Saturday, May 31, 2003

I don't have time for lengthy comments on this theory about white-black achievement disparity, but I'd like to make two notes:

First, the idea that students of Latin American descent are "involuntary immigrants" in the same manner as blacks and Native Americans is both true, and not: Some are descended from the inhabitants of Texas before independence and the territory gained in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; most are people whose ancestors (or they themselves) came voluntarily in the time after. I should note that, in my experience, the "involuntary" ones tend to be more Americanized, and better students; the "voluntary" tend not. You'll understand what I'm getting at when you read that piece.

Second, I find deeply offensive the idea that your existence is predicated on your ethnic history, both because I'm not terribly impressed with my ethnic history, and because it neatly writes free will out of the equation. (Question: How do folks who slander The Bell Curve reconcile its alleged findings with their belief that racial genetics is destiny?) Again, read the piece above.

The hat tip is to Stuart Buck.

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