Out-of-Control Multiculturalism at Berkeley High School
Berkeley High School (BHS) might drop its science labs from its curriculum.
The reason? Too many white kids — or not enough non-white kids, depending on your perspective — were taking these classes. According to an article in the East Bay Express, whacking the labs is intended to address BHS’s “dismal racial achievement gap.” The decision to make this change by the School Governance Council was “virtually unanimous.”
BHS science teachers were said to be “horrified” by the proposal. One pleaded, vainly, that the labs had a good share of non-whites: “17.5 percent African American and 13.9 percent Latino.”
This breakdown of students proves the lamentable “gap” spoken of by Berkeley commandants isn’t in enrollment, but in grades. The white kids are doing better in excess of what is acceptable — or the non-white kids are doing worse, depending on your perspective — such that the heart-warming state of equality is absent.
If equality of outcome with respect to grades is BHS’s goal, then eliminating the lab courses does ensure that all students will be equally poor in science. And when the administrators bring their report cards home, the paperwork will show an increase in “equality.”
The only problem with this pedagogical prestidigitation, like with all magic tricks, is that it can only be used once, or maybe twice. Resort to it too often, and the audience will see the rabbit up your sleeve.
But if BHS could get it away with it again, the next thing to go would be the other science and then the math classes, courses which are nothing better than inequality factories.
You might think that axing all those courses would leave a big whole in kids’ days, but do not despair, because there are plenty of alternatives in BHS’s books.
Like the required “History of the Americas” course, where emphasis is on “the formation of students’ own opinions of events.” This is a sister course to “Globalization,” where the kids “shall draft a more effective decision-making mechanism of world government,” mainly by re-creating the “process[es] within the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council.”
These subjects are merely preliminary to “Politics and Power” (“students largely run this course”) and “Contemporary La Raza History,” which “covers the spectrum of experiences of our Raza.” By which, presumably, they do not necessary mean my Raza, but a specific other Raza.
Seats will rarely remain empty in “Popular Culture in 20th Century America”:
This course examines “texts” as diverse as mural paintings, street theater, rap music, women’s art, immigrant stories, and MTV to analyze their role in shaping American society. Popular Culture is designed to teach students skills in critically examining the historical role of popular culture in defining racial issues, the regulation of sexuality, and consumer society. It also explores popular forms of resistance to the dominant culture.
If no room is left in the “Eco-Literacy and Social Justice Seminar,” kids might opt for the fall-back “Social Justice Seminar,” where the question “What can I do to bring about social change for a more just society?” is answered.
“World Literature,” offered by the School — yes, they have a whole school for this — for Social Justice and Ecology, “builds on the skills and knowledge acquired in the Freshperson [sic] Seminar.” This course “pushes students to become thoughtful, creative, empathic, and deeply analytical members of a global society.”
The Newcomer Program for English Learners offers “Literature of Diversity.” Sports requirements can be met with “Funk Aerobic Exercise” and “Ultimate Frisbee.”
BHS will surely keep all offerings from its African American Department. There, students can open their minds with “African American Journalism” or “Advanced African American Journalism.” From their course descriptions, these appear to be identical in substance with non-African American Journalism courses (which BHS also offers). Just as the course “African American Economics” doesn’t differ from non-African American Economics.
Anyway, African American Journalism probably fills up fast, so students should also consider “Black Gold, Black Soul, Black Dynamite,” a class devoted to the “exciting study of the black speechmakers in African American history.”
“Black Psychology” — whose major objective “is to impart a clear knowledge of what African-Centered thought is” — could be that easy “A” a lot of kids seek because it “is not a lecture course.” Major “emphasis is on classroom discussion.” What is cooler than sitting around and grieving?
Boys (“pre-men”?) will be particularly interested in “Black Male/Female Relationships,” where razor-sharp discussions of “black male emasculation” and the “the matriarchal syndrome” can be found. It’s not as frightening as it sounds — the practical side of the class covers “pimp psychology.”
Finally, “Kiswahili,” which has about 5 million world-wide speakers, can be taken in place of the more usual French or Spanish.
You would be forgiven if you forgot that these are Berkeley High School courses, and not offerings from Berkeley “Leftist Bias? What Bias?” University. The good news is that for students graduating from BHS, the transition from high school to university will be seamless.
They won’t need to take a lab-based science course there, either.
This isn’t some Bible thumping school district in rural America that thinks science is the work of the devil. Rather it’s the work of you leftist diversity mongers who think it’s perfectly ok to discriminate against white people in the pursuit of “diversity”. Once again the left is revealed to be the real driving force behind the anti-science and anti-intellectual (not to mention racist) social movement within the Western world. Previously science, technology and human achievment and excellence in general was persecuted by the left on the grounds of environ-mentalism and class warfare. Now it’s being done in the name of “racial justice”. What more can I say other than this is absolutely dispicable. This is the real reason why American public schools lag behind other nations.
