Charles Payne is an anomaly. Not only is he one of the smartest people on Wall Street, he also happens to be black and raised in New York’s Haarlem. He understands the plight of the poor and uneducated. It’s where he came from. Mr. Payne wrote this article this morning concerning education in America. It is also a reply to the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justices vision of where American education should be heading. A link to this article is shown below under the “Social Justice” paragraph.
Rich and Smart, You're Days are Numbered!
A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Pearl Bailey
I find it almost amusing to see this whole seismic shift toward center-right governments in order to rescue decades of fiscal mismanagement brought about in large part through welfare societies that sought to level playing fields. The reason it's not funny is that Europe is on the precipice of collapse, but we are going to hear for the next year how it's mean rich people that need a comeuppance in this nation. I've made good money in my lifetime and I've been poor in my lifetime, and I give thanks to God for both experiences. The notion that someone making one million dollars a year wakes up plotting how to hold others down is outright silly.
Sure, you have a better shot at getting better opportunities, going to better schools and moving up the ladder when you come from money. I have friends that think all white people in America have easier access to success than blacks because of the mental and financial legacy of slavery and racism. Racism, elitism, cronyism, nepotism exists, but the overwhelming the majority of people in America are facing similar hurdles, and clearing them begins with how fit they are to run the race of life. That fitness is mental and cerebral. The welfare solution snuffs out both like a gust of wind on a flickering candle.
I would be the first to admit how sad it is to walk into a great business like a trading room or a television station and not see any black people in positions of significance. I attended a big radio gathering last night and it was the same thing.
Obviously, there is an element of unfairness, made all the worse when one considers how many people fought and died in this nation to make things right. But taking from others that have earned their place in life doesn't even the score. This approach to division has been promoted non-stop for the past three years with the net of would-be victims widened exponentially.
The "us vs. them" war is sure to rip the nation apart. It will make upward mobility more difficult and punish achievers in business and also in the schools. Because running parallel to the war against successful people and businesses is the war on smart children. It has come to light the Obama administration is pushing hard to get around rules about racial preferences, even if it means students with subpar grades take spots from children with better grades. While it's obviously unfair it can be tempting for those that hear over and over how the deck is stacked against them.
That's why acts of discrimination resonate like atom bombs and feed the beast of anger and envy.
But taking from the rich doesn't help the poor, and circumventing school admissions to reward a student with lesser skills (which mostly happens from lesser effort) sets up that student for future failure, and the kid who got skipped maybe never fully develops gifts that could benefit mankind.
Social Justice?
Department of Justice and Education Guidelines' goal have been to promote grade school and universities diversity and reduce racial isolation. Racial isolation isn't fun, but school promotion and reward that discounts merit is a recipe for disaster.
"Racial isolation remains far too common in America's classrooms today and it is increasing," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "This denies our children the experiences they need to succeed in a global economy, where employers, co-workers, and customers will be increasingly diverse. It also breeds educational inequity, which is inconsistent with America's core values.
Under the guidelines on admitting students to competitive schools or programs, the administration offers the following example: "A school district could identify race-neutral criteria for admission to a school (e.g., minimum academic qualifications and talent in art) and then conduct a lottery for all qualified applicants rather than selecting only those students with the highest scores under the admission criteria, if doing so would help to achieve racial diversity or avoid racial isolation."
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ending-racial-isolation-schools-crucial-...
We need to make schools better with harder curriculums and stop rewarding mediocrity and discouraging greatness. The nation has come a long way, so this effort to say this is all a mirage and all unfair and needs to be upended is more dangerous than our economic situation.
This movement by the current administration is not something new. When they took over in early 2009, they dumped the $100 million that the government had been providing for Advanced Placement high achieving and Gifted and Talented students. They replaced this with a $4 billion (that’s billion with a B) program called Race to the Top, a misnomer if there ever was one. This was aimed exclusively at raising low achievers to graduate from high school and get into college.
Three quarters of this money was in the form of student loans which are suppose to be repaid. In the last three years with an extra $10 billion in tuition hitting the U.S. colleges and universities, is there any surprise that student tuitions have skyrocketed.
And for what. Colleges and universities have reported that half of the new students drop out before the third year. Thus leaving thousands of kids delusional and frustrated because now they not only do not have a college education, they are hung with $40,000.and up in student loans with little or no hope of repaying them.
This comes at a time when U.S. businesses report there is a serious shortage of skilled labor. There are hundreds of thousands of skilled jobs available, but no body with the skills to fill them. These jobs pay up to around $80,000. a year. When did we decide everyone had to have a college education and ignore our industries need for skilled workers? This coupled with the fact that many college degrees are in areas where there are few jobs. It’s one thing for a student to follow a certain course because s/he has a passion for it, but it is quite something else when colleges design courses for which there is little or no chance of the graduate finding a job.
The universities see all this federal money from student loans coming there way, and suddenly their mission as a place of higher learning goes by the boards. They want a piece of the action. In September 2009, the University of Texas at Austin scrapped their entire National Merit Scholar program for high achieving students of all races and used all the money instead for providing scholarships for underprivileged kids. I wrote an article on September 2 of that year called “UT (University of Texas) Dumps National Merit Program.
I say the same thing today as I wrote then. In stead of throwing billions of dollars at kids that are dropping out at a 50% rate, find the gifted minority students we have already found but are still dropping out. Dr. Donna Y. Ford at Vanderbilt University has documented data showing the every year 250,000 gifted black students are dropping out of high school. In one school district alone in California, Los Angeles Unified School District, they report that over 400 students who they have already found to be gifted, drop out every year.
These are the kids that should be sought after and nurtured as we do the next star football player. After all they are the next generation of leaders of American commerce, industry, education and government. Is that not more important than providing thousands of college dropouts and college graduates with degrees in “basket weaving”
Those of you who are interested in a gifted black mans view of the American and world economies can subscribe to Charles Paynes’ daily commentary at www.wstreet.com
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Dick Kantenberger
Gifted Education Writer at Examiner.com
Board of Directors and Head of Business Development at Rainard School for Gifted Students
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