Minnesota education: It's progress to say it's not just racism

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | 6/25/13 | MITCH PEARLSTEIN

[rhema]

Dane Smith has been my worthy counterpart at Minnesota’s major progressive think tank, Growth & Justice, since he assumed the presidency there six years ago. Long before that, he was my colleague at the Pioneer Press in the 1980s. . .

In the same way he generously has written approvingly about some things I’ve written in recent years, I’m pleased to write approvingly about a recent commentary of his in the Star Tribune on academic, employment, homeownership and other racially demarcated gaps in the Twin Cities (“The employment gap: The ‘why’ and ‘what to do,;” June 16). . . .

What do I like about Smith’s column?

While I would argue that he still overstates the role of racial bias in fueling various gaps, he explicitly parts company with those on the left who believe (as he puts it) that “white Minnesotans are actually worse than the stereotypical racists in southern states, where for 300 years oppression was imposed through brutal economic exploitation, culture and law.” The dissimilarities between Minnesota and the Old South would seem pretty self-evident, but I guess not with everyone.

[ . . . ]

But if he were to say something about elementary and secondary education, I would hope he would acknowledge that as long as graduating high school on time is essentially a 50/50 proposition for African-Americans and Hispanics, not just in Minnesota but across much of the country, the kinds of changes routinely championed on the left just won’t cut it, as witnessed by the recently concluded legislative session in which little that might make much of a difference was even debated, much less passed. Also add the way in which the teachers union Education Minnesota has been doing everything it possibly can to kick Teach for America out of the state.

[SC_Pete]

The failure of education is part of the strategy to dumb down the populace, to increase dependency, and to expand the role of government. Everywhere RATS rule, it’s the same. Socialism is the goal.