The Observation Deck

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote:your ancestors weren't ever property sold to farmers that work them to death. You haven't been attacked by kanines and sprayed with icy cold water while fighting for your freedoms to vote and sit in the same room as a white man. You were never told where you could sit on the bus, or at the theater, or at a show because of your ancestors gift to you. Centuries of repression, anger and racism are a part of America's history and it's our job to break those chains.

That's a bunch of nonsense.

Everyone has ancestors who were victim's.

Everyone has ancestors who were poor.

Everyone has ancestors who were considered property.

Everyone has ancestors who were disenfranchised.

Most of the decedents of those everyones don't sit around staring at their feet whining about how unfair it all is. If people choose the path of victimization rather than empowerment then 10 years from now they will still be staring at their feet singing the latest version of "Woe is Me".

I have news for everyone out their: No city is going to change racial attitudes by holding community meetings, clasping hands and engaging in a contest of: Who Feels Your Pain The Most. You can empower people by demanding high standards. You dis empower people when you accept the excuse of victimization.

It is unfortunate that demands for decent standards of behavior in public places are deemed racist, that demands for quality education are called unfair and that demands for respect to women are called Euro centric.

Even African Americans who demand high standards become targets.

See: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/us/08deseg.html?hp

Think on this: The son of a Haitian refugee is more likely to be economically successful than the son of a native born African American. Does that tell you anything?

Ivor,
I think that you have some good points in there. I've been struggling with this thread for since I first read it and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It seems though that your first hand experience gives some degree of understanding to what I believed was going on for the first generation immigrants (without the regimented testing for ESL). You came, you worked, you have done well for yourself. Along the way there were times when the melting pot hadn't quite blended to one yet and you were singled out. This is not to minimize it and I'm no educator but being singled out and tested (Lord only knows what it must be like now) happens even when you just change districts.
At any rate, I am confused by the premise of this thread. The "dream" or reason for moving to the USA or in the Cleveland to Lakewood case, to the next rung up the ladder seems based around education and making a better life. What undermines that dream is the myriad of excuses as you referenced as well. There have been so many exciting, promising ages throughout the centuries; Enlightenment, Reason, Industrialzation. When is this Age of Excuses going to end? The "dream" is still in there somewhere but become dilluted by easy outs, excuses and endless talking. Again, this isn't just about immigrants finding their way it's about anyone taking the next step up the ladder to a "better life". Along the way there will be challenges and frankly it's childish to expect that someone is going to lend them a hand from above. Bootstrapping, being self sufficient, a tough work ethic and banding together to improve the situation of your greater group have proven successful in the past and represent to me what I would expect to see happen. Academic discussions which will likely end in more social programs funded by the government are not going to help perpetuate the "dream". This type of mentality will only drain us of further resources. I don't see how this isn't a simply behavior/consequence exercise. Don't value education? Where do you think you'll end up?

Community conversations are valuable and may lead us towards better understanding of each other, which allows us more opportunities to be better neighbors.

Strong communities are the result of good neighbor communication.

That's a bunch of nonsense.

Everyone has ancestors who were victim's.

Everyone has ancestors who were poor.

Everyone has ancestors who were considered property.

Everyone has ancestors who were disenfranchised.

sure, you have a point there too mr.call.
but is Shamus McClaughlin (just making a name up) isolated in his 5th grade classroom because his ancestors were from Ireland and his hair is red?

is the african american student isolated because his ancestors were slaves and his race struggles to be equal every day, to this day?

sure, everyone has ancestors that have gone through hardships and everyone has gone through them personally too. It's just some go through hardships because of the color of their skin, which is something that they cannot change. To make a persons life miserable hell and a uphill battle because their pigment is different than yours would be uncivilized and a shame.

If you think that just because a person likes hip hop, that person will tag every brick in the city, you're wrong.

The pigs that were tagged onto every street light and sign were generated from white kids. the AT&T boxes, white kids.

The car that has 20,000 hertz of power and blasts Hip Hop with 10 small speakers, 3 15" speakers, two subwoofers and two 12" speakers installed is driven around by a good friend of mine that is white, enrolled in the US Army and is graduating from high school in a week.

