The Racial Mis-education of America's Youth

A new study by the Pew Hispanic Center finds that enrollment in suburban schools by minority students has seen explosive growth.

The study authored by Richard Fry reports that "the student population of America's suburban public schools has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade." Ninety-nine percent of that increase was driven solely by Latino, black and Asian students. In 1993-94 the student population of suburban schools was 28% non-white. In 2006-2007 it stood at 41.4%.

But... And there's a BIG but -- at the same time the study found that while the overall number of minority students in suburban schools rose, diversity WITHIN individual schools was stagnant.

From the survey:

In 2006-07, the typical white suburban student attended a school whose student body was 75% white; in 1993-94, this same figure had been 83%. So at a time when the white share of student enrollment in suburban school districts was falling by 13 percentage points (from 72% in 1993-94 to 59% in 2006-07), the exposure of the typical white suburban student to minority students in his or her own school was growing by a little more than half that much, or 8 percentage points.

Which means, although more minorities are now enjoying suburban life, part of that life still includes segregation.

This is the world in which our children are being raised. Forty-one years on from the Kerner Commission's "two societies" declaration we are traveling from "separate and unequal" to equal but separated. In a time when so many willingly accept a black man as president, it is still unlikely that they would have a black or Hispanic or Asian as a neighbor.

And we wonder why the likes of Miley Cyrus or Joe Jonas don't understand the wrongness of going around making "Chinese eyes."

That fact is while many were offended when Attorney General Eric Holder chastised us for being "a nation of cowards" when it comes to having discussions on race, when we head home at night there's rarely anyone except people like us to have these discussions with.

More than just a fact of life, diversity is an attribute of our nation. For children diversity needs to be real, and not merely relegated to learning the names of the usual suspects during Black History Month or enjoying south-of-the-border cuisine on Cinco de Mayo. It means talking to and spending time with kids not like them so that they may discover those kids are in fact just like them.

But our kids aren't the ones who pick neighborhoods or buy houses. The life is theirs, but the choice is ours.

For more perspective please visit That Minority Thing.com

Comments

[Deborah Jiang Stein - Huffpost Blogger]

John, this study is enlightening and good for all to see, less some think this is that post-racial America before our eyes.

We are a new America these days, multi-raced (here's my take on it http://muttslikeme.wordpress.com) and we have a ways to go before anything "post-race." Who came up with throwing that term around, anyway?

[GrainOSand]

I visited and bookmarked your blog. Thanks for being one who cares.

[Deborah Jiang Stein - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you, and would enjoy seeing comments on my first HuffPo post!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-jiang-stein

[papapj]

John;

One of the main problems not alluded to specifically in your post is assessment for the purposes of ranking, classification and placement of students, for treatment in special education and or school tracks.

Some educators and psychologists have argued for "equity" in testing and assessment, for culturally unbiased testing and assessment. The doubts about the validity of testing and assessment are not new. Existing instruments (for measuring intellect) represent enormous improvements over what was available twenty years ago, but fundamental defects remain. Just what they measure is not known, as intelligence is inherently unquantifiable - just like for example, beauty.

Validity, requires taking such variables as culture and opportunit­y-to-learn into account. These things matter greatly in testing and assessment, and in the delivery of instructional services to students.

One can but conclude that the validity of standardized testing, as applies especially to Black, kids doesn't take into account the contamination of the education and psychology fields with the 400-year old tradition of White supremacy hegemony. Many of the invalid and bad practices in testing and assessment, in particular, stem from the well-documented partnership between many powerful people in the educational and psychology field and the forces of slavery, colonialism, segregatio­n/aparthei­d and white supremacy ideology.

Basically, many Black kids, espcially from an urban environment don't stand a chance. Mental capabilities are incorrectly assessed and the pidgeon-holing for low capabilities are begins early...

[Pippen]

Lots of dialogue there but as your reading audience, I'd like an example test question as a point of reference.

[michyh]

I am not the author of this post, but can tell you if you go to your state Dept of Ed site and look at the core content and/or sample tests. They' re pretty easy to find.
Bias in them is abundant, though, unless you know the basis for the bias, it will be hard to spot. It's very deep and embedded but don't doubt, it's there.
I am a white 52 year old educator and I cannot tell you the over id'd issues impact.
It cuts all ways and it's a huge problem thats' been going on since we used racism to justify slavery.

