April 04, 2005

WHERE ALL THE KIDS ARE ABOVE AVERAGE...

Guest blogger Rita Kramer, author of “Ed School Follies, writes:

”If a skeptical observer of the contemporary school wars had set out to write a parody of the current state of affairs in America’s classrooms, he (or me) could have done no better than the article that appears on page 31 of the Metro section of yesterday (Sunday’s) New York Times. CLICK [HERE]

The article is headed THE SECREGATED CLASSROOMS OF A PROUDLY DIVERSE SCHOOL, with the subhead “Dividing by Ability Spurs Racial Tension.” Note the buzz words: “segregated” (which implies official separation), “diverse” (which in edspeak has replaced every other word synonymous with “good” or “valuable”) and “racial tension” (which signals that something has gone terribly wrong).

Now what it is that has upset the diversity applecart and brought racial tension to formerly idyllic Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, is the fact that, although blacks outnumber whites in the school population, whites outnumber blacks in advanced classes. Now what could possibly explain this unacceptable state of affairs? Why, nothing other than “racial bias.” Discrimination, in this case, as elsewhere in the education universe in the U.S. today, is what results from “the practice of dividing students into ability groups.”

What the article refers to as “the racial gap” is causing school officials “to take a hard look at the leveling system and decide how to strike a balance between their two main goals—celebrating diversity and pushing academic achievement.” It does not seem to occur to the district officials—and certainly not to the New York Times reporter—that these two goals may simply not be compatible. One has to do with the schools’ traditional functions of teaching and learning, the other with the schools’ redefinition as agencies of social change. It is no longer enough that all students be given equal opportunities to use their individual abilities; now all students have to have equal outcomes. Anything less is evidence of what one of the student protestors calls “contemporary segregation.” At a student assembly held to “publicly confront administrators,” the principal, in true Larry Summers mode, apologized for saying “anything that might have been construed as insensitive.” And when a student grabbed the microphone and said that “all it took was hard work to move up,” a near-riot ensued.

And what has been the result of the confrontation? “Student leaders and administrators are now discussing ways to narrow the so-called achievement gap; like granting students more say in which level they are in.” While this may strike some as right out of “Through the Looking Glass,” the New York Times reporter is not one of them. According to the Timesman, “The debate over leveling here boils down to fairness. Is it fair just to ensure equal access to upper level classes? Or does fairness go farther than that and require administrators to truly level the playing field so that the racial makeup of upper classes better resembles the racial makeup of the school?”

This is truly breathtaking. Class standing has to be fair. Nothing to do with levels of ability or effort. Let’s just make sure—in the interest of being fair to everyone—that the advanced classes aren’t made up according to demonstrated ability but are open to everyone who would like to be in them. And that they are made up of the same proportion of blacks and whites as the entire school.
The next step, of course, is to make sure that in the interests of fairness the advanced class work is not too difficult for anyone in the diverse class. That would be unfair. So the next step is to water down the curriculum so that no one is discriminated against because the work is too hard. Which leaves us with the question of where the next generation of scholars and innovators will come from? And who will be left who knows the difference?