Local Voices
Edward Marco
In a recent Local Voices (Economic Apartheid in America, December 1, 2022) a learned person questioned the ratio of white teachers to the changing percentages of students of color at Thornton Fractional South High School.
When the school enrollment became 62% minority, did these white teachers leave? No, they stayed to do the job they were trained and hired to do. Was the school board to fire them? They can only be transferred within the district, which would accomplish nothing.
The major concern is what type of education are they are providing, not the color of their skin. I’m sure that there are many poor and understaffed districts that would welcome these dedicated teachers with open arms.
Why create a negative situation when there isn’t one? Show us that these teachers are not doing their jobs before condemning them.
Edward Marco
Local Voices is our version of “Letters to the Editor.” The opinions posted here are those of the writers, and posting them does not indicate endorsement by The Lansing Journal. We welcome input from fellow residents who have thoughtful things to say about topics that are important to our community. Send your submissions to The Lansing Journal with “Voices” in the subject line.
Really is this where my tax dollars are going to see if white teachers are teaching approximately. I have had teachers of different color never once did I as a student question whether they were teaching correctly according to my color or their color. Let’s start teaching and less woke ideology
Edward, the article did not say “White teachers are not teaching.” I personally know there are some well-qualified teachers White, Black, Hispanic, and other races working in the entire district. The article pointed out the hiring disparity in 2022, at TF South. The district created an Equity Plan of Action for the district several years ago. It is posted on their website. One of the goals was to increase the number of teachers of color. Is that currently happening at TF South in 2022? And what about the contracts?
There was no mention of the effectiveness of the white teachers. The article’s main thrust was regarding the hiring policies and the economic result of such policies:
“no Black teacher has been hired in 2022 at this school. In 2022, there were 13 Black applicants, three Hispanic applicants, one Asian, and two who did not declare their race for teaching and administration positions. Only six whites applied, and five white teachers and one white assistant principal were hired in 2022.”
I want to weigh in here, because I have taught in grade schools, high schools, a community college, the nuclear industry, and at one point, I was an adjunct assistant professor at a university. I can assure you I am uniquely qualified to talk about white teachers in classrooms at predominately black schools.
The year was 1970. Big changes in personnel were implemented in Chicago’s public school system due to federal guidelines requiring more racial equity. At the time, I had completed all my coursework for my Masters Degree, except for my thesis. So I was substitute teaching during the day while I worked on my thesis at night. After bouncing around to several different grade schools on the Chicago’s south side, I ended up at Paul Revere School at 1010 S. 72nd St where I was given a permanent .assignment.
While I was subbing at Paul Revere School, a decision was made by the School Board to remove a highly-competent, African-American special education teacher with decades of experience and place her in a predominantly white school far from her place of residence in order to superficially bump up the numbers to create the impression that integration of students and faculty was being seriously attempted. Since this teacher was at the age of retirement, she quit instead, and they gave the job of special education instructor for the primary grades to me, a rookie sub who never even taken an education course!
As you can imagine, while I taught that course, I learned many things. One of the things I learned was that some teachers who happened to be white were amazing instructors, while others seemed to be just going through motions. The same things seemed to be true of the non-white teachers, too. And I submit that it would be very difficult to find a quantifiable way to evaluate each teacher in regard to racial sensitivity and then factor that into the rest of a teacher’s skillset. I tried my damnedest to be a mentor to my special ed. students, but I’m sure I was an abject failure compared to the former instructor. If Ms. Johnson were alive today and I ran into her, I would probably personally apologize and tell her how bad I felt about her predicament!
I have come to this point to say just one thing. In the discussion of this issue here in The Journal, I did not see anybody quote Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr, who said we should judge people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
I mean all of what I say here respectfully and sincerely.
