Krugman on Trump

The following tweets came out shortly after President Trump's inauguration.  They're from Paul Krugman, the NYT's favorite Chinese-communist-loving economist.  I've held onto this pic for awhile and am writing this post on 3/12/17, scheduling it for 1/31/18.  How did he do?

Remember, this is the same man who said on election night, “If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never.”

The Wall Street Journal, just now: Dow Surges 303 Points to Top 21000 for First Time. “The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 300 points to cross 21000 for the first time Wednesday, as investors embraced optimism from President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve officials. Stocks have soared since November, with the blue-chip index surpassing 19000, 20000—and now 21000—since Election Day.”

Stocks will drop sooner or later, of course, but that won’t vindicate Krugman, who claimed on election night that Trump’s election was an immediate economic and financial apocalypse.  link

Update, 10/17/17: Still the market goes higher, almost a year after the election.

Update, 11/12/17:  Krugman said the following in 1998: "By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's."  Yeah, he is clearly not someone whose prognostications are to be sought or valued.

Update, 12/19/17: Dow rises 5,000 points in a year for the first time ever

Update, 2/8/17:  It's not exactly about the market but is somewhat related; perhaps Krugman, who used to be an economist, can explain how this could happen:

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, dropping to its lowest level in nearly 45 years as the labor market tightened further, bolstering expectations of faster wage growth this year.

Sure, eventually the market will need a correction, and perhaps some of those new jobs will be lost.  Krugman's comments above, though, are factually incorrect.  He has gone from economist to political hack and, as I said above, is clearly not someone whose prognostications are to be sought or valued.

Another In a Long Line

Teach For America.  Troops to Teachers.  Project Pipeline.  There have been plenty of alternative certification routes for teachers over the years, and now here's one from MIT:

Math, chemistry and physics teachers are in short supply. A new MIT-based program is trying to turn scientists, engineers and programmers into teachers, reports Hechinger’s Jon Marcus.

As long as those engineers don't wear sexist shirts, I guess they'll be ok. (BTW, the woman who designed the shirt modeled the women on it after "Vampire Women From Mars!"-type movie posters from the 1950s.  And here's the shirt.

Now that we've gone through all this, let's hope MIT's teacher training program includes a "dress for success" course.  While I don't find the shirt sexist at all, I find it, uh, "distasteful".  Ah heck, let's just call it what it is--hideous!!!

I Blame Systemic Racism

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

In analyzing federal data for an in-depth examination of the nation’s historically black colleges and universities, the AJC found that the six-year graduation rates at 20 schools were 20 percent or lower in 2015.

This means that four of five beginning freshmen at those schools didn’t earn a degree within six years. 

Making All Of Us Look Bad

Hard to believe how many students came to class today and asked me if I'd heard of this guy:

A video in which a Southern California high school teacher is heard slamming members of the military as “the frickin’ lowest of our low” in a classroom rant to students has gone viral.

El Rancho High history teacher Gregory Salcido -- who also serves as an elected Pico Rivera city councilman and was once mayor -- even goes so far as to refer to those who are in the military overseas as failed students who had no choice but to serve, "Fox & Friends" reported Sunday.

“Think about the people you know who are over there,” Salcido is heard saying. “Your freakin' stupid Uncle Louie or whatever. They're dumb s - - - s. They're not high-level bankers. They're not academic people. They're not intellectual people."

“They’re the freakin’ lowest of our low.”

He is also heard questioning why military recruiters were allowed to visit the school.

I'm sure it's easy for that coward to attack his betters.

The student who shot the video told local news outlets that he shot the video Jan. 19 during a government class at the Pico Rivera school.

He told CBS2 Los Angeles that he took out his cellphone when Salcido started lecturing another student who was wearing a Marines sweatshirt.

If the kid broke a rule by using his phone, I'd give him at most a detention.  There must be a penalty, however small, for breaking the rule, as I wouldn't want to give the impression that the ends justify the means.  If I were the kid, though, I'd wear such a penalty as a badge of honor, trusting that the teacher's penalty was stiffer.

