The current racist system of education crosses all boundaries from public to private to charter, to choice, to chance and it is unlikely to change. With the help from the words of George Carlin, "The owners don't want it to change. the real owners. the ones who own the corporations, who own the politicians, who own the educators, who own the schools". They are quite satisfied with the system the way it is. They have no problem having students in a race to see who is first rather than serving all children. That way they can keep school's elite by pushing out those students they believe have no value while keeping those who don't quit as constant failures. And they have money invested from everything from testing companies to efforts to maintain the subclass to the advantage of their elite.
This concept, however, is not new. Back in the late 1700's Thomas Jefferson referred to the purpose of education as raking a few geniuses from the rubbish. The "geniuses" went to the universities while the rest did the jobs of their parents. And some didn't rise to the level of rubbish in their eyes. What is significant is THAT SYSTEM IS STILL IN PLACE TODAY
Racism is entrenched in the current system of education. Most parents of successful students are satisfied with the fake success of their children. They love the accolades. They get to brag about their children and universities are eager to accept them. They are unaware that straight A students have not been challenged. To be challenged you must fail and learn from it. This means if a student receives an A, to be challenged they will move on to the next level where they would begin at a D or F level and be immediately challenged to advance.
Some poor folks whose children have obstacles in the way of learning have accepted their reality that their children will drop out and work menial jobs. Others want to prove their children can win while they accept the D and F grades that prove, in some minds, their child is stupid. Although that is not true, that gets pounded into their heads in an endless drumbeat like: "Students in this zip code are failures". Perceiving that every student in a particular zip code is the same is not only false but leads to low expectations for those students. Remember poverty is not destiny? Poverty is not destiny for some children, however under the current system, designed in the 1700's, when poverty leads to childhood stress, malnutrition, sleep deprivation, and lead in the drinking water, learning is affected. And failure becomes destiny. Under the system described in my books, www.wholechildreform.com, failure is an opportunity to learn, your next best teacher. It is nothing to be ashamed of!
As everyone believes their children must be first and their schools must be first, they will not stop until that fake reality is accomplished. The bottom line is that everyone wants their child to be first, not realizing that when someone finishes first, it is mathematically impossible not to have someone finishing last. And the first win and the last lose. That's what the owners want. They want those with obstacles in their way to lose so they can blame the teachers. The goal is to maintain the subclass. And the owners win!
The result is that everyone is satisfied or accepting of the current system. And no one cares about those who finish last. We give up on failing students and are satisfied when they drop out. It saves money. As one teacher told me as I looked for a particular student to support "don't worry, he will be 16 soon and will disappear."
By the way: Realize that the students left behind might well be smarter than the fake straight A students.
Either you act against racism, or you enable it. Which side are you on?