Your race, Mr.Call, my race. Does that make you a thug too? Does that make me a thug? No.

Do acts by bored african american teens make every African American in Lakewood a thug, a vandal, rapist and criminal?

FWIW.

Different slant, not a tougher question just a different perspective (maybe). Thoughout this particular discussion and most others it seems that most are rational enough to not insist outwardly that bad behavior is attributed to one particular race. It seems that many identify the behavior alone as the problem. This is what makes the thread so interesting.
Statistics are being identified by Mr Wheeler to support that the African American students are scoring lower than their counterparts. He goes on to recommend an open forum discussion to hash out this issue. Now please understand that I respect what Mr Wheeler has done with the walks and he really sounds like an engaged teacher and I don't in any way want to misrepresent his objective. But why should we stop with just African American students? Stereotypes are developed on something and don't just arrive mysteriously. While we don't want to talk about them some are cultural factors that you better believe are still there. Sure stereotypes can be tough to break and rise above to be your own individual but let's not as was said earlier, be prejudice against others by lowering our expectations. Now if we were exposing institutional issues that rig the system against someone, sure get it out there and fix it. But to say that a group of student scores poorly because they don't feel valued?? Boo Frickin' Hoo. It'll make a great movie to turnaround this band of misfits and make us all feel real good when the chubby one dances with the edgy, misunderstood one but this is real life. Show them the movie and tell them to get back to work.
A student is a student regardless of their culture or color and is responsible for their own grade. Are we so caught up in the feel good moment to really believe that a student needs a village to learn? Is a book and a teacher really not enough? As we talked about this the other day I was struck by the number of categories that schools are broken into now. I think "outside the box" thinking has already screwed up the system enough, let's just get back to basics. Go to school... Learn (something other than excuses).

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote:Your race, Mr.Call, my race. Does that make you a thug too? Does that make me a thug? No.

Do acts by bored african american teens make every African American in Lakewood a thug, a vandal, rapist and criminal?

FWIW.

That's a good point. You are obviously an intelligent, well spoken and sensitive person. My grandparents came from Sicily so I have a vague idea how difficult it is to adapt to a new country

People of all different races can carry a chip on their shoulder. In the Balkans they are still killing each others children because of what happened 500 years ago. Is that what they teach in school now: Don't hold a grudge, nurture it.

But what are we talking about here? Hurt feelings or accountability?
If your feelings are hurt you can spend your days whining about how unfair it all is or you can cowboy up. If you are being held accountable for your actions then accept responsibility.

I think it was Auntie Mame who said, "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death". You can pony up to the table or you can sulk in the corner complaining about how the cool kids won't let you sit with them.

You are lucky enough to live on the greatest nation on God's green Earth. Take advantage of it.

Shawn Juris wrote:Statistics are being identified by Mr Wheeler to support that the African American students are scoring lower than their counterparts. He goes on to recommend an open forum discussion to hash out this issue. Now please understand that I respect what Mr Wheeler has done with the walks and he really sounds like an engaged teacher and I don't in any way want to misrepresent his objective. But why should we stop with just African American students?

Shawn

Excellent post, and questions.

One thing that is glossed over is that I believe it has been that many parents white, black, red whatever spend varying amounts of time with their children going over homework and problems.

I myself was the child of a one parent house, whose mother worked 7 days a week. There was no time to go over my homework to make sure it was perfect. My Cs were real Cs, not Cs changed after teacher mom corrected my homework for a second or third try at it.

Then if we go to the Prism Report as laid out by The Library. Urban Tribal Elders, nothing to do with color, but with grandparents taking care of kids because of parents divorce, in jail, drug abuse any of a number of reasons. Again I am not sure home many tribal elders have the time to go over math at 10pm.

I think it is not a true representation of the numbers throwing it off on one group over another. Every child has the possibility to learn and apply themselves. From there it is a million different reasons why they succeed or fail. Not just the color of their skin.

FWIW


.

