Quote :

CNN) -- A Pennsylvania high school says some students are separated by race, gender and language for a few minutes each day in an effort to boost academic scores, raising controversy over the historically contentious issue of segregation in schools.

The initiative is a pilot program intended to capitalize on "enriching students' experiences through mentoring" and is derived from school research "that shows grouping black students by gender with a strong role model can help boost their academic achievement and self esteem," according to a statement from McCaskey East High School in Lancaster.

"Educators immediately noticed strong bonds being formed between all students and mentor teachers," the statement said.

The junior class at McCaskey East is voluntarily segregated by the students, who organize themselves "by gender, race and/or language," said school spokeswoman Kelly Burkholder.

But some school experts say the experiment is misguided.

"When we talk about reducing the achievement gap, do we mean merely reducing the discrepancy of test scores of white students and students of color?" asked education consultant Sam Chaltain. "Or do we mean reducing the predictive impact that things like race, class and gender have on all aspects of student engagement, performance and learning?"

The school's principal defended the policy.

"One of the things we said when we did this was, 'Let's look at the data, let's not run from it. Let's confront it and see what we can do about it,'" said school principal Bill Jimenez. "In visiting the classrooms, I saw students planning their path for success after graduation."

But while McCaskey East students are "segregated" for six minutes each day and 20 minutes twice a month, some say other school systems in the country appear to be reverting to real segregation.

Last month, the NAACP held a three-day education summit in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Wake County School Board, bolstered by the election of four new conservative members last year, ended the school system's 10-year-old diversity policy that used the number of students receiving free or reduced-price lunches to assign students to schools.

They plan to replace the policy with a "neighborhood schools system" that critics say will establish real segregation.

"School boards across this country are rolling the clock back to the time before Brown vs. the Board of Education," NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said in a statement. "The NAACP will not let this happen."

The 1954 case from Topeka, Kansas, ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning an earlier ruling in a decision that determined "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

But as educators look for new ways to improve student aptitude, some point out that McCaskey East High School could have the right idea. A national study from UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies claims to show that girls from single-sex schools have an edge over their co-ed peers.

"Single-sex education appears to produce favorable outcomes for female students, especially in terms of their confidence, engagement and aspirations, most notably in areas related to math and science," the 2008 study said.


Pennsylvania school experiments with 'segregation' - CNN.com

Can I go back to Germany now?

Everybody covers the race issue but I for one have never been sold on separating the boys from the girls. I personally don't believe in it, if a student is determined to not pay their fullest attention in class, they don't need someone of the opposite sex around for their excuse. Some people actually think it would be a good idea if they spent their entire school career that way, well school is supposed to prepare kids for the real world, what's going to happen 12 years later they go out in the real world and GASP there are men and women together! What's up with that? What kind of radical thinking is that? How do they get anything done?

Well some people wanted to take the country "back". Unfortunately it looks like they're accomplishing it.

Indeeeeeed.

Quote :

Can I go back to Germany now?

Quote :

Well some people wanted to take the country "back". Unfortunately it looks like they're accomplishing it.

1. This is the idea of a black woman at this school.
2. It's for 6 minutes per day and one 20 minute session per week. For mentoring.

This may be controversial, but let’s try to avoid the knee-jerk reaction that this must have been the idea of Nazis attempting to regress civil rights to a point before 1954.

The whole thing still sounds kooky to me, they think separating them by their differences could prove beneficial, wouldn't it be even more beneficial in that case to separate all the students from each other? Then they wouldn't have ANY distractions.

I agreed with the man who spoke. It's a well intentioned idea, but ultimately very flawed. If a certain portion of a schools student body is scoring below average on standardized testing, then focus on these students; whatever their racial or ethnic demographic is.

alan smithee wrote:

Quote :

Can I go back to Germany now?

Quote :

Well some people wanted to take the country "back". Unfortunately it looks like they're accomplishing it.

1. This is the idea of a black woman at this school.
2. It's for 6 minutes per day and one 20 minute session per week. For mentoring.

This may be controversial, but let’s try to avoid the knee-jerk reaction that this must have been the idea of Nazis attempting to regress civil rights to a point before 1954.

WHOAH.

Misinterpreted entirely!

I was serious about going back to Germany. I lived there for a while and every time something like this comes up, I wish I were there.

(Das war als keine Beleidigung für die Deutschen gemeint!!)

Ich bedauere, dass ich deine Sinne missverstanden. Es tut mir leid!

Ist schon okay! (Ach du sprichst Deutsch! )

Nur ein bisschen

Don't you just hate it when you can't speak the language?

Nope. That's why I have headphones.

Supernova wrote:

Don't you just hate it when you can't speak the language?

Mi piace quando le persone non possono capire di cosa sto parlando. Chi vuole fare sesso??!

Ho comprenduto

Chris wrote:

Supernova wrote:

Don't you just hate it when you can't speak the language?

Mi piace quando le persone non possono capire di cosa sto parlando. Chi vuole fare sesso??!

Io voglio fare sesso!

OK. Thread's officially been hi-jacked. :

MarQ-Boogie wrote:

Honestly, as a black man I believe we need to go back to segregation.

When we were segregated black people owned more and achieved more.

We desegregated and now look at us?!

I believe we need to go back to segregation and we need to make sterilization mandatory for some people.

That was a joke was it not?

MarQ-Boogie wrote:

MarQ-Boogie wrote:

Honestly, as a black man I believe we need to go back to segregation.

When we were segregated black people owned more and achieved more.

We desegregated and now look at us?!

I believe we need to go back to segregation and we need to make sterilization mandatory for some people.

Honestly, it was NOT a joke and I wouldn't expect a white man to understand what I meant by my comment.

Sweetheart I'm black and I think that comment was the epitome of the word "absurd".

MarQ-Boogie wrote:

MarQ-Boogie wrote:

Honestly, as a black man I believe we need to go back to segregation.

When we were segregated black people owned more and achieved more.

We desegregated and now look at us?!

I believe we need to go back to segregation and we need to make sterilization mandatory for some people.

Honestly, it was NOT a joke and I wouldn't expect a white man to understand what I meant by my comment.

Why wouldn't a white man understand it? You some kinda racist or something. There was another thread on here asking if black ppl can be racist. Maybe we can go bump that because your input was missing on that one.

OK, help me understand.

Who should be sterilized and for what reason?

What did black ppl own and achieve under segregation that is prevented with integration?

One final question - Are you a Troll?

I ask because your comments are somewhat outrageous and inflammatory.