Tell the Fairfax County School Board not to censor the facts about race!

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This week’s action alert asks readers to urge the Fairfax County (Virginia) School Board to accept the results of a recent report that shows black and Hispanic students have lower moral character than whites and Asians. Given the report’s politically incorrect conclusions, some school board members are lobbying to have it thrown out.

Background: In 2006, the board decided to incorporate “character education,” or the teaching of emotional and social skills, into school practice. To this end, the board came up with a list of Essential Life Skills that students should learn, such as taking responsibility for one’s actions, keeping promises, respecting others, and so forth.

The board then set out to study the character of the students in the county. The recently released results of the study showed racial disparities in moral character that were entirely predictable for race realists, but troubled the board. It turns out that black and Hispanic third-graders show lower moral character than whites and Asians. Ninety-five percent of Asian and white students were graded as having a “good” or “outstanding” moral character, as opposed to 82 percent of blacks and 86 percent of Hispanics.

Given the controversial nature of the findings, the board is hesitant to accept the report. The primary advocate of rejecting the report is a black board member named Tina Hone who complains that it is “potentially damaging and hurtful” because it might promote negative stereotypes of blacks and Hispanics and discourage them. On Friday, the board decided to postpone voting on whether to accept the report until it had been analyzed further.

To rationalize their efforts at censorship, Hone and other board members are raising bogus objections to the methodology of the study. The data behind the report, summarized in this article, seem quite reasonable: students were graded on their level of absenteeism and teachers’ evaluations. Although they cite no evidence for this charge, the board is suggesting that teacher bias might be responsible for the results. In today’s inverted world, there must always be a scapegoat for racial differences, and the board may make teachers to take the fall. Beyond that, there are the usual complaints that the study of racial differences is inherently divisive and pernicious.

Please protest censorship of the facts about race and the scapegoating of teachers by sending the e-mail below or one of your own composition to Daniel G. Storck, the chair of the school board, at daniel.storck@fcps.edu. Also, you can e-mail the whole school board through this link. There’s a complete list of addresses below the letter. If you live in Fairfax County (as I do), be sure to mention it in your e-mail.

Thanks for doing your part.

Subject: Don’t censor the truth about race!

Body: I urge the Fairfax County School Board to accept the results of the recent report on the moral character of county students. It would be a shame if important information about racial differences in moral character was censored due to political correctness.

If such differences exist, we need to confront them honestly, as they have massive consequences across the whole range of public policy.

It is almost certain that the results of the report reflect real racial differences in personality. Academic psychologists have proven beyond reasonable doubt that such differences exist. The report’s findings are consistent with a large body of scholarly research showing that blacks are more impetuous, aggressive, and prone to crime than whites. Statistics on black and Hispanic social dysfunction tell the same tale.

I was dismayed to read in the Washington Post that some board members are suggesting teacher bias might be to blame for the racial disparities. I find it highly unlikely that teachers, drenched as they are in the multiculturalist atmosphere of today’s education system, show significant negative bias in their evaluations of black and Hispanic students. It would be a shame to scapegoat teachers for realities that the school board is afraid to confront.

A courageous school administrator would not only face the findings of the report unflinchingly, but also think seriously about whether they have consequences for education policy. It may be that different types of schooling are appropriate for students of different races.

Given the well-documented failings of our school system, school administrators cannot afford to ignore any information that could lead to improvements. For the sake of all American students, I hope the board will stand firm against calls for censorship.

Sincerely,

Here are all the e-mail addresses for the school board:

• daniel.storck@fcps.edu
• Kathy.L.Smith@fcps.edu
• elizabeth.bradsher@fcps.edu
• brad.center@fcps.edu
• stuart.gibson@fcps.edu
• Martina.Hone@fcps.edu
• Kaye.Kory@fcps.edu
• pneichner@fcps.edu
• jane.strauss@fcps.edu
• ilryong.moon@fcps.edu
• james.raney@fcps.edu
• tessie.wilson@fcps.edu

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