WASHINGTON, October 23, 2011- Inferior and inadequate schools, resources, and parental support are not to blame for the score gaps between white and some minority groups, rather it is their genetic inferiority to middle class whites. That conclusion was central to the thesis of a memo Pat Buchanan delivered to the Nixon White House when he was an aide there in 1971.
Thirty years have passed, and Buchanan, who probably has not strayed too far from that thinking, has repackaged it and cushioned it between the pages of his latest book Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?
In the forthcoming book, Buchanan warns about the steady decline in America , which he essentially says is becoming soiled with more brown people immigrating from Hispanic and Latin American countries, who combined with the existing population of African Americans are driving down American children’s test scores. He wrote:
[T]he decline in academic test scores here at home and in international competition is likely to continue, as more and more of the children taking those tests will be African-American and Hispanic. [...] Can the test-score gap be closed? With the Hispanic illegitimacy rate at 51 percent and the black rate having risen to 71 percent, how can their children conceivably arrive at school ready to compete?
The MSNBC contributor concludes that white males will have the burden of academic excellence because according to Buchanan, they are the most intelligent.
It’s not a far reach from the words he wrote in that 1971 memo, a Seattle Times article from 1992 points out. In the memo, Buchanan penned:
"Basically, it demonstrates that heredity, rather than environment, determines intelligence - and that the more we proceed to provide everyone with a `good environment,' surely the more heredity will become the dominant factor - in their intelligence, and thus in their success and social standing… It is almost the iron law of intelligence that is being propounded here - based on heredity.
"The importance of this article is difficult to understate. If correct, then all our efforts and expenditures not only for `compensatory education' but to provide an `equal chance at the starting line' are guaranteeing that we wind up with the intelligent ones coming in first. And every study we have shows blacks 15 IQ points below whites on the average."
Statements like these have outraged educators, policy leaders, parents, and others nationwide.
Frank Bryant, an educator and founder of Washington, DC-based nonprofit Free My City (FMC) is one. Rather than point fingers or appoint blame for some students’ poor performance in schools Bryant and his organization are doing their part to effect how children are educated in America. FMC group has received 4,000 pledges for its National Enlightenment Walk for Education Reform in America (NEW ERA). FMC expects nearly 10,000 students, parents, educators, public figures, and community leaders to attend the walk, scheduled for November 12 on the National Mall. Its purpose is to raise awareness on the importance of including student perspectives in education in reform.
“Unfortunately, the way the American public school system is structured does not prepare our children to compete with the world---for more than enough reasons,” Bryant told Politics of Raising Children. “However, contrary to Buchanan's belief, it’s not a "browning" issue, it’s an American issue”
Bryant is well aware that it’s not genetics that govern or control how good or bad a student does, but external factors, including the quality of education, resources, and level of encouragement from educators, peers, and parental units. He knows well because he himself was a troubled teen, who was kicked out of DC public schools and struggled in class, even though he was raised in a stable two-parent middle class household.
With the help of a special program for challenged adolescents, Bryant was able to get it together and raise his grades. He eventually attended college, went to graduate school at Georgetown University and graduated from a Harvard University executive program. Being a testament to the notion that children can be more than the circumstances from where they are from, Bryant is paying it forward and is hoping his group’s walk will help change school curriculum nationwide, which he says is not effective in getting all children to learn.
Bryant said his group is currently working to build alliances and partnerships partner with the National Education Association and the Department of Education.
“I believe to truly reform America’s public education system, it is vital that we integrate changes based on the students’ perspective. Once students make the psychological investment in learning, it will motivate them to intrinsically succeed academically,” Bryant said.
Anyone can attempt to sell books delivering doomsday-like message based on racist pseudo-Eugenics-based theories as Buchanan.
Organizing, galvanizing and trying to make a colossal effort to effectuate real change is a genuine challenge. Bryant seems willing and able and is doing what people like Buchanan and those who think like him ought to be doing rather than playing that old tired game of scapegoat.
Read more Politics of Raising Children in The Communities at the Washington Times. Follow Jeneba Ghatt at @JenebaSpeaks. Her work can also be read at Jeneba Speaksand Politic365. She also co-hosts a Blog Talk Radio show called Right of Black which tackles current events and politics from a perspective not often seen in the mainstream media.
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