Only 17% Of Black Students In Maryland School District Scored Proficient In Math

[B!tchuoffendingme]

They need after school tutoring and a home environment that demands academic curiosity and intellectual rigor (reading books, finding out about the world around them)
Also, good public schools and teachers that push their students are vital.
Not sure what the solution is, apart from a complete and total rehaul of the US education system, which aint happening unless the public elects governors, mayors, and state senators that fukking clean house on that issue.

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

My mom taught me math on her own before I learned it in school. One of best things she ever did for me, took it into her own hands and made sure I wouldn't fall behind.

 

[poundedyam]

I was good at maths untill the algebra stage.
I found it way too hard so i just gave up.
Im sure theres a lot of guys like me as well

 

[Mission249]

I actually grew up in the Maryland school system a long time ago.

One day, out of the blue, the teacher administered a test with questions like "a + 10 = 13. What is a?". This was completely new material. None of us had ever seen a letter in a math equation. I promptly recognized it as similar to the computer coding I had recently gotten heavily into so I aced the test. The next day the class was split in two. Every Black was put on the right side of the room. Every White and Asian on the left side. They only had one math teacher and she only had one period. So she alternated teaching both sides.

And in the middle of the left side, they put me - the sole "advanced" black kid.

I always wondered how this could happen to a lot of my friends. Here's my thoughts:
1) While we were touted as being in the richest majority Black area on earth, many of the Blacks weren't "generationally wealthy" like their White counterparts. Many were trying to "keep up with the Joneses" and were one emergency away from financial ruin, with no family to lean on when when/if said crisis happened.
2) Many of these upper middle class Blacks had extensive familial, friendship and cultural ties with lower class Blacks in close proximity in the poorer parts of Maryland and DC. Sometimes these ties didn't lead to positive educational influences.
3) The last 2 reasons led to a a lack intellectual curiosity or preparedness. Nobody guiding the child to explore nor anybody showing them why it could be useful.

Years later I learned that the test wasn't as out of the blue as I had recollected. Many of the "advanced" kids had spent weeks preparing with their parents and their tutors.

 

[NoirDynosaur]

I was good at maths untill the algebra stage.
I found it way too hard so i just gave up.
Im sure theres a lot of guys like me as well

Same here. I used to come with straight A then Algebra took me to straight D's

Self-teaching takes the stress off since...you have the freedom and time.

 

[EndDomination]

Sounds about right.
Maybe 1/10 of my class last year could reach proficient on a grade-level math test.

Parents are the issue. They send their kids to Kindergarten without the ability to read and write, don't reinforce any of the concepts at home, don't help them with their homework, don't send them to summer camp or (God forbid) summer school, don't show up to parent-teach conferences, and the student flounders, in a classroom with 20 other kids going through the same thing, at a school where 800 other kids are going through the same thing.

Teachers can only do so much, they can't play catch-up every single year.

 

[EndDomination]

I blame this on thotty single moms.

More blame should be placed on the absent fathers, it takes two parents to raise a child.

No. Baltimore is filled with lower class blacks and pg/ St Charles has a lot of section 8

Also the black community still struggles with prioritizing education. Not to mention the highest state taxes are in pg and Baltimore yet they have the worst schools. I guess basing school funding on local property tax effects some more than others

It definitely does, but the carry-over in bad testing is even for the schools in the wealthier neighborhoods.

The teachers and parents will get the blame

Anything to ignore the fact that some of us are just innately dumb

we can accept the fact that not everyone can shoot like Jordan or Golf like Tiger

but when it comes to stuff like this it's somehow no longer innate, there are external factors. Genes are not a factor

Einstein's, Hawkings and Newton's genius had nothing to do with external factors (Hawkings in fact never studied at all and breezed through his classes)

These kids will receive the help they need once the narrative changes and we have a better understanding of human nature

Until then, they'll continue to suffer, we'll continue to have crime and unemployment

Nah, its not innate, you sound like a eugenics-supporting moron.
Mathematics can be taught.

Constant skill-and-drill/test-prep does not work. However, it has been the basis of the US school system ever since the passage of NCLB in 2001. I always did well on tests, because I could always "figure it out" even if I had never seen the content before. This is because I have always been a critical and abstract thinker. What these government mandates do is strip teachers and students of the ability to cultivate critical and abstract thought. Common Core, they said, would give kids analytical skills, but it actually does quite the opposite, as it gives teachers and students more bullshyt standards to follow. The more you try to drill the standards into the kids, the weaker they become. This is because if they get a test question they haven't been drilled on, they have no idea wtf to do. Whereas, if you put any test in front of a critical thinker, he or she will find a way to get SOMETHING right. Abstract thought is discouraged in school, and low-key a huge reason why melanated children are doing terribly.

