RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Faculty Senate: Weekly Synopsis - December 9, 2010

The Rogers Elliott- Richard Sander 'mismatch' theory" aims at perpetuating the discredited separate but unequal educational system. To begin with, part of the reasons why minority students are unprepared for colleges is the poor preparation from the K-12 grade schools. I have lived in Chicago for over 30 years now and, during this period, there have been many innovations in the K-12 system. However, the schools attended by over 90 percent of minorities still under-perform the majority while schools-which are mainly in the suburbs due to the massive white-flight from the city in the 50s through the 70s, and still ongoing in some respects. Schools are funded by property taxes in Illinois and the tax base for the minority neighborhoods does not generate enough funds to run the minority schools. Poorly funded schools do not retain good teachers.

This bogus mismatch theory can only come from people with an agenda, that of keeping blacks and browns at the bottom of society. If you ask me, I believe the solution to good performance in the STEM subjects lies in good and honest funding of the K-12 schools in ALLl neighborhoods. 

Best,

Ed Mensah, PhD

University of Illinois at Chicago

 

 

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dompere, Kofi Kissi
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 3:35 PM
To: 'usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com'
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Faculty Senate: Weekly Synopsis - December 9, 2010

 

 

This may be of interest to some of the members.

KOFI KISSI DOMPER

 

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To: Dompere, Kofi Kissi
Subject: Faculty Senate: Weekly Synopsis - December 9, 2010

Howard University Faculty Senate Weekly Synopsis   KEEPING YOU INFORMED Dec. 9, 2010   From The Chronicle of Higher Education December 6, 2010 Civil-Rights Panel Weighs In on Where Minorities Fare Best in STEM Fields   By Kevin Kiley   The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in one of two reports released on Monday,* weighed in on the question of whether minority students who pursue science degrees leave those disciplines in disproportionate numbers because they are admitted to colleges where their academic preparation falls below the institution's median. The other report looked at the merits of historically black colleges and universities, or HBCU's, in educating minority students. The report on minority perseverance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the STEM disciplines—makes recommendations based on the statements of experts who briefed the panel at a hearing held in September 2008. photo source:shutterstock.com      Most of the experts who testified at that briefing subscribed to the "mismatch" hypothesis, which holds that minority students fare better in those disciplines if they attend less-demanding institutions where there is not a significant gap in their level of academic preparation and that of other students. Those experts included Richard H. Sander, a professor of law at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Rogers Elliott, an emeritus professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College, who have argued that race-conscious admissions policies actually harm many of their intended beneficiaries. The commission's report, "Encouraging Minority Students to Pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Careers," also includes individual statements from members of the commission, and a majority of them accepted the mismatch theory. "The research presented at this briefing provides strong reason to believe that attending the most competitive school is not always best—at least for students who aspire to a degree in science or engineering," wrote Commissioner Gail Heriot. The bipartisan commission consists of four Republicans, two Democrats, and two nonaffiliated members. Over all, the commission concluded that, at the colleges the panel studied, admissions preferences based on ethnicity resulted in higher attrition rates for minority students who entered intending to study a STEM discipline. When black and white students enter with similar academic credentials, black students are actually more likely to graduate with a science degree, the report says. It is only when minority students' academic credentials are not close to those of their peers that the problem emerges, it says. The commission said colleges should warn students whose academic credentials are less than the institution's median about the impact of that deficit, and urged guidance counselors to advise students on the problems they would face entering a STEM program at an institution where they fall below the level of the typical student. The two Democrats on the commission dissented from major parts of the report. "Our principal objection to this briefing and report is that they were fundamentally not about encouraging minorities to pursue careers in STEM fields," wrote Commissioners Michael Yaki and Arlan D. Melendez. "Rather, the major focus of the briefing and report was to promote Rogers Elliott, Richard Sander and their 'mismatch' theory." Another of the experts who appeared at the STEM hearing two years ago, Richard A. Tapia, a mathematics professor at Rice University, said the mismatch theory leads people to draw the wrong conclusion, one that could set minorities back decades. He said elite colleges should continue to admit promising students who might not be as prepared academically, but should do more to help those students once they have been admitted. "Simply stated, in a 'sink or swim,' non-mentoring, non-supportive environment, which is what we see at many of our elite research schools, those with poorer preparation will rarely succeed, minority or majority," he said in a statement included in the report. "Why are we not demanding from public and private universities ... quality education of all our citizens?" In the other report, "The Educational Effectiveness of Historically Black Colleges and Universities," the commission recommends that students in general attend colleges where the caliber of other students better matches their own abilities. It also suggests that researchers study high-performing HBCU's to uncover practices that should be applied to all colleges. *Note: A copy of both reports has been requested from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by the Faculty Senate **************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Related Articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education  March 27, 2009 Minority Students and Research Universities: How to Overcome the 'Mismatch'  By RICHARD A. TAPIA http://chronicle.com/article/Minority-StudentsResearch/18440/ ______________________________________________________________    September 15, 2008 Federal Panel Seeks Cause of Minority Students' Poor Science Performance    By Peter Schmidt http://chronicle.com/article/Panel-Examines-Minority/1155/ _____________________________________________________________     February 16, 1999 Increasing the number of underrepresented minority students in engineering, mathematics, and science http://chronicle.com/article/Increasing-the-number-of/112704/     Back to top Howard University Faculty Senate | 525 Bryant St., NW, Washington, DC 20059 | 202-806-7595

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