In this episode of “The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations”…
Let’s begin with a question: When will Democrats wake up and realize that by lowering scholastic expectations, they hurting the very students they profess to want to help? Other than never, I mean.
The most recent example comes from Baltimore City Schools and students’ complete lack of math proficiency.
The latest round of state test results is raising alarm in Baltimore City Schools. Project Baltimore found that 40% of Baltimore City high schools, where the state exam was given, did not have any students score proficient in math. Not one student.
Imagine that.
The latest round of state test results is raising alarm in Baltimore City Schools. Project Baltimore found that 40% of Baltimore City high schools, where the state exam was given, did not have any students score proficient in math. Not one student.https://t.co/g9WJERdikI
— FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) September 20, 2023
Seriously, that’s damn impressive — for all the wrong reasons.
Thirteen Baltimore City high schools. Nearly 2,000 students tested. Not one student tested proficient in math skills. Zero. I mean, how is that even possible?
I got this one.
By lowering expectations, thus creating an environment in which students don’t give a damn about math, or any other class, because the very teachers tasked with educating them don’t give a damn, either. And neither do school administrators, the Baltimore School Board, or the Democrat-run city government.
Sorry, Baltimore — the pathetic proof is in the pudding.
Jason Rodriguez, deputy director of People Empowered by the Struggle, a Baltimore-based nonprofit, said there’s no excuse for the disastrous results.
This is educational homicide. There is no excuse. We have a system that’s just running rogue, and it starts at the top.
Here’s more:
In total, students at 33 Baltimore City high schools took the state math exam last spring. Project Baltimore did not include Eager Street Academy in our analysis because it’s located in the Baltimore City Detention Center.
But that’s not the only alarming finding we made. In those 13 high schools, 1,736 students took the test, and 1,295 students, or 74.5%, scored a one [sic] out of four. One is the lowest level, meaning those students were not even close to proficient.
How often have we heard congressional Democrats wail (lie) about the lack of funding for inner-city public schools? Yet, here’s the reality of Baltimore City Schools:
Last school year, Baltimore City Schools received $1.6 billion from taxpayers, the most ever. The district also received $799 million in Covid relief funding from the federal government. And still, not a single student tested at 13 City high schools scored proficient on the state math test.
Let’s sum it up: Baltimore City Public Schools enjoys the fourth-highest per-pupil spending in the country. Taxpayers are spending $21,606 per Baltimore public school student in 2023.
Rodriguez was all over that inconvenient fact for Democrats.
So, it’s not a funding issue. We’re getting plenty of funding. I don’t think money is the issue. I think accountability is the issue.
Bingo: it’s a total lack of accountability — all the way to the top. Why? I already answered the question. (See: “The soft bigotry of low expectations.”)
The worst part is this has been going on in Baltimore City high schools for years.
Six years ago, in 2017, Project Baltimore produced a similar report, where we analyzed state test scores and found 13 City schools had zero students proficient in math. Many of the schools from 2017 are also on the 2023 list, including Patterson High School, Frederick Douglass, The Reach! Partnership School, New Era Academy, Coppin Academy, and Achievement Academy.
Rodriguez lamented the same “pipeline” we see at large Democrat-run cities across America.
We’re still dealing with these same issues year after year. It’s just scary to me and alarming to me because we know that what’s happening now, you know, it’s just opening up the floodgates to the school-to-prison pipeline.
Again, bingo. Adding insult to injury is this fact:
Baltimore Public Schools also had the third highest administrative spending in the country per student in 2020, Moreover, the Baltimore City Council in May approved even more funding for teachers and administrators.
Disgusting? Hell, yes, it is. Yet, it has continued for years.
The Bottom Line
Toss in the breakdown of the black nuclear family, kids taking to the streets, joining gangs, and skyrocketing crime rates across the country, and there you have it.
And perhaps the worst part of all?
The Democrat Party doesn’t give a damn — despite vehement protestations to the contrary.
But, hey — the left’s narratives are far better served by dwelling on (lying about) MAGA Republicans, “white supremacy” “semi-fascists,” and selective mass shootings.
