Black boys separate classes plan (BBC)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

Last Updated: Monday, 7 March, 2005, 08:51 GMT
Black boys may have to be separated from classmates to help improve school performance, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality has suggested.

Trevor Phillips also suggested black fathers not living with their sons should be denied access if they refused to attend parents' evenings.

<snip>

Martin Ward, deputy general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, told The Times: "Clearly there is scope for schools to help all children who are doing badly.

"But to single out black children for special treatment could be counter-productive and even illegal."

I think this speaks for itself.

Edit: The man behind the plan:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3726046.stm

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Oops

editing period expred before i could post the link to the actual article, so here it is:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4323979.stm

[R Hickey]

2. In the US we jail a large percentage of black men in their twenties

I think the fact that 'different demographic groups' display differing accadamic and atheletic skill levels, is one area of human measurement that is easily politicized.

[emad]

3. Black boys separate classes plan

BBC

Black boys may have to be separated from classmates to help improve school performance, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality has suggested.

Trevor Phillips also suggested black fathers not living with their sons should be denied access if they refused to attend parents' evenings.

But teachers have warned the ideas could fall foul of anti-racism laws.

Last year 36% of Black Caribbean pupils in England got five or more C-grades at GCSE. The national average is 52%.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4323979.stm

[fasttense]

4. Ahh, back to separate but equal. I wonder if it will work this time? n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. I posted this earlier...

...but it hasn't received much attention

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1290551&mesg_id=1290551

(Possibly because I forgot the story link the first time around :) )

I've also linked directly to a profile of Trevor Phillips, which is also an interesting read.

[LiberalEsto]

6. I don't see how that solves anything

I wish they would focus school achievement studies on economic level rather than race. Assessing achievement by race is divisive, racist, and unproductive.

Kids of any race who grow up deprived of books and educational toys and parental attention and educational experiences such as visiting museums or libraries are not going to do as well as kids who get those things. Kids whose parents are poor due to a lack of educational achievement and stimulation are not going to perform as well as kids whose parents received good educations that yielded good incomes.

Kids who aren't doing well in school need to receive intensive, focused attention to bring them up to speed with their peers. The problem is that the education system simply doesn't want to waste the time, money or resources on kids they are willing to write off as hopeless.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Don't forget...

It's black MALES only, so it's sexist, as well as racist. :)

[bemildred]

8. It's hard to see how you are going to do "equality" when you start

from the premise that some large subset are different.

[sadiesworld]

9. Low self-esteem is given as one of the reasons for poor performance.

I'm sure shuffling them off to separate classes based on their race and sex will help. :eyes: