Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

In an article for Cato institute, Eric Wearne (a PhD candidate at Emory University) writes about the decline of quality education in Atlanta since the Brown decision. One point he makes has always caught my eye:

In 1953, right before the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Atlanta Public Schools consisted of 600 schools serving 18,664 students. Black and white students were kept apart by the government. Fifty years after Brown, APS consists of 96 much larger schools serving 55,812 students of all races, and more than three quarters of them are still in schools where one race has a 90 percent majority.

I’m not sure about his numbers. In 1953, there would have been 31 students per school. Now there are 581. I would guess a PhD candidate verifies his numbers. What strikes me is this 2000% increase in school size. In my mind, larger schools inherently reduce the quality of education.

My graduating class was about 300 students. I knew most of them. So did the teachers. And administrators. In fact, most students at my school knew one another. It was a far more familial setting than schools today. That level of familiarity helped because everyone knew who needed help, who didn’t care, and who was playing hookey (me, many times).

Instead of a school with 1200 students (which was large at the time) we now have schools with as many as 5000 students. How in the world can any school administration do any more than simply deal with problems in that environment?

Most private schools are relatively small. The one I coached at in Tyler had about 300 students. It was typical. Private schools generally have better academic results.

Okay, I hear your argument about that correlation! The public schools in the area were a broad range, and most were about the same size. Their overall academic achievement wasn’t quite as good, but it was better than the “national standard”. These were schools in smaller towns, and the principal not only knew the students, but knew the parents, too. And the parents knew the teachers. You want accountability? Can’t do better than that.

Schools have consolidated over time for many reasons. A single building is looked upon as cheaper to maintain than several smaller ones. I’m not sure that’s valid. In fact, a quick survey tells me there is more money spent on gas for busses to get students to school. And, any repair necessary (new roof?) has the potential to bust the bank. And administration costs would be no better. Every large school has about the same, if not higher, administrator/student ratio as the old and smaller school. Additionally, fewer individual problems to deal with allows an administrator to also teach, as is done in private schools.

The most important result of having more and smaller schools is the sense of community. Kids have a true neighborhood school. Mom no longer has to carry the kids to extracurricular activities and pick them up later. It is all within a few blocks of home.

We might even return to the time when an entire neighborhood watched out for one another.

Students attending Morehouse College, Xavier University, Howard University, Fisk University, and Tuskegee University should be clamoring for help from the Federal Government. They are all receiving an inferior education.

Wow. That ought to rattle a few cages.

But it isn’t my conclusion. The “education experts” determined that. A web site championing “diversity” in higher education has posted a report titled Who Benefits from Racial Diversity in Higher Education?:

These recent empirical studies suggest that there is a sound educational justification for institutional attempts to create a racially diverse student body. The presence of racially underrepresented students appears to contribute to the total institutional environment and particularly to the education of white students. Thus, increasing the numbers of students of color on campus not only expands opportunities for those “additional” students of color who enroll, but also enhances the educational experiences of white students.

Statistics reveal that too many colleges and universities are still racially homogeneous; too many of our classrooms are all-white or predominantly white.

In today’s San Antonio Express-News, writer Matt Flores decies the lack of “diversity” at UT and A&M:

But more than 50 years after civil rights advocates hailed the Supreme Court decisions as major victories, higher education in Texas continues to face significant challenges in equalizing opportunities between Anglos and non-Anglos.

Absolutely right, Matt. Anglos don’t have equal opportunity. They must perform better than non-Anglos to gain admission to either of those schools.

Why is it okay now for black students to attend inferior schools? Thurgood Marshall and many others fought to make sure there were no longer black schools and white schools. Yet even today, there are still black colleges. Are these students not upset that they are not receiving the benefits of a racially diverse student body? After all, diversity “enhances the educational experiences of white students.” Does it not do the same for black students?

It is time to put an end to all racial preferences in education. Every student in this country has the same opportunity to learn. Some don’t feel the need. If they cannot learn the basics required in high school, how can they hope to succeed in college when many of those who do better have difficulty?