This is exactly how to create a perpetual underclass, one which has no ambition, one which has the same future as it’s pathetic present, and one which can be counted on to deliver the votes when it comes time to renew the mandate for the nanny state which supports and protects it.
The only bright spot in this truly tragic picture is that fact that the underclass it creates can only last for a couple of generations before it finally bankrupts itself, or more ambitious and creative classes edge it out.
I especially enjoyed the “pimp psychology” part. I guess they could just go down on he avenue to actually participate in the class real time. They BHS could offer “ho sexuality” firsthand.
Set aside for a moment considerations of political correctness or ideology.
A high school that doesn’t offer science lab courses, i.e., physics, chemistry and biology, is greatly limiting or burdening the future opportunities of its students. Engineering, medicine, dentistry, science and other professions require a solid grounding in science in high school as a basis for success in university.
For a large high school with access to the necessary resources to choose not to offer science lab courses to its students is educational malpractice.
Irrelevant “feel good” courses for those kids too lazy to take the necessary difficult courses that might prepare them for the REAL world are replacing traditional learning concepts. Nauseating! Too many white kids taking science labs…so the obvious solution is to simply get rid of the science labs?! And then Obama and his cadre lament that American kids are falling behind the rest of the world in math and science proficiency. I wonder why? Dumbing down our educational system in the name of Leftist “diversity training” is horrifying.
Pathetic, utterly pathetic…. These people have lost their collective minds…The triumph of Lysenkoist-like ideology over reality..A new “Berkley man” (and/or woman and/or he-she as the case may be) indeed…
I’m trying to come up with the most appropriate word to describe this particular “educational” establishment although I’ve narrowed it down to either “embarrassing” or “pathetic”.
Although I have to ask……why are you guys in the US letting this sort of nonsense go on? You aren’t helping your kids to grow up to be sane and useful members of society by allowing this codology to continue unchecked.
What disconnect from reality has affected the mind of white progressives? Is their loathing of white America and its culture so great so as to be this biased, or is this a continued and desparate attempt to keep the minorities stupid (placated with nonsense study) so as to maintain control over them?
The motives of white progressives are alway nefarious?
This is a grievous abuse of the educational system.
This argument is a lot like the one here in Indiana questioning why only 50% graduate from some high schools. The basic premise is ‘what aren’t we doing right’ rather than what are those 50% doing.
Don’t they realize colleges will mark this school as sub-par and refuse to accept graduates from it?
they can change the acronym to BS ..just drop the H
The inmates running the asylum will next be complaining that their product is not equally represented across the spectrum of engineering and science jobs in America and will demand affirmative action laws to require their employment!
A person who has never studied science cannot understand why wind-powered electrical generation is not cost-effective!
A person who has never been exposed to the analytical thinking required in math and science classrooms cannot help but vote democrat. Do you suppose that’s just a coincidence?
To phrase The Bard, “What TWITS these mortals be.” Blind insistence on achieving so-called equality of outcome goals to the exclusion of common sense is killing our education system. Educrats and professional victims have taken control of curricula, and lazy, apathetic citizens are to blame.
It is time for the adults to re-take our institutions. Wake up, folks!
Crusader Joe
Wasn’t the whole point of the de-segregation of schools in the U.S. to give all races the chance to learn together and enjoy the same opportunities? If student A (white) is smarter than student B (black), whose fault is that? Perhaps they should revert back to separate schools for each race and that way, everyone can stop whining.
Did Harrison Bergeron go to this school?
Egad..What a nightmare. No wonder the _average_ Asian kids are overtaking Americans kids.
This is a great disservice to NON-WHITES..by keeping them away from the whitemans tricks (science). Perhaps we need to publicize this as a new conspiracy? to keep nonwhites down?
Its time to find a new interpretation of the “necessary and proper” clause and take over all public schools. Fools. A new generation of adults soaked and drenched in the miasma of Howard Zinn is taking the helm at educational institutions everywhere.
If the parents stand for these shenigans then their kids get what they deserve. Personally I would love to compete for a tech job with one of these poorly educated ass-wipes.
Are there any grown-ups running this school? No wonder we’re dangling at the bottom of the academic food chain in all international studies of academic excellence. The curriculum choices you outline in your article are outrageous! With the “education” offered at this school, we are certain to turn out more dumb, uninformed citizens (voters), which we need like we need another hole in our head! However, Bill Ayers will be overjoyed, no doubt.
Wow, what a shoddy example of modern-day “education”. But what does one expect from a school whose catalog says under “Keeping Your Options Open” they say,
Apparently the under-education process began there a couple of generations ago.
