(BiM)–The Chronicles

You might have heard about in it the news, the forced Seattle integration story. Seattle School district basically wanted a poor white mother to attend a “black” school when the mother wanted to attend a “white” school. It sounds like the Brown v. Board of Education Case except reversed. Like the Brown case the court ruled that the school district could not forced a person attend a school based upon their race.

This brings up an interesting question. How can school achieve diversity if they don’t take into a account race?

Many good suggestions have been made. Peter Schrag, a blogger, suggested that instead of creating diversity by race, create it using other methods. For example parental education could be used to integrate schools. Other people suggested that school boards even the playing field by bring all schools up to par; making schools, literally separate but equal.

It could work. Since people of Color tend to make less money than white people integration like this, in theory could work. But here the problem—Something’s got to give…

Something’s got to give. This nation has to do something if it wants to ensure the prestige of its educational system. There are two good options that I would suggest. We have to make all school equal, or equalize the members of the schools.

What would making school equal look like? Basically, it would mean that every school in a state would have the same budget. It would mean that every school had teachers that preformed equally. The racial, social economic make up of every school would be different, but the funding and quality of the school would be the same.

And here is where the problem lies. (I’ll use California as an example). California has been using tests to help dictate how much money each school get. It gives extra funding to those schools that have good but punishes school with poor scores. Most school with sub-par school have sub-par budgets. By taking away money from poorer schools and reward rich schools, the poorer get poorer and the richer get richer. Though, there are many exceptions to this rule, this is the general trend.

Bills that try to level the playing field are seen as too radical. (Just look at the “ARC Tries to Pass Bills to Help Students of Color” article). Bills that try to provide extra funding to suffering school often do not pass. Therefore, the cycle continues.

Then there is our second option. That involves making schools still have unequal budgets and teachers. Instead have it so the racial make up of every school is about the same.

Personally I more for option one. Option two means forced integration. Though integration is a great way for students to expand their minds, just because a school is integrated, does not mean that the student body is integrated. Schools have a knack for polarizing students bodies and polarizing race. (read the “Segregated: Within Schools and Between Schools” article). I think that people should be introduced to other cultures and belief but force integration might not work as well as it should.

But again the Supreme Court stroke that down. School district can’t force integration. Now I fear the schools will now stop encouraging integration. This would be unfortunate.

I think that there need to be more incentive to integrate. We have to go out of our way to see other ways. But fact remains it’s easier to stay segregated then try integrating. It’s this sloth that fuels much of the racial tension we see today.

This is just part of the bigger problem at hand: the government wants to treat the race problem in a racial blind way. It’s a great political move but it not the best way to solve the problem. It’s like looking at a watermelon and trying to find out if it’s sweet or not. Sometimes it works a lot of the time it does not but going to the trouble of plugging a watermelon is too costly. It makes for less effective but more accepted legislation.

Until the United States realizes that the race is a radical problem, they will be unwilling to draft to a radical solution. Education is one of the best ways that the United States can level the playing field until that happens; we’ll remain separate and unequal.

Update 178, 428, 405-Amended
Money: why they don’t want to spend it.
Horrors of Aplying to College!!!
Racially Blind Desegregation: What?
What’s the Deal with Affirmative Action?
Besides College: Other ways to Make a Living
How can I prepare for the SAT’s and ACT?

I’m about top give you a little history lesson so bare with me. This is not directly related to colleges, A-G classes, or any of that but think that everyone of color should know the story.

Legacy of Eugenics Part 2

So what does the word “Eugenics” mean?
Eugenics mean good-birth or good-origin. Genes as you probably know (if you watch CSI or Court TV) are related to DNA. At the beginning of the 20th century, the concept that human could be bred to preserve “Good- Genes” began to gain more and more popularity. People looked to eugenics thinking that it would solve the world’s problem. It would rid the world of all that burdened society. Poverty, illness, and stupidity would be things of the pass.

It started with the concepts that Darwin had put forth. the idea of “natural selection” and “survival of the fittest”. This idea was originally applied to animals and nature but it was only a matter of time before someone applied the idea to humans.

One of Darwin’s cousins, Galton, basically came up with the notion of Eugenics. Social Darwinism was also a similar popular idea. It stated that “Stronger Humans” (Mainly White European) had the right to take over “Weaker Peoples” (Everyone Else). Therefore it was only natural that Europe try to conquer the rest of the world.

Then the idea became more and more twisted. People were separated into the races: Mongoloid, Negroid, Caucasoid, Capoid, and Australoid. The idea that these people were separate and not meant to mingle went from a social perception to scientific fact. Eugenics was basically coined the idea that races were incompatible.

