Racism or culture? More and more, it looks like culture

Oct 15 03:37 UTC 2003

'Whys' of the black achievement gap
By WILLIAM RASPBERRY

SPEAKING frankly and helpfully about the academic achievement gap
between black and white students is a lot harder than it ought to be.

It is particularly hard if it is true -- as I believe -- that the gap
has less and less to do with racism and more and more to do with the
habits and attitudes we inculcate among our children.

I can almost feel the resistance from black Americans to the notion
that there is something cultural about the underachievement of black
students.  Almost as palpable is the easy conclusion on the part of
many whites (and I'm not talking about racists) that if black people
would just buckle down like other disadvantaged groups have done, many
of their problems would evaporate.

And yet -- how hard this is! -- the buckle-down crowd may be closer
to the mark.  That is not to say that the academic gap (as much as four
years by the time of high school graduation) is merely the aggregate
result of individual black laziness.  It isn't.

But as Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom make clear in their new book,
No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning, a significant source
of the gap is in the attitudes toward academic achievement that are
prevalent in black America, even among the economically successful,
college-trained middle class.

For instance, there is the notion that academic success is something
almost unnatural -- or at least not a particularly high priority --
for black people.  Black students and their parents understand the
importance of an academic credential, but often primarily as a ticket
to college and good careers.  But if that's what it is, then one might
as well purchase the ticket at the lowest possible cost: avoidance of
challenging courses and performance that is "good enough" rather than
the commitment to excellence that eats into social time.

And the differences begin early.  One study found that the home of the
average white kindergartner had 93 books, the average black less than
half as many.  The point isn't that the white children score higher
because they read all those books, but that the differential presence
of books reflects a differential interest and investment in learning.
(Asian-American parents, for instance, may have fewer books but a
stronger commitment to learning.)

The Thernstroms' examination of the reasons for the gap both in
effort and achievement -- including disproportionate TV-watching,
uneven public expenditures, disparate teacher quality and an
interesting look at the differences between voluntary and involuntary
(slave-descendant) immigrants -- occupies the bulk of their book.  But
in some ways, their most important message is in the introduction.

Economic success -- even a decent job -- will depend increasingly on
solid academic skills.  But "too few black and Hispanic youngsters --
particularly those in urban public schools -- have acquired the skills
to choose their own path."

Are the politically conservative Thernstroms reluctant to attribute
the dysfunctional habits and attitudes of black students to
still-existing racism?

In a word, yes.  They don't argue that racism has disappeared, but
they do argue that it has less effect than ever on what black people
can achieve.

That racism significantly limits academic opportunity, they say, is
"a familiar but misguided and dangerous claim -- particularly
dangerous when delivered to school-age kids making often irrevocable
decisions about who they are and where they're going.  Pessimism is a
self-fulfilling prophecy."

Does giving voice to this message amount to "giving racists a stick
to beat us with"?  It's an interesting question.  Here's a better one:
How do we best use our intellectual, political and moral capital --
priming our children for success, or merely supplying them with
excuses for failure?

Raspberry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist based in
Washington, D.C. (willrasp@washpost.com).

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/2150256

response 4 of 9:

Oct 15 18:30 UTC 2003

Dude, you gotta start paying attention when you read stuff.

response 6 of 9:

Nov 3 09:50 UTC 2003

#3 reminds me of a starring character in to kil a mockingbird. teh actor
was a star, teh real person fell on his knife.
  
wanna borrow a knife?

response 8 of 9:

Nov 27 08:12 UTC 2003

whore.