Update, 1/30/18:  Couldn't have happened to a bigger d-bag:

The Southern California teacher facing a firestorm after he was recorded by a student bashing the military in a profane classroom rant has been placed on administrative leave and removed from all assignments he'd be given as a city councilman.

Gregory Salcido, the El Rancho High School teacher and elected Pico Rivera city councilman, will not be able to enter the classroom while school officials conduct an investigation into the recording, the Whittier Daily News reported late Monday.

The Times, They Are A'Changin'

Jerry Brown and Joe Biden are still around today and are singing an entirely different tune:

Some liberal Democrats are fighting back tears when discussing President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslims from seven nations.

But in 1975, leftist Dems went to great lengths to keep Vietnamese refugees (even orphans) out of the United States.

Trump issued the order, the White House said, so that a better system to vet refugees coming from those nations can be put into place.

The Democrat complaints in 1975 appeared to center on the fact that the refugees were escaping communism, an ideology, analysts say, liberals did not find that objectionable.

Leading the effort to ban the Vietnamese refugees was California’s Gov. Jerry Brown. Other prominent Democrats calling for the ban were Delaware’s Sen. Joe Biden, former presidential “peace candidate” George McGovern, and New York Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman.

Perhaps their stance on immigration has "evolved".

Update, 1/29/18:  Here's Chuck Schumer, too.  Is that raaaaaaacism I read?

For The Love Of Spock

In July 2016, I was in Vulcan, Alberta, Canada for Vul-con, the annual Star Trek convention held there (post with pictures here).  The guest of honor was Adam Nimoy, Leonard's son.  He was there to dedicate a plaque in honor of his father, as well as to attend the convention.

During his Q&A, Adam discussed a movie he was making about his father, For The Love Of Spock.  It's  very personal movie, talking not only about his dad but also his sometimes very rocky relationship with his dad.

I just finished watching it.  A very well done documentary, I liked it.

Conan, What Is BS In Life?

BS is third-tier universities offering mediocre graduate programs to train second-rate Ph.D. students for jobs that do not exist, whose real function is to provide faculty with graduate RAs and to justify the title of "university." link

Not quite as evocative as crushing your enemies, seeing them driven before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women, but still pretty accurate.

More From The People's Republik

This is just plain crazy:

Calderon, the Democratic majority leader in California's lower house, has introduced a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from offering customers straws with their beverages unless they specifically request one. Under Calderon's law, a waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw in it would face up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

Liberals and their crazy laws. The lack of proportionality here tells you that this is dogma for them, not reason.  Why not just burn the heretics at the stake?

This Is Clearly A Lie

I'm repeatedly assured that voter fraud is a conservative myth:

An elderly couple wanted to vote for the Republican in a 2017 special election in North Philadelphia.

First they were told they had to go “get a stamp” outside the polling place — where Democrats handed out stamps for write-in candidates. Then, when an Election Board worker heard they wanted to vote Republican, a witness heard him bellow: “Not on my machine!” And though they both said they eventually cast ballots, in the end only one GOP vote was recorded at the polling place.

Those were some of the allegations to emerge this week from the investigation into Election Board workers who allegedly interfered with the March 21 race for the state House’s 197th District. Four Democrats are awaiting trial on charges of committing fraud, intimidating voters and tampering with public records at the polling site at the Esperanza Health Center in the 43rd Ward.

Racism At A Nearby School

The following, from the major Sacramento newspaper, occurred at a school not too distant from mine:

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating allegations of racism in Mira Loma High School’s prestigious International Baccalaureate program after the National Center for Youth Law filed a civil rights complaint saying school officials did nothing when African American students were harassed and belittled because of their race.

The complaint also charges that African American students at Mira Loma are suspended at unusually high rates, and that the school has denied African American students access to educational opportunities.

The complaint was filed on behalf of Makayla Madkins and De’Ajhane Caldwell, two cousins who both attended the elite IB program at the campus in the 2016-17 school year. The two girls were among a handful of black students in the program, which was dominated by white and Asian students. They say they were continually harassed by a classmate they identified as Persian, and who is identified simply as V.B. in the complaint.