There are plenty of programs available to help disadvantaged high school graduates with funding, which is the only real disparity of opportunity. Yet even without that, local community colleges offer inexpensive education anyone with a job can afford.

So opportunity continues to be defined by skin color, because there is no other way to defend preferences.

And how do Japanese students survive in their racially isolated schools? I think those students are beating American students in every area. So much for theory.

The word “hero” is thrown around too easily these days. It has come to mean “someone famous.” In this country we have had more than our share of real heroes, probably more per capita than any nation in history.

Today I’ve been watching Simple Justice, a made-for-television movie detailing the efforts of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP to break the back of segregated education. As the prime player in the film, Marshall is portrayed as the hero. But he isn’t.

The heroes are those parents who risked everything, including their lives and the lives of their children, to play a role in the lawsuits filed in this issue.

What strikes me is how things have changed in the last 50 years. Here we have parents doing all they can to get their children the best education possible. Where is that determination today. And I’m not talking about a white/black/asian/hispanic issue. It affects all groups, all races, all colors, all religions. People who can afford to do so put their children in private schools. People who cannot have no choice but to abandon their children to something inferior. Yet even though the tax base remains constant with fewer students, school districts look for money as the answer. One needs only to look at the spending per student in the District of Columbia to see that isn’t the answer.

So where is the outrage that drove these parents in 1950? Everyone claims to understand that an education is the primary separator between those who succeed, and those who don’t. Yet there are few parents willing to work to make things better. They must simply assume their political representatives are taking care of things.

Apparently, they aren’t.

The focus of primary education must be the Three R’s, with anything else being relegated to a very small portion of the curriculum. Secondary education must continue this focus with the broadening opportunity of extracurricular activities and vocational skills training.

It will take parents’ involvement to make it happen. And it won’t be a popular stance to take when your children are in the hands of the very people you will upset. The question to all parents is, Do you have the courage of those black families in the 1950s who made change happen?

Anthony B. Bradley is a research associate at the Acton Institute. In an essay for the Institute, he pretty much destroys the myths of diversity as a necessity for academic achievement.

The belief that racial diversity is a key to academic success has no empirical basis. If this myth were true, then it would be difficult to explain racial success in more mono-racial societies such as Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands.

I would really love to see someone like Jesse Jackson offer legitimate counter-arguments. It just isn?t possible.

Thanks to John Ray for the link.

John Ray comments on and links to an article about some schools that perform very well, in spite of the economic issues facing students:

Each year, for instance, about 35% of the student population turns over. Half the students qualify for free and reduced lunches. And only 20% of the students’ parents have more than a high school education.

I grew up in these schools while living in England and France. I have to say they were first-rate, although some of the teachers were there simply for the travel opportunity. Military folk tend to be pretty demanding of their offspring, and that follows. My oldest son graduated from Air Academy High School, located on the grounds of the Air Force Academy. One of the courses he had his senior year was “Genetic Engineering”, a special biology course. How many other schools offer such things?

Given the devotion military families show their school system, any move to disband the schools faces significant resistance. But losing those schools would endanger more than a special military benefit. Defense Department schools offer valuable lessons, particularly in educating low-income, minority students. Their successful strategies deserve wider application regardless of what the Defense Department concludes about the future of its individual schools.

It requires commitment. You know…one of those military things. Of course, I’m biased.

Juan Williams is a professional. I always listen to what he has to say because he has integrity. He has an open mind, something rare for a liberal journalist. Tonight he was on O’Reilly.

I haven’t watched television news in a few days, so I’m not really up on the latest uproars. But apparently Paul Hornung, the Notre Dame Golden Boy and hero of the Green Bay Packers said something kind of raw. I don’t know exactly what was said, but it had something to do with Notre Dame needing to lower admissions standards so the football team could recruit more black athletes.

Williams was outraged. O’Reilly made the point that if Hornung had said “Irish” instead of “black,” he wouldn’t have been offended. He also pointed out that Notre Dame has a higher percentage of black football players than the average Division I school. They bantered the issue at hand, trying to define what Hornung was trying to say. I think they missed the real point.

