As the Bee reports today, administrators at several schools in the Elk Grove school district are going “old school” to motivate their kids to take standardized tests this spring — as in segregating them by race for motivational speeches:
Students at Laguna could go to any rally they wanted, but the gatherings were designated for specific races – African Americans in the gym, Pacific Islanders in the theater, Latinos in the multipurpose room.
What incredible bad taste and stupidity on the part of the district. If their concern really was to allow staff to “talk about test scores without making any one ethnic group feel singled out in a negative manner,” why not take ethnicity out of the question! Why not give all the kids a pep talk about how they can all do better?
And then of course there’s the issue of mixed-race kids:
Tracy and Herbert Houston said they were angry when their son Kyle was asked to pick an assembly based on race. The mixed-race couple have taught their children that skin color doesn’t matter.
It sounds like some of the students are learning in spite of the best efforts of school administrators. Laguna Creek ninth-grader Kevion Claiborne for example, who attended the African American assembly, says “We should all go together… It doesn’t matter if you are black, white or any race.” You’re damn right, kid! What a shame that the people running your school system seem to disagree.
On the other hand, maybe it’s not the fault of the district. After all, they are only putting into practice the sorting and tracking demanded of them by the government:
“No Child Left Behind is a double-edged sword,” said [Laguna Creek Principal Doug] Craig. “We’re doing things as a school that we never had to do. We’re being held accountable.”
And if there’s anything we as Americans should stand for, it is that we should never be held accountable for anything.
The Sac Rag 
If you organize the students into coherent groups, they should compete more effectively on standardized tests. Maybe they could wear uniforms (handed out based on race) so the administration can call on the “blue group” to work hard, and try to beat the “grey group” on testing. Or work on the “yellow shirts” math skills so they can compete agaisnt the “green shirts” from down the way.
LikeLike
Who gets to be the “brown shirts”?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownshirt
LikeLike
Dear God. And people wonder why the public school system is the titanic ball of fail it is today. At least they didn’t strip search everyone.
LikeLike
Usually when you start grouping people that way, bodies end up getting burned pretty quick soon after.
LikeLike
Dear Small minded people who hate science and facts:
First, if you can’t tell that most of the whites you meet are smarter than most of the blacks you meet then you are probably not that smart of a person or you are very good at lying to yourself. Knowing and meeting a lot of people it is clear that most Asians are smarter than the rest of the races. People are taught at a early age that everyone is equal, because that attitude is much better for the government and consumerism. But, studies have shown IQ differences in races. It is not talked about much, but they are out there. Plus, who funds most research? The government does! So, why would government want to show inequity of their citizens. Why is the crime so low in Europe? They have plenty of drugs and poor people, but most cities you can can the murders on one hand. Why in the US as a cities’ black population increases, the crime dramatically increases? Why are all black areas of Africa hell holes? What is your credible source that all races are equal? Oh, and here is a little scientific research that you will just ignore.
“How Much Can We Boost IQ and School Achievement?” by professor Arthur Jensen
“The Bell Curve” by American psychologist Richard Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray
Here are some bullet points Scientific research has shown:
1. “The Worldwide Pattern of IQ Scores. East Asians average higher on IQ tests than Whites, both in the U. S. and in Asia, even though IQ tests were developed for use in the Euro-American culture. Around the world, the average IQ for East Asians centers around 106; for Whites, about 100; and for Blacks about 85 in the U.S. and 70 in sub-Saharan Africa.”
2. “Trans-Racial Adoption Studies. Race differences in IQ remain following adoption by White middle class parents. East Asians grow to average higher IQs than Whites while Blacks score lower. The Minnesota Trans-Racial Adoption Study followed children to age 17 and found race differences were even greater than at age 7: White children, 106; Mixed-Race children, 99; and Black children, 89.”
3. “Do Culture-Only Theories Explain the Data? Culture-only theories do not explain the highly consistent pattern of race differences in IQ, especially the East Asian data. No interventions such as ending segregation, introducing school busing, or “Head Start” programs have reduced the gaps as culture-only theory would predict.”
