A very interesting read. I wonder if you have considered the difference in racial attainment gaps between various countries? For example the recent UK Commission on Racial Equality (2021) had the interesting statistic that the US Black attainment gap was 8 x greater than the UK gap.
As the report notes, there are considerable differences between the two countries but nevertheless, it is a statistically significant gap.
The head of the Commission was Tony Sewell who founded the UK Generating Genius charity which has been focussed for the last 15 years on increasing Black and other people from disadvantaged backgrounds in STEM. It has been reasonably successful. Could the lessons learned from such a charity be put to good use in the US ? https://generatinggenius.org.uk/
Dr. Sewell is controversial now in the UK because of the report and his practical approach to the problem, but he does seem to be getting results.
We in the Latino community face similar obstacles derived from different sources, though the results are the same. Latino students have long suffered (my belief) from the impact of bi-lingual instruction which was geared to steam line the entrance of native Spanish speakers to English language instruction. In many cases it did the opposite, relegating generations of Latino students to decades of sub par English proficiency. There grew over the decades an entire bureaucratic edifice supporting bi-lingual education with all the natural consequences that those edifices bring. Having witnessed personally the ability of immigrant Latino students to dive into the deep end of the pool and learn English quickly, out of necessity, I’ve found the bi-lingual edifice terribly consequential in a negative way to Latino educational excellence.
Thank you for your commentary which is timely as always and reminders for a distracted society always needed.
Thank you for this insightful piece. I hope all concerned take on board the important points and recommendations you made.
Btw, as a member of Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org), an organization dedicated to depolarizing our country, I was glad to see the topic of your next book and look forward to reading it.
The DIC has no interest in actually improving race relations, because the perception of poor race relations is what keeps its money and power flowing.
Nothing better explains the expansion of the definition of racism from bigoted behavior and thoughts to “systemic” racism (that can never be pinpointed or solved).
Well thought out and reasoned, but nothing new here. The same framing of the problem, and vague and general suggestions regarding "solutions." How, for example, would Prof. Creswell get "blacks to watch less tv, read more, respect uncool nerds, etc? How, specifically? Saying people need to take personal responsibility is all well and good, but I think the question at this point is: how do we support, encourage, and nurture our brothers and sisters to do that? Also, more and more when I read these essays, so often written by successful members of academia, I think that the discussion of college enrollment and college success is taking up way too much oxygen in the conversation. Academic achievement in college is the structure on top of the foundation of K-12 education, and I hope that Professor Creswell and the many other eloquent voices speaking to this issue from their spots in the academy begin to address that as well. These critiques aside, I thank Professor Creswell for the essay and for his work.
Can you write a follow up about some of your ideas on how to improve K-12 education outcomes?
Are you worried that increasingly the top academic performers in the USA are foreigners, immigrants and ethnics? Does this problem extend far beyond merely ADOS?
Why do you think this is happening and what do you think can be done about it.
A interesting essay that does highlight the problems facing Black students today (and I shudder to think what the stupidity of school shutdowns have done not only to Black American students but all students who will struggle now because of such ill considered actions by government on the recommendation of so called "experts"). I could point out that Thomas Sowell has written about this problem in his essays, and one school, Dunbar High School in Washington DC, is one he points to as it's students in it's earliest years scored higher on government tests of students knowledge than white students in neighboring schools that had far higher budgets than Dunbar received.
Sowell also highlights groups working to change the Black education gap in elementary to high school in the later essays of his book, Black Rednecks And White Liberals.
This is really good stuff here - although I would point out that funding disparities don't help. In California, the amount of money each school district gets from the state is based on local property tax rates. So a kid attending public school in San Francisco is getting access to far more resources than, say, a kid attending school in Brawley. Equal opportunity is a great concept - and would be an even better reality. If black kids, as a whole, had access to the same primary educational opportunities as white kids (as a whole), then fewer blacks would struggle with university academics once on campus. That's the tragedy - and how it's not a violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause is a mystery.
Excellent essay. While it's all been said before, it cannot be said enough. And Mr. Creswell says it well.
Ms. Styles reports (below) that, according to the UK Commission on Racial Equity, the racial attainment gap is far larger in the US than in the UK. As always with statistical comparisons, the denominator matters.