I’ve coached baseball at all levels from T-Ball to the junior varsity team at USAFA. I’ve also coached other sports for youth, and had three boys who played most. I also dealt with Proposition 48 athletes at a junior college. These are kids with talent enough to play at a Division I school, but didn’t have the academic qualifications to be admitted.

I’ve seen the problem at every level of play. Kids that make all-star teams, and their parents, are upset if they don’t start. “He’s never sat on the bench.” And my response is, “Neither have any of the other kids on this team.” At each level, some kids who were all-stars last year are also-rans this year. Kids with athletic talent all believe they will make it to play at the highest level. That confidence is essential in a good athlete. What they are taught, from a very early age, however, is that if they can play well, they don’t need to do anything else. The only thing that can save them is adult involvement that teaches them this lesson. Ideally, it will come from parents. Unfortunately, parents are often the ones who want that meal ticket and ego boost that their child’s talent may bring them.

The numbers are not in any kid’s favor. An example with which I am most familiar is Division I baseball. College teams at this level are allowed 11-1/2 full scholarships. That’s all. And those scholarships are usually divided among 25-30 players. Few baseball players get a full scholarship. And those high school players who get them are identified in their junior years. By the time a high school phenom is a senior, it’s too late.

High school football players can expect to see about 1% of their number play Division I college football. From that small percentage, an even smaller number get drafted. Even then, most players drafted by the NFL don’t make the team. There are about 1500 players in the NFL. That’s fewer than the number of students in many high schools. I lived in Florida during Emmitt Smith’s high school years. Even then, pro scouts were watching him. He was one of those who had a future–if he didn’t get injured.

And that’s another issue most don’t consider. They are one injury away from the end of their athletic career.

Okay, now that I’ve said all that, let’s get back to this “black athletes” issue. I don’t care what school any kid goes to, the opportunity is there to learn enough to score 19 on the ACT. Period. That’s all it takes to meet the NCAA requirements. It doesn’t matter if they go to a school with three classrooms (like one I attended for a year) or a giant metropolitan school. The issue is desire. If an athlete doesn’t have a parent making sure he/she (girls don’t seem to have this problem) is doing the work, it won’t get done. If a student doesn’t have familial support and nagging, they need someone else pushing them. Few do. Then, instead of a luminous professional career, they’re wandering the streets working minimum wage jobs. And wondering what went wrong.

This is an issue where Juan Williams has blinders on. I can’t slam him for it, because I know he’s sincere. But people like Williams and Hornung need to look beyond the result and the desire to field the best team. Until people are willing to make real learning an issue (and lowering standards certainly doesn’t do it), kids will continue to be wasted. Perhaps we should be looking at higher entrance standards for athletes than for the general population.

I’m sure all the contributing alums would string me up.

Over on WorldNetDaily, Walter Williams talks about education. I have a lot of respect for his opinion. Mostly, he says things which really pique my interest and thought processes.

One of his points is buttressed by this link to a transcript of a presentation made to high school physics teachers in 1994. Unfortunately, the data Dr. Donald E. Simanek used in the presentation is dated. I’ve spent a little time searching for more current information, but no sites with statistics make it easy to cull anything valid from the pile. The National Center for Education Statistics appears to offer access, but the one query I tried to run crashed.

I’ve been trying to determine how best to establish some basic rules for schools to follow in educating our kids. I’ve had a few thoughts, and will try to develop them for a more coherent post over the next few days.

First of all, I think the best way to improve education and public assistance is to tie the two together in some way. Perhaps a requirement that people receiving welfare or Medicaid have at least a 9th grade education. If you aren’t willing to try and get the education you need to earn a living, you shouldn’t be able to receive benefits.

I also think there must be some way to set advancement requirements. For example, students who start failing are regularly put into special education even though their failure has nothing to do with IQ and everything to do with effort. I want to see something like two grade failures (repeating a grade) be required before a student with normal intelligence is put in special ed.

More to come in a day or two, and any ideas you have will be evaluated for inclusion in my final manifest. I hope to put something together worth presenting to someone who can try to make changes.