Education Insanity

Townhall.com ^ | January 27, 2016 | Walter E. Williams

[Kaslin]

Some credit Albert Einstein, others credit Benjamin Franklin, with the observation that "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing year after year and expecting different results." Whomever we credit, he was absolutely right. A perfect example of that insanity is education in general and particularly black education.

Education Next has recently published a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of James S. Coleman's groundbreaking 1965 report, "Equality of Educational Opportunity," popularly referred to as the "Coleman Report." In 1965, the average black 12th grader placed at the 13th percentile of the score distribution for whites in math and reading. That means 87 percent of white 12th graders scored higher than the average black 12th graders. Fifty years later there has been a slight narrowing of the math gap leaving the average black 12th-grade student at the 19th percentile of the white distribution; 81 percent of white 12th-grade students score higher. The black-white reading gap has narrowed such that the average black 12th-grader scores at the 22nd percentile of the white distribution, meaning 78 percent of white 12th-graders score higher.

Eric A. Hanushek is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His Education Next contribution is "What Matters for Student Achievement: Updating Coleman on the Influence of Families and Schools." Hanushek concludes, "After nearly a half century of supposed progress in race relations within the United States, the modest improvements in achievement gaps since 1965 can only be called a national embarrassment. Put differently, if we continue to close gaps at the same rate in the future, it will be roughly two and a half centuries before the black-white math gap closes and over one and a half centuries until the reading gap closes." I would like to know what American, particularly a black American, can be pleased with that kind of progress and the future it holds for black people.

Many see smaller class sizes and more money as part of the general solution to our nation's educational problems. It turns out that since 1955 the average number of students per teacher has fallen from 27 to 16. During the same period real per-pupil expenditures have increased more than fourfold. Today, expenditures per pupil in the United States exceed those of nearly every other country in the world. The Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, ranks 15-year-old student academic performance in 34 OECD countries. In 2012, the U.S. students performed below average in mathematics and ranked 27th. In reading, U.S. students ranked 17th; and in science, they ranked 20th. Such a performance gap suggests that smaller class sizes and bigger budgets, in and of themselves, are not a cure to our nation's educational malaise, particularly that of black students.

The most crucial input for a child's education cannot be provided by schools, politicians and government. As such, continued calls for more school resources will produce disappointing results as they have in the past. There are certain minimum requirements that must be met for any child to do well in school. Someone must make the youngster do his homework, ensure that he gets eight to nine hours of sleep, feed him breakfast and make sure that he behaves in school and respects the teachers. If these minimum requirements are not met, and by the way they can be met even if a family is poor, all else is for naught.

What the education establishment can do is to prevent youngsters who are alien and hostile to the educational process from making education impossible for those who are equipped to learn. That is accomplished by removing students who pose disciplinary problems, but the Barack Obama administration is even restricting a school's power to do that. You might ask, "Williams, what are we going to do with those expelled students?" I do not know, but I do know one thing: Black people cannot afford to allow them to sabotage the education chances of everyone else.

[Gaffer]

Any personal comment or analysis about this?

[knarf]

I live in a very white community ... I can not intelligently comment.

[Kaslin]

I was educated in the late 40s and 50 in the German school system. There were always at least 40 students in each class room, and we were separated by gender until the 8th grade.I had an uncle who was a country teacher and there were students from the first grade to the 8th grade in one class room.

[knarf]

What if the NEA is sabotaging the educational process ?

[Nea Wood]

"Williams, what are we going to do with those expelled students?"

Vocational school? Apprenticeships? Reform school? (Remember reform school?) Or just boot the little troublemaker out of school and force the parent to put up with him at home all day! Perhaps then the parent will discipline the little darling and make him stop being disruptive and disrespectful in class!

For some reason, we assume everybody is college material. They're not. Some are not even high school graduate material. For some, teach them the basic reading, writing, and arithmetic and then teach them a job skill so they can be useful.

[Xenodamus]

As an educator in an inner city school, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Williams. Until parents and schools demand that students rise to the challenge and work hard, we will continue to sink to the bottom. In order to correct the problem we must raise our standards and pass students to the next grade or allow them to continue in school until they meet those basic requirements. Harsh, but it is the only way to correct the problem.

[Gaffer]

Based on my knowledge of your past comments, I hardly believe you couldn’t intelligently comment on most any topic of note. :0)... However, I was mainly curious about Kaslin’s thoughts on the topic since it was Kaslin’s need to post this in the first place.

[Gaffer]

Thanks! Really! It would be nice see your personal impression with the article.

[knarf]

For some, teach them the basic reading, writing, and arithmetic and then teach them a job skill so they can be useful.

yup !

[Thommas]

My analysis is predicated on the observation that the gap between white an black scholasticism is more in line with a reduction in white acumen overall, resulting in the appearance of a narrowing of disparity between white and black 12th graders.

[Gaffer]

The educational system is by design necessarily segmented by intelligence and ability. There isn’t anything wrong with that IMO. Needs in this world are fulfilled by those best equipped to meet them at their best and highest level, and you can’t legislate and browbeat your way into equality.

Yes, not everyone can be a rocket scientist or Rhodes Scholar, and you can’t force a functional idiot on society and pretend it’s a win-win.

[sphinx]

Comment? Well, let' see:

In 1965, the average black 12th grader placed at the 13th percentile of the score distribution for whites in math and reading. That means 87 percent of white 12th graders scored higher than the average black 12th graders. Fifty years later there has been a slight narrowing of the math gap leaving the average black 12th-grade student at the 19th percentile of the white distribution; 81 percent of white 12th-grade students score higher. The black-white reading gap has narrowed such that the average black 12th-grader scores at the 22nd percentile of the white distribution, meaning 78 percent of white 12th-graders score higher.

The gap in reading and math scores is approximately one standard deviation. That just might correlate with something else. It'll come to me ... give me some time to think about it ....

[knarf]

That fits my understanding of the situation

[pacpam]

Our daughter was followed in a study during her school years by us filling out periodic questionaires. The study found that students with involved parents, did better in school. Duh. Shame no one in education or government got the message.

[rusty schucklefurd]

16 as an average class size across the country is not even close in my area where the numbers in 2015 were as follows: The average student/teacher ratio for 4th and 5th grades: 32-to-1. Middle school 34-to-1 in; and 33.5-to-1 for high school. First - third grades are supposed to have smaller classes with a maximum of 17 students per teacher. But nearly all of the elementary schools in our district exceed that total, with some as high as 29 students. With class sizes that high it is really difficult for any teacher to give adequate personal attention to students who are having problems. And personal attention is necessary to diagnose the problems in order to fix the problems, especially in math where learning is foundational. If a student doesn't understand something, simply continuing on to the next step or subject will continue to cause problems for the student down the line.

Re: Williams’ comments about the importance of family, I totally concur. It is difficult for even the best of teachers to overcome obstacles that a child receives at home. But even one good parent or grandparent who is constantly encouraging and demanding that their child does his or her best makes a tremendous difference.

[DoughtyOne]