School Choice vs. 'Familiar Images'

Jason Riley:

"For Young Latino Readers, an Image Is Missing."

So goes the headline of a recent New York Times story that cites a lot of multiculturalist mumbo-jumbo to explain the learning gap between white and Hispanic students.

"Hispanic students now make up nearly a quarter of the nation's public school enrollment," notes the Times, "yet nonwhite Latino children seldom see themselves in books written for young readers." The paper would have us believe that this contributes to the underperformance of Latinos on standardized tests. According to Department of Education data for 2011, 18% of Hispanic fourth graders were proficient in reading, compared with 44% of white fourth graders.

"Education experts and teachers who work with large Latino populations say that a lack of familiar images could be an obstacle as young readers work to build stamina and deepen their understanding of story elements like character motivation," says the article.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 11, 2012 1:28 AM
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