Let me ask the reader a question: Do you believe that people should be recognized and challenged per their abilities?
Yes? Good.
A popular gifted program will get the axe after Ditmas Park school officials chose diversity over exclusivity.
Citing a lack of diversity, PS 139 Principal Mary McDonald informed parents in a letter that the Students of Academic Rigor and two other in-house programs would no longer accept applications for incoming kindergartners.
“Our Kindergarten classes will be heterogeneously grouped to reflect the diversity of our student body and the community we live in,” McDonald told parents
Question: Why does it matter if a "gifted program" is diverse? It's supposed to be populated by whoever has the talent right? And how is it not diverse?
More than two thirds of the school’s roughly 1,000 students are black or hispanic while Asian-American and white students made up 28%, according to Education Dept. records.
So there are about 666 black or hispanic (who can be black as well) students in the school and Asians and Whites (those neanderthal descendants) make up 280 or so of the population (the rest being what?) but there is a "diversity problem" in the gifted program? How is that. Shouldn't "gifted" intelligence be equally proportional to the population? And if so shouldn't the Blacks and hispanics make up the majority of any gifted program at that school by sheer demographics alone?
No? Why not?
At least one parent described the small gifted program, Students of Academic Rigor — or SOAR — as overwhelming caucasion, although others disputed that characterization.
So the class is overwhelmingly "caucasian" but the school is overwhelmingly not caucasian. Why is that?
So the solution to black folks not performing is to change the playing field so that we can look like we're performing? Is that it?
Maybe a better and actual fruitful proposition would be to direct more resources at the underperforming majority of students.
