Rod Paige on Closing the Academic Achievement Gap
Rod Paige, George Bush’s former secretary of education, says the academic achievement gap between the races must be closed. How does he proposed to do that? (Source)
Paige has some interesting things to say. For instance, he said racial discrimination and injustice are “now episodic and much less of a barrier to success,” to which I wholeheartedly agree, but I want to get to the heart of the matter. He notes that the typical black 17-year-old reads and does math at the level of a typical white 13-year-old. Again, how do we close the gap?
“Political leaders must be open to support a broader array of instructional modalities including charter schools, private schools, parochial schools and virtual learning systems. They must resist the urging of the guardians of the status quo. Parents must help children understand the power of education to improve life’s circumstances and encourage them to do their best in school. Community leaders must mount after-school and Saturday morning programs and other initiatives that help children catch up on skills they have missed. Churches must expand their education programs and create better coordination with schools. Organizations like the NAACP, LULAC, the Urban League and others must work more forcefully with social organizations on educational initiatives. In other words, closing the education achievement gap will require a total community effort.”
And these will help close the achievement gap? Call me skeptical. Paige’s general suggestions are well intentioned and oft-repeated. The reward for better educated children is huge, but the task of better educating them is also huge.
Racial preferences, i.e., lowering standards, is one consequence of the academic achievement gap. Apparently, there aren’t enough minorities with the grades and scores to compete with everyone else, so schools drop standards (but only for minorities) in order to admit an arbitrary percentage of them for purposes of skin deep-only diversity.
If readers who think I’m off-base have another explantion for lowered standards, I’m all ears.
