Berkeley High Moves To Restrict Science Education

Remember, they are the enlightened ones. Evidently Wired Editor Chris Anderson tweeted it and there's some push back mounting. Hold some back if you can't get others to succeed? Remind you of anyone we knOw?

Berkeley High School is considering a controversial proposal to eliminate science labs and the five science teachers who teach them to free up more resources to help struggling students.

The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High’s School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley’s dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.

Paul Gibson, an alternate parent representative on the School Governance Council, said that information presented at council meetings suggests that the science labs were largely classes for white students. He said the decision to consider cutting the labs in order to redirect resources to underperforming students was virtually unanimous.

Comments

[RogerCfromSD]

Wait. I thought it was the "far-right wing Christian extremists" who were at war with science.

[CBDenver]

Another case for homeschooling.

[Anon]

It is so sad to see this country destroying itself.

So, because certain special people are not good at science, then the answer is to punish those other people who are good at science.

This is why the Chinese are going to eclipse the U.S. in the coming century.

My prediction is that the extra resources going to black and Latino students will NOT raise their scientific ability, since we've now been providing all types of extra resources, special privileges and testing advantages for black and latino students for 40 years, and yet....the skills gap remains almost exactly where it was 70 years ago.

[Cromert]

And another SF story becomes reality:

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away.

It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel couldn't think about it very hard. Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains."

"Harrison Bergeron" is copyrighted by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1961.
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

[ObamaNation]

Yes We Can Build a http://www.NewNation.org YES WE CAN!!

[chercast]

Berkley....showing the way...Berkley you are on the cutting edge...fortunately, we see how your movie ends and we are heading polar opposite. Hat tip....Berkley!

[Rev. Dr. E. Buzz Miller]

There are some serious douchebags over at TechDirt.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091228/0022137506.shtml

"I can't help but wonder if the fact that minorities underperform in the sciences is largely caused by the fact that the standard media portrayal of a "scientist" is still a plain, slightly awkward white guy in a lab coat."

[J.Wallace]

You just have to laugh at liberals ...... first we had to have school integration to improve minority education. Did it help ...nope ... as a matter of fact it became much much worse.Then we had to have affirmative action and minority set asides ....did it help .....nope it has become much much worse. Then money was the problem ....so now the worse schools with the highest minority populations receive the most funding ..... did it help ...nope.... it became much much worse. Then it was again the schools and teachers that were the problem and POOF ....we have .... No child left behind ..... did it help .....nope ....it became much much worse. So now the solution seems to be to make every one equally stupid. Liberals .. * SIGH * ....there should be a bounty

[SacTownMan]

I'm reminded of the line from Caddyshack,

"The world needs ditch diggers too!!"

[Geoffrey Britain]

The problem isn't race. The problem is cultural values.

When blacks, hispanics and 'native' americans value education, hard work, loyalty to family, etc. as much as whites and asians do, their scholastic scores and achievements in the larger society will rise accordingly.

Until they do, no amount of money or artificial attempts at leveling the playing field will cure the problem. Because you can't cure a cold by amputating a leg