Diversity continues to be a problem in universities. Considering the recent actions of the Supreme Court, this issue must be approached in a systematic manner. The problem is NOT that young black people are less capable than there white counterparts. The problem is that more roadblocks are thrown in the way of some black children while they are in K-12 schools. Childhood stress affects the learning process according to Dr. Kara Fitzgerald. "That a stressful environment coordinates three kinds of responses in the body: an immune response, a metabolic response, and a behavior response." With all that going on, the test answers might not pop out at the student at all. Consider Monday night football. A player was near death on the field. The players did not continue the game. Why? Stress! Some students deal with death and shooting on a regular basis.
Assumptions can destroy children. No longer may we assume everyone in a particular zip code has limited skills? Some are protected from roadblocks while others are not. When a student enters the classroom, however, the teacher has no idea how skillful that child is. Therefore every student must be held to the highest expectations. It's when a student does not achieve a goal, the education community steps in with support, not with failure.
What is the solution? I completely support affirmative action, however, that is simply akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. The solution is systemic. The current system of education is a race to see who scores best on a variety of standardized tests for the purpose of, according to Thomas Jefferson, raking a few geniuses from the rubbish. We did that in the 1700's and are still doing it today.
A glimps of the plan I have in my book, "A failed
System", has students developing wide ranging portfolios throughout their
final years of high school to present to Universities for acceptance. If the plans meet the needs of universities
the student is accepted. If they don't,
the University will explain the shortcomings and welcome the student back when
they are ready.
Those students who are lagging behind, may need additional support and/or simply more time to improve their desired skills. Once they reach age 18 or so, they would receive the required classes at a community college. If the student is low in English and had high skills in math, they would take college math courses and high school English classes at the community college . They move ahead when they are ready, in the direction they choose.
If students are exceling at a faster rate, they would attend a University of their choice at an earlier age. No longer would 15 year old geniuses be held back for the sake of their age. It is important to recognize that straight "A" students are not being challenged to the point of failure. And those students who have been considered failures will realize, failure is simply are part of the learning process. No longer woud they be considered stupid, because the aren't.
We have destroyed students for over 200 years by forcing them into the school to prison pipeline when they may simply need a little more time and to be taught in the way they learn best.
In addition, as the discrimination continues, you would have a solid argument to sue.
Eldon "Cap" Lee