I hear this a lot, but as a former teacher, this isn't necessarily true.
I used to walk my way through problems I'd never seen before (reason why I've always scored in the "Advanced" sections of standardized tests and did so well on the LSAT and ACT/SAT), but critical and abstract thinking are taught at home and environmentally. Thomas Sowell actually has some interesting data on this, though I find his interpretations to be dubious at best. Abstract thought is not discouraged in schools, and Common Core is not the issue here, not by a long stretch. There's a reason its the same populations, even as the material changes over the years,

I would put the blame on parents before I would put it on Teachers. The problem is a lot of people think learning material only starts and stops in the classroom. This thinking will especially fail you when you reach college.

When you're not in school, if a child is struggling in math, then its up to the parent to supplement the teaching at school with studying at home.

All of this.
The skills you learn in school should also have some applicability outside of homework assignments.
This is why academic extracurriculars, projects, and camps are so important.
I bet if you surveyed the same students that weren't even proficient, you'd find there's a solid overlap between those who aren't academically involved outside of class and those who can't pass.

 

[EndDomination]

Math needs to be taught in a way where the child can understand the real world applications. Once children stop seeing how they can use math in their day to day life it just becomes abstract formulas.

That's the thing, math classes since the 70s have stressed real-world application.
I grew up w/ old textbooks, but literally every section, of every unit, would talk about Real World application, this is from 3rd grade all the way to college.
It does help, but its not enough either.

 

[madness]

The Wire Season 4 tried to tell you

 

[Take It In Blood]

Nah, its not innate, you sound like a eugenics-supporting moron.
Mathematics can be taught.

of course it can be taught (mostly)

mathematics is memory. And everyones memory is different.

we aren't all ken and barbie dolls fresh off an assembly line with the same stats

We're products of 4 billion years of evolution so theirs going to be variation within individuals.

and this is a common occurrence (in just about every state and mostly every school) so either the teachers are really bad.... all the time..... for decades....or there's something else at play

Our brains weren't really evolved to think mathematically and those who are able to do it with ease seem to be the exception to the rule

 

[EndDomination]

all of this was predicted:

but black intelligentsia ran mchwhorter off and dismissed this is ramblings of a delusional uncle tom

It wasn't "predicted."
The Black achievement gap has existed for over a century, he wrote his books in like 2000 and 2004.
He, like a lot of commentators, overly inflates the importance of his specific variables.
While there definitely are cultural points that undermine Black students, they can't be divorced from household structure, income, class, social sphere, parental involvement, school structure, and instructor involvement. Its all taken as a whole, and just like Thomas Sowell's critical commentary, he didn't tie it all together as he should have.

 

[EndDomination]

of course it can be taught (mostly)

mathematics is memory. And everyones memory is different.

we aren't all ken and barbie dolls fresh off an assembly line with the same stats

We're products of 4 billion years of evolution so theirs going to be variation within individuals.

and this is a common occurrence (in just about every state and mostly every school) so either the teachers are really bad.... all the time..... for decades....or there's something else at play

Our brains weren't really evolved to think mathematically and those who are able to do it with ease seem to be the exception to the rule

But its not an AA specific thing, its literally a combination of hundreds of factors.
And memory is close to the least influential.

 

[ManBearPig]

I think its weird how Illinois is one of the smartest states in the Country but the black school systems are

 

[Take It In Blood]

But its not an AA specific thing

no one said it was

its a human thing.

and most humans suck at math, black, white, Hispanic suck at math.

with asians being the less likely to suck at it (i have an asian friend who sucks at math but shes mixed with white so its probably the cac side that made her dumb)

and memory has everything to do with it and intelligence in general

People with good memories are more likely to excel in mathmatics

 

[Cadillac]

Living in Maryland the last couple of years, I have seen how things work out here. I now see that the trumped up elitist/classist rhetoric prevalent among the DMV Black middle class is mostly based on a shaky foundation. They pride themselves on the value of their homes, and yet they haven't recovered at the same pace as the white surrounding areas. Furthermore, the Black areas top the list when it comes to mortgages that have negative equity There are definitely parts of the area that are cool, but the prosperity is most definitely overhyped. DMV black folks enjoy throwing it in NY'ers faces about how financially better off they are than us, but while the standard of living might be slightly higher they are still struggling to afford their places just like NY'ers.

For those who are blaming single mothers and non-nuclear families, I would pump the brakes. Black middle class academic under performance has been an issue for awhile now, no need for the implicit poor shaming and moral grandstanding.

yeah I think the fragility of Blacks in the DMV has been covered here several times, on the surface things may seem good.

But dig just a inch deep and you will see the issues that are present.