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote: The car that has 20,000 hertz of power and blasts Hip Hop with 10 small speakers, 3 15" speakers, two subwoofers and two 12" speakers installed is driven around by a good friend of mine that is white, enrolled in the US Army and is graduating from high school in a week.

It is that kind of behavior that I think perpetuates these problems.

Joe Ott wrote:

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote: The car that has 20,000 hertz of power and blasts Hip Hop with 10 small speakers, 3 15" speakers, two subwoofers and two 12" speakers installed is driven around by a good friend of mine that is white, enrolled in the US Army and is graduating from high school in a week.

It is that kind of behavior that perpetuates these problems.

then it's not all the african american teens fault.

Mr.Call, I'm not feeling sorry for myself at all and I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me.

What I'm trying to do is point out the other side of things. Put yourself in another persons shoes. The thief that steals because his children are hungry, etc.

My theory is that the reason for racism even existing is that people don't understand the other side. I think once a community understands where people are from and what drives their culture and way of thinking, then we can move forward and incorporate two cultures into one.

If a city full of Irish and English was Lakewood, and the Irish liked pubs, and the English liked soccer, then there would be a pub in the city that shows soccer matches every night.

If graffiti artists liked tagging, and the city valued diversity and the arts like they claimed, then there would be a wall where our cities best graffiti artists could show off their skills. It's hip, it's new, it's art and it gives young people who are into that something to identify with.

compromise. withought it no conversations or meetings will succeed. nothing will get done and everyone will be left saying "we tried, it just isn't going to happen". That's a sour taste that's left.

I think it is not a true representation of the numbers throwing it off on one group over another. Every child has the possibility to learn and apply themselves. From there it is a million different reasons why they succeed or fail. Not just the color of their skin.

Jim, I agree. Education and Success is individualized. You shouldn't let your past affect your present and future in a negative way.

But when the african american teen enters LHS he is prosecuted immediately just for the color of their skin. It can't be intentionally but it's not done by accident.

you never hear a white or foreign student get busted in the halls between classes for being loud. when they can be louder than african american students combined at times. I don't get it.

The dress code is racist and attacks the hip hop culture. The ISS room is filled with "ghetto" people and the administration is doing nothing to help them see that school isn't all that bad.

If you're constantly persecuted and punished at school, you start hating waking up in the morning. You feel like your presence isn't valued. which ties back into what Mr.Wheeler said all along in his previous post.

Recommended reading: "White Guilt" by Shelby Steele

I'm in the process of a more lengthy reply to ken, but in the mean while I'ld like to answer a few questions that are being brought up.

first of all, I want to isolate the issue of race. this isn't to say that poverty, singlie parenting, immigration, etc. don't play a part. they do. but I was trying to limit the discussion to race. it amazes me how quickly people want to jump off of this topic and get going on poverty, or single-parent homes. the issue I propossed is race. this is because I think that the behavior i originally was talking about was the behavior of those who are choosing to leave our town. this IS a racial issue. you might not feel that way personally, but race IS central to what is being referred to as "lakewood changing". I understand that there are myriad facets of this issue, but I was hoping to focus on one specific and brutal aspect.

secondly, i am not talking about other races in the school system because they are not failing at the disproportianate rates that the african-american students are. you can feel assured that i am actively working to get all of my students across the finish line. but i'm not going to put out a fire where there isn't one. right now the problem is located squarely in the african-american population of lhs. and i want everyone to understand that i am talking about an academic problem, not a social one in the context of the school. i think that we need to examine why these students are underperforming. not with social programs, whinefests, and sappy movie moments. yes, books are enough and as today's OGT results showed, nearly all of my students had what it took to pass the portions of the OGT that I was responsible for. once again, i am not talking about lowering standards, i am talking about raising them.

lastly, why is it considered a weakness to look at the issue of race from the perspective of the minority? don't we all teach our kids, as atticus finch did, to put themselves in someone else's shoes? are we somehow better than that? why must people immediately jump to the rhetoric of failure and naysaying when a complex issue is presented? aren't all issues, local issues? i'd like a conversation more based on the local and immediate aspects of race as it affects lakewood. anyone who doesn't think that race is a key factor in people's perception that lakewood is in decline needs a bit of a reality check. i love this city, and am proud to serve it and its citizens daily. but let's at least be honest and keep this discussion to race. if not, start another thread and i'll be glad to join.

ken, i'll get back to your post in a bit.

thanks, keep going.

sean.

