If the stakes weren't so high, this would be comical.
School board moving slowly on student assignment review – and that’s a good thing
Normally, when government agencies and politicians slow-walk the
decision-making process on a major public policy issue, we all groan and
complain about how we hate dealing with the snail’s pace of government
bureaucracies.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board’s review of
its student assignment policies seems to be moving in slow motion. But
if anybody’s complaining that it needs to go faster, I haven’t heard
from them........
......“We’re all in this together,” school board member Tom Tate said. “It doesn’t matter what part of the county you’re from.”
Here’s
how tricky this process is. The board’s policy committee on Thursday
continued its review of the guiding principles that should steer
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ student assignment policies.
The
school board members all value diversity in crafting student assignment
plans, but they discovered they weren’t exactly sure how they want to
define the word diversity. Tate told them each to do some homework on
the subject and bring their definitions back to the next meeting.
How many times have I said they change the definition of diversity to fit a particular narrative?... LOL...you can't make this stuff up.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/o-pinion/article44429529.html
Diverse interpretations of the definition of the word diversity ought to prove interesting. Although, I think we all know what the final outcome is going to look like - another failed attempt at manipulating school boundaries to achieve "diversity" while pissing everybody off to the point everyone hates each other which then results in more middle class and higher income families leaving the system. And adding more magnet programs at crappy F and D schools at the expense of improving the good magnet schools CMS already has will ultimately fail too.
ReplyDeleteAnd round and round we go!
Magnet Schools of America pointed out that most CMS magnet schools AREN'T diverse (so let's add more!) and that students with disabilities are under represented. I guess my son with a learning disability wasn't considered "diverse" when my family got jerked around twice during two reassignment controversies within a four year period. The only thing that mattered to CMS was our "diverse" income and zip code. MSA also pointed out the lack of access to magnet offerings in the Grey Zone. I'll be curious to see if the IB program at Myers Park will miraculously become open to Grey Zone students after booting out District 6 due to "overcrowding".
ReplyDeleteI anticipated some exciting wine and popcorn night's starting at 6:00 PM every other Tuesday in the near future. Just like the good old days!
According to Observer, using boundary changes for diversity sake has been dropped from student assignment options. Must have been a major public outcry over the possibility of busing returning. One other note from the policy committee meeting according to Ann's tweets:" members ask if sexual orientation should be part of diversity. Ruby Jones: In student assignment?"
ReplyDeletePerhaps having a functioning brain in the heads of the people deciding the school boundaries should be required...
DeleteThere are some CMS schools that are havens for LGBT students such as NWSA which just so happens to be a majority-minority school that received two B's from the state. Who woudda thunk? Other schools are boarderline hostile to this "diverse" group of students.
ReplyDeleteAnd why shouldn't sexual orientation, students with disabilities, academically gifted students, foreign born students and other groups of people be included in discussions related to diversity?
Certainly sexual orientation should be included in definition of diversity, Alicia. But as a criteria for student assignments parameters, which was what was being discussed by the board--exactly how would that work?
DeleteWell, I suppose that would require some thinking beyond the Charlotte "liberal" status quo box.
DeleteI would think that a school which has people with these
Delete"diverse" INTERESTS and ABILITIES would be preferable to one which simply has a mix of skin tones and bank accounts.
After all, what if all the "diverse" kids of various hues and incomes were from the same county had never traveled much outside their county?
Or were all members of the same "inclusive" and "diverse" church, like the Elevator Church in Ballantyne.?
Would that REALLY be "diverse"?
Actually, that reminds me of a piece I read on "diversity" in which a British fellow described the "diversity" he experienced in one of those megachurches in Houston, Texas.
DeleteIt happens to be a church that meets right across the highway from where I used to live (and work) near Greenway Plaza in what was an old basketball coliseum called The Summit.
It's now called Lakewood Church Central Campus...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakewood_Church_Central_Campus
Now, from what I understand all "kinds" of people go to this church as far as races and incomes go.
But, they all follow the same basic belief system.
Is THAT "diversity"?
Not to me.
As far as LGBT "diversity" goes, I'm thinking that it is probably NOT a good thing to spread them around too much.
DeleteThe chances are that they will be less comfortable than if they are together, since they are such a small minority.
Yes, sometimes "segregation" is BETTER for minorities, if they are not particularly well accepted by those in the mainstream.
