Closing the Achievement Gap

"WE MUST REJECT THE IDEOLOGY OF THE "ACHIEVEMENT GAP" THAT ABSOLVES ADULTS OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITY AND IMPLIES STUDENT CULPABILITY IN CONTINUED UNDER-PERFORMANCE. THE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GAP IS MERELY THE EFFECT OF A MUCH LARGER AND MORE DEBILITATING CHASM: THE EDUCATOR ACHIEVEMENT GAP. WE MUST ERASE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TYPE OF TEACHERS WE ARE, AND THE TYPE OF TEACHERS THEY NEED US TO BE."
http://roomd2.blogspot.com/ by TMAO

One of my fellow What If? Diversity bloggers posed the question of what we should do about closing the achievement gap in our schools—address diversity or poverty. The quote above embodies my feelings on this topic.
If we look at education like we do business, the business of education is failing one of its most rapidly growing clientele base--children of color. When businesses are not performing well, they restructure and fire people who are not producing for the company. They don't blame the clients! They change their practices to satisfy their clients. Why are we not getting this in education? Of course all of the outside influences that our children who are living in poverty bring with them to school don't make teachers' jobs any easier, but teachers and administrators mustn't dwell on it. If you want an easy job, don’t choose teaching—you’ve got the wrong profession. More focus needs to be put into teacher quality and training (and yes I know that resources are limited, but something needs to change so that teachers have more resources). The bottom line is that teacher education programs do not prepare teachers for even half of what they will face once they reach the classroom, and our children are suffering because of it. Of course diversity is a big piece of the puzzle too. School systems should really ask tough questions and try to get to the heart of teachers' philosophies of education during the hiring process. If a teacher professes to "not see color" and possess some sort of inherent "colorblindness", that teacher probably should not be placed in a school where all of the faces are shades of brown--or any school for that matter. In order for the achievement gap to change, teachers need to change, the institution of education needs to change, and our society as a whole needs to change.

Who cares if Barack Obama is Black, White, African American, Biracial, Cablasian or Other?

Unfortunately, America cares a little too much! There are many theories on this topic, but who cares! This is when diversity goes terribly wrong in this country. People become so obsessed with labels and putting each other into these colored racial boxes that we forget about what is truly important. And why do we do this? So we can decide which stereotypes we will expect the person to perpetuate, or decide whether or not he or she is Black enough or White enough or American enough? There are some who argue he is white because he was raised by his white mother and white maternal grandparents. Let's face it, race is a social construct created in this country to carry out racist ideals based on the color of someone's skin. Since it has absolutely no biological foundation, based on the way Senator Obama looks, labeling him as white is not going to fly in this country. There are a group of geniuses who say he's black, based on the brownness of his skin. Well duh! Where it gets real interesting is when we look at the idea of him actually being an African American or biracial (here's where I insert my opinion), because let's face it, that's what he is! Once again, I'll say who cares? Apparently a lot of folks do, so I'll continue with my post. Dictionary.com defines biracial as "having parents of two different races" and African American as "a black American of African descent." Let's examine this for Barack Obama. His parents are of two different races--that takes care of him being biracial. However, calling him African American gets a little tricky. Because his father is a native of Africa, people think he can't be considered African American because his father is not a descendent of slaves (which is an assumption). Okay fine, I'll give them that. BUT HELLO, HIS MOTHER IS A WHITE AMERICAN. So he is AFRICAN and AMERICAN. This notion that he should be labeled an Asian Pacific Islander because he grew up in Hawaii or that he is white because he was raised by white people is ludicrous! If this were true, that means that Brangelina's adopted kids are white. I think not. Again, this is my opinion based on the history of this country. What do you think? What is he and why do we care?