Re: Kozol's op-ed piece

[Csubstance@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/12/07 3:11:04 PM, campbellp@mail.montclair.edu writes:

<< A disproportionate percentage of these "hard-to-educate children" are 

black. A call to the marketplace to cure what ails them calls to mind a 

different kind of marketplace at a different time, e.g., America 

pre-1864. But this marketplace was also designed to cure what ailed 

them. The fates of the "hard-to-educate" lay in the hands of the 

highest bidders. >>

7/13/07

I really like the way you're dealing with the "marketplace" concept. 

But I think that the formula needs to be restated: Poor and Black -- not just 
black.

My son Dan just graduated form one of America's top high schools -- Chicago's 
Whitney Young Magnet. 

Please let me share a few observations about the need to reformulate some of 
these concepts. 

Dan will be attending the University of California at Berkeley next year 
(beginning next month, actually). 

The majority of his teammates (in baseball) and classmates (in almost all his 
classes) were black. 

Whitney Young had the largest number of national achievement scholars of any 
high school in the USA in the Class of 2007. 

A large number of the black graduates will be attending some of the "top" 
colleges in the USA.

The two African American female astronauts from the USA are both graduates of 
Chicago's public schools, one from Whitney Young. One presidential 
candidate's wife (Michelle Obama) is a Whitney Young graduate. 

I could go on and on and on.

Next year, Marcus Jordan, son on the now divorced multi-millionaires Michael 
and Juanita Jordan, will be attending Whitney Young Magnet High School in 
Chicago. 

My point? 

When we're talking about segregation, we need to distinguish between the 
invidious effects in general (social isolation and ignorance) and the educational 
effects -- which, measured academically, are not always a problem for middle 
class kids, white (like Dan) or black (like so many of his friends).

The impact of segregation is pervasive. Every child who grows up without 
meaningful interaction on a routine basis is being perverted by the effects of 
segregation, and the impacts might be worse for white children than for black 
ones. (Reasons? Most black families prepare their children to deal with the race 
issues, while most white families ignore them, perhaps a function of privilege 
and superior social position). 

Now this year, Dan did very well, graduating with a GPA well over 4.0, having 
passed 11 AP exams (nine with a score of "5" and two with a score of "4"), 
and with ACT and SAT scores accordingly. (Why bring those up here? All I did was 
demand that he not take any prep course, so he didn't). 

Of interest is the simple fact that a number of Dan's classmates who are 
black did just as well, both in academics and in other areas (fine arts; sports). 

The middle class hasn't waited for Brown to be implemented in massively 
segregated places like Chicago. We've had to carve out our own locations to face 
the realities of massive segregation (Chicago has more than 300 all-black public 
schools, as I've repeated and reported over and over) and the need for the 
education of our own children.

Sadly, most American (white) children will remain as perplexed about racial 
issues because they will not encounter the realities in any real form. And the 
realities won't be discussed.

But back to Kozol:

Many of my black friends really resent the idea that simply going to a 
suburban school will make things "better." No Chicago suburban public high school 
has produced one (let alone two) female astronauts (who happen to be black). Or 
any of the enormous list of other people we could introduce people to. 

The problem is a white problem, too. And in the inner city, it's a problem of 
white people who rule places like Chicago establising vast stretches of 
ghetto schools that house only black children who are terrifyingly poor and 
deprived of everything from safe schools to the simplest things like books they can 
take home and study form every night.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance
www.substancenews.com  

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