Blatant, condescending racism. Will the NAACP or any other representing group speak out against it or are they for it?

most important line (IMHO) from the article:

So when a major liberal interest groups like teachers (and their unions) run up against the fallacious multicultural doctrine of cultural equivalency, self interest wins out. And the children lose. That is the leitmotif of public education for the last half century.

There is a racial hierarchy of acceptable achievement proclaimed an official government body. Not since the days of segregation has a state officially proclaimed such a pernicious racial doctrine.

(Not so soft) bigotry of low expectations. Liberals are telling some racial groups that they are simply incapable of achieving.

I wonder if Al and Jesse are warming up their private jets to fly in to Florida and protest this? Are they insulted or do they just want more "free" stuff with less effort for the bro's.

Meanwhile, the "Asians" are kicking everyone's butt. Could it be because they're working harder, have more discipline and stronger, more cohesive family units? Maybe we should all take lessons from them.

What do you think happens with affirmative action admits at the college/universiy level? The professor winds up lowering standards for the entire class. (I know, since I had to do that.)
The lowering of standards does not take place, however, in math and science classes. That's why minorities, except for asians, avoid math and science.

I'd like to know what Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell think of this. They did go against the Bush administration in the Michigan affirmative action case all those years ago. Would be interesting if they still endorse dumbing down for blacks (aka affirmative action).

"It's official in Florida" -- it's been unofficial everywhere since about 1965.

Is they cannot catch up with their peers in reading and writing, why are we giving them a leg up through affirmative action? This is what is wrong with this country. I put the blame fair and square on SandraDay O'Connor

Wow. This is wrong and disturbing on so many different levels that I am speechless. I just hope that the fact that this is wrong resonates with most people.

Martin Luther King would have been disgusted.

BTW what if a kid has a mom that is half hispanic and chinese and a dad that that is half black, one quarter polynesnian and one quarter white? What is his reading standard?

It's not that black people cannot excel, But it is a fact that black children raised within the cultural milieu which presently exists are not able to rise above it and it's no use beating the teachers up for not being able to lift them.

For decades, public schools have been nothing but babysitting services anyway.

Keep them off the street, away from crime (as much as possible), teach them enough to get a job that allows them to pay taxes and vote 'gimme' all their lives.

This proves it.

After watching Lib/Progs practice their brand of racism for half a century, I've had to conclude that Blacks-as-a-Whole just do not possess the intelligence to grasp the situation. Many do. But looking at the stats, most do not. Even the get up every morning and go to work, pay their bills, live by the rules Blacks still fall for the Bravo Sierra malarkey shoveled by the Race Hustlers. If they didn't, they would eschew the Lib/Progs, the NAACP, the Jesses and Als of the world, kick them to the curb, and our world would change dramatically.

The NAACP has spoken out against these new standards....

They called it the soft bigotry of lowered expectations.

Didn't we hear those exact words from President GW Bush?

Yes we did!

The Unions are largely responsible for this idiocy. They do not want teachers to be judged when children do not succeed so they lower the bar. Unions operate using a communist-socialist mindset that all teachers should receive equally. Let's face facts, Unions are now running the Florida State Board of Education.

I am not sure I understand the thinking or the policy here, but from one angle it looks like an acknowledgement of reality. It might be -emphasis MIGHT be- a step in the right direction. Surely everybody knows that as a group blacks significantly under-perform other populations in academics, There is no secret about this. Great effort and ingenuity have been used before now to deny this or to explain it away by blaming extrinsic factors. But such excuses and explanations did nothing to address the problem. They were aimed at making people feel good - or keeping them from feeling bad. There was, and in many quarters still is, an unexamined assumption that all groups are supposed to be equally able in all respects, hence that there is supposed to be a statistically satisfactory outcome or representation of all groups in all undertakings. This preposterous notion is a kind of reductio ad absurdum of egalite'.

So I am not so sure that setting (presumably) realistic goals for student populations and working to attain them is such a bad idea. It acknowledges a reality that many people find unpleasant, but it is better than blaming the tests and evaluation methods or rationalizing the hard evidence away.

In effect, the Florida Board of Education has graded the races and their ability and desire to excel. According to this report card, they (not I) believe that blacks are too stupid and lazy to do as well as all the other races. Amazing.

But, you see, the liberals are discriminating FOR Blacks. Discrimination is bad only when you are discriminating AGAINST Blacks, women, gays, handicapped...but when you are FOR them it is ok. What they don't grasp is that you can't discriminate FOR without discriminating AGAINST everyone else.
Plus this will now allow blacks to aim low and be satisfied with less than the could be.

As a parent I would be so angry that my child is considered too stupid to keep up with the scores of Asians etc.

So what about the standards for Free Throws in gym class.

Here is the link to the names and pictures of the board. Bet it's not what you think.
http://www.fldoe.org/board/members.asp

Most people would be insulted by this. This is totally lost on the black population. A lot of them think it is their 'right' to have lower standards.

Responsible black leaders--and there are some--should be raising holy hell about this.

19 - that's IF - as a parent - you give a damn. Sadly, many don't...

The latest research suggests that Testosterone is a detriment to academic excellence. Groups perform inversely to the amount of Testosterone in their systems.

Asians - low

Whites - average

blacks - highest.