Black were prototype humans; they were to eventually make themselves extinct. Native American people were black people in disguised and were prone to stealing. Asians were good at mocking intelligence and seeming wise but were really imitators and monkey-equse. Southern European groups, and Jews were people in transition and involving into better white people. Anglo-Saxon were the finest of all White people and Whites were the finest of all races. All these were considered scientific fact.

To preserve the White race, anti-miscegenation was needed. Whites could not marry colored people for fear that the White race would be contaminated. There was also no need for the government to support lesser races since they were doomed for extinction.

The science know as eugenics spread and became a world wide concept; A world wide fact. The idea spread from the Ivy Towers of American education to the political halls in Germany.

The race was on. States and countries a like try to save money by sterilizing “undesirable” people. Those with criminal records, low IQ’s and low salary were all prospective victims. Most of the sterilized people were poor working class whites. The Eugenics supporters believed that since Whites could not marry other races, Blacks, Asians, and Native Americans should not be sterilize since it was obvious that such races were doomed for extinction anyway.

States would compete with on another. They’d brag about how many people they sterilize and brag about the money they would save. States figured that is eliminating all the “undesirable” people, that tax-payer would be saved from wasting money. Money that would have gone to these undesirables would then go to more important thing instead. So the state began to round up poor white women. Many of them were sterilize without permission. Many of them didn’t even know that they were being sterilized.

How did the sterilization stop? The Holocaust and World War 2 of all things helped stop the trend. Because of a lack of funding and a change in government attitude, Eugenics sterilization programs seized.

Today, we live in a world of DNA testing. Thanks to DNA it has become obvious that eugenics and more specifically, race have little scientific backing.

So what has DNA thought us and does it disprove all Eugenics?

DNA has showed us that there is no race has a set of genes that dictates their ethnicity. In fact the best research can do is guess where your ancestors lived. Genes are better indicators of were a person’s heredity comes from and not the make of their character. Fact is someone from sub Saharan Africa and another person from Netherlands still have 99.8% of his or her DNA in common. We are much more alike than different.

In fact, two Asian people might have less DNA in common than a black person and a white person. That fact that two people might be considered to be the same race does not mean that their DNA (the .2% of genetic diversity we do have) is similar.

Some things that Eugenics might have gotten right are the IQ and disease being genetically related. Twins that have been placed in different environment do have almost identical IQ’s . It’s also true that two smart parents are more likely to produce a smart child then two parents that aren’t mental gifted. However “Geniuses” seems to be a genetic fluke independent of their parents’ IQ. No one has conclusively found a set of genes that make someone a genius. The “genius factor” still baffles scientists today.

Also many diseases are heredity. Things like heart disease occur a lot in some families and not in other. Traits like Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle Cell are also deeply rooted in ones DNA.

But thanks to DNA we have to realize that race is a social fabrication. It is an invention used to justify oppression and inequality. It is one of the more devastating legacies of Eugenics.

So why is there such a difference between the races? If you’re asking the question I suggest you look up some stats and look at yourself.

Unless you’ve gone out of your way you probably have not heard too much about Eugenics.

It’s one of the darkest episodes of American History. It’s ideals that helped support and legitimize racism worldwide. Apart from racism Eugenics has another legacy that we benefit and suffer from today: Standardize testing.

More about Eugenics
More about Eugenics

The idea that large widely spread tests can help assesses people abilities is not a new one. This idea has its benefits and its flaws. Anyone that has taken the SAT and the ACT understands this. A lot of people I personally know that took both these test say that there was quite the discrepancy between their scores. One guy I knew said that while he performed so-so on the SAT he got in the 97% percentile in the ACT. Colleges look at both tests when they decide whom to admit into their schools.

But why do we put so much faith in standardize test?

For one, standardize test are easy. They are “hard” scores. In other words, there is little subjectivity. Most standardized tests are multiple-choice true false, or something of the like.

They also show how different group perform. The best tests are given to a wide level of students and in the sample patterns can be spotted.

Pro testing Article 1
Pro testing Article 2

But again there are problems with these tests. First of all, each standardize test is a test. You must perform and like all performances not all of them are equal. One day you might be ready to take the test the next you might not be feeling so well. Many students suffer from test anxiety. This make smart student not do as well as they should.

Another factor is money. Some parents, school districts, and institutions have the money to prepare students for tests. Others do not. Those privilege individuals that get tutoring are obviously going to do better than those that don’t.

In addition standardize have been abused. For instance No Child Left Behind uses tests to assess schools. Those that perform poorly are punished instead of helped, thus almost guaranteeing that they will do worse the next time around. Those students that take test also can suffer. Those that do not score high enough suffer the conquests. These rang from lack of college admittance to a lack of diploma.

Lastly tests are expressed in a language. Those that are not well versed in that language have problem taking the test. More troublesome is the fact that not all standardize test are well written. Sometime questions and answers are ambiguous. For some one who struggles with Standard English this creates more problems.