[ReallyNowPgh]

The stats need to be broken down. The minority increase in suburbia is not black, it is Asian, mostly Chinese and Indian. All non US citizens working on green cards. Often with long term visiting grandparents watching the children while both parents work.

There is no good news here for African Americans. Unfortunately, blacks continue to slide behind Asian immigrants in demographic progress.

[The Albany Kid]

Sad, but true.

Not to mention that blue collar Blacks are being supplanted by Latino immigration (btw, that's not a diss against Latinos, just the cold hard truth about labor in America):

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/24/opinion/oe-kaplan24

[WilliePilgrim]

Perhaps this defacto descrimination continues because of the forced integration of the 60s. Placing kids in large schools out of the context of their own neighborhood created an atmosphere where kids, no longer under the sway of local peer pressure and absent the social structure of their own neighborhoods created gangs the likes of which weren't known prior to school integration programs. Of course funded and fuelled by the war on drugs and exacerbated by the heightened and unrealistic environment of fear, recrimination and competition, it has blossomed into the monster we have now in our educational system, as if the system of using property tax for fund schools wasn't bad enough.
Were I a parent I'd be looking for alternatives at non-denomiational charter schools where the emphasis is on learning and not solving social problems.

[papapj]

Hey Willie:

Gangs have always been a fixture of the American landscape...did you not see the truth based movie 'Gangs of New York'? What is specific about Black/Hispanic gangs is that they have been manipulated by outside forces who actually supply them with the drugs/guns they use to promote their mayhem...oftentimes it's Uncle Sam himself! Read up on a guy named Gary Webb - that should provide you with enough evidence to corroborate my assertions.....

[Nommo]

"Gangs of New York" was truth based, except that a lot of truth was missing. Another of those "let's write the Blacks out of history" escapades.

[WorkingClass]

If liberals wanted social integration they should have issued dinner invitations to their black/white neighbors. Using little children to force integration was cowardly to say the least and the result is a disaster for public education.

[GrainOSand]

My first comment on this story did not broach the subject of race or frame the solution in the context of racial parity. Instead, I offered up a quote from Krishnamurti concerning the goal of learning. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/the-racial-mis-education_b_183056.html?show_comment_id=22655252#comment_22655252)

You can attend Harvard or Oxford and still be a fool. You can be a neurosurgeon and still be lacking. It is not the technician that transcends or that is distinguished, it is the master who is beyond technician, who has mastered far more than a distinct set of skills allowing income which allows sustenance at varying levels of quality and access. I could cite statistics, great scholarly works, and all the other sources available to back up any claim I make. Scholars have existed throughout struggle and so has the state of being clueless, through denial, deflection, self-deception, and the properties of the bubble of non-exposure to what is, especially when what is...is diametrically opposed to what one covets.

[GrainOSand]

It is said, “Those who know...do not say...and those who say...do not know.” This is a statement suggesting the futility in any action of trying to enlighten those who refuse to, or cannot see. Mere words cannot transmute actual meaning only real experience can. You can get an idea but getting a clue might require something beyond data points. Getting a clue might require one to identify beyond self-interest. That remains a difficult task for many -- see current headlines (murder/suicide and North Korea) for proof.

[Tanyars5]

GOS- you are so true in your statements,

[GrainOSand]

II
I see sunshine in rain, and I love in the midst of a downpour of hate (singing and dancing in the rain -- oh how marvelous life is). I win though much has been done by a hidden and not so hidden hand in the name of me losing, yet I forgive, for they know not what they do and how self-inflicted wounds truly come to be. How economic downturns have a spiritual component and a pragmatic analysis that says you cannot continue to neglect the neglected. Acceptance is powerful and not for or the stuff of the victim-minded. My meditation finds me loving life because I accept death as a real possibility, not only for me, but for the world. If the world lived as if the current moment were the last moment oh how differences might melt, oh how cohesion might spread throughout. Michelle Obama is one bad sister. She told the world we had better check out what “could be” versus clinging to the slop and mud of “what is”. We accept “what is” but we continue to understand that there is a “higher purpose”, a “higher reason”, a “brighter day”...an unknown quantity regarding the expanse, potential, and power of the idea of the human family. Race is but a distraction that I accept all while I patiently wait for us to get a clue as a collective. Better writers and thinkers than I documented the solutions long ago.