Mr. Wheeler –

Thanks for bringing this discussion to this forum and we all appreciate your dedication to Lakewood and all of our children. Reaction to your questions regarding the important and multi-dimensional issue of closing the racial achievement gap and race has been intriguing.

I waited to add my thoughts until I had something of value – I hope – to add. I did a little research to help me, and possibly others, “seeâ€Â￾ the achievement gap you describe. The following Lakewood High School 2005-2006 profile table was provided by the Ohio Department of Education.

11th Graders Proficient Percent - LHS - 2005-2006 School Year
Black, Hispanic, Multiracial, White
Reading 94.7% 100% 91.7% 95.3%
Writing 84.2% 100% 91.7% 94.4%
Math 78.9% 81.8% 75% 93.1%
Citizenship 73.7% 72.7% 83.3% 93.4%
Science 31.6% 63.6% 66.7% 89.7%

Just look at the proficient percentage for mathematics, citizenship and science for white and non-white students. These numbers should relieve any doubt readers may have had about the seriousness of racial achievement gap issue.

Also according to the ODE Lakewood High School Report Card for the 2005-2006 school year: Total enrollment – 2,113; African American – 4.8%; Asian – 1.5%; Multi-Racial – 3.4%; White – 86.6%; Economically Disadvantaged – 25.2%; Limited English Proficiency – 7.1%; Students with Disabilities – 13.5%

Past Trends

According to valued studies funded by the Annenberg Foundation, this racial achievement gap was twice as wide in the early 1970’s that it is now. The gap was tightened between 1980 and 1988 then widened until 1992. Slight improvements were made after 1992 and now the gap remains steady at about half the discrepancy of the early 1970’s.

Researchers are having a hard time agreeing as to why the gap tightened during the 80’s and widened in the early 1990’s. What they do agree on is that this gap has multiple causes that need to be tackled on multiple fronts, from changing instruction and increasing parental involvement to helping students of color feel more comfortable in the school and extended school community.


Causes/Issues to Consider

Differences in Income: Income gaps to not explain all achievement gaps. Even in affluent suburbs, African American students perform less well than white students. Shaker Heights published a much read study a few years back which supports this thought.

Not Acknowledging that the Racial Achievement Gap Exists: Not all schools, district or states break down student performance data by racial and ethnic groups. Perhaps our leaders deserve kudos for making this information available and not showing reluctance to do so to avoid controversy. Perhaps discipline data is also available by race and ethnicity.

Teacher Expectations: Research has shown that some Districts determined to tackle this racial achievement gap have focused on teacher attitudes. In some cases African American students have not succeeded because teachers do not expect them to succeed. African American students may be convinced not to try hard. School climate surveys from some high schools have shown that African American students had more negative relationships with teachers than white students. How would Lakewood students respond to a climate survey (assuming they currently are not asked to participate in one)? How does the issue of fully credentialed teachers in every classroom impact student performance? Perhaps parents play role in this “soft bigotry of low expectations.â€Â￾

Student Attitude Toward Academic Achievement: Highly credible studies have concluded that African American students do not work hard in school because of the perception that academic achievement means “acting white.â€Â￾ Other studies, including the Shaker Heights survey, fail to support this theory by indicating that little evidence was revealed that students were “holding backâ€Â￾ academically. Nonetheless, districts have found that African American students are underrepresented in honors and Advanced Placement courses. How many of Lakewood’s minority student base is in honors and AP courses? If they are underrepresented, does this reluctance stem from a fear of isolation: African American students may not wish to be a conspicuously small minority in such classes?

Addressing the Racial Achievement Gap Well Before High School: Even wider gaps tend to appear at earlier grades. Where do Lakewood’s elementary and junior highs perform relative to this issue? I would have to think that Dr. Estrop has someone assigned to this matter. This component of the issue involves early childhood education and resources available to a family to support child development before that child enters kindergarten or first grade.


