By Dan O’Brien
Re “A Critical Look at What Indelicato, Farris Told the School Board”
Regarding your evaluation of the presentations made by Mr. Farris and Ms. Indelicato to the room at this week's School Board meeting, I think your message is crossing the performance of other school districts with our own.
You pose the statement that “…six of every 10 graduating students do not qualify for a four-year university”.
Are you saying this applies to CCUSD students? I find that hard to believe when our graduation rate is somewhere around 90 percent.
You also say, “Last I checked, the grades of non-whites and non-Asians were so far down the line you needed a super-duper telescope to find them.”
Again, you're not talking about CCUSD students, are you? On the most readily available source I could find, it's not so in Culver City. Here are links to the state test performances at Lin Howe and CCHS:
CCHS: http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/ca/1650#from
Lin Howe: http://www.greatschools.org/modperl/achievement/ca/1656#from
Is there room for improvement? Sure. And there has been improvement nearly every year for at least the past six years, if you are looking for a consistent track record. I would also say that the test scores of each racial subgroup are well within eyeshot of each other. You must be talking about another school district when addressing performance issues.
I did not attend the School Board meeting, so I cannot attest to what exactly was said.
However, the unfortunate truth is that the diversity of our schools is an anomaly. Another unspoken likelihood is that there are parents who are afraid of that diversity, likely because there is a wrong assumption that these students are low performers; that these kids will negatively impact their children's learning.
The opposite is true. These diverse backgrounds are a vital part of their education. An education that molds the whole child; contrary to your own sheltered childhood that you wrote about recently, which restricted your understanding of Dr. King's mission.
As you said, “Shamefully, to a contentedly insulated Northern boy who had what he wanted, the outrageously immoral, illegal racial discrimination that Dr. King courageously challenged by the hour, meant nothing to me.”
Our kids are not insulated from the reality of our diverse nation. These children, all of them, benefit from learning beside one another. The beauty of it, at least in Culver City, is that they all have an opportunity to thrive. The numbers show it.
Examine the diversity of CCHS: http://www.greatschools.org/cgi-bin/ca/other/1650#toc
At least 10 different languages are spoken by children at CCHS. That's probably more than most universities. In a world where borders are blurred and economies are so intertwined, our students are more prepared than the majority of students in this country for the realities that are before them. The diversity of our schools is a selling point, and I'm glad that it was brought to public light.
The beauty of it all is that the academic performance of each racial subgroup is well within eyeshot of one another. No telescope needed here.
Mr. O’Brien may be contacted at beverlyanddan@aol.com
Ari Noonan comments:
Although you make strong cases, the examples cited are isolated. I would argue that tests where 92 and 95 percent of students sail through is not an objective yardstick of their abilities or knowledge. What does “passing” mean – everything above an “F”? On another hand, if everyone scores big, what in the world does that indicate?
I never have seen or heard of a K-12 study where the overall black student population outscores the overall white-Asian population?
Are Asian children superior because of their skin color? Their values make them superior, a historic model to applaud and emulate.
The main point of my essay, however, was to issue a forceful objection to the ongoing, wildly disproportionate celebration of the neutral value of diversity. It is not an accomplishment to be born blue or purple. It is an accident of birth, decidedly not a reason for exulting publicly.
Why would one celebrate having been born red, yellow, black, white, brown?
Why would a leader boast of so many brown students, so many black students?
If the leader boasts about the large number of an ethnic group earning academic honors, I happily will join in the salute.