[GrainOSand]

I always say I am nothing more than a reflection. I do not presume to "know". To many lies have been told to know anything in this world. Too many structures of distortion and illusion exist to claim one knows the truth. My mediation over a long period of time has been acceptance of whatever. I accept hate, I accept that nothing will ever change. I accept that things may be tilted to advantage one over the other. I accept that individuals will shirk their duty of responsibility and be left to live a life of woe and struggle and some will take that as an indication of the worth, breadth, and depth of an entire people out of their own perverse and deficient approach to existence.

I write not out of a need (necessarily) to be heard, and definitely I do not write with a need to be “right”. To me, writing is just an extension of a conversation I was already engaged in, already immersed in, over many years and interfaces. If I can project a truth through my pondering in a very public way, that is the beauty I imagine, that is the joy I find. It is the family that is missing in this world. The most dysfunctional family is that of the aggregate human strain. Yet, hope springs eternal, it is to be found everywhere.

[LeftfieldLatte]

Hi everyone - after reading many of the comments here I went back to the article to see if the author had any suggestions. Doesn't look like it. Busing kids for the specific purpose of racial diversity doesn't pass constitutional muster according to the Seattle Public Schools case. People are free to live where they want. White families will use any excuse in the book to show why they moved to the suburbs. Oh, I can get much more house for the money, the school systems are better, taxes lower, bigger yard, can buy instead of rent etc. They'll never say that they don't want their kids going to school with black children. They would rather sit in traffic from 10 to 15 hours a week or more commuting into work. So bad for the environment...so shortsighted. I also can't judge because I'm white and I don't have kids. If I really thought that my kid might be siting next to a student who was into drugs or gang activity or that the general din in the class was overwhelming because of misbehavior, I would think twice too. I've taught in rural schools and city schools. (Montana and Washington D.C.) I can tell you that it is better not to base opinion on the extremes. How to get that message across to Joe Sixpack I don't know.

[IrisBittencourt]

For all of you white commentators that complain that blacks need to take more personal responsibility for resolving their problems, I say to you: OK, fine. How about the personal responsibility of whites and our collective responsibility? After all, individual and collective responsibility are not internally inconsistent or counterproductive. In fact, if blacks took personal responsibility, whites took personal responsibility to actively work against racism in themselves and their friends and family and all of us collectively worked to end racism, then we may have a chance of making some progress. But, if what whites are saying is that blacks alone need to work to try to end racism in society, that is another way of simply blaming the victim and for whites to continue to deny that they too have a role in the continuation of racism and continue to enjoy the overprivilege which makes black underprivilege possible. In sum, blacks need to take more personal responsibilty, but so do whites and so do we all collectively. Unless you white commentators are willing to take personal responsibility, including by openly and honestly educating yourself about the history and ongoing practice of racism in America, do not ask blacks alone to be responsible. Blacks alone did not invent racism, and they alone cannot end it. Blacks needs whites to be anti-racist, so that one day we truly can say that America is a post-racist (not a post-racial) society.

[EarthToZoey]

Absolutely! And whites need blacks to be anti-racist, too. We need everyone of EVERY color, creed, origin, religion, etc to be conscious of their own language and attitudes and to take responsibility for them.

[GrainOSand]

Iris, I do sincerely commend your fortitude. You wage the good fight. The people you are trying to address do not want to frame this discussion logically. No, they simply want to be right in the face of staggering evidence that they are wrong. Let us look at a simple construction to illuminate my point.

A people were legally and viciously denied equal access and building of roots within a society for over four hundred years. Some human beings decided to play God and grant rights to these people in the 1960s. rights that they already had mind you, but that were being denied or otherwise subjugated through murder, theft, rape, intimidation, brainwashing, and system-wide implementations of the white male superiority doctrine. Throughout that four hundred plus year history of denied humanity any instance of dissent to tyranny was met with delusion in its various forms (assassination of character as well as individual life, lynching, jailing, torture, or systematic denial through the culture feeding machine, etc..). Once the “historic legislation” of the 60s transpired, the catcalls for quieting dissent became even louder as Gods proclaimed, “We have given you cake now shut up and eat!”

