Thanks for the ping cagey.
http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:EAcPpF8m0JcC:www.njea.org/FamilyCircle/default.asp
http://members.aol.com/educationintel/
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:DiDSmzh-fV4C:www.njea.org/FamilyCircle/default.asp
http://www.eiaonline.com
1) New Jersey Education Association Accuses OpinionJournal of "Smear Campaign" Over Brochure Controversy. The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) lashed back at an OpinionJournal story entitled "The Soft Bigotry of the Teachers Union," calling it "a lie"
that was "designed to slander NJEA." Last Tuesday, OpinionJournal's Best of the Web Today, a daily electronic newsletter of the Wall Street Journal, discovered a page on NJEA's web site that featured a brochure called "Getting Involved in Your Child's School." Though NJEA has since changed the page, the original page and brochures are still available for viewing (at least for today) on Google's cache at:
http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:EAcPpF8m0JcC:www.njea.org/FamilyCircle/default.asp
The page offered three versions of the brochure. One was labeled "a parent's resource," the second was labeled "Spanish version," and the third was labeled "African-American version." Individually, the three brochures merely offer parents tips on volunteering at school, interacting with teachers, and creating am environment at home conducive to learning. The controversy arose when the "parent's resource" version was compared to the "African-American version." (The Spanish version was essentially a verbatim translation of the African-American version.)
Here are a few of the differences:
* Parent's resource version - "By working in your school, you will become more familiar with its programs, and you will see why they are vital to your child."
African-American version - "By working in your school, you will see how it works."
* Parent's resource version - "To Whom Will I Be Responsible?"
African-American version - "How Will I Work with the Teacher?"
* Parent's resource version - "Emphasize academics. Too many families get caught up in athletics and in preparing their children for the world of work, where academics should be their first concern."
African-American version - "Tell your child that studying is important."
* Parent's resource version - "Families should make it their responsibility to teach children basic discipline at home, rather than leave this task to teachers."
African-American version - This tip was omitted.
Best of the Web Today noted its own preference for the African-American version, because it was shorter and more concise. "But another way of looking at it," the story read, "is that the New Jersey teachers union seems to think their material has to be dumbed down for the benefit of black parents."
EIA asked NJEA for a response. The union replied that "It is a lie that NJEA has 'dumbed down' a brochure for anyone at any time. This story is an attack designed to slander NJEA. It is a smear campaign based on one falsehood after another." The union says the "African-American version" was actually meant as a replacement for the "parent's resource" version, which it considered too wordy.
NJEA's statement also noted that "When we received a call from a reporter, we realized the error on our web page and immediately corrected it." Asked by EIA to clarify what error it believed it had made, NJEA responded that the African-American version "should never have been labeled that way" and should never have been posted alongside the earlier version. According to NJEA, the page with the three versions sat as it was for over a year without anyone noticing the problem. Separate NJEA spokespersons called the web page "a woeful error" and "a mistake."
EIA asked its New Jersey readers for their reaction to the story. Some are NJEA members and some are not. Here are a few of their replies:
* "Until government (including education) becomes color-blind, none of the rest of us will."
* "The height of hypocrisy. If they truly believed that parental involvement is crucial to a child's education they ought to allow school choice."
* "I am stunned at the patronizing. The process that yielded the result remains a mystery."
* "Pretty insulting. If I were an African-American member, I would be very upset."
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MzMxMzMw
How blatant can they be??? They also assume the hispanics are too lazy to learn English when they make a special brochure just for them.
If I was a black, I'd be getting my kids out of those schools ASAP. You know with that attitude toward the parents, they must believe the children can't be taught much either.