Frank Fetters
There are no existing laws that prohibit any able bodied, non- incarcerated, independent citizens from being employed. If the complaint is regarding a “deprivation of employment”…….the dominant ethnicity of the students is not relevant. The (irrelevant) dominant ethnicity of the students was intentionally included in the preceding article. Deprivation of employment would suggest that those who were deprived of employment met the specific criteria that would make the administrators consider the applicants employable. No FOI request would provide access to the data required to make such an assessment. That data would need to also include the specific hiring preferences of those who are directly responsible for hiring teachers. Arranging statistics to prop up a narrative that mis-characterizes the motives, conduct and collective values of the members of various governmental institutions is repugnant and divisive. Equity plans do not work because equity plans are proposed solutions for problems that do not exist. Why would ones oppressor offer him freedom??? Oppressors can not withhold oppression. Projecting the label of oppressor on an individual or a group of individuals….does not make the accused an oppressor. It just makes the one projecting an adamant accuser. True equity is always the direct consequence of the equity holder’s output. Equality is a myth. There are extraordinary people. People exist who capitalize on all their gifts. There are people who are un-motivated. There are those who self-sabotage. There are others who resist collaboration. There are even more who are diligent and focused. Not all Salmon will complete the upstream journey and get the opportunity to reproduce. People continue to allege that there is systemic racism and charge everyone but the very system that they accuse of propagating said racism. This behavior is consistent with the accuser who seeks controversy rather than solutions. All real problems are solvable. Malevolence motivated by delusions of superiority is not confined to a specific ethnicity. This is a HUMAN problem.
One way to win an argument if you don’t know what you’re talking about is to make a blanket assertion without proof. It’s even better if you make several blanket assertions without proof. Then, putting the cherry on top of this illogical hot fudge sundae by displaying a massive amount of anger as part of your argument, is the piece de resistance of winning an argument without offering proof.
[Stick with me. I’ll show you how this works.]
Consider the following statement: “Equality is a myth.”
No proof was offered to this statement. By contrast, I could say that Equality IS NOT a myth, and neither is inequality. I could prove my case by explaining that two and two are equal to four, while two and three do NOT equal four, and I can take this argument into the realm of human experience by making social comparisons. For instance, the sacrifices made by Crispus Attucks, a Black American who was killed in the Boston Massacre and Nathan Hale, a white American who was hanged for seditious activity by the British, both occurring during the Revolutionary War, were pretty much equal. However, the Medal of Honor won by American war hero Audie Murphy and the Medal of Freedom given to radio personality Rush Limbaugh were NOT equal. It would not take me long at all to make several other social comparisons to demonstrate my point.
For instance, being “white” is a social category that can changed simply by by writing a precise definition for it into law. A case in point: In South Africa during Apartheid, a middleweight boxer whose last name was Jablonsky was undefeated as a professional fighter. After several years of getting whipped by him, Jablonsky’s opponents and their friends went to the South African government and demanded that he be declared “Colored.” Their wish was granted, and since anyone who wasn’t “white” was not allowed to participate in professional sports in South Africa, the brilliant boxing career of Mr. Jablonsky came to a screeching halt.
Another point: it has been mentioned by some historians that they believe Ludwig Von Beethoven had some African ancestors. If Beethoven had been born in a country that prevented him from earning a living as a composer due to his ethnicity, the world would have been deprived of his beautiful music, due to his being declared “nonwhite,” and he would have been prevented from making those wonderful works available.
To those who insist on making multiple blanket statements I say that you should show more proof and less anger.
Respectfully,
Frank Fetters
Well said Mr. Fetters!
Respectfully?? Projection is always disrespect. All truth is self-evident. Truth will never lead a man into an argument. The burden of proof weighs down the accuser and I am unburdened.
The response was:
Gabriel Pierce said:
Respectfully?? Projection is always disrespect. [Assertion with no proof] All truth is self-evident. [Assertion with no proof] Truth will never lead a man into an argument. [Assertion with no proof] The burden of proof weighs down the accuser [Assertion with no proof]
and I am unburdened [Assertion with no proof]
Good-bye.
.
Assertion: noun Def: a positive statement or declaration, often without proof or reason