I think it’s been nearly a decade since I more than glanced at an article in National Review Online without rolling my eyes but this article at NRO by Reihan Salam is a notable exception. This passage in particular caught my eye:
More than one Dumbo parent has tried to explain to me how they’re totally different from other people who fight against integration. They explain that what they really want is a better world in which we spend far more on our public schools, not mentioning, or perhaps not knowing, that New York city spends $20,331 per pupil, almost twice as much as the national average of $10,700, and that much of this money is spent very inefficiently. Of course they want integration, they’ll tell you, but only if it entails no sacrifice on their part. “It’s more complicated when it’s about your own children,†says one Dumbo parent. Well, yes, it is more complicated, and that is exactly what every parent believes, whether they are in Brooklyn or South Boston or Kansas City.
Is there an area other than education in which the NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) phenomenon is more pronounced than in education. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people explaining their choices in 1,000 different ways, all of which are different ways of saying “racism”. And yet they would deny that they’re racists.
Integration in our time is not about empowering people to enhance their opportunities via education but to impose a political agenda. This is so much easier than changing the entrenched and powerful status quo in which minorities, black and hispanic in particular, receive a public education that is fraudulent at best or criminal at worse. Why criminal? This educational fraud robs people of their potential and future opportunities while relegating them to a dismal and manipulative future
When integration was initially being implemented, I remember riots over school busing, but they were not in the South. When you move after the third black family moves onto your block, it is easy to not be a racist.
The most foul and venomous racist utterances I have ever heard have come from the mouths of progressives living in poor black areas, and I have known some racist people.
This is going to require revealing something personal on this website, something I did not want to do, but you touched a nerve.
MY children are minorities. I am Caucasian, my wife native American. One son, one daughter. Both graduated high school and were recruited into college by other minorities, (black and Hispanic), hired by the government to shill for the colleges. The particular program under the dept. of education was called TRIO. All of my family and friends assumed this was free. It was not. Entirely federally funded student loans, all you want. Son graduated, daughter did not. Same result, both work for $11 an hour and most of what they earn goes to pay these student loans, me too. Between us, about $700./month forever.
Done deal, OK, my shoulders are braced, pile on.
As I’ve said before, the most pressing problem facing the U. S. economy is neither that minimum wage jobs don’t pay more nor that not enough people get college degrees but that our system is not producing more jobs it’s worth getting a college degree to take.
Not sure who you think would pile on, or what for, but not me*. You & yours got scammed the the educational/financial complex, just like millions of others, including me. Welcome to the party, pal!
And don’t forget that Joe Biden was instrumental in your children never being able to discharge that debt in bankruptcy. I could say he was one of many whores in congress that made that possible, but he was one of the pumps in that deal.
* Okay, jimbino would, but that’s because of having children.
_Pimps_ not pumps. Friggin’ auto correct is maybe the most annoying single feature of our times.
First of all, Salam is a good writer and I used to check his blog once a week, pretty much the only conservative policy wonk that’s ever seemed worth reading to me. The blog’s been discontinued, alas.
Second of all, parents can prefer their children not attend schools with people of a certain race, they can prefer their children not attend schools with poor people. Only the first group though is clearly racist, the second group are not egalitarians. Could be overlap, but I think the racist have lost and the problem becomes more difficult as the minority of African-Americans who have achieved well are also seeking to keep their children out of schools with lots of poor people.
I would agree that Salam has been worth reading. I would agree with PD. It is more about caste than race for most people. Might be worth noting that MLK thought Sunday mornings were our most segregated time.
“The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., once said “it is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.”
Steve
Social progressives tend to live in a duality of images. On one hand empathy spills out of their pores, as they compare and contrast heartfelt social justice intentions with their heartless foes, the republicans. However, when it comes to their own lifestyles, health care or educational opportunities, green energy in their own backyards, or even more diversity in their own neighborhoods, zeal is tempered and quietly diverted to their own well being. IOW, their words are great. But, their actions are so often shown to be self-serving and hypocritical.
The Cocked Fist Culture – Crossing the Micoaggressions minefield piece, featured in The Weekly Standard, goes into the political correctness fad of liberal orthodoxy that has exploited racism. This distortion of discourse has diminished debate diversity — either castigating, or entirely eliminating so many common language terms, especially when applied to race and gender.
It’s about time that something like this is gaining momentum:
Maybe the idea of having a healthy, open debate is developing an immune response to PCism.
I tend to agree that class-ism (sp?) is probably a lot bigger factor than race. Culture too – at least in the circles I am familiar with there isn’t any racism against people with similar educations, lifestyles, etc.
Additionally, I could understand how people could be mad at the start of an integration program since it changes expectations. For instance, if one spent the money to buy into a neighborhood to get to certain schools, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to oppose an effort to forcibly send their kids to another school. After all, it’s likely they’ve spent a premium to get the education they want only to have it annulled by government fiat. I’m not arguing that desegregation is right or wrong, just that people can be opposed to it or angry because of it for reasons other than racism.
There are practical factors as well. From my own example, my wife and I rented a house very close to the local elementary school. When I was still an at-home parent, it allowed me to walk them to school. Now that I’m working full-time, it is very convenient for quickly dropping them off in the car on the way to work and makes commute times much better. Same thing on the way home. Now, if my kids had to be bused across town then that impacts all sorts of things for us – get up earlier to get the to bus, get the kids to bed earlier (less family time) – much longer commutes home since we need to go to the new school to pick them up from after-care. There isn’t enough time for the after-school activity you’ve been doing for years. The extra-curricular program your kid loves isn’t available at the new school.
Now, none of that is earth-shattering and I, personally, wouldn’t pick-up and move to a different house to compensate (depending on circumstances), but it would still have a negative impact and I don’t think it would be unreasonable to oppose it.