And I don't see anything particularly wrong with that as long as the kids are happy with their school experience, otherwise.
My undergraduate college was associated with a high school for performing arts, and a LOT of those kids were just a little bit "odd" compared to most kids.
While they were all "segregated" into an "arts" school, they seemed to do well there.
And they would probably be misfits in most "sports-oriented" high schools.
I really wish there were MORE schools for the "unusual" kids where they would be accepted.
This includes the really smart, geeky kids.
That doesn't always happen in "mainstream" schools.
In fact, many of these kids don't find any REAL friends until they get to college.
It's a bit like that oddball fraternity in Animal House.
We actually had one fraternity very similar to it at my college.
Lots of interesting and bright kids who just didn't "fit" into the mainstream were associated with them.
I find the term Grey Zone offensive.
ReplyDeleteAren't "Greys" the nicknames given to all the dead aliens you see gracing the covers of tabloid magazines?
http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/ufo-topics/grey-aliens/
The only "diversity" which does (and should) matter in "education" is diversity of thought.
ReplyDeleteEverything else is pretty worthless in comparison.
I'm sorry, but having some kid's experience growing up in a "poor" or "black" home really isn't of much value unless the teacher is spending an inordinate amount of time dwelling on such things.
C'mon guys.... Even y'all are dancing around the subject.
ReplyDeleteDiversity means Blacks and Whites, same as for the past 50 years
(Well, then allow me to be more direct...)
Delete"Diversity means Blacks and Whites, same as for the past 50 years"
Yeah, but that's just soooo "last century". Which is where most of the US is apparently still stuck...
Like in that article:
"Expert cites benefits of integration at talk on future of CMS "
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article44578626.html
In the video, when they are sitting around bullshitting, some woman named Ophelia Garmon-Brown says something about how the "rich" "white" kids can benefit from being around the "black" kids who may be in "poverty" because the black kids apparently learned "how to navigate life, how to survive, how to be a winner".
What a crock of shit. If THAT WERE TRUE...
THEN RICH WHITE PEOPLE WOULD BE KNOCKING THE DOORS DOWN TO PUT THEIR KIDS NEXT TO POOR BLACK KIDS.
But, instead, the reality is that once ANYONE (black, white, brown, or yellow) have the means to do so, they leave the BLACK GHETTO and their dysfunctional thug behavior ("survival skills", my ass...) behind.
So those wonderful "survival" skills those black kids are learning aren't of much value to people who live in more civilized parts of the world.
You CANNOT, for example, use them in most places of work without getting fired.
They would be TOTALLY USELESS in Hong Kong, for example, unless you were a drug dealer or something.
And yet, every "minority" on that panel in the video is shaking their heads in agreement with the devil in the red dress's bullshit.
The sole white guy is just sitting there with his head down...
Reading the comments on that article is even funnier with that so-called "Harold Franklin" moron commenting.
He's just too STUPID to realize that HE (and his thinking) are prime examples of what people are trying to avoid.
Who chooses to be around people like that? Not unless you're forced.
It's like that "poor" Mizzou hunger striker whose daddy is a VP of a railroad company pulling down millions of dollars a year, whining about "white privilege".
Yeah, I want MY KIDS hanging around people like THAT...
You do realize my comment was 100% sarcastic, right?
DeleteBut I love your spot-on response.
It IS total bullshit they are spewing. That's the status quo.
Sarcasm is "triggering" for me.
DeleteYou should have put in a "trigger warning"...
(Yep, that's sarcasm, too...)
BTW, folks, this is a GREAT article on what's happening with all the political correctness BS on our campuses...
ReplyDeleteIt's actually quite funny in parts when you read about some of the dumb things that are done in our politically corrected universities.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/
It brought back some memories for me. First, of some of my old psychology classes (since it gets into some mental health issues)
and also a few times I've been subjected to some of these techniques at either the workplace or as a volunteer at various organizations.
It really is insidious stuff that they're doing out there.
As I've commented before, our society is obsessed with harmless "microaggressions" in a world where some of the very people we are so afraid of "offending" are shooting people down in cold blood in the streets.
The saying "don't bring a knife to a gun fight" comes to mind.
But this isn't even bringing a knife...
We are being disarmed mentally...
