9.26.2007

"The Blacks are Coming!"

Disturbing to some folks, apparently. Honestly, what is the message here?
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8 comments:

Mark Newgent said...

Serioulsy, you need to stop.

It is one thing to disagree and have an argument over debatable positions. However, attributing thoughts and motivations to people that just aren't true, is a shameful and callow thing to do. It also doesn't speak well for your own intellectual abilities.

Any honest person reading Matt's post knows that there is nothing "disturbing" about Charles county becoming majority African-American to him at all.

9:00 AM
Andrew Kujan said...

I disagree.

10:00 AM
Mark Newgent said...

If you disagree then back it up with facts. Not through cheap shots fueled by your inaccurate assessment of Matt, which is obvioulsy colored by how you view conservatives through your own distorted ideological prism, not by anything he actuall wrote.

11:30 AM
Andrew Kujan said...

The implication Matt's article is this "Today, Prince George's County schools routinely rank at or near the bottom of the state's education measurements. Charles County officials are worried that the same thing might happen in their school district as well."

However, no where in the article do Charles County Officials express that they are concerned that a majority black population in schools will lower achievement.

In fact they say:

"I have a concern about children, period," he added. "I don't care who they are or where they come from."

and:

"We don't look at our classroom in the sense of changing populations," said Leigh Ann Lamb, a fourth-grade math teacher. "They're all students."

Linda Woehlke, who is white and has three children at Wade, said she embraces the changing demographics. "If you're on top of your game, as long as they continue to maintain structure and control regardless of the kind of kids here, we'll be fine," Woehlke said."

Yet Matt ignores these statements, including the one from the trained economist, and concludes that it is really bad parenting in the black community that is to blame:

"Basu believes socio-economic status plays a bigger role as a predictor, and that could be right. However, I believe that as children get older, the parental expectations and the peer associations and pressure will play a larger role than the affluence or not of the parents."

If Matt is offended, he can come here himself and say what he likes. From what I read, I got the feeling that his piece was meant to increase fears of Blacks entering predominantly white communities and wrecking up the place, a common conservative meme, one that is perpetuated by blogs like this which ignore all the positives in the article and instead, focus on non-existent negatives.

Once again, I ask, what is Matt's point in his post other than to reinforce tired ideas about racial integration.

5:04 PM
Andrew Kujan said...

And I don't need to stop anything.

5:04 PM
Mark Newgent said...

Again, you are wrong, and you are yanking Matt’s comments way out of context to reinforce your own deluded notions about conservatives. Matt’s final analysis and question are not conservative fear mongering. Here is what he says”

“Basu believes socio-economic status plays a bigger role as a predictor, and that could be right. However, I believe that as children get older, the parental expectations and the peer associations and pressure will play a larger role than the affluence or not of the parents.

Charles County offers an excellent opportunity for education theorists to have a real laboratory to watch--is it race, is it socio-economic status, is it school policies, or is it something else that drives success in school or failure in schools. As Charles County receives a larger percentage of black families, will the schools maintain or improve on their successes or will they follow a course like Prince George's County has experienced in the past 35 years, one of steady decline in school performance county wide.”

Matt is essentially saying that there is a new opportunity to study what determines success in schools. Is it race, socio-economic status, school policies or the other things he mentioned, parental expectations, or peer-pressure. Note, Matt did not say “really bad parenting in the black community”, that was you putting words into his mouth. Bad parenting is an ill that affects all children not just Blacks.

These are questions and variables about educational performance that have dogged educational researchers for decades. I know this first hand and I edited three different education research journals for the American Educational Research Association.

If you wish to keep up this deceitful mode of argumentation, fine, you will just cement the fact that you are intellectually dishonest.

12:48 PM
Andrew Kujan said...

The fact that you or Matt would even consider that "race" could be a real factor in determining educational outcomes speaks to your dubious intent.

2:57 PM
Mark Newgent said...

Thanks again for proving my point.

3:43 PM

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