Boston Public Schools Suspend Honors Program - Too Many Whites & Asians cited as reason (illegal, statistics)

[JBG]

The linked article below should be cause for concern. Shorn of bureaucratic and educational jargon, this means that successful students should be held down to the level of students in single-parent homes, multiple siblings, no discipline and utter chaos. See linked article, excerpts below:

Boston Public Schools Suspends Test For Advanced Learning Classes; Concerns About Program’s Racial Inequities Linger (linked article)

Quote:

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended the one-year hiatus for the program, known as Advanced Work Classes, saying the district would not proceed with the program for new students next year. "There's been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address," Cassellius told GBH News. "There's a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education." ***** School Committee member Lorna Rivera said at a January meeting that she was disturbed by the findings, noting that nearly 60 percent of fourth graders in the program at the Ohrenberger school in West Roxbury are white even though most third graders enrolled at the school are Black and Hispanic. "This is just not acceptable," Rivera said at a recent school committee meeting. "I've never heard these statistics before, and I'm very very disturbed by them." The program was open to all students in the Boston Public Schools who took a test known as Terra Nova in the third grade and received a high score.

It's a real pity that successful groups such as Asians and Jews are discriminated against. These people have a mad desire for a certain spurious and damaging equality. Equality must be about meeting and where possible raising peoples' potential. It must not, in the manner of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron (not sure whether short story names are underlined) be about dragging down higher-functioning people. In the story, people were "handicapped" so that they could not excel:

Quote:

Originally Posted by (written by author) Kurt Vonnegut THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

It seems we are alarmingly close to this and it's 60 years away from 2081. We are now persecuting high achievers.

 

[Integrityrespec]

The linked article below should be cause for concern. Shorn of bureaucratic and educational jargon, this means that successful students should be held down to the level of students in single-parent homes, multiple siblings, no discipline and utter chaos. See linked article, excerpts below:

Boston Public Schools Suspends Test For Advanced Learning Classes; Concerns About Program’s Racial Inequities Linger (linked article)

Quote:

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended the one-year hiatus for the program, known as Advanced Work Classes, saying the district would not proceed with the program for new students next year. "There's been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address," Cassellius told GBH News. "There's a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education." ***** School Committee member Lorna Rivera said at a January meeting that she was disturbed by the findings, noting that nearly 60 percent of fourth graders in the program at the Ohrenberger school in West Roxbury are white even though most third graders enrolled at the school are Black and Hispanic. "This is just not acceptable," Rivera said at a recent school committee meeting. "I've never heard these statistics before, and I'm very very disturbed by them." The program was open to all students in the Boston Public Schools who took a test known as Terra Nova in the third grade and received a high score.

It's a real pity that successful groups such as Asians and Jews are discriminated against. These people have a mad desire for a certain spurious and damaging equality. Equality must be about meeting and where possible raising peoples' potential. It must not, in the manner of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron (not sure whether short story names are underlined) be about dragging down higher-functioning people. In the story, people were "handicapped" so that they could not excel:

It seems we are alarmingly close to this and it's 60 years away from 2081. We are now persecuting high achievers.

When did achievement constitute inequality? As long as the left makes excuses for poor performance of black and minority kids, they will not reach equality. Equality requires meeting a standard. Tell the kids they can, you expect them too, help them work their way there. Don't change the standard to give the illusion of accomplishment and call it equal. You are hurting the kids.

 

[JBG]

When did achievement constitute inequality? As long as the left makes excuses for poor performance of black and minority kids, they will not reach equality. Equality requires meeting a standard. Tell the kids they can, you expect them too, help them work their way there. Don't change the standard to give the illusion of accomplishment and call it equal. You are hurting the kids.

You certainly are. It's inexcusable.

 

[Jkca1]

I was on a HS school board setup to determine how we should choose the school valedictorian. We had at least 15 seniors who had an A+ average. All were already taking college credit courses and of course getting A's in those too. All volunteered for some noble cause....We decided to remove the category as there was no fair way to choose a winner. The honor might have meant something if we could have chosen 1 child, but 15? All that was missing was Oprah on stage during graduation... You get an award and you get an award....

 

[Integrityrespec]

I was on a HS school board setup to determine how we should choose the school valedictorian. We had at least 15 seniors who had an A+ average. All were already taking college credit courses and of course getting A's in those too. All volunteered for some noble cause....We decided to remove the category as there was no fair way to choose a winner. The honor might have meant something if we could have chosen 1 child, but 15? All that was missing was Oprah on stage during graduation... You get an award and you get an award....