San Juan Unified School District acknowledged Tuesday that it had received a letter from the federal Office of Civil Rights requesting information. “Any concerns that have been raised to us directly we have investigated, and we will continue to work until we reach a full resolution,” said district spokesman Trent Allen.

Let's pause here for a moment, and look at the 2nd paragraph.  I don't doubt for a minute that black students are suspended at rates higher than other students, as that happens all over the country.  That's not automatic evidence of racism, so what causes it?  Well, you either have to believe that teachers everywhere are racist, or perhaps you consider what I wrote in this recent post.

Skipping past that overarching racism argument, what happened to the girls?

The complaint, filed in December, says the boy targeted Caldwell during her first-period Spanish class, calling her the N-word and making other racist and offensive comments as often as twice a week.

Often, when Caldwell raised her hand in class to speak, the boy would say that black people are dumb, referring to her with the N-word, the complaint charges. He also used sexually derogatory language, said Makayla Madkins’s sister Chardonnay Madkins, a 2010 graduate of the IB program.

“It made me kind of feel bad, but it also made me angry,” Caldwell said Tuesday. “He would say it a lot.”

The complaint says the Spanish teacher heard the boy’s comments on several occasions, but intervened only once. The teacher sent him to the office after he referred to Caldwell as “a N-word” while he was arguing with another student. Caldwell said the teacher never spoke to her about the incident even after sending V.B. out of the room. 

I can see not sending a student to the office if they just get sent back to class, so I won't fault the Spanish teacher.  It's hard to fault the school administrators, though, as for years we've been under pressure from the state and the feds to stop enforcing discipline.  No, of course no one uses those exact words, they couch it in terms of "reducing suspensions" or "not penalizing a student's education because of his/her behavior".  The result is the same, and it's been the same across the country. and that's bedlam.  Seriously.  (Clearly, Joanne Jacobs has been on the case for awhile.)  Our administrators, school and district, are in sort of a Catch-22.

But let's get back to the story:

At the same time Caldwell, 16, was being targeted by V.B. in class, the complaint says he also used racial slurs against her cousin Madkins online – though the girls at first did not realize they were being targeted by the same boy.

Madkins, 17, objected to the use of derogatory language against mentally impaired people that V.B.’s sister, also a Mira Loma student, had posted on Instagram, the complaint says. In response, Madkins said in an interview, V.B. called her the N-word in a social media post.

See, I have issues with this.  I know many disagree, but I don't think the school has any business worrying about what kids do on social media.  And outside of educating kids about the social appropriateness, or lack thereof, of racial epithets, I don't think the school should punish a student for using on on that student's own social media account.  That's not the school's business.  Clearly, I think cyberbullying is blown all out of proportion, too, and again, I know many disagree with that.  Should I be fired for expressing that thought here, on my own blog?

Anyway, the article is much longer, and if some of the allegations in it are true (e.g., school administrators continually held off meeting with the parents), I can see some trouble brewing.  The students also allege that IB students at the school are treated very differently than the non-IB students are, and I absolutely believe that, although I'm not convinced that thinking higher-performing students are easier to teach than lower-performing students is any kind of crime.

Bottom line?  In my opinion, there's a lot less there than the article wants us to believe.  We really have only one side of the story--the black students'--and we have a lot of muck thrown on the wall as legal complaints to see what sticks.  There seem to be some issues that merit attention, but not at the level of the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

On the other hand, even mere allegations of racial impropriety can be the kiss of death in today's society, so I expect there will be many mountains made from these anthills.

Even If You Don't Support The Death Penalty...

...would you reconsider your position in this case?

Animal cruelty investigators are looking for the person or persons responsible for fatally beating a puppy found dangling by its leash last week in Sacramento.

The city and animal advocacy groups are offering a $7,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever abused and killed the dog, a small, dark mixed breed that a citizen discovered hanging from a tree on Jan. 19 along the levee in the 5000 block of Riverside Boulevard, near the Little Pocket neighborhood.

A necropsy of the animal found “diffuse and traumatic injuries throughout the entire body,” including “fractures from nose to tail” and abdominal injuries, said chief animal control officer Jace Huggins. “These injuries suggest severe, severe abuse.”

