High school students from around the United States who were finalists in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, run by Science News publisher the Society for Science & the Public, met with President Obama March 9 as part of a week of activities and awards. Full Story Society for Science & the Public
This image bothers me a lot more than a lot of the statistics about education in the US. There is ONE black face here, that is the President!
How does this happen? I do not know the answer BUT I do know that this shows we have neglected the top of the talent pool when targeting the education of AA. The number of educators who see the "black problem" as being only an issue of the low average achievement are living in a fantasy world. Human achievement has always been based on competition .. we are after all apes. If there is no path for AA kids to excel, ALL black kids will be hurt.
The other obvious issue here is the paucity of Euro kids. I suspect this is a result of the loss of immigrant family structure as Americans melt into the pot. Does this mean that Blacks are the most American of us all?
This image bothers me a lot more than a lot of the statistics about education in the US. There is ONE black face here, that is the President!
How does this happen? I do not know the answer BUT I do know that this shows we have neglected the top of the talent pool when targeting the education of AA. The number of educators who see the "black problem" as being only an issue of the low average achievement are living in a fantasy world. Human achievement has always been based on competition .. we are after all apes. If there is no path for AA kids to excel, ALL black kids will be hurt.
The other obvious issue here is the paucity of Euro kids. I suspect this is a result of the loss of immigrant family structure as Americans melt into the pot. Does this mean that Blacks are the most American of us all?
5 comments:
The intel talent search may not be the most objective means to identify talent or intelligence. Also, I do see some "darker" faces on here - but so what. Doesn't this have to do with making science projects and having a mentor....a much better objective measure would be the number of black PhD's or MDs in science - but I think that would also be low. I think we are failing our kids in science and math - period.
I agree that we are failing but not:
1. the Westinghouse award is anything BUT a science fair thing. These kids are truly outstanding.
2. so what? So what is because while the educationalists focus on the low end of the AA community and erasing the gap, they neglect kids like this EXCEPT in cities where there are specialized and charter schools. If you do not offer kids the chance to excel, they will not do so!
Moreover, the large number of immigrants is nothing new nor is this skin-color racism ... did you know that Caribbeans also do very well?
Immigrants do well in the US because they bring tradition and families with them. It takes a generation or so to get one's footing here but then kids succeed. That vigor decreases with the success of subsequent generations . I am willing to bet, for example, that 30 years from now, the number of Asian faces will be way down BUT Hispanics will be up. Although small in number we will also begin seeing Ethiopeans and Nigerians as well.
What this means for all of us is that we are, as you suggest, failing OUR kids. However there is one group who are WORSE off, who never went through the immigrant vigor stage.
The exception? The exception is the AA descended from slaves.
One of the saddest problems facing the AA community is that many AA .. like my generation of Jews, have learned to pass for white. This generation lives as if their history were irrelevant and does not provide the drag that can bring young kids to achievement as part of a successful economic group.
For Jews, this means we are becoming one more kind of Merican. I actually think the affluent Blacks are too, But, when this happens for AA, the loss of cultural identity means that the huge number of AA still in poverty have no place to look at a mirror and see excellence.
BHO is one answer, but Michelle may be a better one.
Honestly African Immigrants do way better than african americans. Why a lot of this is internally driven.. yes i said it, most kids i grew up with in detroit were so focused on Basketball and music that when i brought books home from school i was ridiculed and laughed at...Role models cant be based on race, you have to find a role model based on ideas...
Yes the number of black Phd's is low, but low compared to what? I went to a Historically Black college where 90% of the Phd's were black ( from major universities ) even in the hard sciences. I dont think the rest of America even knows about the above said institutions.
Thanks for the comments.
Which school did you attend?
I have spent considerabloe time at Morehouse and at Tougaloo.
As for "low compared to what", it is low compared to expectations. I once calculated the funds expended by the NIH PER student they were trying to recruit. The number .. mainly for staff salaries ... was absurd, so high in fact that they could have just given everyone with slave ancestry a free scholarship and spent far LESS money.
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