So you couldn't come up with a measurable standard or you didn't like what might have looked to be the outcome of that standard.

 

[gulfman]

If we can get these kids through high school and they can count to ten and say their abc's it's the best we can hope for.

 

[trixare4kids]

Punish the top achievers to make the dumb kids feel better.

What a brilliant idea!

 

[gbg3]

I'm a little surprised this is going on in Boston. After all, Boston is the home of a number of Universities with VERY high achievers. MIT, Harvard, and Tufts come to mind. Yet with the reputation of being home to schools like that, public schools are deciding to hold back high achievers? I think it's a dreadful policy and trend anywhere - but it seems especially weird in Boston.

 

[Bullseye]

The linked article below should be cause for concern. Shorn of bureaucratic and educational jargon, this means that successful students should be held down to the level of students in single-parent homes, multiple siblings, no discipline and utter chaos. See linked article, excerpts below:

Boston Public Schools Suspends Test For Advanced Learning Classes; Concerns About Program’s Racial Inequities Linger (linked article)

Quote:

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended the one-year hiatus for the program, known as Advanced Work Classes, saying the district would not proceed with the program for new students next year. "There's been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address," Cassellius told GBH News. "There's a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education." ***** School Committee member Lorna Rivera said at a January meeting that she was disturbed by the findings, noting that nearly 60 percent of fourth graders in the program at the Ohrenberger school in West Roxbury are white even though most third graders enrolled at the school are Black and Hispanic. "This is just not acceptable," Rivera said at a recent school committee meeting. "I've never heard these statistics before, and I'm very very disturbed by them." The program was open to all students in the Boston Public Schools who took a test known as Terra Nova in the third grade and received a high score.

It's a real pity that successful groups such as Asians and Jews are discriminated against. These people have a mad desire for a certain spurious and damaging equality. Equality must be about meeting and where possible raising peoples' potential. It must not, in the manner of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron (not sure whether short story names are underlined) be about dragging down higher-functioning people. In the story, people were "handicapped" so that they could not excel:

It seems we are alarmingly close to this and it's 60 years away from 2081. We are now persecuting high achievers.

Great! Instead of raising the bottom up, they take the easy way and destroy the achievers. Mediocrity rules.

 

[NoMoreDems-Reps]

Dems want to Kill all enlightenment, and evolution of American Society so they can achieve their Liberal "Equal"-librium!
Where all People are Equally Poor, Stupid and dependent on Government !
America is being passed up by many Nations who DO NOT allow Liberal INSANITY to Rule their Nation!

America is a Nation of Merit where Americans are Free to achieve as much as they can (legally of course) !
But the DEM's/Libs want to Punish and Oppress all those who excel , just so they can create an Artificial state of "Equality" !

 

[WokeBlackMan]

Shes on the right track with anti racism. I blame white people for being racist that this happens, or people like her wouldnt exist.

 

[MaryP]

Nuh uh. Speaking as a teacher, that's not the way to address it. More outreach to parents in the community, flooding more kids with a learning rich environment so they can compete is the answer. It's not a simple, quick fix but we've known the problems and the solutions from a developmental perspective for ages. Our society just doesn't care enough to invest the resources to achieve equity for all these kids. It's not just learning abc's. It's helping parents have a stable home and job, combatting addiction and violence in the community. Schools don't even get these kids until the most critical years of development are over. But whatever, doing away with the high achieving track is not only against the principles of high standards, but it's also against policy. Special ed requires special and gifted education, too.

Children are the products of their environment. No one can expect 180 days of school for 6 hours a day to reverse the problems of student's lives. School can be a respite, but it isn't a magician.

 

[TheParser]

There is nothing that can be done about this madness.

We have already passed the point of no return in this nation.

New York City, for example, for decades had some public high schools that produced brilliant scholars.

In the day, Jewish students predominated.

Then in recent years, Asian students have been in the majority at those outstanding schools.

Because of pressure from the politicians and the media, the disgraceful mayor of New York City announced that it was vital to have more students from two certain ethnicities (no need to specify them).

So now Asians are being reduced in numbers in order to make room for students who cannot enter through competitive exams, only on the basis of who they are.

In November, 2020, (reputedly) 80,000,000 Americans voted for the Dems (White House & Senate).

So this is presumably what the nation wants.

So to heck with the Asian and Jewish students in Boston! It's more important not to hurt the feelings of certain other students.