Veterinarians estimated the dog, weighing about 12 pounds, to be about 4 months old.

This Is Where It All Began

On January 24, 1848, while inspecting the tailrace of John Sutter's sawmill at Coloma, James Marshall discovered gold--setting off the California Gold Rush of 1849.  Here are a few pictures from the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park in Coloma, maybe a 45 minute drive from my house.

The American River at Coloma

Replica of Sutter's sawmill

Monument at the site of the original sawmill

 

A view of the "main intersection" in Coloma, with the South Fork of the American River barely visible downstream (to the left) from the one-way bridge

It's a fun place to take out-of-towners.  It's educational and historic, but it's also bucolic and beautiful.  There's a nice exhibit there showing the contributions of Chinese workers, and a house owned by a prominent black family, in addition to displays about gold mining and life in a gold camp.


Less than 3 years after Marshall's discovery, California entered the Union as the 31st state.  And it all started here.

Coda:  both Sutter and Marshall died poor.

13th Blogiversary

I wrote my first blog post on January 23rd, 2005.  For a couple of years I averaged 3 blog posts a day, racking up over 1100 posts a year for awhile.  I downshifted when I started my master's program, and even now that that's finished, I still haven't gotten back to 3 per day.  My blog used to get many times more hits per day then than it does now, so perhaps it's good that I'm not so prolific--not as many people care about my thoughts!

Several months ago I toyed with the idea of ending this blog today, but I don't think I'm going to do that.  I enjoy writing it, more than you probably imagine I do.  So while I may not continue for another 13 years, the end isn't in sight.  Not just yet.

Here's my first blog post, 13 years old today.  Here are some other blogiversary posts I've done over the years.  In this one in particular I highlight Joanne Jacobs' influence in starting to write my own blog.  And, of course, here's probably the best post I ever did write or will write, from 2008.

The "Paper Budget"

From the sounds of things, our school has clear-cut several forests to make all the paper we're using this year.  In fact, given the portion of the budget we've allocated to paper, we're on track to use up our entire allotment in April.

School doesn't get out till early June.  I'm sure you can see the problem.

To deal with the issue, our principal sent out the following message:

I have not had to manage paper use before, but we will need to do so for the remainder of the year. Below are the procedures you should follow when you need paper:



1. Figure out the number of copies you will need to make.

2. Email (the controller) or stop in her office to let her know how much you need and she can have it ready for you. ((The controller) will not be loading the machine for you so you can stay in your room to send copies)

3. Go to (the controller's) office to get your paper and make your copies.



Thanks for understanding.

That's the world in which I operate. *sigh*

How Broken Is The Education System in California?

This broken, according to the major Sacramento newspaper:

California’s education dilemma can be stated rather simply, to wit:

The state has 6 million kids in its K-12 public school system, 60 percent of them are classified as either poor or English-learners and as a group they trail badly in educational accomplishment.

The state’s political leaders and education officials acknowledge what they call the “achievement gap” and say they are working to close it, mostly by appropriating more money for instruction.

However, they also have minimized it by adopting an accountability system, called “the dashboard,” for schools that makes academic achievement only one of several measures of their competency, and leaves improvement largely in the hands of local school officials...

“The dashboard system rates districts in several categories that impact student learning. But – mirroring a nationwide shift away from a narrow focus on tests – it offers special help to ones with sagging academics only if they also suspend a high number of students or graduate too few of them.

“If extremely low, declining performance on math and reading exams alone were enough to trigger state support, the number of California districts that could expect it would almost double from 228 to more than 400, a CALmatters analysis shows.”

In other words, the dashboard, as critics had predicted it would, masks the true extent of California’s education crisis and implicitly makes the situation look better than it is...

This hide-the-pea strategy is quite purposeful. The education establishment shuns responsibility for low academic achievement and battles constantly with an “Equity Coalition” over accountability issues, including more transparency in how extra money allocated to help “high-needs” students is being spent.

The situation is particularly galling because there’s no inherent reason why disadvantaged kids can’t learn, graduate from high school, go to college and otherwise become successful members of society.

It's almost as if the people running our education system in this state don't truly want to identify the problem, and hence, don't truly want to fix it.

