What is it That's Really Holding Us Back?

To solve a child's fear of the dark, the first step is confronting and removing, not ignoring, the monster living under his bed....

Two education-related articles recently appeared in the local press.

These two articles got me thinking.  One article laments the lack of diversity among the ranks of teachers locally and points to this phenomenon as a significant hindrance to educational progress in our schools; the other touts a lack of pre-k readiness as one of the biggest issues that affects educational outcomes and graduation rates in Escambia County.

But are these really the causes of the issues of poor academic achievement— are these knee-jerk, ready-made, and convenient explanations really the causes or are they actually red herrings that sound like they should/could be the problems?  Are they actually the convenient and politically acceptable explanations?

If I want to solve my child’s fear of the dark, knowing there is a scary monster living under his bed, I have to confront the monster under the bed.  What good does it do to my son and his problem if I go into the room and ignore the monster under his bed while simultaneously proclaiming that by removing the clown dolls, installing a brighter night-light, and painting the walls a brighter, lighter color of paint I can solve his fear of the dark?! 

"Faux Monster"Kindergarten Readiness as the Big Reason Graduation Rates are Low…

Kindergarten readiness is a big buzzword these days-but it wasn’t too long ago that kindergarten didn’t even exist in American public schools!  Preparation for primary education was the responsibility (and still is) of the family.  But kindergarten was designed and implemented to help students and families be prepared for primary school.  At great expense to American taxpayers.

Next came pre-kindergarten, to prepare students for kindergarten.  And now comes the huge push for universal pre-k funded by the government to prepare students for kindergarten.

What comes next, pre-pre- kindergarten, paid for by taxpayers to help families prepare their students for pre-kindergarten?  What follows this-- do we take babies directly from the maternity wards of America and prepare them for pre, pre-kindergarten?

When does the lack of parental action to prepare students properly become cited as the real reason

Do We, or Don't We, Value and Embrace Diversity?

We are bombarded all around by people clamoring for more diversity.  Diversity is the huge buzzword these days. 

The reason __________ is not successful is that there is not enough diversity. (you fill in the blank)

The Police forces in St. Louis County Missouri are not diverse enough.  Many departments are not according to this intriguing NY Times article. 

So wait a minute.  

Do we or do we not embrace diversity?

If diversity is good, then why is there any problem at all with a room full of white students being taught by an Asian?

 

Can a black police officer be effective policing a primarily white population-or must officers of color only police in black cities and neighborhoods?  Whaaaatt? 

Was there really a problem when a Jazz history class at San Diego State full of white students was taught by a distinguished musician and professor who also happened to be black?

I did not perceive that to be a problem-I was in Dr. Meadows’ class!

And, along that same line of thinking, what is wrong with a room full of primarily black students in an urban elementary school being taught by a young white female? 

Answer-there is no problem, or at least there should not be if we truly embrace diversity and the people filling these jobs are qualified.

Now we’re told that in order for   _____________    (you fill in the blank, school district, police force, government agency, high tech social media firm, etc. etc.)  To be effective and successful, these organizations MUST be made up of a representative makeup, racially, of the populations they serve. 

I disagree. 

And if anyone claims to value diversity, how could they not disagree with this absurd claim?

Diversity is good, and it can be good, but don’t organizations have a first responsibility to hire the best candidate for a job?  I think they should.

Otherwise, are we to believe that the NBA, comprised of 75-80% Black players cannot be as effective and/or successful as it could be--because its makeup does not reflect the population it serves?   Ditto for the NFL at 65% black.  (US population stats--roughly 60% white, 18% Hispanic, 12% Black, and 10% Asian and Other)

By the same token, must the high-tech firms recently accosted by Jesse Jackson for not being “diverse” enough-must these firms that are dominated in the employee ranks by White and Asian males really be more diverse in order to be successful?  Or does the same 

ECSD Annual "Diversity" Report: Hispanics Remain Significantly Underrepresented In District Hiring

Escambia County Schools are required to complete a “Diversity” report once yearly, wherein certain items are tallied to ensure that the district is being “inclusive” in hiring, student offerings, athletic opportunities, etc. etc.

I have noted several significant issues on our report yearly, and I’ve discussed these issues on more than one occasion.

Whenever I have asked about why Asians are not listed on the report, I get no coherent response, other than a regurgitated “The state does not list this as a category on the report for which they collect data…..” 

Here is the problem with that:  Asians are a significant number of students and residents in our County, a dynamic part of our country at 5% of the population, and a force to be reckoned with in the high tech, STEM world of private industry (more on that below)—yet the Asians are given no representation on our diversity plan; rather, they are lumped into the “other” category.  

That is one problem that needs to be fixed.

But the real acute issue is the lack of Hispanic employees locally….

 This major issue, that I can now say is a chronic issue, is the nearly complete lack of representation in our district’s employee ranks, of Hispanics.  Even though (as of the 2010 census) there are more than 50 Million Hispanic persons in our country, comprising nearly 17% (and growing) of our population, we continue to see minuscule representation of Hispanics in our hiring here at the Escambia County School District.  Up until last year, we had not one (1) Hispanic individual in an administrative position in the district! (In 2013, one (1) Hispanic individual was hired as a middle school assistant principal, but if we are talking quotas, this one hire does little to ameliorate the significant historical under-representation of Hispanics locally in our district)

Now, I have never been one to subscribe to the notion that quotas are good-- and in fact I reject that concept.   I am equally, staunchly opposed to race-based Public University Admissions Preferences.  Thankfully,  so is the U.S. Supreme Court!   

 I want what we see in the real world-- the very BEST qualified candidate to be hired for each job, regardless of race.  Yet quotas are what we seem to be talking with this yearly exercise of going over the “diversity” plan.  So—with all this said---If the issue that our local diversity office is confronting is “lack of representation” among minorities in our employee ranks, then the lack of Hispanic employees locally should be of paramount priority. 

Interestingly, a recent article in USA Today described under-representation of Blacks and Hispanics in the high tech industry, where 46% of users of Twitter are minority, yet only 5% of their employees are either Hispanic (3%) or Black (2%).  Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn all had similarly small total Hispanic and Black employee makeup, at 6%, 5%, 6%, and 6% respectively.  Asian and White males are a dominant majority in these companies.  If the high-tech companies hire the “best of the best” and most of these are Asian Males—is that a problem?  The private market tends to operate under highly competitive conditions-forcing hiring decisions that are based on ability and merit, not quotas.  If Pro Basketball, Football, or Hockey operated on quotas based upon representation percentages of a nation or a community’s demographics, would that even work?  What if the makeup of the organization was determined by the make-up of the consumers of the product?  What if someone said the percentages of players in each sports league had to match as closely as possible the country's demographic?  Football and Basketball would be WAY out of compliance.  Would such mandates be taken seriously, and would they even be legal? Would the level of competition