 

[Sand Castle]

The linked article below should be cause for concern. Shorn of bureaucratic and educational jargon, this means that successful students should be held down to the level of students in single-parent homes, multiple siblings, no discipline and utter chaos. See linked article, excerpts below:

It's a real pity that successful groups such as Asians and Jews are discriminated against. These people have a mad desire for a certain spurious and damaging equality. Equality must be about meeting and where possible raising peoples' potential. It must not, in the manner of Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron (not sure whether short story names are underlined) be about dragging down higher-functioning people. In the story, people were "handicapped" so that they could not excel:

It seems we are alarmingly close to this and it's 60 years away from 2081. We are now persecuting high achievers.

Your old story already debunked

CLAIM: Administrators at Boston Public Schools are suspending advanced classes for students in fourth through sixth grades because of concerns over racial inequities.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The school district is pausing a testing requirement for advanced classes for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an emailed statement from the district. The advanced courses will continue.

THE FACTS: Social media users this week expressed outrage at the erroneous reports that Boston’s public school system would stop offering some advanced classes because the majority of students taking them were white and Asian.

Boston schools aren’t suspending advanced classes

CLAIM: Administrators at Boston Public Schools are suspending advanced classes for students in fourth through sixth grades because of concerns over racial inequities. ...

apnews.com

Boston Public Schools administrators suspended Advanced Work Classes, a selective program for high-performing students, because of concerns over racial inequities as the majority of the students enrolled were white or Asian.
Rating
Mostly False
What's True
In 2021, testing for enrollment into the Advanced Work Classes was suspended for one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. School administrators also expressed concerns over racial inequities in the program, including the enrollment of majority white and Asian students.

What's False
However, the program itself was not suspended. Classes for currently enrolled students were continuing. The superintendent clarified that testing was suspended not because of racial inequities, but because the pandemic made it impossible to administer the test.

Origin
In late February 2021, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced that new admissions for Advanced Work Classes (AWC), a selective program for high-performing fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders in Boston Public Schools (BPS), would be suspended for one year. The change generated more dramatic headlines, though, after reports emerged of alleged racial inequities within AWC.

For example, a Daily Wire headline read, “Boston Public Schools Suspend Advanced Class Enrollment Test, Say Too Many Students In Them Are White Or Asian.” Many readers shared the story with us, asking if this suspension was on account of racial inequities and if the entire program was being suspended for the year. We learned that this was not entirely the case.

First, the program itself was not suspended, only testing for new admissions. Students already in the program would continue classes, but no new students would be admitted for the year. BPS issued a notice on its website, explaining it was unable to administer the test also referred to as TerraNova

Are Boston Public Schools Suspending Advanced Classes Because of Too Many White and Asian Students?

A few headlines missed the mark on this story.

www.snopes.com

 

[Sand Castle]

You posted

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended the one-year hiatus for the program, known as Advanced Work Classes, saying the district would not proceed with the program for new students next year.
"There's been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address," Cassellius told GBH News. "There's a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education."

you left out this next quote from your citation:

Following publication of this story, Cassellius told GBH News that equity concerns about the advance work program were not the motivation for suspension of the test this year. She said the test suspension was only a consequence of the pandemic making it impossible to administer the test.

Why misrepresent through omissions?

 

[JBG]

If we can get these kids through high school and they can count to ten and say their abc's it's the best we can hope for.

Maybe they learn organizational skills in gang-formation.

Punish the top achievers to make the dumb kids feel better.

What a brilliant idea!

Exactly. Even in academic year 1970-71 I was punished for calling out someone, in Eighth Grade, for sticking chewing gum in my hair. It was explained to me that "his parents were going through a divorce, you have to understand."

 

[JBG]

I'm a little surprised this is going on in Boston. After all, Boston is the home of a number of Universities with VERY high achievers. MIT, Harvard, and Tufts come to mind. Yet with the reputation of being home to schools like that, public schools are deciding to hold back high achievers? I think it's a dreadful policy and trend anywhere - but it seems especially weird in Boston.

Boston has always been weird that way. Outwardly very liberal; really very redneck.

Once when I was in B.U. Law School a friend of mine and I were walking, one unseasonably warm February night up Beacon Street. Some toughs yelled at us "are you men or women" and before I could answer that intelligent question beer bottles were sailing through the air. The one aimed at me sailed through my hair. My friend was not so lucky. He was clocked and spent the night in Beth Israel Hospital. The police gave us literally a one-second view of the people in a lineup and said "we didn't answer fast enough." Trust me, they knew who the offender was.