Immigration

Here's the "immigration" section of the 1996 Democratic Party platform.  Yes, that's from 22 years ago, but it's millenia away from where the Democratic Party is today, shutting down the government over the children of illegal immigrants (all boldface is mine):

Immigration. Democrats remember that we are a nation of immigrants. We recognize the extraordinary contribution of immigrants to America throughout our history. We welcome legal immigrants to America. We support a legal immigration policy that is pro-family, pro-work, pro-responsibility, and pro-citizenship, and we deplore those who blame immigrants for economic and social problems.

We know that citizenship is the cornerstone of full participation in American life. We are proud that the President launched Citizenship USA to help eligible immigrants become United States citizens. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is streamlining procedures, cutting red tape, and using new technology to make it easier for legal immigrants to accept the responsibilities of citizenship and truly call America their home.

Today's Democratic Party also believes we must remain a nation of laws. We cannot tolerate illegal immigration and we must stop it. For years before Bill Clinton became President, Washington talked tough but failed to act. In 1992, our borders might as well not have existed. The border was under-patrolled, and what patrols there were, were under-equipped. Drugs flowed freely. Illegal immigration was rampant. Criminal immigrants, deported after committing crimes in America, returned the very next day to commit crimes again.

President Clinton is making our border a place where the law is respected and drugs and illegal immigrants are turned away. We have increased the Border Patrol by over 40 percent; in El Paso, our Border Patrol agents are so close together they can see each other. Last year alone, the Clinton Administration removed thousands of illegal workers from jobs across the country. Just since January of 1995, we have arrested more than 1,700 criminal aliens and prosecuted them on federal felony charges because they returned to America after having been deported.

However, as we work to stop illegal immigration, we call on all Americans to avoid the temptation to use this issue to divide people from each other. We deplore those who use the need to stop illegal immigration as a pretext for discrimination. And we applaud the wisdom of Republicans like Mayor Giuliani and Senator Domenici who oppose the mean-spirited and short-sighted effort of Republicans in Congress to bar the children of illegal immigrants from schools -- it is wrong, and forcing children onto the streets is an invitation for them to join gangs and turn to crime. Democrats want to protect American jobs by increasing criminal and civil sanctions against employers who hire illegal workers, but Republicans continue to favor inflammatory rhetoric over real action. We will continue to enforce labor standards to protect workers in vulnerable industries. We continue to firmly oppose welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. We believe family members who sponsor immigrants into this country should take financial responsibility for them, and be held legally responsible for supporting them.

And here's President Obama, less than 4 years ago, saying things like:
"But today, our immigration system is broken, and everybody knows it."
 "All of us take offense to anyone who reaps the rewards of living in America without taking on the responsibilities of living in America."
"When I took office I committed to fixing this broken immigration system and I began by doing what I could to secure our borders."
"We will build on our progress at the borders with additional resources for our law enforcement personnel so they can stem the flow of illegal crossings and speed the return of those who do cross over."
"Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws...undocumented workers broke our immigration laws."
"Everyone planning to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up."
And that's just in the first 9 minutes of the video.



Granted, he was trying to justify illegal actions on his own part by claiming authority to do something when Congress didn't--authority the Constitution doesn't give the President, by the way--but the words are his, he said them, and the video proves it.

In January of 2018, Democrats have forced the federal government to shut down over the issue of illegal immigrants. The Democratic Party is priortizing people who aren't US citizens over actual US citizens. Mull that over for a bit.  To me, that's the very definition of "un-American".

Friends

I enjoyed the tv show Friends.  All someone has to do to make me smile is say "Pivot, piv-utt, PIV-UTT!" or "Seven!  Seven!  Seven!", the memories of one of my favorite sitcoms doing the rest.

Not everyone feels the way I do, though.  Some find Friends to be all that's wrong in the world.  And this author is having none of it:

It doesn’t feel so long ago, the 1990s. I still have clothes from then and weird bottles of booze and a hairstyle and, indeed, a wife. Over the past week, however, it has been impressed upon me that the 1990s were, in fact, a very long time ago indeed. For Friends has arrived on Netflix and people who apparently never saw it before are going nuts over how offensive it is.

