The literary journal Electric Literature published an advice column this week counseling an anonymous correspondent on what might be termed an identity crisis. “I am a white, male poet—a white, male poet who is aware of his privilege and sensitive to inequalities facing women, POC, and LGBTQ individuals,” the advice-seeker began, “but despite this awareness and sensitivity, I am still white and still male. Sometimes I feel like the time to write from my experience has passed, that the need for poems from a white, male perspective just isn’t there anymore...”
The self-flagellating white person is increasingly seen on college campuses and social media: a perversion of Privilege Theory causes these young, educated progressives believe that conspicuous introspection and self-sacrifice are optimal catalysts for an equitable society. At best, these scrupulous people eventually find their way to actually helping others.
At worst, they remain mired in useless self-abnegation.
Not long after PEG started working with St. Paul school officials, crucial policy changes were made, according to various news reports.
Special needs students with behavioral issues were mainstreamed into regular classrooms, a position openly advocated by PEG.
Student suspensions were replaced by “time outs,” and school officials starting forgiving or ignoring violence and other unacceptable behavior, according to various sources.
“The disciplinary changes came out of meetings with an organization called Pacific Educational Group, a San Francisco-based operation that has been consulting with the district dating back to 2010,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The result has been general chaos throughout the district, with far too many students out of control because they know there are no real consequences for their actions.
Over the past four years, as PEG has cast its influence in St. Paul, the number of students living in the district but attending non-district schools, has increased from about 9,000 to 12,000, according to Joe Nathan, executive director of the Minneapolis-based Center for School Change.
Two-thirds of those students come from low income families, or families of color, so it’s not just a typical case of “white flight,” Nathan said.
Another few articles on the issue. Basically, kids are out of control, teachers and staff are not allowed to discipline them and the system sounds like a hell hole.
I found their superintendent's bio in a few places and she seems adamant about "closing the achievement gap" and it appears that her plan is working. Reaping what they have sown is going to have serious long-term effects for the community but at least everybody will be equal.
WildGorillaMan wrote:Enthusiasm combined with no skill whatsoever can sometimes carry the day.
PEG believes that black students will only achieve if school curricula are customized to meet their cultural specifications. It also rejects the concept of using suspensions or expulsions to discipline black students.
You could make an argument against suspensions or expulsions in many cases. Years ago I helped a few school districts in the US rewrite their health programs and drug & alcohol policies and doing just that was a primary part of what we implemented.
However, I want to hear what "cultural specifications" look like when dealing with kids of various ethnic groups who are all born within 100 miles of each other and whose parents are roughly in the same income bracket. They aren't talking about mainstreaming boat people or including prayer time for Muslim students. I read through a bit on the Pacific Educational Group's website and they simply say that racism is everywhere and that schools are set up for white kids to excel and that things need to be adjusted for other populations but they don't appear to propose what a curriculum for black students would look like, other than not disciplining them for their actions, no matter how serious they may be.
WildGorillaMan wrote:Enthusiasm combined with no skill whatsoever can sometimes carry the day.
Pointing to a phenomenon that may or may not exist and then applying it broadly across an entire class of people...gee, sounds like prejudice and racism to me.
Let's be very fucking clear about something. I'm sure it absolutely sucks to be a black politician, academic, business leader, community leader, etc. and struggle to explain the real and observable gap in wealth, social status, employment, standardized test scores, etc. Instead of dealing with the fact that all people are just not the fucking same, and this difference is most likely grounded in biological reality, it's easier to spin these critical narratives where white privilege/villainy/colonialism/hegemony/patriarchy is running afoot and fouling it up for everyone else whose IQ and Emotional Intelligence bell curves just HAVE to look like everyone else's or else that would fly in the face of all the feel good tales we've been taught since grade school in addition to making the Baby Jesus cry.