Time to turn off the TV and open your mind.
LikeLike
Then how come Harvard never wins any sports titles if they are so smart? Answer me that one!
LikeLike
Chris: I recommend that you find a forum more suited to your political tastes, like Stormfront.org
LikeLike
Science has shown Asians as a group have the highest IQ and blacks have the lowest, so why would I want to join a white power group? My comment was in direct response to this article. Turty Squip, what does catching a ball have to do with IQ?
LikeLike
Chris, don’t pretend that the isolated studies you posted are “science and facts”. If you know enough to have typed that info, you should know that Jensen’s theories on race and intelligence are widely mocked because they are not scientifically valid when subjected to peer review and have been found to have mathematical errors that an undergrad level researcher would catch.
“Science and facts”? Try citing the hundreds and hundreds of studies that find no scientific link between race and intelligence, which is the commonly accepted theory.
Thanks for playing.
LikeLike
Chris, have you ever considered that cultural values that reward education more in certain communities (i.e., many Asian cultures, Judaism) more than others (many Anglo subcultures, some African-American subcultures, some Hispanic cultures) might have more to do with this than anything inherent? I don’t think you even read the books you quoted, actually. There are thousands of times more data supporting this than any kind of genetic cause.
Of course, the fact that public schools in many inner cities are funded FAR less than suburban schools (often due to odd and unequal taxation schemes) might have SOMETHING to do with this. Or do you think that bad schools produce just as smart – or dumb – students as GOOD schools? And do you think that underfunded schools are just as GOOD – or BAD – as well-funded schools?
Are you really that stupid? Obviously, we know the schools you attended weren’t all that well-funded. Or maybe you were home-schooled.
LikeLike
Well- Chris may have a basis in fact for his comments, and it looks like his statements are being disgregarded not because they don’t have factual support, but because to hold such a believe would not be politically correct. I’m shocked that he would get such a reaction, when a comment that some racial groups are better at basketball due to genetics would not be so out-of-hand dismissed. Attacking him on a personal basis, rather than refuting him factually would not seem like a productive effort.
LikeLike
Just because one person says something has factual support does not mean that it is a serious argument. What is the connection between the story I’m reporting on — students being segregated for instruction — and the factual support for achievement test gaps between different racial groups, which nobody would dispute?
LikeLike
Sorry, sesame street fans. This has been proven(below) over and over and over, which total eliminates the nurture vs nature argument. And people are always trying to blame the inner city schools, maybe I should get my grandmother on here so she can tell you about meeting in the corner of a corn field with 2 books for the whole class and their bedpans freezing over night. There are lots of studies that show differences between races not just the two I listed. The funny part is people like you could probably count on one hand how many blacks you have truly associated with in your life. I know the world better than most of you will ever. I hang out with crackheads and PhDs, because I want to truly learn about the world, but I am not going to lie to myself about what I find.
The connection is students being segregated for instruction because the blacks are not able to do well on the test, so good students have to be disrupted.
Why is this 100% repeatable???
“Trans-Racial Adoption Studies. Race differences in IQ remain following adoption by White middle class parents. East Asians grow to average higher IQs than Whites while Blacks score lower. The Minnesota Trans-Racial Adoption Study followed children to age 17 and found race differences were even greater than at age 7: White children, 106; Mixed-Race children, 99; and Black children, 89.â€Â
LikeLike
Someone needs to kick the douchebag out of the pool.
LikeLike
Well spoken Faine, a twenty year old college student with an interest food writing. Right now focusing on blogging, cartooning, and generally having a good time. Just what the us needs another food critic/journalist that is just looking to have a good time. Your a joke and should look into real science.
LikeLike
I’m going out on a limb here and calling Chris a white douchebag…. which I guess means to him that he’s the smarter of the douchebags racially-speaking. Thats cool too.
LikeLike
I’m really being won over by the succinct arguments the name-calling crowd is putting forth. The logic and well-stated arguments make me realize how foolish Chris’ statements are. No basis in fact for stereotypes!
