Mike links to this fascinating article by Matt Bai in yesterday's NYT and asks us to consider whether the ???end of black politics??? is good for education reform.?? Obviously, one must first agree with Bai's primary assumption that ???old black politics???--the civil rights kind--is essentially on its way out. He says Obama and other new-generation black leaders aren't comfortable categorizing their politics by race. Cory Booker for instance, mayor of Newark, seems to breathe a sigh of relief at the exodus of the old guard. He says the Obama campaign ???is giving African-Americans like myself the courage to?? be themselves.???
Bai contends that the inequities in today's society aren't as blatant as the legal barriers that once existed in the civil rights movement--they are subtler now. He mentions inferior schools as an example of this subtler inequality. If Bai is right about the curtain call for black politics, I think it's good for education reform. It's absolutely true that urban schools have less able teachers and notoriously low expectations for students. But to insinuate that this phenomenon originates from the same hate-filled intentions of the 50's and 60's (the water hose footage will forever be heart-wrenching) is not only wrong, but a disservice to the kids in failing schools. ??Urban schools are currently failing students for a number of reasons but linking those reasons to bigotry only serves to deny the monumental contributions of civil rights leaders.
I taught in an urban high school once upon a time. The 50's-era building had no A/C, but it did have a metal detector and two security guards. We scored at the bottom of the district heap every year. That is, until a reform-oriented principal forced all staff to align their instruction to the district's already solid standards and assess students regularly to determine progress. Not long afterward, the entire district won the coveted Broad Prize for reducing the achievement gap.
We weren't failing those kids because they were minority children; we were failing them because we had ignored standards-based, data-driven instruction.
