By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

RICHMOND, Va. – Former President George W. Bush called it “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

He was talking about the way our nation’s public schools perpetuate failure among minority students by automatically assuming they can’t or won’t succeed.

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The state of Virginia offers a perfect example of what Bush was talking about. As part of the state’s waiver from federal No Child Left Behind standards, officials have adopted new standards for student achievement in reading and math over the next few years.

The standards assume that minority kids will do much worse than white or Asian Americans.

The racial goals for math proficiency are a startling example. In the first year, the targeted passing rates are 82 percent for Asian Americans, 68 percent for whites, 52 percent for Hispanics and 45 percent for blacks.

Those standards are an open message to black and Hispanic students that most of them are not expected to learn or succeed. As any parent knows, children respond to expectations. If they are expected to fail, and nobody is going to be particularly surprised or upset when they do, then many probably will fail.

The standards are also an open announcement that the state of Virginia will be satisfied with low numbers of minority students reaching academic proficiency. The state’s goal will be reached if less than half of black students achieve passing grades in math. Will there be any subsequent effort to improve that percentage, or will state officials simply announce that the target percentage was reached and declare a hollow victory?

As an editorial writer for the Virginian-Pilot put it, “The subgroup goals are damning … because they declare that it’s acceptable for some to fall so far behind others. It is as if the state is more concerned about meeting dumbed-down goals that ensuring that all children learn the basics.”

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Not surprisingly, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, as well as the state’s chapter of the NAACP, have loudly protested the new standards.

“We believe that education is the great equalizer in our society and that our system of public education must remain viable and strong,” state Sen. Mamie Locke, chair of the Black Caucus, wrote to Gov. Bob McDonnell. “The state’s new system of benchmarks are antithetical to this goal.”

We believe all of Virginia’s children – and students throughout the nation – will generally do as well as they are expected to do in school. So let’s expect the best from all of them and accept nothing less.