Nebraska’s legislature has decided that the best way to help minorities in the Omaha is to try and bring back a form of segregation. Splitting up the Omaha school system into 3 separate districts. One Black, one White and one Hispanic. Yea they are running the “separate but equal” banner again. Supposedly these 3 districts are supposed to work together and the local control is supposed to help each district help its students get what they need. This effort will surely fail. While the claim is that splitting by race is going to help prevent minorities from being overlooked in favor of Whites, the race-based effort does nothing to address the real issues that cause problems in education. Those problems are a lack of parental involvement, poor discipline and unions. This proposal does nothing to address any of that. So the end result will be that the good district (White) will continue to do well and the others will only do worse. I guess in 10 years or so we’ll have to look back and see just how correct my prediction really is. (Unless this whole plan is derailed before it even takes effect.) But having seen areas elect school boards based on race and voters feeling that the race of people they elect will help bring success I’m sure that I’m right.

Because in the areas where schools are doing poorly, things are bound to be dumbed down. Instead the kids in low scoring areas having to meet the standards of a diverse district where they compete with high scoring kids, they will be left on their own. And they will not improve. It’s sad I have to say that, but I know it will happen.

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers makes a persuasive argument, but is wrong as he often is. Good teachers are not going to have any sudden desire to teach in a district they know is not performing well. And without the input of anyone in a more successful area, it makes the low performing areas even less inviting to successful educators. (The new districts are not going to work together, despite the claims that they are supposed to.) Would you ever want to work at a company with a recent history of failure, now that the company is being broken into a separate unit, where it’s management will come from within? In the corporate world this would be viewed as cutting off the dead wood so it can rot and die without hurting any other business units.

I know that before integration Black areas had much lower drop out rates and good discipline. But in a time where Black culture is infested with negativity (high out of wedlock births from more sexual promiscuity and the gangsta rap culture) things won’t work like they used to. The old ways of honor and respect that most Black youths used to have instilled in them during the segregation of old is not going to return by trying to create segregation again. With today’s culture it will only make things worse.

It’s almost comical to hear Senator Chambers complain that busing is gone and now there is no more integration. He is the same man that opposed a school voucher system. Chambers is an Independent Liberal and although he is an Independent he is in many ways my political polar opposite. Here are some things that the Liberal publication Mother Jones has to say about Mr. Chambers, that show why I don’t agree with him on much.

In many cases Black people have been successful at getting rid of corporal punishment in schools. Because if a White teacher spanks a Black child there are cries of racism. And hey, in some cases maybe there was true racist intent. But in getting rid of corporal punishment a vital piece of what some kids needed in their education was lost. A strong hand of discipline! Some kids are just bad and drag down an entire class. A teacher being able to whack a kid’s butt helps kids stay in line, fear the teacher and respect authority. Kids with poor study habits and less respect for a teacher need that whack more than kids that are better disciplined. I’m sure Ernie Chambers felt getting rid of corporal punishment was a good thing, just like the NAACP felt. They were wrong. And to be fair, some Whites also pressed for an end to corporal punishment in the past because they never wanted a Black teacher to spank their child. But the bottom line is that we know areas with the worse performing schools have more discipline issues and without spanking many teachers have no way to keep control of the classroom. Today teachers who can YELL effectively might be able to maintain control, but when teachers could spank, students had more respect.

More on State Senator Chambers.

…
Every session he introduces a bill calling for an end to the death penalty. He once got the Legislature to approve it, but could not overcome the governor’s veto. He later led the Legislature in halting the execution of juveniles and the mentally retarded, ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s nationwide bans.

Chambers is famous for an unsurpassed knowledge of legislative rules, which he uses to derail bills that threaten those he calls the “downtrodden.” This attracts the criticism that he is “the great obstructionist,” better at halting legislation than creating laws. As one colleague observed, “In Washington they call it a filibuster. In Lincoln, they call it Ernie.” Once, Chambers filibustered on the state budget until his colleagues agreed to set aside half a million dollars for a minority scholarship fund. In the 2005 session, he blocked the legalization of concealed weapons, as well as a constitutional amendment protecting the right to hunt, which he said would “trivialize and pollute” the state constitution. In classic Ernie Chambers style, he introduced a raft of riders to the amendment that would protect such other rights as “creating, recreating, conversating and procreating,” “hunting for the link between Noah’s Ark, Joan of Arc and Archimedes,” and “sitting on the front porch on a warm summer evening, drinking a glass of cold lemonade, dreamily watching the silvery moon rise to begin its journey across a darkening velvet sky powdered with stardust.”

Chambers’ mastery of oratory has gotten his arguments—in opposition to a state-paid government chaplain and in support of late-term abortions—cited in at least two cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.
…

Yea he’s a moonbat alright and he’s been in office for 35 years. New term limits will put him out of office in 2008 and he feels they were made to get rid of him. Well I think it’s time for him to hang it up. I’m no fan of politicians making their life out of sitting in one spot. Either move to something else in politics or give up the spot and let some fresh ideas in.

Also, Mr. Chambers is a race baiter.

Now I won’t say that every cry of “racism” by Mr. Chambers is false. I also won’t say that I disagree with everything he has ever done. But I think the things I’ve mentioned here are issues he has made terrible mistakes on. Mistakes that cost his own voters the most. Being against strong discipline in school, against strong law enforcement efforts, against vouchers, against gun owners, race baiting and favoring allowing people to kill their own babies is much of what is wrong with many Liberal representatives. Their lack of enforcement ensures that crime and disobedience can take root in communities. Their lack of desire to allow parents to have an open choice in schools ensures that good kids must endure being stuck in classes with knuckleheads. Their efforts against gun owners keep law abiding people in high crime areas from being able to defend themselves and protect their property. Their race baiting usually accomplishes nothing. And their efforts to ensure people can kill their own babies only promotes a culture of death and results in people feeling they don’t need to take responsibility for their own actions.

Omaha’s new racially sliced school districts will be a proven failure. I just hope people like State Senator Chambers will be willing to admit when things fail, that this was a bad idea. And not try to blame it on “racism”.

update 4/14/2006 11:25AM La Shawn Barber has weighed in. She feels this new law will be overturned. I think that would be a good thing, but I’m learning that you can’t count on courts to do the right thing.