17. Raj: “This is a great disservice to NON-WHITES..by keeping them away from the whitemans tricks”
For centuries, the biggest “whitemans’ trick” has been Christianity (and a little bit of Judaism for spice) which has given the “whiteman” the strength and stamina to keep learning and studying against overwhelming odds. Now what about all those minority brothers and sisters who’ve been succeeding against the odds? Like Condi Rice, or Ursula Burns, for example? Have they been sneaking over to the Christianity department for a little strength and courage? Isn’t this showing disloyalty to their roots?
… where are the times when little Misanthropicus was dilligently rubbing bachelite sticks on cat furs, or spinning Leyden bottle wheels like Faraday, Edison, Tesla or Marconi? Then the rewarding promotion to oscilloscopes, Geiger devices or other extraordinary contraptions… talks about Doppler and red shift effects… rockets… space stations… beautiful times…
I always remember these type of clases as wildly popular –
And here lies the problem faced by Berkeley U (and probably by many other schools in the country) which, obviously, is not the (inexistent) punishing rigors of the chemestry, biology or physics lab classes -
The problem is the fact that we have now in this nation an entire class of teens who, despite the “interestingness” of subjects, SIMPLY HAVE NOT any curiosity for that or that lab – and which are all actually very interesting –
Enormous problem – and unfortunately, I doubt that this situation is the same in China, Japan, Russia and a few other places in the world -
Still, I can see that the “educators” are working at this problem – the best of all is the “Freshperson” Seminar, I haven’t heard of that ’till now (and since here, I remember that girls were actually doing very well in the lab classes).
Yet, as far this course’s aim to push the students to became “deeply analytical” people, I doubt that they’ll go very far –
Also, I didn’t see in Briggs’ description the immersional studies in “heterosupremacy” – I hope they didn’t miss this subject -
Then, where are the vibrancy classes? Last heard about them at Santa Cruz U – I hope the white, heterosupremacists at Berkely don’t keep the Berkeley kids away from such sources of enlightenment -
You reap what you sow – unfortunately we have to reap what the liberals sow -
The great irony here is that having a more just society means having a great educational system so that the less-haves can prepare to move up the economic ladder. Otherwise they get stuck on the bottom rungs living off of government (taxpayer) largess playing video games and producing children who go through the same cycle.
This tragic and hard-to-believe scenario must be caused not only by a whacko school system but also by whacko parents. What a costly shame. What is “pimp psychology” anyway?
Homeschoolers out perform those in the public system by nearly 40 percent on the three major achievement tests; CAT, SAT, Iowa Basic Skills. See Progress Report 2009 at http://www.hslda.org. One reason might be homeschoolers don’t have to deal with school administrations, boards, governmental regulation, etc…. So, why participate in a broken system like public education when you can homeschool? Public schools are just one more governmental service we choose not to participate in, like welfare and the food stamp program. Just about anyone can do better than what is offered through their public school system. “It’s a miracle curiosity survives formal education” Albert Einstein
Pathetic. This will only ruin the accomplishments of the civil rights movement of the 60′s.
I predict that there will eventually be a huge backlash against all minorities that will make the pre-60′s civil rights days look pretty.
It will be terrible because the kids of today that are already anti-authority, immature, self-absorbed, and godless, AND white will just naturally act out against the new establishments oppression.
And they will target those closest to them, the non-white students.
Berkley High School’s staff and school board should be EXPELLED!
23. gordo.
“What is ‘pimp psychology’ anyway?”
The government is the pimp and you, the taxpayer, are the pimped.
Now go make Mr. President and friends some money.
“Afrian-centered thought”? Does that mean that all Africans think alike? Or does it teach the student to think “what would an African think”? Does the school offer a class on “Jewish-centered thought”? Would that be considered anti-Semitic to have a course that teaches there is a “Jewish” way of thinking? But I guess teaching there is an “African” or black way of thinking is not bigoted. How about “Asian-centered” thought? “Antarctic centered” thought?
Welcome to the BSSR (Berkeley Soviet Socialist Republic). If you want to see what liberal racism–viewing Blacks, Latinos and other non-white ethnic groups as helpless infants that need to be coddled and taught down to–look no further than Berkeley. The only students who lose here are those non-White students. I’ve seen the lengths my White colleagues in Berkeley will go to to get superior educations for THEIR children thereby increasing their chances of getting into top-tier colleges. They PAY for extra tutoring, for private courses, for private extracurricular activities and sports. The students who cannot pay for what the school fails to provide (but should provide) are the ones who get screwed. Despite all the rhetoric about equality and diversity and compassion, Berkeley is no different than the old Soviet society: the elite prosper while everyone struggles.
#27 Blacks cried racism in Toronto until the Toronto District School Board capitulated and agreed to open Afro-centric schools. It was a failure, as not enough parents agreed to enrol their kids. How can you teach kids black history and focus on a black-centred curriculum in a country that has no black history to speak of?
This is a good thing, right? It means there`ll be more students taking `Women`s Studies` classes….
I hope they realize that none of these children will be able to avail themselves of the fine university in their city. UC Berkeley has rather high standards for admission, and BHS is only dooming their students to Berkeley City College or a trade school. There is nothing wrong with these schools, but why not shoot for the stars instead of for the gutter?
again…ALL kids suffer for the lowest common denominator. Bring everyone DOWN then they say its equal!!
Parents need to stand up and say NO to the schools, this is crazy. No science because some kids are doing to well?? huh???
I see this in SC as well with schools, maybe not science but the general approach to public schools…lowest common denominator effect.
This total control is happening in schools, govt, ect…PEOPLE NEED TO STAND UP AND SAY NO!! WE WILL NOT BEND OUR KNEE!.
The elitism from the education institutions must stop. They do not know better than everyone else. Many times they know less! Trying to lord it over the people and pat our heads and tell us its ok, they know whats best for us…..BS!!
A generous reader has pointed out (via email) one of my usual idiocies. Where I say “leave a big whole in kids’ days.” Ouch.
This is why, unlike @20 Anonymous, I did not pick on the host of typos and misspellings in Berkeley’s documents (the BHS Action Plan is particularly dirty).
Here is what I wrote on this very subject a few weeks ago..
In Berkley, California, the epicenter of liberalism in America, the local leftists decided to close all science labs because evil White students (and quite possibly evil Asian students) spent inordinate time learning science, while some minorities (blacks and latinos) did not bother to do so. It’s part of the social justice “thing” – if a kid is better than others in physics or math, the liberals will try to bring him down. Instead of promoting talented students (irrespective of their race and ethnicity), the liberals would rather block their path to knowledge. This is a disgrace! I cannot find the words to explain how evil it is what they do. Instead of growing kids into new Einstein and Landau, the liberals would rather turn them into lazy bums and ignoramuses. It’s like these people have a death wish…
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/2009/12/this-is-outrageous.html
Just went to the Berkeley Yellowjackets website to check out the football and basketball programs. 3 or 4 token whiteys on the fb team and not a single white face on the bb team. I’m sure in the interest of diversity they’ll be cutting those programs as well.
If not enough black and Hispanic kids are taking science labs, the logical thing to do is require completion of science labs in order to graduate. If you can’t get a D in a simple chemistry or physics lab, you don’t deserve a diploma.
Come come now, there has been no science in science classes for years. Labs are just “scripted” paridigms of
the past. An excercise in chicken plucking would be more relevant and useful. The white kids have just figured out the scam, and suck up better; thats all.
Besides,a real science education makes one unfit for a job with the goverment, the media, the NGOs, and most large companies.And forget about math altogether, do you want to ruin their chances of working for a bank?
As an educator for over four decades, I can confirm that what’s described in this article is par for the course in the public education systems of just about every Western nation. The appalling dumbing down, of both expectations and of aspirations to self-betterment, is, sadly, not unbelievable at all, though it’s certainly reprehensible. (A really fine analysis of this leftist, pea-brained scandal is Melanie Philips’s book, “All Must Have Prizes”.)
It’s unfortunate, but I believe that isay’s comment, “I predict that there will eventually be a huge backlash against all minorities that will make the pre-60’s civil rights days look pretty” is right on the money: that will happen when our lefty brainwashed, but, by then, impecunious, children are gobsmacked by the reality that their hard earned wages have run out (down the multicultural sink-hole) and Western governments are broke, but there’s no decrease in the number of clenched, entitled fists being held up to bully appropriate our kids’ assets in order to satisfy the underclass’s own, irresponsible (lefty-sanctioned) ends. (This is the “redistribution of wealth” to which Obama is so committed.)
The fact that the readily identifiable, incompetent groups in Western societies are never held accountable for their anti-social, destructive behaviour is finally going to become all too apparent to the responsible, competent sector of society, which is not only forced to pay for the gross negligence and stupidity of the underclass (and of its prosperous, lefty enablers), but is also held responsible for both the underclass’s very existence, and its failure to progress. (Check out Theodore Dalrymple’s very fine analysis of this scandal in his book, “Life at the Bottom”.) As a Canadian, whose (white) British, educated, community-minded ancestors built a functioning democracy above the 49th parallel and provided a haven of peace, good government, and economic prosperity to millions of the world’s less fortunate, I’m sick to death of this corrupt, anti-democracy/capitalist game of triple jeopardy being played by our treasonous leftists.
Where I’m from, teachers regularly pass underachieving students—no matter how irresponsible they are—because, if teachers don’t, THEY’RE hauled into the office to explain how THEY will improve THEIR performance, in order to insure the student improves. This injustice comes with a corresponding mountain of paperwork (and gross insult) attached. Should not the abysmally irresponsible, underachieving student be held to account? Surely, one jests! Administration doesn’t even countenance such a risible thought. (They’d need to look up the word, “risible”!)
(I’m waiting for the prosperous—sort of—and generous Western nations, which are lined up ten deep, to help in Haiti, to be blamed for the debacle there. It’s coming.)
When the institutions of a society hold only its responsible citizens to account for all its ills, while entirely exonerating the feckless from any accountability at all, the outlook is bleak, indeed. Kyrie eleison.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord what fools these mortals be.
And those things do best please me
That befall preposterously.
Well, all I can say is, MY grandchildren will be rulers over the ignoramuses produced by the likes of Berkeley High School. Sad for the kids though, locked into a life of failure and superstitious gullibility by their lack of any kind of meaningful education.
university professors tell me that when these stupid “diversity” ones come in they are unteachable. that is not only because they are stupid, which they are, but these dumbed down students have not even a nodding acquaintance with the process of learning. plus, because they virtually illiterate, they have no frame of reference for further studies.
we are free falling very far very fast.
I don’t know if he’s been mentioned, but check out Andrew Neather (I won’t suggest google anymore). He’s an Englishman, a speech writer for several leaders, who boasted about the immigration policies of England and, IIRC, Western Europe in general. He stated, candidly, that the goal of the policies were to obliterate any vestige of “Britishness” in GB!
Given the similar mind-set of European and American progressives, can anyone seriously doubt that the morons at BHS (and beyond) have the same end-goal? They’re all about destroying Western Culture. Nothing less.
I hate the idea of suppressing free speech, but it’s insanely suicidal to allow segments of a society, any society, to openly advocate the destruction of that society.
I don’t know exaclty where the line is to be drawn, but clearly a society that would suppress those that agitate for openness and liberty should not be legitimized or treated as equals(Iran, China, NK, Syria, etc.)
A society that stands for personal liberty and freedom must be defended, even from within. Again, I don’t know at what point we can legitimately do so, but as Supreme Court Justice Jackson said, “The Constitution isn’t a suicide pact.”
I feel a sense of urgency about the events unfolding before us, both large and small, that spell the disintegration of the Republic. At what point can we act?
Schools are just a joke in America now. When are parents going to realize that they can download the knowledge they need their kids to have and form an EDUCATION CO-OP make sure their kids have a real education. It is time to leave!
lookout;
but there’s no decrease in the number of clenched, entitled fists being held up to bully appropriate our kids’ assets in order to satisfy the underclass’s own, irresponsible (lefty-sanctioned) ends
The biggest entitlement is Social Security and the largest portion of the federal budget. And those seniors have no intention of un-clenching their fists.
The best chance for minorities and the less-haves is charter schools and vouchers. All studies show this recipe works very well. Well, our education president just signed legislation ending vouchers for 1700 minority kids in DC. Imagine the mother receiving a letter telling her she has to pull her kid out of Sidwell Friends (where Obama sends his kids) and send him back to the local thug holding pen (i.e., DC public school)? Tears streaming down her face knowing that her son has just been pushed back into the “no future zone” by the first black president. Its shameful.
They cut non-curriculum, after school hours labs.
“The Berkeley High School Governance Council (SGC) voted last week to approve the latest school redesign plan, including a controversial proposal to eliminate science lab instruction that is currently offered before and after regular school hours.”
Just in case anyone wanted to know the whole story
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2009-12-17/article/34289?headline=Plan-to-Eliminate-Science-Labs-Stirs-Controversy-at-Berkeley-High
25. isay:
“It will be terrible because the kids of today that are already anti-authority, immature, self-absorbed, and godless, AND white will just naturally act out against the new establishments oppression. And they will target those closest to them, the non-white students.”
YOU THINK THAT IT’S THE WHITE KIDS WHO ARE DANGEROUS? I THINK YOU NEED TO CHECK THE CRIME STATISTICS ASAP. FURTHERMORE, MOST OF THE RIDICULOUS FEEL-GOOD CLASSES ARE DESIGNED TO FOSTER “WHITE GUILT” WHICH IS AN ATTACK ON WHITE STUDENTS.
What “13. bubblehead” pointed out has already happened. Bubblehead said: “The inmates running the asylum will next be complaining that their product is not equally represented across the spectrum of engineering and science jobs in America and will demand affirmative action laws to require their employment!”
The website InsideHigherEd, which reports news from the universities, has a report today on the so-called problem of lack of minority (Black and Latino) professors in the sciences. MIT hired plenty of minority professors in the arts and soft sciences, such as sociology, etc., but has few minority professors in physics, math, and other hard sciences. (Asians don’t count as a minority in these studies!! Why? Apparently because they are successful and are well represented in the hard sciences.) Black and Latinos are claiming they are being discriminated against in the hard sciences at MIT because fewer are hired in the sciences, as opposed to departments in the arts and social sciences,” and a lower percentage get tenured in the hard science departments when contrasted to majority and Asian candidates for promotion and tenure.
Instead of a high school getting rid of the labs because Black and Latino students do poorly, why doesn’t the school simply tell these youths to (1) work harder if they find the labs difficult, (2) provide after-school supervised study periods during which these students can get extra help. The extra help can be provided by those students who are doing especially well in the labs. Intelligent high school students make perfectly fine peer helpers in such cases. Peer teachers provide both cognitive help and age-appropriate social modelling for how to study, how to pay attention, how to work.
Hey, A Ruckus of Dogs, I hear you. BUT, the majority of seniors have paid their dues.
I’m talking the segment of society—being pandered to at BSH—that has not paid, and won’t pay, their dues but will demand their entitlements. When a critical mass of this underclass wreaks its havoc on the productive members of society—I think that’s the goal of Obama and his ACORN friends—we’ll all be in big trouble.
As I and others have pointed out, what we’re talking here is the opposite of the idea of the British common law, an inheritance that stood the West in very good stead for centuries.
Judy, NYC, many of these kids are unteachable long before university—with the connivance of the authorities: that’s another piece of the puzzle that’s so scary. The authorities, which should be setting and upholding high standards, are a huge part of the problem. In order for teachers to do their jobs today they need to be subversive: they’re working against a totally corrupt system. Sooner or later, most of us get caught out. It’s a very ugly picture.
Be at ease. Berkley is just churning out the next batch of whining, dependent and know nothing democrats for the next general election.
Most of those classes described as alternatives were all summarily in the same department when I was in school, under the heading “navel gazing”.
“Don’t they realize colleges will mark this school as sub-par and refuse to accept graduates from it?”
For science engineering programs yes — if it were the main period classes that were being cut. Some schools treat any entry level lower than Calc 1 or even Calc 2 as remedial and not counting towards degree credit. Same for science. If you don’t have the big 3 (Biol/Chem/Phys) with a lab component then you have to catch up and that may hold back the student one-to-two semesters. That’s money and time p*ssed away and a student may opt out for a STEM-defiicnet liberal arts degree. For various liberal arts degrees, that would may fine, as far as rigor goes, they’re the high school after high school and at most may require stats or the minimum math requirement (high school – aka “College” Algebra).
As for the idea that they’re just cutting after school programs, that’s still not acceptable. Equity at a school that houses both professors’ kids and members of the underclass (as opposed to mainstream middle/upper class vs underclass) makes for a clearer appearance of inequity. But as Anon’s article implies, the lower performance limit is not much different than that of non-college towns. Equity as a rational is BS. And why overall, is there inequity within the system no matter where it may be? It’s not “race” or even “class” but parental and environmental commitment to excellence — but the individual buck falls squarely on the backs of the children’s families. While such underclass families may not have the in-house where-with-all to support their kids who want to aim high, after school STEM programs (like the one we’re talking about) let them outsource.
I read this somewhere (forget where) but it seems appropriate here:
Berkeley – too small to be a nation-state; too big to be an insane asylum.
If all are equally ignorant, American society will be better off? They know that isn’t true. But it’s easier to get rid of science labs than it is to find out why “not enough” minority students are taking them and work toward changing that. Only the left would work from the assumption that science is not part of minority Americans’ culture and so must be eradicated. This school’s graduates will all have their future choices curtailed if this bit of lunacy succeeds.
What bigot is watching grades and race anyway.
Wow. Totally obvious that people know what they are talking about on this thread. Obviously from the Bay Area…
FYI, the proposal is to integrate these labs, previously taught at the 0 or 7 period, into the regular 1-6 period school day. Further, these labs are attended by both regular and AP students (regular 1x/week; AP 2x/week).
But, Pajamas Media peeps, headline includes Berkeley and you feel compelled to comment. Ignorance and all. Gotta love it. Especially the link to Townhall.com. Awesome.
Sources:
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2010-01-14/article/34460?headline=School-Board-to-Tackle-BHS-Science-Labs-Feb.-3
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/01/13/superintendent-huyett-issues-statement-on-science-lab-debate/comment-page-1/
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-01-06/bay-area/17470276_1_science-labs-parents-protest-regular-class
When all the students are at the ABSOLUTELY lowest common denominator — that denominator is to be completely uneducated despite having attended school, i.e. they are cultural baboons, barbarians…
I think that has already been achieved in some inner schools…
It is a perfect farm system for the socialist transformation of the US and the world. People thus “educated” will all vote democrat, will all gravitate toward government jobs – which they will perform badly and with an attitude – and will all be forever incapable of critical thought or objectivity.
We need to begin a transformation to all private schools. The only government involvement should be to provide tuition vouchers in much the same way they provide food stamps. Either that or let them open government supermarkets and see how long it takes for rioting to occur.
