This is the latest in the mindless propaganda coming from the west coast over the last few years, “don’t blame the parents for their children’s failures, blame the schools”. On the surface that statement does not seem all that unreasonable, after all if a school has a majority of its students failing State wide exams, in all likelihood the school is at fault. What happens when only a small portion of the student body is underperforming though, can we still blame the school, or must we then look to the parents? According to Glenn Singleton of the Pacific Educational Group, if the underperforming students happen to be black or Hispanic we cannot blame the parents because that would be racist.

“If we were to say that black or brown kids don’t perform as well because of their parents, we’re saying black and brown parents aren’t as effective as white parents,” Singleton told The Chronicle. “That’s pretty much a racist statement.”

As absurd as that statement may be, that would be considered tame to some of Singletons other philosophies which allow him to collect six figure incomes at the taxpayers expense. Last year Vincent Carrol wrote an editorial in the Rocky Mountain News detailing Singletons outlook an the racial “achievement gap”:

“It is our belief that the most devastating factor contributing to the lowered achievement of students of color is institutionalized racism,” Singleton writes (with co-author Curtis Linton) in his recent book Courageous Conversations About Race. White teachers (and minority teachers co-opted into the white power structure) stymie black and Hispanic students because they fail to understand their cultures and how daily racial oppression affects their outlook. They also push a curriculum tooled for whites, and are ignorant of the special ways that blacks and Hispanics communicate.

Special ways that blacks and Hispanics communicate? I would love to hear Mr. Singleton elaborate on that position, as I am sure he would advocate Ebonics being used in classrooms. Hans Bader at OpenMarket.org has more on this race hustler:

Previously, Singleton embarrassed the Seattle Schools. In 2002, they hired him to indoctrinate their students and staff about racism. As a result, they redefined racism consistent with Singleton’s extreme and radical beliefs. The Seattle Schools defined “individualism” as a form of “cultural racism,” said that only whites can be racist, and claimed that planning ahead (”future time orientation”) is a white characteristic that it is racist to expect minorities to exhibit.

Singleton neglects to point out the problems facing young minority students which lie in their own community. A young black student who does well in school will in all likelihood be outcasted by their neighborhood, and be accused of being an “Uncle Tom”, or “acting white”. The black community as a whole idolizes rappers like 50 Cent, while calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a disgrace. It is this line of thinking that must be changed if the minority community wishes to close the achievement gap.

As long as young minorities continue to be taught that all whites are racist, they will experience institutionalized racism, at least in their own minds.

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Education, Features, Politics, Racism