The composition of black communities in the US and UK are quite different. As I understand it, the black community in the UK is primarily an immigrant community; in the US, it is not.
I offer this hypothesis - the attainment of blacks whose families recently immigrated to the US will be comparable to the attainment of blacks whose families recently immigrated to the UK. I would suggest further that the attainment of blacks whose families recently immigrated to the US will compare relatively favorably to the attainment of whites in the US.
All good points but really nothing that hasn’t been said before. Where’s the action plan? Are there any ongoing programs that are successfully addressing the factors you list and how can they be replicated?
Mar 30, 2022·edited Mar 30, 2022Liked by Free Black Thought
Phew! You don't hold back many punches, do You M. Creswell? My only complaint is that You won't likely get the hearing You deserve, because this needs to be SHOUTED from the rooftops. That's not to mention that, perhaps, there'd be a lotta pushback. You've confronted the shibboleths head on. Can't respect that enough.
Like You say, if Black's wanna be a successful minority, they need to take charge of themselves. I dunno if it was intentional or not, but most-a Your advice pertains to too many white kids, as well.
[Edit: tl;dr]
I dunno about education as much as I should prefer. I've seen this site before but not looked at it very carefully until this morning. The nation's report card on student achievement. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/
Kids need to take more responsibility, really, in just about every area. Like You say, starts with parents.
But one area that could be improved that would help students of all races came to my attention this morning. Briefly, from just skimming the material, it appears that the nations Teaching Schools are totally, completely, and ABSOLUTELY SHAMBOLIC. Just starting to come to grips with this concept. But if Teachers are being [Edit: taught ] all wrong, then the quality of kid's education just won't be there. If the School Ed colleges are teaching ideology, nothing good will come of it. I gather this has BEEN going on, but dunno for how long. I've learned that virtually everyone, administrators and teachers and the teachers in School Ed schools come from these same School Ed schools.
I don't see much chance of much progress as long as this situation continues. One paper outta Education Week from 2006 (yeah, 16 years ago) suggested a whole new accrediting body be created! (I haven't read any-a this stuff yet. Just getting an overview.)
In any event. Apologize this is so long. These things just came to my attention today, and I'm somewhat incensed. This is the Substack I got the info from. Short, and to the point. "Why Colleges Are Becoming Cults" w/Dr. Lyell Asher. https://boghossian.substack.com/p/things-you-can-do-k-12-schools?s=r
This should been at beginning instead-a end. Thank You SO much for sticking Your neck out, SIR! TYTY.
[Edit: I wonder if You, Sir, were in favor of Charter Schools and mebbe school vouchers? NO NEED to bother answering. Question just came to mind. TY again.]
Oct 28, 2022·edited Nov 19, 2022Liked by Free Black Thought
What is important in education? I worked for IBM. There were two things that mattered, technology and money in that order. Some of the White Customer Engineers had a problem with me because I was Black.
I DID NOT CARE!
One of the funniest things that happened was an Irish guy asking me why I wanted a computer at home. I soldered together my first computer in 1978.
If the educational system is designed to maintain controlled ignorance among white kids does talking about closing an Academic Gap make sense?
The Screwing of the Average Man by David Hapgood
Why not find better books an encourage black kids to read them? But we have a cultural problem. I offered to pay my niece and nephew to read some books. They refused.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I think that we are mainly in agreement. It is interesting that Dave Chappelle, in one of his comedy routines, joked about his own tendency to "blame the victim." But this was done for hyperbole, and I agree that it has become something more in the arsenal to lob at opinions that sometimes challenge you to think more acutely and critically.
Mr. Kendi promulgates an epistemology that turns considered challenges into more proof of his theses. It reminds me of some early psychoanalytic literature that characterized legitimate disagreements as evidence of "resistance."
Charles Murray, in one appearance on the Glenn Show, spoke about the potential value of changing "black culture," and we know that even admitting you read his work can be grounds for cancellation. So I do not underestimate the challenge of what you propose and hope that enough people of influence come on board to make a difference!
Wonderful essay. Should be required reading everywhere!
