(no subject)
A judge in Alameda county today said that the California High School Exit Exam was unfair to students who go to substandard schools. There are so many things wrong with that sentence. But, let's deal with the breakdown of it first:
46,768 students didn't pass the exam
2,374 of them identified as Asian
6,298 of them identified as African American
5,712 of them identified as White
29,899 of them identified as Hispanic
Pause and look at that for a second. Over half of the students who didn't pass the exam were Latino and it's taken everyone until now to realize that there might be something inherently wrong with the exam?
What's interesting is that standardized exams tend to favor the middle and upper classes over anyone near the poverty line. That indicates so many things about California that anyone living in California should realize, but just to make it explicit again, more numbers:
46,768 student's didn't pass the exam.
28,359 of them are economically disadvantaged.
20,629 of them are English learners.
I'm so mad I could spit. Please, feel free to tell me that there isn't institutionalized racism in America, please go ahead and tell me that, because then I can point to these numbers and tell you that you're stupid. I think that it's one thing to live in a non-border state, or a state with a low immigrant population and say that well, I don't see that where I am, because that just means that you can't look at numbers and see the larger context. It's another to live in California and pass by field workers, or janitors, or majority- Latino high schools that look like hovels and still say well, I don't see that where I am. Because that goes beyond blindness and straight into stupidity. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
46,768 students didn't pass the exam
2,374 of them identified as Asian
6,298 of them identified as African American
5,712 of them identified as White
29,899 of them identified as Hispanic
Pause and look at that for a second. Over half of the students who didn't pass the exam were Latino and it's taken everyone until now to realize that there might be something inherently wrong with the exam?
What's interesting is that standardized exams tend to favor the middle and upper classes over anyone near the poverty line. That indicates so many things about California that anyone living in California should realize, but just to make it explicit again, more numbers:
46,768 student's didn't pass the exam.
28,359 of them are economically disadvantaged.
20,629 of them are English learners.
I'm so mad I could spit. Please, feel free to tell me that there isn't institutionalized racism in America, please go ahead and tell me that, because then I can point to these numbers and tell you that you're stupid. I think that it's one thing to live in a non-border state, or a state with a low immigrant population and say that well, I don't see that where I am, because that just means that you can't look at numbers and see the larger context. It's another to live in California and pass by field workers, or janitors, or majority- Latino high schools that look like hovels and still say well, I don't see that where I am. Because that goes beyond blindness and straight into stupidity. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.