The View From Beaverton
08/23/2010
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Steve Sailer's blog below links to Letters To The New York Times on the "racial gap"—the fact that blacks always score worse than whites on school tests and IQ tests. Here's one:

I marveled at the range of opinions that learned people gave about the reasons for the racial gap in test scores. Reasons mentioned in your article included our struggling economy and ”an increase in fatherless black households.” In other words, they blamed the students and their families.

But one cause the article did not mention is the elephant in the room when it comes to education: racism. As an elementary educator, I’ve seen both systemic and situational racism work actively against my students of color.

It’s not until these elusive beasts are acknowledged and dealt with honestly that true educational progress for all of our students will occur. Perhaps New York City schools, instead of the tired ”blame the students” mentality, need to look at themselves first.

Jim Hiller
Beaverton, Ore., Aug. 16, 2010

Hiller is apparently a "mentor" in the Beaverton School District.

I'm not clear on whether this means that he stands over the teachers and tells them that minority student failure is their fault, or stands over minority students and tells them they can be doctors and lawyers if the racists will let them, but whichever it is, I feel confident that he is really getting on the nerves of his "mentees."

Here's what you need to know about Beaverton—it's 1.74 percent black.

Once you know that, the idea of Mr. Hiller sitting in Beaverton, with its 78 percent white and 10 percent Asian population, saying that black inner-city schools in New York are failing because of racism becomes laughable. (Beaverton's inner city is pictured above. Looks like an outer city, doesn't it?)

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