Where was the outcry when Obama signed his Exec. Order #13621 --White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans???
This order says the number of blacks kicked out of school cannot be greater than the number of whites and others. This means that in order to punish misbehaving blacks, whites and others must be kicked out for the least infractions in order to keep numbers even. We have a RACIST president... but we knew that.
What many do still not realize is that we have a Marxist/Islamist president.
What a Commander-in-Chief to give our heroic troops in their fight against Communist or Islamist takeover!!

So, I guess it's ok to leave some kids behind.

This is nothing new of course.

The democrats have been in charge of demeaning blacks in this country the last few hundred years through slavery, the KKK, Jim Crowe laws, the vote and segregation, among other things, and now of course, their single minded and destructive racism continues through segregated education.

The liberal mindset compartmentalizes people and puts each of us in our special category. They speak of nuance while placing each of us in our special slot with no room for argument. They label everyone but themselves.

They have never changed.

#21 They are exactly what I expected. Affirmative action and all of the other problems start and end with white liberals.

To expect that every race would comprehend information at the exact same rate as others,is foolish.
The expectations quoted in the article are almost exactly what the book "The Bell Curve" explained twenty something years ago.
It is more difficult for the average black to learn to read than the average Asian.
Thems the facts folks. What that means Blacks may have to work a little harder the achieve the same level of skill as Asians, it does not mean they cannot learn to read at a competent level.
These are only averages. There are many blacks that are very high IQ and many whites and Asians that are really low IQ.
Affirmative action should be extra assistance in learning skills not simply giving Blacks jobs they are not qualified for.
I see nothing wrong with helping those that have more difficulty getting extra help learning skills required to be productive members of society

The real issue here is that a black kid is infinitely more likely to be raised by a single mother who can barely read herself, does not own a single book, and has no idea where to find the nearest library. Until that dynamic is changed, it really doesn't matter what the schools do.

Yes, there are lousy public schools. But the Great Society ethos (if you're married you get nothing, but if you're a single mom you get welfare, food stamps, free housing and free daycare) is the real culprit.

#30, Define "Black."

Who wants to hire a black brain surgeon or cardiologist from Florida? How about a black nuclear plant operator? Any takers?

Actions like this will promote racism in new and different ways.

Do they also get to tee-off from the girl's starting point?

Sounds like Florida State Board of Education believes what Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray wrote in The Bell Curve," that some races might be intellectually superior to others.

Why is everyone going nuts over this formalization of what has been the de facto liberal policy for decades?

Decades. Generations.

#10 One drop of black blood entitles you to be black at any given moment, depending on the advantage/disadvantage available at that time.
One drop makes you a minority for life.

#29 I agree 110%.
Disingenuous white liberals are more of a danger to American society than all the Mulluhs and Obama combined.

Keep the dumb and they won't know they are on the plantation.

Why not regard each student as an INDIVIDUAL (rather than a member of a racial group)?

And shouldn't the GOAL be to have 100% (rather than 90% or whatever) of all the students achieving the set standard?

Somewhere the shade of Margaret Sanger is smiling...

Just more Affirmative Action running amok and finally admitting that blacks are inferior to other races. We all knew that years ago but the liberal lefties didn't want to admit it.

I don't think they should be allowed to graduate with lower scores on tests and lower grades. They'll never make it in school or jobs if they don't come up to snuff with the rest of the students. If that is called racism, so be it. It's fact and it's true.

Step away from the craziness of Race for a moment. These are not really wants or desires, they are targets. IOW the numbers the board thinks it may be possible to reach starting from now.

The only real number is 2018. Far enough in the future that no one will be responsible for anything soon. They like it that way.

The numbers don't represent some intent to keep 10% of Asians or 26% of blacks from reaching a standard. Or define groups as inferior v. superior.

Now back to Crazy. The plans are still a bad idea. We know it is only an educator's bureaucratic fantasy created by and for the benefit of themselves.

i.e. the same people who have created and ran the previous failed plans for decades.

Now it will go to federal court where the DoEd. teaching unions, civil rights groups, and judges will file, appeal, and shuffle papers for a year or two. Exactly the same way education - especially in southern states - has been run for fifty years. And with no better results.

#16; will asians, blacks and whites with a 4.0 GPA all be equally capable?

I guess we can surmise the graduation rate of people with degree`s in African Studies will necessarily increase.....

#33 I work in a nuclear plant in Florida. Several of our best operators both in the control room and in the field are black, but the again there is zero affirmative action when it comes to an NRC exam.

This entire matter rests on the "nature or nurture" question. I come down firmly on the "nurture" side of this one. There are large swaths of the African-American community with such a high level of dysfunction that their kids are lucky to come out alive, much less reading and writing. Until the bleeping race hustlers ge booted by their own for the shameless exploitation they've practiced just to get rich, and until courageous men of color speak the truth and advocate for their own lost generations, nothing will change.

Liberals/democrats do not believe people are people. They divide people into groups so they can pit one group against another.

Shows they are still racists as they lower the 'standards' to keep em dumb down so they vote democrat.

How about black politicians. Should they be spotted a few points?

As if culturally we weren't enculturated to expect less and demand less? When is deference patronizing?

RE #6 Please don't to Colin powell in the same category as C.Rice. Rice earned everything she got. Powell has admitted he was an AA project.