Here is the problem:

400+ cannot be evaporated in 40+. Anyone who thinks so is consciously or otherwise lying to themselves -- delusional. You cannot get more clear than that. The effects of original sin exist and pointing that out does not make you a victim, but rather, one who is not blind.

[IrisBittencourt]

You hit upon something, perhaps without realizing it. 40 is 10 percent of 400. Blacks have 10 percent of the wealth that whties have. Coincidence? Perhaps, but perhaps not. We need to understand (all of us) that it may take 400 years to correct the problem. I certainly hope not, but at the rate we are going, who knows.

[Tanyars5]

Iris- I think an anti - racist movement is an excellent start. The post racial talk makes me crazy because in my mind it erases black culture/black people.
The thought that whites would need to be anti racist would mean a cultural shift. Is that possible?

[GrainOSand]

It is on-going. The pace is slow. Change continues. Reality is timeless and forever changing. Energy is emotion and deep feeling. Policy is energy manifest in actionable formalized dogma that is often due in part -- if not mostly to a groundswell of will that guides the hand that signs legislation or even better the heart that chooses to love or hate. This is what is so wonderful concerning the current times.

“Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same: "We want to be free.".””
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm


This remains true, with the impetus of forty years to stoke the fires of change higher and move the great waves of transformation over the islands of isolated idiocy that corrupts and bankrupts more swiftly. It’s all coming to a head, yet do not check your watch, for true justice cares not about history...the living or the dead. The argument is academic in the context of the eternal. Empires come and go, and it may be, this is justice cleaning its’ house due to humans shirking their responsibility to keep life debris-free. There is wide-spread talk of no deity. Surely, the spirit of the people moved as one is an indication of something greater.

[begivesee13]

Ridley ends his commentary by saying "But our kids aren't the ones who pick neighborhoods or buy houses. The life is theirs, but the choice is ours." I agree with him that the choice is ours - but for many of us, the choice of where to live has already been made, and in today's economy, most people aren't able to move to a different neighborhood or community because they are motivated to address the racial and social problems Ridley writes about. So what else can be done? All I've read on the seven pages of comments so far is a rehashing of all the problems. I accept that there are serious problems, challenges and biases faced by people of color. How about some solutions? I'd like to hear from any of the people of color reading these comments what they want people like me to do? I'm a white married mother of two. We did not choose to live in our city or neighborhood because it was 90% white. But that's what it is. And I have no plans to move. So how can I contribute to the solution and not be part of the problem?

[IGNSTHMD]

do you volunteer..or organize group meetings?

[IGNSTHMD]

do you visit your state capital are you active in the PTA?

[IGNSTHMD]

try reading Peggy MacIntosh

[CosmicChaos]

I was a white kid who went to a mostly African American Elementary School. There were other racial groups there as well. The Elementary school often celebrated its cultural diversity with presentations from the different cultural groups. Even I did some Jewish song singing at the school events.

When we moved my 4-12 grades has a large Asian and Hispanic populations, but again the schools were fairly diverse and the different cultures were regularly discussed.

When I went to college the school was majority White. This was a huge cultural shock for me. No longer was discussion about cultures acceptable. No longer could I eat with the non-white kids without getting lectured about being around bad kids. The non-white kids were not comfortable in my presence because they had come from mostly segregated schools and where used to getting verbally attacked by the white students when they approached them.

So when I hear people say, "Why discuss cultures, we are all race-blind now". I know there has never been a time when we need to discuss cultural differences MORE.

I won't say race relations where perfect or even good most of the time in K-12, but in my culturally diverse schools we would eventually figure out what the cultural and language barriers we had to understanding each others intentions.

[Articulator]

You truly have insight that many need to learn. My experience is that those who rail most against "those people", dont know any of "those people" and are really railing against a stereotype they have built up in their mind. As Bill O'reilly found out when he ate at the "black" restaurant, "those people" are kind of like "us people" only under different circumstances - the stereotype strawman didnt really exist.

[IGNSTHMD]

that seems well intentioned, but somehow harmful

[Zyzzygowski]

Ninety-nine percent of that increase was driven solely by Latino, black and Asian students.

Ummm, besides Native American, what else is there? This is a silly stat. Break each group out by percentage.

