The Wisdom of a Closed Mind
Filed under: Education, Fiscal Policy, Liberalism, Maryland, Race, Salisbury Politics
Shaker Heights is one of the most affluent suburbs in Ohio. It also has a reputation for having one of, if not the best school district in the state. Back in the mid-1990’s black parents in Shaker Heights became aware that their children were severely under performing. What to do? Call in a consultant of course, at taxpayer expense.
A group of concerned black parents and the school board agreed on bringing in UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor John Ogbu. Professor Ogbu had spent decades studying how different ethnic groups perform academically. He, and a research assistant, moved to Shaker Heights and began to study test scores, observed students and conduct exhaustive interviews with parents, students and teachers.
After living in Shaker Heights for 9 months and then spending years dissecting his data Professor Ogbu came up with a startling conclusion - “the average black student in Shaker Heights put little effort into schoolwork and was part of a peer culture that looked down on academic success as ‘acting white’.” He also found that black parents who had worked hard to move to Shaker Heights and send their children to good schools did not adequately supervise their children or monitor their academic progress.
This was not the conclusion that black parents wanted to hear. They called for the victimologists and the race pimps. Professor Ogbu, a native of Nigeria, is now a “traitor to his race”, an “academic Clarence Thomas”.
Why bring this up? It just reminds me of some of the things occurring in my own community. When concerned citizens offer constructive solutions to pressing community problems they are often attacked as being “negative” or “refusing to be part of the solution”. Objective evidence doesn’t matter. If the result of a study doesn’t deliver the expected conclusion, attack the messenger.
“Growth pays for growth” anyone?
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Great article. Thanks for the link. As an [in]voluntary participant in many educational “workshops” that seek only to blame white teacher racism for minority student underachievement, Ogbu is an eye-opener.
This reminds me of the furor that was generated following the publication of “The Bell Curve” in the late 1980’s. “The Bell Curve” maintained quite correctly that intelligence stemmed from environment. The authors were derided as being racists. Apparently even after 20 some years the black community hasn’t learned to let go of the white bogeyman. It’s so much easier to place the blame on others, than to shoulder the burdens and assume the responsability for nurturing your children’s learning experience.