To be honest, I wasn’t initially convinced by that “apparently”. I read about this in The Independent (could it BE any more 1990s?) and I was doubtful. For one thing, it has been on normal telly constantly for the past 20 years. Who never saw it before? For another, reading the list of reasons why Friends is apparently so offensive, I quickly realised that this was a list you could only compile if you had watched a hell of a lot of Friends, which is an odd thing to do if you hate it so much. I mean, perhaps Married With Children was just as bad, but who is ever going to know...

For this show to be declared problematic then is itself problematic. So soon? Our thing? Us? Friends, it seems, is racist because there are hardly any black characters. It is homophobic because of jokes about Ross’s fear of gay men, and Chandler’s fear of being taken for one. It is transphobic, because of Chandler’s issues with the person he once knew as his father, who is now played by Kathleen Turner. Finally, it is fatphobic, because Monica, now stick thin and neurotic, is still mocked, routinely, for being much, much larger in her teens...

There is a hunger today to find the flaw, to be the one who says “that thing you think is fine is not fine, and I am a better person than you for noticing it”. You aren’t. You’re a prig and bore. Yes, maybe there’s a mote in my eye. Some eyes have those. No need to gouge them out.  (boldface mine--Darren)

Hear, hear!

The New Reformed Tax Code, What's In It For Me?

I see here that the final version of the recent tax reform bill kept the $250 tax deduction for teachers:

The final bill also maintains the current $250 deduction teachers and principals can take for spending their own money on buying supplies for their classrooms. (See page 106 of the explanatory statement.) The legislation previously passed by the House would have eliminated the deduction entirely, while the Senate bill would have doubled it to $500.

The $250 deduction doesn't necessarily have a huge impact on educators' federal tax burden. But they see it as at least a symbolic recognition from Washington that, unlike many employees, they have to spend their own money to support their work. More on the teacher tax deduction is here. And more broadly, a joint congressional report on the bill also details the impact of new income tax brackets. 

I'll be spending even more of my own money next school year, as my principal said he will no longer by ink for printers in each classroom (btw, I brought a printer from home for that task!).  He wants to put 1 laser printer in each building and have the teachers in each building (up to 8 classrooms per building) use that "building" printer.  Sometimes I need to make a quick copy (my printer does that) or print something out, it's very convenient to have a printer at my desk rather than to walk to a different room to the "building" printer.  Since the $250 is a tax deduction and not a tax credit, though, given my tax bracket, one ink cartridge will more than consume the money the tax deduction saves me.  *sigh*

Of even more interest to me, however, is whether or not the new tax code increased the standard deduction.  I don't itemize, so an increase in the standard deduction would truly be a tax cut for me.  According to this CBS report, I'm in good shape: 

What's happening to the standard deduction?

That's roughly doubling -- from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals, and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Now that I have a master's degree, my pay has gone up--yay me!  The increase in the standard deduction will help offset my pay raise, and lower tax rates will do more so.  However, I understand that the personal exemption has been eliminated.  Oops!  Also, I'm concerned because the 2017 tax year (after you-know-who had left office) was when the cost of employer-provided health insurance was to be added as income to be taxed (thank you, Obamacare).  Is that still the case?  If so, I'm hosed.

I have one guarantee that will add some money to my pocket, no matter what happens to tax rates and deductions and the like.  I'm not paying almost $4400/year out of pocket for my master's program anymore, so I'll get to keep all of that (minus, of course, what I saved by deducting education expenses).

It'll be interesting to see how my taxes pan out, both this April and next.

Systemic Racism In Public Education

Public education certainly has a "culture" associated with it, considering that so many of the people who work in the field have college degrees.  I honestly don't think there's systemic racism in schools, I honestly don't think all those union teachers (or the non-union ones, but I had to throw in a union jab there) are racists.  I think there are groups of people whose culture doesn't mesh well with that of public education, though, and it's easier to point their fingers at teachers than to look at themselves:

But can this disparity really be blamed on lack of quality education for blacks? Are blacks really not going to college because of socioeconomic reasons or hidden racism that denies them opportunities given to “privileged” white students?