Mr. Wheeler, I imagine many of these Causes/Issues to Consider are not new to you. However, there are real ways other schools have made progress in surveying and engaging students, parents and the wider community of all races to identify adaptive practices that address this issue. I know you don’t believe in a silver bullet answer and that we can’t push a button and say problem solved. However, there are interesting anecdotal studies that profile some great ideas and practices for moving forward.

Getting LHS involved in the Network for Equity in Student Achievement may be a good start (www.fwcs.k12.in.us/superint.htm).

I hope I have provided something of value that may provoke a thought/response from you or others?

Sean:

You have raised a very complex set of issues in the context of student performance and pedagogy. I can appreciate your effort to focus solely on race. But race is not quite so simple a matter. And I wonder…..

Race

What exactly are you intending to discover with your insistence on isolating race?

What is your theory of race? What are your premises concerning race?

Biological? A social construct?

Are we not all descendants of the proto-human Homo erectus, which first migrated from Africa about 1.7 million years ago?

Language Game: White Flight or White Guilt?

As you can see, I am resistant to your urge to frame so broad a discussion upon the conflation of race and behavior, especially one based on a language game often yoked to the cultivation of white guilt, an emotion that does not appeal to my sense of courageous conversation about values that divide people and reciprocal order of good neighbors.

It seems to me that you opt for such a strategy when you say: “this is because I think that the behavior i originally was talking about was the behavior of those who are choosing to leave our town. this IS a racial issue. you might not feel that way personally, but race IS central to what is being referred to as "lakewood changing".

Is the behavior you were “originally…talking aboutâ€Â￾ the point of origin for the student performance problems that follow?

The Nexus

Do you see a causal connection between white flight and depressed African-American student performance?

Resentment

Ivor’s post reveals the absurdity of a grand category of classification, based on the skin color of one’s body. Thus Ivor: “Do acts by bored african american teens make every African American in Lakewood a thug, a vandal, rapist and criminal?â€Â￾

The answer is: Of course not.

At the same time Ivor’s post captures the victimary cultural politics of resentment that are fundamental to so many identities in the postmodern age.

Eric Gans, whose Generative Anthropology provides an interesting lens on human culture, has written about white guilt at some length:

“The resentment of those who see themselves as victims can achieve results only by allying itself with the far greater force of white guilt. What may be called victimary liberalism is the ideology of those who devote their political energy to the cultivation of white guilt--first their own, then everyone else’s. Rather than an expression of resentment at failure, white guilt is cultivated as a compensation for success. White guilt is not left to individual or even group psychology; it is administered by a network of institutions that channel its energy into expiatory gestures that they seek to impose on the rest of the population. “Activistâ€Â￾ groups conceive it their mission to defend the interests of nature, animals, foreign workers, and so on, in preference to those of their generally affluent membership.â€Â￾

For more:
http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/views/vw310.htm

White Guilt

Gans says white guilt “is rooted in real physical fear of the Other whose resentment threatens him with violence.â€Â￾ He cites another theorist Adam Katz, to note “the bearer of WG is in the first place afraid of his own potential power over the Other...â€Â￾

Memes

Let’s also consider how Spiral Dynamics might inform the discussion about the values and behavior of that big, bad impulsive self often termed thug.

"Racism is a meme-a contagious idea-that infects individuals, organizations, entire cultures, and societies. And, like a deadly virus, it has contaminated all areas of life. What divides us in society, however, is not our genes, but our memes. We look different because of our genes; we think and act different because of our memes. Our genes are only Horizontal differences. It is the deep, memetic, bio-psycho-social-spiritual magnetic forces on the Vertical axis that attract and repel humanity. Racism manifests itself differently depending on the memetic level it is located." Caleb Rosado, from "An Explanation of Spiral Dynamics Memes and Vmemes What are they?"

Kenneth Warren

I'm sorry, but this is a little silly. A bunch of white men talking about what Lakewood needs to do about its "colored problem."
Until ONE African American offers an honest insight this is all about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
Again, really really really sorry.