Hi Ms. Lord-Walker!!! Life Academy misses you. 80)

Blessings to you and the family. xoxo

Actually, receiving “public recognition” for my son was never the goal.

Acknowledging the excellence that exist among our youth to inspire continued academic excellence is what is is all about. Letting our kids know they are more than the lost cause failures that the media typically depicts… and showing them that being a good student is something to be proud of and worthy of celebration…

I am very passionate about our children and their health, well being and education. This whole thing has been very touching for me. To see how one person speaking up, and taking action, can spark interest (and hopefully positive action) nationwide, and create a positive experience for not just one, but nearly two dozen students… I only hope more parents are inspired to stand up, speak up and take action.

Much thanks to Chris Chatmon for being the first person within OUSD to take action, and creating a special experience for these students.

23% of Black Girls start puberty by age 7.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2011/04/girls-hit-puberty-earlier-than-ever-and-doctors-arent-sure-why/45989054/1

So much for “all people are created equal”.

I wonder what training on this issue is provided public school teachers – or OUSD teachers. You can see the issue of trying to teach even 8th graders (age 14) where the black girls are becoming old maids and the asian girls are prepubescent.

Puberty issues do affect classroom behavior and performance, and the various ethnic groups are so very different.

The boys are different in pubery onset also, the article just happens to focus on the girls. Girls who just might be dating 25 year olds.

What’s a teacher to do?

Because more rigorous classes cannot be handled by those without the IQ to deal with the rigor. Just what do you think the OUSD IQ spread is?

You seem to believe that brain processing power can be acquired or taught. Perhaps that’s the root of your confusion. It can’t. Short of removing the medical & nutrition issues that can depress brain function – and there are some – a OUSD teacher cannot make students smarter than they are.

By requiring classwork involving higher cognitive ability OUSD has run off nearly half of the black students – which is believe is a historically high number. We didn’t do this in 1960. But we do it now. Adding college prep classwork to the graduation requirement – Algebra for example – runs off (far) more minority students than whites.

Instead of making all classwork “more rigorous” we should track students by ability and place the dull students into challenging programs and classwork they can reasonably handle – which doesn’t include much algebra. The higher aptitude students should be enrolled in more challenging classes including college prep when suitable.

Students should not go to OUSD to be frustrated and shut out – so they will drop out. And Mr. Danning, do you admit OUSD has far more dull students (IQ below 90) than they have bright students (IQ above 125)? Exactly who is OUSD being run for? How do you reconcile your suggestion to increase “rigor” in courses with the huge black drop rate? To me this sounds like the calls to increase the advanced math/algebra requirement statewide for high school graduation. Doing so would crush the black graduation rate to a fraction of what it is. I don’t see the reason to do this.

College prep is not traditionally required for High School graduation and it is not required for prole occupations – some of which can support a family.

This weekend I ran into a Bay Area medical technician who I knew barely graduated from high school. That person is making approx $10k a month now as a state licensed person in a medical field (after several years). Vocational School did that. Now that the student is older and a learning disability is diagnosed and treated things are going very well indeed. Advanced training and a college degree is probably going to happen. All this wasn’t easy, the income requires overtime and premium shift work, benefits are not included and are purchased – for now.

But if you’d made high school graduation more difficult than it was this person might have been shut out from getting on the ladder of success. The vocational school did require a HS Diploma to start.

I’ve run into a host of medical technicians to name one occupational field – there are others. They make good money. They are often minorities but rarely blacks. You can do a lot with a high school diploma and occupational training and NO College.

The first rigor I want in OUSD is severe discipline (speech, dress, deportment). What do you say about that?

Save Us From White Liberals.

I agree with your recommendation in post #14 about how OUSD can better identify and serve high-achieving minority students. Do you know if there is anyone in OUSD promoting that or a similar solution district-wide? My personal observation is that programming for all gifted and motivated students (minority or not) appears to be done on an ad hoc basis. Am I missing something?

The front page of Thursday’s Tribune.

DUH. We’ve all read The Mismeasure of Man, and the Bell Curve, and all the responses thereto.

My point was — and I will try to use simpler language this time — that THAT particular test question is poorly worded, and that people should bring a skeptical attitude to those who claim to have developed a test of intelligence, or aptitude, or what have you.

And, if we are really interested in identifying and serving the needs of gifted “minority” students, then why not simply make classes far more rigorous? Those with the attributes needed to do well — be it intelligence or hard work or creativity — will do well. No one will be excluded by the use of imperfect tests (and they are imperfect in some way, or course – they are all validated based on confidence intervals and degrees of significance that are greater than zero).

IQ test questions are certainly not written to your satisfaction. They are largely questions involving Boolean Logic.

Here’s an article about the testing controversy that has background on the 20th Century fighting over the subject:

http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/vollarj/intelligence_testing.htm

The most interesting aspects of the controversy I see is the futile efforts of the liberal courts and related democratic/civil “rights” types to ban the use of testing. In the end such bans are counterproductive because the practice of IQ screening is vital for many industries including military and NFL purposes – groups that always get waivers. All other industries merely resort to proxy tests in the face of the prohibitions. It’s hard to tell an industry they can’t have it when others do because it works so well.

The proxy tests – say, graduation from Stanford or Harvard Universities or possession of some specific advanced degree – are more expensive and time consuming in the extreme. Another proxy is having the “right” (bright) parents (IE “Country Club” tests or Pedigree tests). These proxies serve to keep the bright minorities out who would have been located with IQ testing and allowed to advance quickly. Post WWII IBM Corporation started identifying bright candidates by IQ tests and promoting them without the (previous) requirements of pedigree and specific degrees.

If you want to make fast jumps for bright people – like Amir – testing and advanced placement based on the confidence the testing can provide – is the best way to bring forward minorities.

Liberals hate it. They are more worried about protecting their dogma (all people are created equal, damn it!!) than serving their “constitiuents”.

Save us from White Liberals.