Is there a “Parent Gap” in our education system?

I suspect that this column may provoke some comments about racism, but I believe it has to be said, so here goes!

At the September 22nd Federal Way School Board meeting during public comments Ms. Diane Turner made some public comments.

Ms. Turner identified herself as a parent and resident of the Federal Way School District when in reality she is the Public Relations Director for the School District.

Earlier in the “Public Comment” section of the meeting it was pointed out that both Blacks and Hispanics has not scored well in achievement.

Ms. Turner, a Black, decided to respond to this situation with a rationale for this situation.

It is not clear that employees of the school district should be taking the podium during public comments as they have the option to speak without time restrictions during the regular meeting, but that is not the topic for this column.

Ms. Turner proclaimed that she was speaking for the African American parents in the school district and listed a history of the African Americans in the Nation and how this has caused the achievement gap.

She started with the experiences of Blacks in North America prior to the Civil War and in the period before “Brown vs Topeka Board of Education.”

There is no denying that there were many injustices done to African Americans in about a dozen states prior to the Brown decision, and in the period after this decision, as the decision was not taken with the best of intentions by many.

However, even in states that were not operating under the “Plessy vs Ferguson” (Separate but Equal) decision there was a major gap in achievement, even in New England.

It is unclear how this is related to the Hispanic gap.

Ms. Turner then went on to discuss the “Attendance Gap” for African Americans that she suggests came after the Supreme Court decision that overturned “Separate but Equal.”

There is only one possible reason for this gap in my mind. Black parents are supposed to be in control of the behavior of their children, and evidently they didn’t believe that attendance was a priority. There is evidence of this yet today.

Ms. Turner then added the “Funding Gap” to the rationale for the lack of achievement in the Black, Native American and Hispanic gaps. Since the 1960’s there have been massive amounts of funds devoted to compensation for the damage to Blacks in previous times.

Equal Opportunity Laws, Civil Rights laws, Early Childhood Education programs are just a few of the ways in which this country has attempted to compensate for what was largely the practices of a few southern states.

I would guess that there are few grandparents of Black children that attend school in Federal Way that were affected by what went on in the South before these programs were put into place.

Here in Washington, and I suspect in most states, there hasn’t been a “funding gap” that has discriminated against any racial or ethnic group in recent times, if ever, and yet we still have a “gap” in the achievement of Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans.

All children in this state have had the same financial funding in education. What could be the problem here? Could it again be the parents of some children who don’t value the opportunities that a good education offer? If this is the case shouldn’t we be spending more of our educational dollars on “educating” the parents?

Ms. Turner then referred to the “Test Score Gap” which is the measurement of all of these gaps if you are to be paid for what you know. If parents are not willing to step up to the mark for attendance and enforce scholarship who are we to blame?

Ms. Turner, I believe, needs to turn her attention to getting the adults in the lives of Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans focused on driving their kids towards success instead of placing the blame on situations that may have affected their grandparents.

None of these gaps have been encountered by the Hispanics and few have been encountered by the Native Americans, but several of these have been encountered by Asians and yet their achievement scores are among the best in the nation!

On the West Coast we have had very “segregationist” laws about Asians, yet they have prospered. We have actually deported them and put them in camps, and they have still prospered.

Since the mid 1930’s Asians, in Asia, have been through some of the most horrific times. Japanese occupation of Asia, bombing of Japan, Korean War, and Vietnam War are far more recent than any discrimination in the State of Washington with many of the students now doing quite well in our schools.

These students are the sons and daughters or the grandchildren of those who suffered in Asia. What has put them at the “Other side of the Gap?” I would suggest that it is their parents.

Perhaps Ms. Turner should listen more to Bill Cosby or Thelma Jackson when it comes to “responsibility.”

As Malcolm Gladwell, who is Black, puts it. “Success is a result of Parents, Patronage, and 10,000 hours.” I am not sure that some parents understand this unless it has to do with Basketball or Football.