I assume the PC/name calling crowd is next going to present the readers with the academic study that proves Chris wrong and out of touch with reality? Maybe a J. of Social Psych. (or other peer reviewed?) study on IQ tests, or even an example of a validated and “unbiased” IQ test? BECAUSE I’D REALLY LIKE TO SEE IT!!
“Oh- tests that measure ‘memorization skills’ are racist!” Or, “Tests that measure ‘comprehension’ are racist!”?? What- because they don’t measure jumping ability too? Fine- show me a test that measures ANY MENTAL ACTIVITY, or behavour MEASURED BY A MENTAL ACTIVITY that is a “fair test” for nailing IQ, or even just promoting firefighters of all races, “equally” (by proportion in the general population), that ALSO GETS YOU GOOD FIREFIGHTERS, and I’ll stop thinking that maybe Chris has a point.
But I won’t stand by and be silent while you call him/her names. I might not like what he says, but he has a right to say it. And now that I’ve given you a reasonable goal (if you are right), put up or shut up. Stop telling me why all the IQ test are wrong/rasict/biased etc., and show us the test that is unbiased, yet also measures IQ. And put this freakin argument to rest.
LikeLike
TS, you make this sound like some grand challenge, or something. It really isn’t.
The burden of proof is on Chris to show that there is a link between race and intelligence as the overwhelming amount of scientific evidence shows that there is no provable link between the two, despite attempts to find one.
So, let’s start here. This 2005 study from Yale psychologists says that past studies of this subject have reached conclusions based upon folk taxonomies rather than scientific evidence, that heritability is not a legitimate link because of the nature/nurture argument and that there is no scientific link between genes and intelligence.
It also explains that races don’t really scientifically exist and were invented by non-scientific human observation, so this entire topic is moot.
Click to access amp60146.pdf
LikeLike
PS – I believe the first stone was thrown by the greeting: “Dear Small minded people who hate science and facts:”
LikeLike
I do think the name-calling is unfortunate. But I still don’t understand what I’m supposed to be arguing about. I do not dispute that there are disparities between racial groups on achievment tests. If the commenter wishes to segregate students for the purposes of keeping high achievers from getting a substandard education, then why not advocate grouping individual students based on test performance?Segregating students by race in order to group high achievers and low achievers together would be racist.
LikeLike
I recommend everyone who is white and would like to understand why racial grouping might be effective in a situation like this read, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria.”
It’s not the fact that some student groups have trouble with memorization tests, but that the memorization tests are not written to support their learning style. IQ tests are not used in the California school system. IQ tests are not administered to California students. Only tests gauging specific learning standards are used.
LikeLike
I read the http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/amp60146.pdf paper and found that it is mainly a article based on opinions and not true science. There is no good scientific research in there it concludes with “intelligence is, at this time, ill defined.” This is the main argument that people who want everyone to be born equal always whines about. Ohhh, no way to measure IQ! Anyone with a half decent mind can go into a third grade class room and pick out the dumb ones after a few minutes of speaking with all the kids.
These are some race facts
* No study has proven races are at the same IQ level
* One can tell race from skeleton remains(Hmmm, pretty strong biological difference i would say)
* All blacks have much more fast twitch muscles hence they are much better at track and field(Again,pretty strong biological difference i would say)
* 100% repeatable study shows early babies respond better to their own race(smile and laughs)
* Asians have the largest brains, whites second, and blacks have the smallest brains. Even if you don’t believe that brain size is linked to IQ it is still a big biological difference
Also, I feel anyone that is open minded and well traveled would easily feel Asians are the most intelligent and blacks are the least just from their own experience. I was not raised to be racist. My family has many black friends. My mother yells at me if I state black anything.
Also, Stickie why is has this been done by many scientist and always lead to the same results?? This one test is plenty of prove for me.
“Trans-Racial Adoption Studies. Race differences in IQ remain following adoption by White middle class parents. East Asians grow to average higher IQs than Whites while Blacks score lower. The Minnesota Trans-Racial Adoption Study followed children to age 17 and found race differences were even greater than at age 7: White children, 106; Mixed-Race children, 99; and Black children, 89.â€Â
LikeLike