Despite what Brown and civil rights leaders say, not all research supports this conclusion. One preeminent study by John Ogbu, “Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement,” concluded that the education gap between whites and blacks has more to do with community forces than economic status or racism.

These community forces, which include the ways minorities interpret and respond to school, as well as beliefs and behaviors within the minoirty community regarding education, work against blacks succeeding in the educational system. Ogbu found that this is something that does not affect other minorities in the same way or to the same degree as blacks, if at all.

While all minorities express some level of mistrust in white Americans, blacks are more concerned about how they’re treated by the teachers than they are with the teachers’ ability to provide them with an education that will make them productive citizens. One is purely subjective, the other is objective...

This means blacks don’t feel like they’re part of the educational environment, which is indeed largely defined by society’s dominant culture (a reality in most developed countries). They feel like they’re ostracized or neglected, not because they aren’t accepted by the education system, but because they perceive it is oppositional to their interests. This, in turn, makes them oppositional to the education system.

This implies that if there’s a bias, it’s on the part of blacks toward the white education system, not whites toward blacks. If the white education were truly riddled with subtle racism, then no other minority would be able to succeed.

But blacks have more trouble because they perceive that the system is against them. Instead of simply using the system as a tool to prepare for higher education and life, as other minorities do, they’re looking for an environment that reflects their image and treats them as they expect to be treated. When those subjective expectations don’t happen, they cry racism.

I have read that immigrant blacks have far higher educational results than American-born blacks. If that's true, it supports the commentary snipped above.

This is why young black students are often ambivalent toward blacks who are “successful in white institutions or white establishments in society” or students who make good grades. Ogbu’s data raised the question, not of how white education can “stop being racist,” but “how the black community and schools can work to minimize this type of ambivalence and dismantle the perception of certain attitudes and behaviors as racialized.” In other words, can blacks stop seeing everything through the lenses of race?

Given this cultural bias within the black community, it is no wonder that Ogbu found that black parents left achievement up to schools and did not actively invest their time and resources into making it happen for their children.

I've never heard a teacher criticize a high-achieving black student as "acting white".  There have been native born black Americans who have pointed this out, but the most prominent one I can think of, Bill Cosby, is too easily dismissed nowadays due to issues entirely unrelated to such views.

Update, 1/17/18:  Can you really cry "racism" in that most progressive of progressive cities, San Francisco?

Black students in San Francisco would be better off almost anywhere else in California.

Many attend segregated schools and the majority of black, Latino and Pacific Islander students did not reach grade-level standards on the state's recent tests in math or English tests.

A local NAACP leader called for declaring a "state of emergency" for black student achievement, a problem the city's school board acknowledged. "The problem cannot be reduced to one sickness or one cure," said Rev. Amos C. Brown, San Francisco's NAACP branch president. "Black students have been underachievers. They're living in toxic situations. It's amazing they've done as well as they have done, but it's criminal that sophisticated children in progressive San Francisco are performing at these levels."

But is the solution to fix what's broken, or to start schools anew? Answering that question has unveiled a heated political debate in Northern California.

What are these "toxic situations" that Brown mentioned?  Are they at all related to what Ogbu described above?

We're Not All Crazy In California

People from Southern Oregon and Northern California have been pushing for the State of Jefferson for years.  These people are a little behind:

With the reading of their own version of a Declaration of Independence, founders of the state of New California took the first steps to what they hope will eventually lead to statehood.

To be clear, they don’t want to leave the United States, just California.

“Well, it’s been ungovernable for a long time. High taxes, education, you name it, and we’re rated around 48th or 50th from a business climate and standpoint in California,” said founder Robert Paul Preston.

The state of New California would incorporate most of the state’s rural counties, leaving the urban coastal counties to the current state of California.

“There’s something wrong when you have a rural county such as this one, and you go down to Orange County which is mostly urban, and it has the same set of problems, and it happens because of how the state is being governed and taxed,” Preston said.

But unlike other separation movements in the past the state of New California wants to do things by the book, citing Article 4, Section 3 of the US Constitution and working with the state legislature to get it done, similar to the way West Virginia was formed.