A very interesting read. I wonder if you have considered the difference in racial attainment gaps between various countries? For example the recent UK Commission on Racial Equality (2021) had the interesting statistic that the US Black attainment gap was 8 x greater than the UK gap.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities/education-and-training
As the report notes, there are considerable differences between the two countries but nevertheless, it is a statistically significant gap.
The head of the Commission was Tony Sewell who founded the UK Generating Genius charity which has been focussed for the last 15 years on increasing Black and other people from disadvantaged backgrounds in STEM. It has been reasonably successful. Could the lessons learned from such a charity be put to good use in the US ? https://generatinggenius.org.uk/
Dr. Sewell is controversial now in the UK because of the report and his practical approach to the problem, but he does seem to be getting results.
We in the Latino community face similar obstacles derived from different sources, though the results are the same. Latino students have long suffered (my belief) from the impact of bi-lingual instruction which was geared to steam line the entrance of native Spanish speakers to English language instruction. In many cases it did the opposite, relegating generations of Latino students to decades of sub par English proficiency. There grew over the decades an entire bureaucratic edifice supporting bi-lingual education with all the natural consequences that those edifices bring. Having witnessed personally the ability of immigrant Latino students to dive into the deep end of the pool and learn English quickly, out of necessity, I’ve found the bi-lingual edifice terribly consequential in a negative way to Latino educational excellence.
Thank you for your commentary which is timely as always and reminders for a distracted society always needed.
Thank you for this insightful piece. I hope all concerned take on board the important points and recommendations you made.
Btw, as a member of Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org), an organization dedicated to depolarizing our country, I was glad to see the topic of your next book and look forward to reading it.
Diversity Industrial Complex (“DIC”)
The DIC has no interest in actually improving race relations, because the perception of poor race relations is what keeps its money and power flowing.
Nothing better explains the expansion of the definition of racism from bigoted behavior and thoughts to “systemic” racism (that can never be pinpointed or solved).
Well thought out and reasoned, but nothing new here. The same framing of the problem, and vague and general suggestions regarding "solutions." How, for example, would Prof. Creswell get "blacks to watch less tv, read more, respect uncool nerds, etc? How, specifically? Saying people need to take personal responsibility is all well and good, but I think the question at this point is: how do we support, encourage, and nurture our brothers and sisters to do that? Also, more and more when I read these essays, so often written by successful members of academia, I think that the discussion of college enrollment and college success is taking up way too much oxygen in the conversation. Academic achievement in college is the structure on top of the foundation of K-12 education, and I hope that Professor Creswell and the many other eloquent voices speaking to this issue from their spots in the academy begin to address that as well. These critiques aside, I thank Professor Creswell for the essay and for his work.
Loved this article.
Can you write a follow up about some of your ideas on how to improve K-12 education outcomes?
Are you worried that increasingly the top academic performers in the USA are foreigners, immigrants and ethnics? Does this problem extend far beyond merely ADOS?
Why do you think this is happening and what do you think can be done about it.
A interesting essay that does highlight the problems facing Black students today (and I shudder to think what the stupidity of school shutdowns have done not only to Black American students but all students who will struggle now because of such ill considered actions by government on the recommendation of so called "experts"). I could point out that Thomas Sowell has written about this problem in his essays, and one school, Dunbar High School in Washington DC, is one he points to as it's students in it's earliest years scored higher on government tests of students knowledge than white students in neighboring schools that had far higher budgets than Dunbar received.
Sowell also highlights groups working to change the Black education gap in elementary to high school in the later essays of his book, Black Rednecks And White Liberals.
Good Esay. Much to think about.
This is really good stuff here - although I would point out that funding disparities don't help. In California, the amount of money each school district gets from the state is based on local property tax rates. So a kid attending public school in San Francisco is getting access to far more resources than, say, a kid attending school in Brawley. Equal opportunity is a great concept - and would be an even better reality. If black kids, as a whole, had access to the same primary educational opportunities as white kids (as a whole), then fewer blacks would struggle with university academics once on campus. That's the tragedy - and how it's not a violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause is a mystery.
Excellent essay. While it's all been said before, it cannot be said enough. And Mr. Creswell says it well.