DeleteHa. Even Alan Dershowitz has noticed this in our universities...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnsnews.com/blog/zachary-leshin/dershowitz-fog-fascism-descending-quickly-over-many-american-universities
“These are the same people who claim they are seeking diversity. The last thing many of these students want is real diversity, diversity of ideas. They may want superficial diversity, diversity of gender, diversity of color, but they don’t want diversity of ideas.”
H'mm. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Of course, Dershowitz is not above using the same tactics to his advantage.
DeleteBut now his progeny have turned on him.
Dr. Frankenstein, beware...
Shamash,
ReplyDeleteSo, is a "B" rated a majority-minortity school that houses students whose primary INTERESTS are limited to the arts "diverse"? Is it fair and just that students at NWSA aren't exposed to "diverse" high school football and basketball athletes? And, dear God, a competitive girl's volleyball team?
Would a fundamentalist Christian feel comfortable at a school that blatantly welcomes gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender students? Are fundamentalist Christian viewpoints encouraged at CMS schools that openly embrace sexual orientation "diversity"?
Well, it all depends on the kind of "diversity" you want.
DeleteI think the superficial diversity of skin tone and income is unimportant.
Anything else is probably worth more.
Personally, I think ALL KINDS of "diversity" are overrated.
Just to cater to racial minorities, primarily.
Sure, some diversity is helpful, but it's no cure-all for much of anything.
A lot of it is like the argument that black woman in the red dress was making about poor black kids having "survival" skills.
DeleteYeah, sure, and so do kids in Syria.
But, if I'm not planning to live in Syria or live in a place like Syria, I don't need those "survival" skills.
If I'm living in a civilized, high tech society, I need civilized, high tech "survival" skills.
Not how to get a free ride on the LYNX line.
Now, bringing it back to schools a bit, I don't see a problem with an "arts" school. Or a school which either does or does not emphasize sports. Or a religious or non-religious school.
DeleteI'd certainly have my druthers on which I'd prefer, though. And my kids might have another. I don't see where any school can be so "diverse" as to be all things to all people, though.
That's why we have BOTH a Julliard and an MIT.
And "racial" diversity may be more important in an arts environment (provided that some different education in the arts comes with that "race"), than in a scientific or technical one.
I mean, I don't think physics or engineering differ much depending on one's "race" or "culture".
But architecture just might.
And maybe in some consumer products, food, etc., etc.
But in a LOT of things, "diversity" just doesn't matter much.
As an example, I CANNOT THINK OF A SINGLE BENEFIT...
DeleteI got from having illiterate black basketball players in my HS American History class.
Not one.
I didn't learn a thing from having to read their simplified true/false quizzes to them either.
Except that they were illiterate and didn't even listen to the teacher closely enough to answer questions orally, either.
And since we weren't in American History class to learn about how to "survive" in the streets or play basketball, I really don't see how I (as a "rich" "white" person, well, actually "poor") gained anything useful from being around them.
In fact, if anything, they were the reason our teacher had to dumb down the history lessons.
So I probably LOST from having them in my class.
Which is EXACTLY what so many "rich", "white" people think about the kind of "diversity" CMS is promoting.
And it's why they will simply leave.
And to add to my political incorrectness...
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about this, the more I realize just how little I care about American blacks in the whole scheme of things.
It's just downright peculiar and somewhat annoying (maybe even a bit "parochial"?) to me that the US puts so much emphasis on them.
Of course they get disproportional attention in the US due to historical and political pressure, but honestly, they're really not "all that" as far as "minorities" I'd want to get to know in the US.
There are about 40 million American blacks in the whole world.
There are over 70 million Thais.
Wouldn't it make more sense (if you believe the world is truly "shrinking" and the whole "global" economy mantra) to get to know more about Thai's, for example, than American blacks?
Besides, American blacks are pretty much a subculture of the American culture, it's not like they are THAT different.
And when you look at how many other people there are in the world, it just makes more sense to get to know more Hispanics and Asians.
There are more than a billion Chinese and another billion people in India.
And those countries are becoming serious global players.
African blacks are different culturally from American and many other blacks, so there isn't much transfer of benefit from getting to "know" them that well.
Honestly, as a "white" person who is hoping for "success" in the "global" economy we keep hearing about, doesn't what I'm saying make sense?
If you're planning to stay in the same neighborhood forever, it makes sense to get to know people from the "wrong" side of the tracks.
But if not, then really, what's the point?
There are "poor" people all over the world you can also associate with.