Sometimes an idea can be so offensive that to merely comment
on it requires a period of gestation that would prevent you from otherwise
going HAM on the perpetrator. In
my new found practice of Zen Buddhism we call that breathing in the moment. In my round the way upbringing they
call it “oh no this dude didn’t try me…”
In a recent adaptation for its strategic plan the State of
FL Board of Education decided to set the bar for student achievement based upon
race (http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-10-12/story/state-sets-student-achievement-targets-race). First and foremost it would be easy for
me to simply point to the common thought regarding prisons and schools and the
widely held perspective that prisons are built based upon reading scores and
suggest this is just another way of sending black folk to prison. That would however, not be true and
would not be fitting of the scholarly expectations one should have when reading
something from someone who considers themselves a public intellectual (FYI… most prisons are built based upon historical trends of new admissions from
courts, length of stay in prison, average length of stay on parole and the rate
of return to prison from parole just to name a few).
Secondly, what the State Board of Education FL has said to
African-Americans children in particular is that based upon your race the State
of FL has less of an expectation for you than anyone else. Therefore, if you don’t achieve then it
was expected. What it does not
take a rocket scientist to figure out is that children perform based upon
EXPECTATIONS not RACE.
What lower academic expectations based upon race does is
give credence to played and disproven ideas set forth by advocates of eugenics
and proponents of biological hereditarianism. Rather than setting expectations based upon race why not
income levels? The answer would
require us to be honest with ourselves and realize it is issues of
socioeconomic status rather than race that impede student’s achievement. Furthermore, examining economic status would
require us to look at the growing income gap in this country where the top 1
percent received 93 percent of the income growth.
Thirdly, what lower academic expectations does is it gives
credence to terms like “disadvantaged,”” at-risk,” and “culturally deprived,”
which makes it easier to justify when the academic system fails
African-American children.
However, when cultures of expectations are high, school environments
follow pursuit and foster achievement rather than deficit thinking children (see We Remember Raines).
Finally, in a recent report by the Aspen Institute it was
suggested that the public school system held the most potential for addressing
the systemic issues surrounding race. However, the inability to have an educational evaluation
system that is reflective of ALL CHILDREN achieving based upon ability rather
than race by the State Board of Education leads to more of the race centered
policies that we all agree is the Achilles-heel of our larger society.
This is my truth and I AM Sticking to it…
Irvin PeDro Cohen
On behalf of the students we STAND up and sacrifice for as friends and Board Members. I applaud your passion and salute your compassion. As a native Floridian who is African American and achieves because people believed i could and would (expectations)I am apalled and have made several calls. I encourage your readers to DO the same.
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