At least I THINK that's what this article is trying to say, but since the writers included a great deal of information from teachers, it's impossible to tell what the hell is going on.
It begins thusly;
"Michigan African-American fourth- and eighth-graders scored much worse in reading and math than African-American students in the United States as a whole, according to national test results released Wednesday."
Um, okay. Detroit drags down the curve for everybody in the entire state I guess. 90% of the students in the public schools there are black, most from single-parent households, and most of the most living below the poverty level. Reading is not exactly a big deal with these kids, and as anyone following the NBA can readily discern, it never does become very important as most athletes from such poverty stricken areas...black and white...can barely utter an intelligible sentence. Let's continue:
"I think it has to do with is the importance of high expectations and standards," said Joan Ferrini-Mundy, associate dean for science and mathematics education at MSU. "Particularly for students who are being underserved, particularly black students and urban students." The good news is that the gap between black and white students' scores in math and reading within Michigan has decreased.
Well, I don't know what "being underserved" means, but I can hazard a guess that Michigan thinks black kids need more help than white kids and if they ARE saying that then are racist assholes. And I don't think that basic levels of reading and writing are "high expectations", but then again I've never agreed with the idea that certain people are basically dumb and shouldn't be expected to compete.
What's as troubling, if not more, so is the ludicrous statement that it's "good news" that the gap between black and white scores has decreased.
Wait a minute. If the black student scores are the worst in the country, to have closed the gap the white students must be doing far worse than ever before.
This is good news? In comparison with dumb white kids, dumb black kids don't look so bad?
Have a click for yourself. A lot of wailing and gnashing of the teeth, and the more wailing and gnashing, the dumber all of our kids get because it always seems to lead to treating people differently, and then acting surprised when they act differently:
Black Mich. students lag nation's
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