[Sunmaker]

My view is alot of the younger generation know nothing about racial tensions we have had the past 100 years. Our children should learn about slavery and the mistreatment of all minority groups. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and it was taboo in our small town of 1,300 people to even look at other minorities. I am now seeing our young people l8 to 40 years of age who see no skin color and treat everyone as equal, and it swells me with pride! Education is the answer to our racial problems. It is very very shameful how people were treated because they were not white, but I am seeing a breakthrough in small towns accepting people of different color, religion and seeing people as human beings. President Obama, being bi-racial has certainly had a great hand in this change, and I know it will only get stronger and better. I am from Indiana, and the deep south still has problems, and again it is poor education.

[SColbert]

Your post is appreciated, but I feel as if you are recommending a color blind solution to race. Our children must learn about the racism in the past, but it is very, very present today as well. As a woman of color, Obama's victory has not done anything to the way I am being treated day to day. I am a faculty member at an ivy league, and believe me when I say that education is not the answer to ending racism. I have colleagues that have PhD's, yet make racists comments and judgements daily. For racism to end, Whites must realize that they have a privilege in society. A privilege they have had for many, many years. This privilege must be ended. Racism (Institutional) can end, but personal bigotry can not.

[IGNSTHMD]

but how to quantify the privilege and self-enforcement leaves me feeling skeptical

[plwood01]

I can attest to SColbert's post because I lost my job at the largest university in the U. S., trying to instruct White, adult, students in "Cultural Diversity." They had signed up for my course which was not a requirement, none needed the class, but they would decide to sign up for it to cause trouble. Generally, they would make racist comments, which, circumvented the education of those who wanted to learn. They were rude, and frightening. Once a White female had her husband call me to curse me out and threaten me. Academic Affairs did nothing...I had to change my phone number because of calls all hours. Another one reported me to Academic Affairs because two female, African American students responded with comments that they did not want to hear. In my online classes, they always ganged up on the other students, or me, and during last year, they would say hateful things and talk about President Obama terribly while I was trying to explain to them that the majority of Americans did not feel like them, thankfully.

Now, I feel vindicated though, because I know that each of those people who did what they thought was so smart, are now thinking that they should have listened more, because they have no idea, nor understanding of how our country changed so quickly, electing Barack Obama, without them even seeing it was coming!

[Tanyars5]

SColbert- Your comments sadden me. I am surprised by them but then I am not surprised. Nothing changes.

[Sunmaker]

I do agree with what you have said. Being a white woman I have watched and listened to some of those snide remarks, but have always come to the defense of the person being violated by ignorant people. I truely believe that people are changing and realizing we are all equal. I had heard rumors that I even had relatives in the Klu Klux Klan, which is very disgustful and painful for me to hear. I believe President Obama has opened the door to all peoples of color and our country will slowly, very slowly someday treat each other with respect and dignity that is our right under our constitution. We have to look forward and not backward for our children and grandchildren's sake. When I say education, it starts in the home first, with common sense, discipline and respect, not just a college degree. I too have seen alot of PhD's who had no common sense. Being white I have seen many of my friends change their attitudes about minorities, and it makes me feel proud that "some", not all (and never will) change their thinking. All we can do is hope and pray that we Americans learn to listen and not judge so harshly of others.

[michyh]

great post, mr. ridley. this is a conversation we must have. i hope it's no on the shelf forever, as so many of them are.

[WestcoastSteve]

Not to deny that racism is a problem, but people often don't focus on some of the other factors that are just as important.

People like to be around others who understand them and think like them. This tends to happen because not so much because of race, but because of economic status. On the whole, white people still tend to make more money and have more resources than black, hispanic, or asian communities. It's easy to verify this from census figures, so I'm not going to quote them there. But people will tend to reach out to others with similar economic status, regardless of race. They are seen as socially equal and potential business and political partners, so there is a strong motivation to overcome any differences they have.

I know what I have stated is quite simplistic about a hugely complicated question, but if you look at who wants to congregate with each other, you'll find that similar economic status is a key factor. Once poverty and unequal economic opportunities are addressed, the question of race becomes quite a bit less important.

[CitizenFarmer]

When the Chivas USA soccer team was being formed; there was strong support from the Hispanic community that the team be all Hispanic and staffed by Hispanics. Curiouser and curiouser.