It seems to me that if the race hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would put their efforts into actually helping the people who listen to them, that they could have become great men who's names would go in the history books alongside MLK's. Instead, in the long run I hope they get the recognition they actually deserve, to be reviled as people who kept race relations in the horrible state they are in for many decades.

You NEVER help anyone by lowering the standards! We have allowed our do-gooders and the feds to foul up our educational system. It is time to turn education back to the states who can do it much better and at a reduced cost! The budget for Jimmy Carter's U. S. Dept. of Education is over $80,000,000,000.00 and states could do a lot with that money!

In the 1970's in Dallas, TX, the newspaper would publish annually, a report of standardized academic testing for the DISD grades 1 through 12.

I saw the same trend year after year. Students in the 1st and 2nd grades all measured approximately the same on the tests regardless of whether they were from a predominantly black school or a predominantly white one. Somewhere in the early elementary grades the disparity between the test scores began to show and continued to widen through the 12 grade. By the 12th grade, the predominantly white schools outscored the predominantly black schools by a significant amount.

The conclusion I came to over and over was that there was no inherent difference in the races in intelligence or ability. If that had been true, then the disparity between the test scores would have manifested itself from the very beginning. The problem had to be somewhere within the educational system or (as has become evident lately) the culture of the community. Somewhere, and for whatever reason, the students in the predominantly black schools were not being given the educational tools and instruction that was prevalent in white schools.

This will probably continue as long as quotas and diversity are placed above the quality of education.

Thomas Sowell has done more to enlighten the populace as to the problems holding black Americans back than any Sharpton or Jackson will ever do. Problem is, Sharpton and Jackson spout rhetoric that is quite often irrational, inflammatory and addictive when addressing at risk individuals. Sowell appeals to the intellect, it takes a rational mind to allow his message to get through.

As husband of a high-school science teacher, I can tell you without reservation that the absolute over-powering factor in student success is the parental factor. They are the ones responsible for student maturity, student behavior (teachers have no leverage there and little administration support), and even whether they show up. Teachers are not allowed to "teach" - but to present material and engage the students in self-learning. It is totally up to them to GET IT. Those who's parents made it possible for them to do so, can and will.

Part of the blame must lie within the culture of the family structure. Where young unwed mothers are the norm and father figures are too often absent, children don't have a strong figure to model themselves. Without this structure children (more naturally than not) fall prey to the social norms within their community of peers and learn that excelling is being like whitey, or selling out, or being an Uncle Tom to the white establishment. All while being praised by a school system more interested in high self esteem in exchange for the price of higher learning. Inevitably setting them up for failure in their next step. This is supported by the fact that Mr. Williams outlines success stories from the 40s and 50s when black families were largely intact. When Bill Cosby addressed this very topic some years ago, he was excoriated by the so called black leaders and liberal establishment. What they meant was 'don't rock the boat, we got them right where we want them. On the plantation'.

Yesterday was the first day of school in my hometown, and in its online version, the local newspaper highlighted a young black boy walking up to his brand new school surrounded by applauding teachers, the superintendent, and - literally - walking on a red carpet. And yet it made me want to weep, because without an intact, functioning family behind him, that light of excitement in his eyes will begin to dim all too quickly. At what point will he abandon a love for learning to gain the favour and approval of his peers? When will he eschew his backpack loaded with books for pants hanging around his knees? How long until his first mugshot for some dumb petty crime?

I desperately pray that this young man will make it. Way too many talented lives have been wasted by ghetto mentality. While slavery destroyed many things over its time, it cannot be held responsible for the destruction of the black family that has happened in the last 50 years.

Education is in the backpocket of Progressive politicians. Keeping people eternally dependent on handouts and stupid is the ploy of these tyrants. Tell them what to do, play on old biases, and make sure truth is relevant and changeable according to the dicta of the state. Replace omniscient God with powerful government and the scheme is complete. All of Black America must wake up and realize they are being used before everybody becomes enslaved.

The key is family involvement ... parents doing their job to ensure work is done, to encourage, to chasten when necessary and to "be there" through all the trials at come from being a student/teen.

With figures showing that nearly 90% of all Black families have only one parent ... what do we expect from these kids? Many of them live in near squalor, due to abject poverty, with drugs, prostitution and other criminal activities being the norm for their neighborhood.

Until these social ills are addressed AND fixed, Black children will continue to lag far behind their white and brown peers.

Root out the stupidity of government-union schools. Education vouchers for everyone. It is up to the buyer to get it right.

Taking the student to a higher place requires two things; the vision of a higher place that is both real and achievable, and the support of a family, parents particularly, that will both push and pull the student to get there. It is the rare person of any race, culture, or social group that can rise above the expectations of their family and friends on their own.

Gravity makes it easier to fall than rise. Weakened family ties and a culture of failure beginning at home put strong chains on those who could, would, and should rise high.

Race has little to do with it.

This column's story mirrors exactly that of the sister of one of my friends named Ralph. She graduated, back in the nineties from a Boston high school, with honors after completing 4 years of earning straight "A's". She won a 4 year scholarship to college and her family was justifiably proud of her achievment. After 2 years of remedial studies in every subject she flunked out of school. The last I heard she had taken and passed a course to become a nurses aide still a credit to her family and a contributing member of society. No question, she was the victim of a school system that spends so much time dealing with kids that can't or won't be motivated to try learning that little in the way of teaching and learning transpires. She did everything they asked of her and it turns out it wasn't nearly enough.

Anytime the federal government gets involved in situations that should be delt with by the citizens of this nation themselves, it's bound to fail. Just look at what the present administration's boneheads in D.C. have done to this nation and her good, decent people. Has there even been such a row in this nation over the way government has handled things? Never!

See the quote below.

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

Abraham Lincoln.