It's not just a phenomenon at TJ (or Fairfax County GT)

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by claremarie

Great column by Will. But not PC. Here's an excerpt:

"Plainly put, the best predictor of a school's performance is family performance -- qualities of the families from which the students come. Subsequent research suggests that about 90 percent of the differences among the proficiency of schools can be explained by five factors: days absent from school, hours spent watching television, pages read for homework, the quantity and quality of reading matter in the home -- and the presence of two parents in the home.

Government can do next to nothing about family structure, which is why it is pointless for Duncan to suggest that "access" is why "the door to college still does not swing open evenly for everyone." It will not so swing as long as 71.6 percent of African American children and 51.3 percent of Latino children are born to unmarried women. The political class flinches from talking about those numbers, preferring to take refuge behind talk about "rights." But those numbers go far to explain numbers that Duncan does cite: White high school graduates are twice as likely as black or Latino graduates to have taken AP calculus classes. The political system cannot candidly discuss, let alone cope with, the reasons why, for example, there are few if any high-performing inner-city school systems."

washingtonpost.com

How many times do the "experts" and "advocates" mention that the vast majority of kids who are being left behind in public school systems are living without their fathers? Hardly ever. But
earlier this month, Urban Prep Academy, an all-male charter high school in Chicago with mostly male teachers, announced that every member of its senior class has been accepted to college. Most of the students were reading at below-grade level when they enrolled as freshmen.

Urban Prep: 100 percent of Englewood’s Urban Prep Academy for Young Men admitted to college - chicagotribune.com (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/happynews/ct-met-urban-prep-college-20100305,0,3299917.story - broken link)

I don't think there's anything really non-PC about what you're saying. Just about everyone agrees family support is the key to academic achievement. However as you point out with the Chicago example, government can take steps to compensate for lack of it. Another would be the role the military has played in putting previously disadvantaged kids on the path to good careers and productive lives. One of America's strengths over other societies is it's the land of second chances.

[Yankeesfan]

Patrick Welsh in today's Post:

washingtonpost.com

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan

Patrick Welsh in today's Post:

washingtonpost.com

Thanks for posting this. I need to spread some rep points around before giving another to you.

[lowfatmajia]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Not really. The test to get into TJ isn't the same as to get into GT. The TJ test is an achievement, not an intelligence test. You actually had to have learned stuff to do well on the TJ test, not just have innate smarts. Asian kids aren't on average any smarter than latino, anglo, or black kids. They've just been socialized by their families to work harder. Since TJ is meant to be a Science and Technology school it makes sense it has a larger proportion of Asians, since that's an area they concentrate in. I suspect if there were an advanced high school for the liberal arts or leadership skills, you'd see a higher proportion of non-Asian kids. Asians don't value that as highly which is one reason you see very few Asians in senior corporate management but many in lower level technical positions.

Then it is very unfair to discriminate against Asians in GT program. If we work hard then we deserve to be fairly represented in GT program.

What if I say every company/government body should reserve a certain % of senior leadership positions for Asians? In the same spirit of boosting Blacks/Latinos % in GT program.

[CAVA1990]

Are Fairfax County Schools applying a lower standard to black and latino kids for entrance to the GT programs?