Thursday, November 17, 2011

Race and academic performance in Wisconsin and Texas

From National Review:

During the recent struggle over collective-bargaining rights in Wisconsin, a number of left-of-center observers, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, pointed out that students in unionized Wisconsin do better on average than students in non-unionized Texas. The obvious conclusion, or so we were led to believe, is that teachers’ unions lead to better education.

There is, however, a problem with this argument. Drawing on data from the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the political commentator David Burge pointed out that white students in Texas outperform white students in Wisconsin, black students in Texas outperform black students in Wisconsin, and Hispanic students in Texas outperform Hispanic students in Wisconsin. This may look like a statistical paradox; Wisconsin does better on average, even though all groups do worse in Wisconsin. But there is an explanation: Wisconsin has a considerably larger share of white students than Texas, and white students tend to fare better than black and Hispanic students. This example highlights the increasing importance of demographics to the American education debate.
This is why we need to change our immigration policy to stop the decline of whites as a percentage of the total U.S. population. An increasing black and Hispanic population combined with a declining white one will result in the United States becoming a Third World country.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"In 1940, whites constituted 88 percent of the U.S. population, while Hispanics were only 1 percent. But because of higher birth rates and, to a lesser extent, continued immigration, the Hispanic population is growing rapidly. The Census Bureau estimates that in 2050, whites will be a minority of 46 percent of the population, while Hispanics will have grown to 30 percent."

Lesser extent my ass, the group with the greatest fertility are the most recently arrived foreigners.

Anonymous said...

"Though poorer than native-born Americans, Hispanic immigrants are far richer than they would have been in Latin America. Thus the impact of their immigration on global income has been positive."

Only if the impact that their fertility has had on global income is ignored.

"It is very difficult to predict the trajectory of future economic growth."

Labor scarcity = labor saving capital investment. Labor market flooded with cheap foreign labor = economic hell for all but the wealthiest.

"The worst-case scenario is that the gaps between whites and non-whites in education and earnings will not change."

No, the "worst" case scenario is that it will fall even further. As they are doing better economically than they would in their overcrowded home country, they are likewise doing better scholastically. That will change as our country comes to resemble theirs for some assuredly unfathomable reason.

"Finally, Heckman contends that programs must be targeted toward the truly disadvantaged in order to be cost-effective."

And when it doesn't work, another bludgeon to hit whites with.

"What hasn’t happened, and what needs to happen, is for middle-class voters to recognize that the achievement gap isn’t some sentimental side issue that shouldn’t concern serious people. Rather, it is absolutely central to America’s economic future."

It certainly is, but only if the American people can see through to the true reason for its existence.