@56 avoidswork (still?),
It’s difficult, I know, to gauge satire, but the thrust of this article is on the ridiculous PC classes Berkeley offers.
What say you to the lectures on “pimp psychology”? In high school?
Anyway, the main thrust of Berkeley’s maneuvers, as they themselves said, was to eliminate the inequality gap. What say you to this quote?
Also, it appears another thing they’re after is to award teachers an extra week out of the classroom, at a shocking increase to the budget (look for the links, also at the BHS page, for the Redesign Analysis slides.).
Author Briggs:
If you could tell me you know what is entailed in the “pimp psychology” lectures, I think we could have an honest conversation.
(Let’s think how we have seen in society African-American females victimized by their male counterparts. Let’s remember how Rihanna was beat up by her boyfriend Chris Brown and the AA community didn’t say anything, but yet would comment on a cartoon showing watermelons grown on the WH lawn).
Notice you do not bother to address what I pointed out – namely that these labs aren’t being eliminated, that students don’t always attend these 0 or 7 period labs they enrolled in, that AP students take them 2x a week versus 1x a week by “regular” students, etc.
I get the need on a site such as this to make fun of Berkeley, lefties and the like. But your article was about BHS w/o any valid claims except you making fun of the Course Catalog (very impressed, btw, that you provided a link to it).
How horrible to have students in Berkeley, CA elect to take classes on, gulp, being non-white or being taught from a non-white perspective?! Oh Noes!
To recap:
I gave you three links refuting what you said. Can you do the same?
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((BTW — Shall I change my handle to something more palatable for you? maybe “myth buster BA” or “Megan in SF” or to follow off of #49′s handle of “lookout” should i be “Here I Come!”? love that that is your first comment instead of the fallacies in your article/satire piece.))
Simple solution: school vouchers for all districts.
Author Briggs: I did post a response, however it appears to have fallen into the abyss.
You say: “If equality of outcome with respect to grades is BHS’s goal, then eliminating the lab courses does ensure that all students will be equally poor in science. And when the administrators bring their report cards home, the paperwork will show an increase in “equality.””
Briefly: I still am still awaiting your correction regarding the “eliminating the lab courses” when, in fact, the plan is to phase them into the 1 to 6 period time, not the 0 or 7 periods.
Next: “p*mp psychology” – interesting how you link the BHS catalog in your article, and do not expand upon it. You tell me the syllabus for this portion of the class (in the African Studies section, course titled “Black Male/Female Relationships”) is inappropriate, and we *may* have a discussion. But we have seen in the recent Rihanna/Chris Brown “incident” that maybe, there is some merit to discussing this and why/how the Afr-Am community won’t speak out against domestic violence, but will speak out about a cartoon showing watermelons growing on the lawn of the White House.
I challenge you to use the power of Teh Internets or Teh Google to do some more research as to the proposal for eliminating the inequality gap. What sayeth you?
Read the slides (1/21/09); cannot find your “award teachers and extra week” comment. Can you clarify where on BHS home page this is located?
BTW, like my handle name, seems to give the impression I don’t work instead of being chosen on a fit of whimsy. Oddly, sometimes that’s is the only jab I receive with respect to my comments. Should I rename myself “here I come!” (#49 called self “lookout”)? Maybe “GirlinBayArea?” or “Herd of Gazelles” in honor of “A Ruckus of Dogs”? But, I find it comforting that you chose that as the first to comment on instead of the inaccuracies of your own “reporting” or “satire”…
62. avoidswork: “I still am still awaiting your correction regarding the “eliminating the lab courses” when, in fact, the plan is to phase them into the 1 to 6 period time, not the 0 or 7 periods.”
Hmmm . . . All the local Berkeley links to this article suggest that the courses are being eliminated. Are they all mistaken? Do you have any sources to verify that your position quoted above is the correct one?
@62 avoidswork,
Look on pages 13 and 14 of the Redesign Analysis, which is right on the BHS home page—you have to work at missing it. These are where the scenarios to eliminate the science labs are first shown. Then look at every quote from their School Governance Council to show that one of these lab-eliminating scenarios was chosen.
The “Action Plan”, also on the home page, explains all the details of allowing the teachers the extra week off. They do not say “week off”, but instead use hours, which masks, or obfuscates, the amount of time off” but the amount of time amounts to about a week’s worth. And watch out for the typos and misspellings! They’re worse than I am.
I have no idea who or what the “Rihanna/Chris Brown ‘”incident’” is, nor how it could rate a special, black American only lecture in pimp psychology to explain it. I am not of the opinion that blacks are different and should be treated differently.
And that is why I don’t need “Teh Google” to research my solution to end inequality in grades. Stop treating people differently. Stop teaching people to be expect to be treated differently.
