Regarding the Thursday article, “Marysville official links race to school success”:
I am disgusted that the tired myth of “race is linked to intelligence” is still being brought up in regard to education.
This myth needs to be stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake, burned to a crisp and buried at least six feet deep. Even if it were true, the differences in intelligence would be so small so as to be negligible compared to environmental factors (like teaching). The concept of race itself is a “social construct” that has no basis in physical reality. The truth is that intelligence tests have historically been culturally biased. Also, “intelligence,” as in all the factors we need to be successful in life, has many facets, including social and emotional intelligence.
There is ample research linking environmental causes to students’ failure. Some research links bias by teachers and expectations of bias by students to poor test results. There is more research showing that poor teaching leads to poor learning outcomes in students. (Duh!)
And in Newsweek there was an article by Sharon Begley dated May 10, “Second-Class Science-Education Research Gets an F,” saying essentially that most educational research is so faulty as to be worthless. It is true we continue to design and foist on children educational practices based on untested theories and junk science.
Linking intelligence to race in education just gives teachers an excuse to not teach all students rigorously and gives students the false impression that they are not capable of learning, so why bother.
It is the most harmful educational myth out there. Even students who come from severely underprivileged backgrounds can do well in school when teachers respect them, believe in them, challenge them, and provide needed help to catch up. However, educators won’t do this when they fall for this myth. The myth needs to die!
Leslie Jordan
Shoreline
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