The Objective Observer

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Black Interest

• The End of An Era
• Black Education
• Reparations
• Racism and Free Speech
• Kracka

There is a problem in the educational system that people are deathly afraid to talk about honestly. However, until this problem can be discussed openly and honestly, nothing can be done to resolve the problem.

The problem deals with black education and in particular the performance of blacks on national standardized tests. The evidence is overwhelming that blacks, as a whole, do not perform as well as whites and other ethnicities on national standardized tests. And it is not that blacks perform only slightly worse than whites on standardized tests, the difference is particularly stark. For example, on the SAT, blacks on average score about 100 points less than the average score for whites. This disparity has been repeated every single year from 1986 to the present. On average, whites and Asian Americans score 1st or 2nd in Verbal and Math on the SAT every year while blacks score dead last, every single year. Blacks are outscored by Hispanics, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans, American Indians, Others and Whites. See for yourself… http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/digest2001/tables/dt134.asp

Now, the problem with discussing this issue openly and honestly is that if anyone other than a black individual brings this up, they are labeled a racist or otherwise demonized. And to further aggravate the problem, blacks do not seem to be particularly interested in discussing this issue openly and honestly. Instead, a host of excuses are offered as to why this is the case instead of stepping up and admitting that there is a definite and real problem that must be fixed.

To move the discussion forward, there MUST be an open and honest dialog free of excuses. And since no one else seems to want to discuss this issue, I’ll take a stab at it.

First, let’s clear up some of the excuses and other idiotic rationales for this problem. This problem is not because blacks are somehow less intelligent or inferior to whites and other races. This, fundamentally, has no basis in fact and is nothing more than a racist and bigoted point of view that adds nothing to the overall discussion. Similarly, the stereotype that “blacks are lazy” is another racist and bigoted view that has no place in the discussion.

In addition, the problem is NOT one of cultural bias on the tests. Again, this has absolutely no basis in reality and is simply an excuse perpetuated by those ignorant of the facts. If such a cultural bias existed, then one would expect Asian Americans, Hispanics, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, American Indians and “Others” to score similar to blacks on these standardized tests. This simply is not the case. In fact, Asian Americans, in particular, score as well or better than whites on these tests. If a cultural bias towards whites existed in the tests, then the data would back this up with all cultures that are considered “non-white”. The facts simply do not support this hypothesis and thus it must be discarded as the primary cause for the lower scores of blacks on these tests.

Finally, the problem is not the educational system itself. Again, the data does not support this. All of the students attend the same educational system and therefore it is illogical that somehow the educational system fails for blacks but not for any other ethnicity or race. Again, this is simply an excuse perpetuated by the ignorant.

Thus, we are left with the fact that the problem of lower standardized test scores of by blacks are NOT caused because blacks are less intelligent or because blacks are lazy or cultural bias of the standardized tests or a problem with the educational system itself. This naturally leads us to try to understand what IS the cause of the lower standardized test scores of blacks.

To this end, we must look beyond theories steeped in racism and beyond excuses criticizing standardized testing and the educational system. By ruling out all other possible causes, what we are left with is to look at black culture itself and the environment of blacks in particular. Something within black culture or the environment in which blacks live MUST hold the key to solving the problem of lower standardized test scores for blacks versus other races and ethnicities. While I have no specific answers beyond this, I think that two possibilities are worth exploring.

The first theory that is worth exploring is one of finances. Blacks, on average are poorer than whites and Asian Americans. Being poor, blacks might not have the access and opportunity of whites and Asian Americans in terms of affording computers and other educational resources or paying for educational assistance in the form of tutoring.

This theory is worth exploring, but has some problems. American Indians on average score 50 points higher than blacks on the SAT and American Indians are among the poorest of Americans on average. According to national census data...

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/PressBri.pdf

...American Indians have only a slightly higher median household income than blacks and actually have a HIGHER rate of poverty. The same can be said of Hispanic households in that they have only a slightly higher median household income and roughly the same poverty rate as blacks. Furthermore, Asian Americans have a much higher median household income rate than whites and still generally score lower or about the same as whites on standardized tests such as the SAT.

Therefore, the link between lower standardized tests and household income is tenuous at best and possibly completely non-existent. Thus, we must continue to look elsewhere for the root cause of the problem. What we are left with is something cultural or environmental within the black population itself.

Now, I suppose that I could leave the discussion at that and not make trouble for myself, but I that would be caving into the racial pressures placed on us by an overly politically correct public. Thus, I will continue and point to what I believe is an inescapable conclusion and represents the root cause of the problem.

And that root cause is black households themselves. Something is going on within black households that is not conducive to education. Now, am I insinuating that blacks are bad parents? Absolutely not. However, the conclusion that this is an environmental problem within black households is inescapable. The problem could be a lack of emphasis placed upon education within black households or it could be that a higher crime rate among blacks or possibly some other environmental factors are at work here. I honestly do not know or have any facts to specifically identify what the problem is, but this is where the problem lies.

Now, if the root cause of the problem is something within black households that is not conducive to education, then the problem can only be corrected by the people that live within those households. Educators, government politicians and social workers should not be relied upon to investigate, figure out and solve these problems. The ownership of this issue rests squarely with the black households that are creating the environment that is damaging to the education of their progeny. We must quit assigning racial and bigoted reasons for this problem and quit making excuses for it. What we need to do as a society is to come together, find this environmental factor that is creating a bad environment for learning and rectify the problem.