It’s probably not a conspiracy, but sometimes the standard test machine comes across as one. As these tests gain more and more support, less and less students are seeing is benefits.

Anti testing Article 1

What does that means for the college bound student? Those college-bound students and those that want to pass their exit exams, must try his or her hardest to excel. They have to go the extra mile to find way to prepare themselves for these tests. But more importantly for the college bound student it’s about knowing what you’re up against. As someone who is disadvantage because of his or her social-economic background, you have to learn to work your strengths. Do not give up on your dreams because you didn’t not far so well on a test. You will have to find other way to demonstrate your brilliance. (See the upcoming “Horrors of Applying to College!!!” article)

In my opinion the fact that the same person got a 1700 out of 2400 on the SAT but a 34 out of 36 on the ACT shows that Standardize testing has its flaws. But I think that they still have their place in education. The problem occurs when we put too much faith in these tests; when we think that tests are an end all, assess all. The fact is that a person is complex and single test can not demonstrate the limits of their knowledge. That’s why colleges and employers a like should take into account more than a person’s score and grades.

That matter of simplifying a person intellect to a series of number has benefits and fall-outs. The idea that a complex person can be summed up to a number is easy but frightening at the same time. So it’s fair to ask where did this notion come from? The answers will be discussed in History of Standardize Tests: The Legacy of Eugenics Part 2.

I’ve been gone for a week. I probably should have given people a heads up but anyway I’m back and blogging.

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You probably heard about it a million times: Brown v. Board of Education.

It’s the landmark case that reversed the “Separate but Equal” doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson. Your history teacher probably thought you that Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation. But today segregated still lives on.

Even in the 21st century the lines between races are still deeply embedded in our geography. For insistence it was just THIS spring that the state of Georgia had it’s first integrated prom. It’s 2007 for crying out load. One would think that we had left segregation in the 1950’s?

Maybe “we” as in the postmodern generation did. I’m talking about those of us who had yet to graduate from high school when 9/11 happened, those of us who are technology natives.

This Generation that I have dub the WWW Generation might have left it behind but our parents have not. I’m not just talking about Don Imus or that Kramer guy from Seinfeld either.

I find that even in my home town which is located in the Bay Area, California there is still a lack of integration. It’s an integration that exists not just between different school but with in the schools themselves.

All I have to do drive and look at the other school located in the East Bay. There are schools like mine which has 2200 plus student but only 30 or so black students. Then there are other schools that are predominately white with a strong but present Asian minority with next to no blacks or Latinos. There are your black schools too.

In a school like mine, I was a minor minority. There were more Asian Indian people than black people. Our BSU had a good 34 members, 20 of which were black. When that happens, all the black people are force to integrate. We have to make a lot of white, Asian, Latino, etc. friends if we wanted to have friends.

This was probably good for all of us. All the black people at our school had to be introduced to new kinds of cultures. To make sure that they knew of our culture, we organized the BSU rally every year. We tried to encourage people to join, telling people that you didn’t have to be black to join. Despite this out cry, the white people that did try to join were few and transient. Some white people who come and leave because they found that being in an all black room intimidating.

Quite frankly, being the only black person in an AP is not, not intimidating. Many of my AP fellows would ask why I took some many regular or CP classes. I normally BS’ed a reason. The real reason I didn’t load up was because I found being in a class with more black students was more comfortable. This is part of reason segregation happens. We just feel more comfortable in a room where people look like you. But with all that aside not all segregation is voluntary. If you haven’t guessed this is where the integration story takes s a turn for the worse.

Because black people were so few, we had to integrate, but because White, Latino and Asian were so many, they didn’t have to. The worse case group was the Latino population. Because of the language barrier is was very difficult to from them to go venture into the rest of Amador Valley. Most of them hung out by themselves.

The School Administration did not help the situation. They actually encouraged it. They channeled Latino student into easier classes. They were not expected take higher-level classes. Their Asian counterparts however were force to take moderate level classes and compete against other Native English speakers.

The school counselors were like most human beings; they had a knack for making assumptions. Most counselors did not bother to get to know you well before they gave you advise. For example, one of my white girl friends and I were advised not to take four years of science and four years of math. They assumed because we were women that we were not planning on being science majors in college.

Those that do take the counselor’s advice find themselves in stereotypical classes. Thus polarizing the student body. This happens in most school. Students that transfer or change school are at more risk because the faculty does not know them. Until a counsel get to know you, you have know yourself and know what you can do and want to do. What you want to do does not correlate with racial lines.

So with in a diverse school there still is a lot of segregation. Some of this separation is to be expected but I wish that more people would make an effort to meet more kinds of people.