Tiptoeing around race issue doesn't solve anything

Chris Rickert

It was a forum held Wednesday by the Dane County League of Women Voters on "how changing demographics are affecting Dane County schools and human services," and the speakers -- Madison school superintendent Dan Nerad, Sun Prairie district administrator Tim Culver and Dane County director of Human Services Lynn Green -- aren't exactly right wingers.

But it's odd how the best of intentions can muddle a message, especially when it comes to race, and especially in Madison.

The panel was nothing if not well intentioned, not to mention extremely careful in its language.

Happy- and/or neutral-sounding words like "diversity" and "changing demographics" took the place of the more direct "black" or "Latino" or "poor." And while it was clear that these changing demographics meant higher rates of poverty and single-parent families, which in turn correlate with more problems in the schools or need for services, the panel chose not to identify them as problems. They were instead "challenges."

They were also careful to frame their remarks in a spirit of inclusiveness, and Nerad and Culver described efforts to inject "culturally relevant" instruction into their curriculums and to hire more minority teachers.

(I wondered how conservatives would respond to such efforts, widely applauded and rarely questioned in places as liberal as Madison. What does cultural relevancy have to do with learning the three Rs? Do you have to be black to teach a black child?)

The audience was provided with graphics showing student achievement rising during this period of increasing student poverty and diversity, but Nerad and Culver did not make a big deal of that in their remarks. Nerad said after the meeting that too much emphasis on the district's successes can invite criticism about areas where it isn't doing so well.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 6, 2010 10:49 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas