Regarding education achievement gap for Black Americans; I speculate the following factors
(1): Effect of culture on learning. One of my parents attended school to 8th grade and the other had attended university level- but in another country. I developed learning skills alone by trial and error. Today at age 56, I am aggressive and analytical with regard to new information- which makes learning easier. But, at age 19 - I was clueless. I had to work harder to learn a complex topic. Culture adds a dimension to one’s information seeking and processing skills.
(2): Haidt - coddled kids. 30 years ago, while teaching high school geometry- a girl interrupted my class instruction to complain that I was teaching the students something that she already knows and therefore I should teach another aspect of Geometry, instead. And I should “take her word” that she actually knows the concept. A guy interrupted the same geometry class on a different day to complain that I wasn’t teaching what he needed, (He needed to learn non-Geometry, measuring wood with a ruler for his after-school job.)
(3): “Achievement gap caused by racism” idea has been around since mid-1980’s. That causes some students to speculate “racism” when instruction is challenging.
(4): Limited opportunity for social intimacy at university. Social intimacy requires transparency, but non-Black professors and students probably fear “You are racist” accusation- so remain guarded, which inhibits intimacy.
How would you rate the relative impact of these factors on the approx. 1 standard deviation difference in average (mean) educational achievement (and cognitive ability as measured by IQ)? Say you've got 15 points to work with: half to culture, 4 to Haidt, 2 to "racism", and 1.5 to social intimacy? Or some other mix? Any other factors you may have left out?
I am not an expert and not up to date with the literature. I use the term cognitive skill (as opposed to ability) because I know individuals with ability who didn’t develop skills for whatever reason. As far as cutting the pie per relative weight of the various factors, I would give greater weight to social intimacy. Working in isolation or alone is a handicap.
No, I'm not in the lending business. Rather, I'm exploring more fully a commenter's speculation on what lies behind black underachievement relative to other racial/ethnic groups. I try to learn here, you?
Regarding education achievement gap for Black Americans; I speculate the following factors
(1): Effect of culture on learning. One of my parents attended school to 8th grade and the other had attended university level- but in another country. I developed learning skills alone by trial and error. Today at age 56, I am aggressive and analytical with regard to new information- which makes learning easier. But, at age 19 - I was clueless. I had to work harder to learn a complex topic. Culture adds a dimension to one’s information seeking and processing skills.
(2): Haidt - coddled kids. 30 years ago, while teaching high school geometry- a girl interrupted my class instruction to complain that I was teaching the students something that she already knows and therefore I should teach another aspect of Geometry, instead. And I should “take her word” that she actually knows the concept. A guy interrupted the same geometry class on a different day to complain that I wasn’t teaching what he needed, (He needed to learn non-Geometry, measuring wood with a ruler for his after-school job.)
(3): “Achievement gap caused by racism” idea has been around since mid-1980’s. That causes some students to speculate “racism” when instruction is challenging.
(4): Limited opportunity for social intimacy at university. Social intimacy requires transparency, but non-Black professors and students probably fear “You are racist” accusation- so remain guarded, which inhibits intimacy.
How would you rate the relative impact of these factors on the approx. 1 standard deviation difference in average (mean) educational achievement (and cognitive ability as measured by IQ)? Say you've got 15 points to work with: half to culture, 4 to Haidt, 2 to "racism", and 1.5 to social intimacy? Or some other mix? Any other factors you may have left out?
I am not an expert and not up to date with the literature. I use the term cognitive skill (as opposed to ability) because I know individuals with ability who didn’t develop skills for whatever reason. As far as cutting the pie per relative weight of the various factors, I would give greater weight to social intimacy. Working in isolation or alone is a handicap.
Thanks for the explanation—interesting viewpoint.
Are you actually lending credence to an arbitrarily concocted pie chart?
No, I'm not in the lending business. Rather, I'm exploring more fully a commenter's speculation on what lies behind black underachievement relative to other racial/ethnic groups. I try to learn here, you?