraham
 Cheri Jacobus
 Jeff Jacoby
 Paul Johnson
 Jack Kelly
 Ed Koch
 Ch. Krauthammer
 Michael Ledeen
 John Leo
 David Limbaugh
 Kathryn Lopez
 Rich Lowry
 Michelle Malkin
 Jackie Mason
 Dick Morris
 Bill O'Reilly
 Jim Mullen
 Kathleen Parker
 Dennis Prager
 Wesley Pruden
 Tom Purcell
 Jonathan Rauch
 Robert Robb
 Cokie & Steve Roberts
 Pat Sajak
 Debra J. Saunders
 Culture Shlock
 Michael Smerconish
 Thomas Sowell
 Mark Steyn
 John Stossel
 Cal Thomas
 Bob Tyrrell
 Diana West
 Dave Weinbaum
 George Will
 Walter Williams
 Byron York
 Mort Zuckerman

'Toons
 Robert Arial
 Chuck Asay
 Baloo
 Chip Bok
 Dry Bones
  Lisa Benson
 John Branch
 Gary Brookins
 John Cole
 J. D. Crowe
 John Deering
 Brian Duffy
 Everything's Relative
 Mallard Fillmore
 Jake Fuller
 Bob Gorrel
 Joe Heller
 David Hitch
 Jerry Holber
 Steve Kelley
 Jeff Koterba
 Dick Locher
 Chan Lowe
 Ranan R. Lurie
 Jimmy Margulies
 Rick McKee
 Michael Ramirez
 Kevin Siers
 Jeff Stahler
 Ed Stein
 Danna Summers
 John Trever
 Gary Varvel
 Kirk Walters

Lifestyles
 Lori Borgman
 Fixit
 Dr. Peter Gott
 GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
 Richard Lederer
 Tech Maven
 Every Monday Matters
 Nutrition Myths
 Bookmark These
 Bruce Williams
 How Stuff Works