Ms. Styles reports (below) that, according to the UK Commission on Racial Equity, the racial attainment gap is far larger in the US than in the UK. As always with statistical comparisons, the denominator matters.
The composition of black communities in the US and UK are quite different. As I understand it, the black community in the UK is primarily an immigrant community; in the US, it is not.
I offer this hypothesis - the attainment of blacks whose families recently immigrated to the US will be comparable to the attainment of blacks whose families recently immigrated to the UK. I would suggest further that the attainment of blacks whose families recently immigrated to the US will compare relatively favorably to the attainment of whites in the US.
All good points but really nothing that hasn’t been said before. Where’s the action plan? Are there any ongoing programs that are successfully addressing the factors you list and how can they be replicated?
Thank you!
Phew! You don't hold back many punches, do You M. Creswell? My only complaint is that You won't likely get the hearing You deserve, because this needs to be SHOUTED from the rooftops. That's not to mention that, perhaps, there'd be a lotta pushback. You've confronted the shibboleths head on. Can't respect that enough.
Like You say, if Black's wanna be a successful minority, they need to take charge of themselves. I dunno if it was intentional or not, but most-a Your advice pertains to too many white kids, as well.
[Edit: tl;dr]
I dunno about education as much as I should prefer. I've seen this site before but not looked at it very carefully until this morning. The nation's report card on student achievement. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/
Kids need to take more responsibility, really, in just about every area. Like You say, starts with parents.
But one area that could be improved that would help students of all races came to my attention this morning. Briefly, from just skimming the material, it appears that the nations Teaching Schools are totally, completely, and ABSOLUTELY SHAMBOLIC. Just starting to come to grips with this concept. But if Teachers are being [Edit: taught ] all wrong, then the quality of kid's education just won't be there. If the School Ed colleges are teaching ideology, nothing good will come of it. I gather this has BEEN going on, but dunno for how long. I've learned that virtually everyone, administrators and teachers and the teachers in School Ed schools come from these same School Ed schools.
I don't see much chance of much progress as long as this situation continues. One paper outta Education Week from 2006 (yeah, 16 years ago) suggested a whole new accrediting body be created! (I haven't read any-a this stuff yet. Just getting an overview.)
In any event. Apologize this is so long. These things just came to my attention today, and I'm somewhat incensed. This is the Substack I got the info from. Short, and to the point. "Why Colleges Are Becoming Cults" w/Dr. Lyell Asher. https://boghossian.substack.com/p/things-you-can-do-k-12-schools?s=r
This should been at beginning instead-a end. Thank You SO much for sticking Your neck out, SIR! TYTY.
[Edit: I wonder if You, Sir, were in favor of Charter Schools and mebbe school vouchers? NO NEED to bother answering. Question just came to mind. TY again.]
What is important in education? I worked for IBM. There were two things that mattered, technology and money in that order. Some of the White Customer Engineers had a problem with me because I was Black.
I DID NOT CARE!
One of the funniest things that happened was an Irish guy asking me why I wanted a computer at home. I soldered together my first computer in 1978.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit_H8
Now we have planned obsolescence in computers just like automobiles. What has that done for economics for the last 70 years?
http://blog.lostsoulscorp.com/articles/economic-wargames/
If the educational system is designed to maintain controlled ignorance among white kids does talking about closing an Academic Gap make sense?
The Screwing of the Average Man by David Hapgood
Why not find better books an encourage black kids to read them? But we have a cultural problem. I offered to pay my niece and nephew to read some books. They refused.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I think that we are mainly in agreement. It is interesting that Dave Chappelle, in one of his comedy routines, joked about his own tendency to "blame the victim." But this was done for hyperbole, and I agree that it has become something more in the arsenal to lob at opinions that sometimes challenge you to think more acutely and critically.
Mr. Kendi promulgates an epistemology that turns considered challenges into more proof of his theses. It reminds me of some early psychoanalytic literature that characterized legitimate disagreements as evidence of "resistance."
Charles Murray, in one appearance on the Glenn Show, spoke about the potential value of changing "black culture," and we know that even admitting you read his work can be grounds for cancellation. So I do not underestimate the challenge of what you propose and hope that enough people of influence come on board to make a difference!