Here in Georgia the state legislature has been debating an issue that is really a twisted mess. And all of their proposed solutions miss what really matters most. In short the debate is over Cobb County’s rules for deciding who will attend a newly built school. The county’s rules include a race-bait clause, that mentions the racial makeup of a school should not be changed whenever school redistricting is performed. What this would mean is that students near a newly built school would not be able to attend that school because they have the wrong skin tone. They would have to continue going to a school further away from their home in the name of “diversity”. The affected students happen to be White.
Of course in modern times where race neutral things like location are used to determine school redistricting and anyone of any race can live most anywhere, a rule that plays on race is a bad idea. It results in school enrollment being based on race, instead of students being able to attend the school closest to their home. In this particular case Republican House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart’s child would probably be attending the new school in the future, if not for being born in the wrong skin tone as some of his neighbors (White). So he proposed a bill to ban Cobb County from being able to use race as a factor. While his efforts are very much self serving I agree with him. Because his efforts will stop a practice that is simply wrong.
When I was in grade school the local government changed school district lines so that I would have to attend a school much further away from my home. All in the name of “diversity”. So I’ve had personal experience in this redrawing of lines because of race. I did not like it then and I still don’t like it as an adult. Even if a few kids are sent to a school that is further away because it is “better” than the school near them, it does nothing for the masses of children still at the school closer by. Educational efforts should involve making schools better, not trying to shuffle a few kids around in the name of “diversity”. It should be parents that have the ability to move their kids if they feel the need.
OK, so now you know why I’m so much against populating schools based on race. And why I agree with the effort to change Cobb County’s rules in this regard. Well you know the race hustlers do not want something to be race neutral. And one particular race hustler jumped up. I consider her a hustler in training, because she’s a young NAACP member and state legislator. She’s not as “seasoned” as some other race hustlers in this state. Democratic State House member Alisha Thomas Morgan declared that changing the rules to not include race would bring back “segregation”. She also made personal attacks towards Chairman Earl Ehrhart. This got her a swift rebuke from House Speaker Glenn Richardson. He had her mic turned off and then informed her that she was violating House rules.
The article linked below has video of the heated exchange:
Race, Redistricting Prompt Bill
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This article from the Atlanta Journal Constipation Constitution has other details.
The bill passed in the House and this week it goes to the State Senate. I expect race hustling nuts like Democratic State Senator Vincent D. Fort might have something stupid to say. (He is loved by the NAACP and ADF, need I say more?)
Now that I’ve gotten that all out of the way, I must say that the entire debate is junk! These legislators should be working on a way for parents across the state to be able to decide where their children attend school. If you watched John Stossel’s 20/20 report called “Stupid in America”, you saw how this effort by legislators to force kids to only be able to attend a single school is terrible for fostering competition in education. It allows some veteran teachers to rest on their laurels and not feel pressed to do their best job. His report did not mention how terrible parents are a major factor in schools being bad, it focused on what schools and officials could do on their end of things. And the report did show a whole lot that schools could do better. The number one issue being school unions. Given Unions make it very hard to get rid of bad employees.
Stupid in America
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Schools in America need to reflect the competition and choice available in other parts of America’s free market system. As Mr. Stossel’s report showed, it does work.
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January 30th, 2006 at 6:02 am
D:
The sad part about all of this is that the long used excuse about the gap in resources and facilities between “inner city” (read Black) and “suburban” (read White) schools was the key problem in the performance gap between the race.
We now see the SAME SCHOOL SYSTEM and a brand new school being built. The visionless Black leaders fear a new Black majority school regardless of the amount quality of the facilities.
THIS IS AN ISSUE OF CULTURE and how this culture is translated into the classroom. Instead of addressing the culture of the acceptance of low academic performance among Black people your friend Rep. Morgan chooses to make this a race issue. Her argument can be classified as her grabbing onto the leg of the White community saying “No! No! No! Please don’t leave us to ourselves…..you know what is going to happen if you leave us along!)
January 30th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Yes, I remember the redistricting in GA. I lived in Savannah and had just graduated when the state announced the “magnet school program”. I lived not even 1 mile from my high school and if I had not graduated that year (1991), I would have been shipped all the way downtown to Beach High school the next year. It made no sense to me. Until the magnet program, my high school was the best public high school in the city. Unfortunately now, when I am in Savannah visiting, I see graffitti, metal detectors at the doors and armed guards. I also read how my old school is now the lowest ranking in the city (possibly the county) and, according to the magnet program, is the “nothing” school. You see, each school became goal-oriented for the magnet program. It was the only way the state could justify the program. One school would be designated as college prep, another would be a school of the arts and so on. My old school was designated as the nothing school. No goals, nothing special. No advanced placement programs anymore, no arts or theatre program, no cool science or debate teams- nothing.
February 1st, 2006 at 5:02 pm
I’ve Got Issues With the President’s State of the Union Address
As if there has not already been enough analysis of this speech, now here I come with my 2 cents . You can get the full transcript and video of the 2006 State of the Union Address here.
There were a number of good things that the President said la…