O.K. so since the dummies can’t cut the mustard in science you eliminate the course altogether making sure that all are now dummies.
How about offering a course that allows remedial studies for the dummies to catch up and then take more advanced courses.
Connie: Your quote about Berkerly being too big to be an insane asylum but too small to be a nation-state was actually said by a local unionist in South Carolina, shortly before that state seceded from the union.
Same holds true here. These people are nuts…and they are also racist. The implication is that minority kids can’t cut it in difficult classes. Folks in South Carolina, circa late 1860 feared black freedom and citizenship.
Let me see – a school has special classes for a certain ethnicity but they are not racist. Yes, that reasoning probably works in some mushy minds.
On the other hand, to avoid being racist the BHS School Governance council was probably eliminating special [racist] classes because they only contained students of one ethnicity. Well, maybe two or three races at best. How forward-thinking of the school. They should be saluted! Council members are probably honing their resumes readying for a run in the next city council election. Sure sounds as if they qualify for Berzerkely.
Multiculturalism = Mediocrity
“Multiculturalism is the acceptance or promotion of multiple ethnic cultures, for practical reasons and/or for the sake of diversity and applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, . . . multiculturalists advocate extending equitable status to distinct ethnic and religious groups without promoting any specific ethnic, religious, and/or cultural community values as central:” Wikipedia
All that gobbledegook regarding the multisyllabic, favorite liberal buzzword of multiculturalism can be reduced to a simple declarative sentence: It’s a plan to cultivate mediocrity.
As so many left wing precepts, it all sounds very nice in principle; in practice, it’s a dud that, applied to education, fosters the idea that a Tower of Babel is preferable to towers of learning. In its effort to promote many cultures, it serves to denigrate America’s “central” values.
Take Berkeley High School, located in the belly of the beast, Berkeley, California, home to U.C. Berkeley, possibly the most leftist-infested institution of higher learning in the country.
With that influence so close by and pervasive, perhaps it’s no wonder . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1429)
I read the article suggested by anonmys 46. You all should read it. You all should do what I am going to do and read the original proposal. The article on pjms seemed to tell part of te story. We all need to do what I teach my students to do, know the information before commenting on it.
36@myth buster
>If you can’t get a D in a simple chemistry or physics lab,
>you don’t deserve a diploma.
In Los Angeles the parents will cry racism and the exams diluted down to the point the kid passes. Actually that was ten years ago. Now it’s LAUSD policy.
The Unenlightenment
The key game to the Unelightenment is to claim that if you can’t prove you are being damaged by thus and so, then you have no right to isolate yourself from it even though that would be the one way of proving whether it was damaging you or not.
Its the basic way in which the West has fallen short of the Enlightenment—the Achilles heel of the West.
No one else is required to justify their beliefs and territorial control with empirical evidence because the Enlightenment wasn’t their idea. Only we are so required, but then we are prohibited from doing what it takes to get that empirical evidence in the social sciences: exclude and expel.
To put the game in stark terms: It is more acceptable to impose treatments on people without their consent when they can’t prove harm, than it is to relocate people when some others think they are harming them but can’t prove it.
I’ve never seen that trade off even explicated in public discourse.
Insanity
Yes, and this sort of thing gets you into serious trouble in the real world. Witness the p.c. attitudes adopted by military leaders who should have known better than to retain and promote Army Maj. Nidal Hassan and Navy Capt. Holly Graf.
@69 Critical thinker is exactly right. Everybody should download and read the BHS course catalog. Do not take my word for it. I did not have space to list every course: look especially among those in the “Small departments.”
@71 kochevnik
I, with you, blame a lot of this nonsense on the Enlightenment. But I’m guessing the term “Unenlightenment” will never catch on.
I actually have taught there as a long-term sub. I am surprised that it has come to this. There are many good and responsible teachers there at Berkeley High School. I subbed in science classes often and the classes were good. The kids were intelligent and treated me well.
There had been talk of the fact that the shop classes, “manual arts”, had been dropped because there were too many non-white faces there. I used to think that this was just speculation, but now, after hearing this story, I think that it probably was true.
When I left, the white kids at BHS were thinking of forming a European Culture Club, clearly a reaction to feeling put upon by all the other race oriented clubs there.
RLC
Sigh. Who will dissect the nations frogs now?
“Politics and Power” WHAT A CLASS!
Criminey, I’ll bet they study somebody who said, “Political power comes from the barrel of a gun.” Rights? Where did you get that old fashioned term?
what a mess i woudn’t want to go to that school
In so far as people in Berkeley are similar to the stereotype of people from Berkeley, the last thing I want is educated, scientific people from Berkeley. They want to be ignorant of reality because it is harmful to their worldview. I want them to be ignorant because knowledge of reality might give them the power to impose their fantasies on others. Therefore, both of use wish them to be ignorant. It’s win-win.