Today in the op-ed section of the New York Times, there was one of the most vapid pieces I have read in a while. The article, titled the "Harlem Miracle," dramatizes the 'gains' made in a couple of Harlem charter schools. Apparently, these scientists have fixed the 'Black-white achievement gap' by creating "a disciplined, orderly and demanding counterculture to inculcate middle-class values" for "kids from poorer, disorganized homes [that] don’t have these internalized models." (those quotes are taken directly from the article). Instead of working to address the inequalities that create educational inequality, this 'new' model suggests that educators can fix the issues with american education by inoculating with middle class (and though it is unspoken, white) values. What the fuck does any of that really mean? What do middle class american values have to teach the world, when those values are implicated in the world's destruction? And if we do succeed in turning out little 'inoculated' drones, what the fuck have we achieved with education? Fuck... the logic of punishment, control, and homogenization (which sound an awful lot like prisons and jails) dominates the way that we think about educating our children... rather than working to build a critical and informed citizenry, we're working to program docile bodies. The author even quotes one of these scientists as saying that it's like we've cured cancer for these kids. And to use the word inoculate... let's be clear, poverty isn't some pathology or disease of colored psyches and souls, it is rather a direct product of capitalism. These fuckers sound like they're on a civilizing mission of the European colonial poessessions in India and Africa in the 19th Century... Go fucking figure. I'm with Malcolm, "we're fools to let our enemies educate our children."
here's the stupid ass article... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/opinion/08brooks.html?_r=5
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So i been lagging on replying to people....phone calls, e-mails, comments, and even texts!...
finals week. But i definitely wanted to take the time and reply to this post. So i can let you know that i'm reading just dont always have the time to drop one line or two.
I'm glad you posted this article and gave your analysis....education has become my main focus for the past year...and I'm glad someone can feel me. And can respond as ...disgusted and disturbed at all the so-called "studies" on urban youth and youth of color that further more only perpetuate stereotypes.
The continuous discourse that "poor folks" are incapable of "properly" educating their children only further negates the role of the eurocentric school system, that has set up our children to fail, in perpetuating the social construct of power where urban youth and youth of color are stigmatized and painted as a problem only white science can fix.
...dont know if it made sense. But this is simply some more evidence of how racist and unconsciously STUPID eurocentric science is.
Kik, I definitely feel you. This article sounds like something to describe some old colonial possession, and I guess that is the point... And let's be real about what standardized tests actually do... At their best they train students for low wage service sector jobs in which you are expected to work without critical thought... It sucks!
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