# White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 3, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-initiative-on-educational-excellence-for-african-americans/630293 "2012-08-03T14:08:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-initiative-on-educational-excellence-for-african-americans/630293/1 "2012-08-03T14:08:37Z")
Until this morning, I wasn’t even aware of this EO, and certainly knew nothing about what it contained. My education began when I saw a FB post that informed me that the end result will be different criteria for the expulsion of black and white students. Hm. Surely, an Executive Order wouldn’t spell out anything of the sort in black and white (heh) would it? So I Googled a bit, and found several references to a prediction made by one guy, which is this: > [@](#): > > “What this means is that whites and Asians will get suspended for things that blacks don’t get suspended for,” because school officials will try to level punishments despite groups’ different infraction rates, predicted Hans Bader, a counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Bader is a former official in the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, and has sued and represented school districts and colleges in civil-rights cases. Well, great, that’s your prediction buddy. What is it based on? To the actual text of the order I go. The only portion that could even be possibly construed in that manner is one portion of a rather long sentence: > [@](#): > > (vi) reducing the dropout rate of African American students and helping African American students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career, **in part by promoting a positive school climate that does not rely on methods that result in disparate use of disciplinary tools** , and by supporting successful and innovative dropout prevention and recovery strategies that better engage African American youths in their learning, help them catch up academically, and provide those who have left the educational system with pathways to reentry; The breathless summary of this in the ohmygodosphere is that schools will have to punish a white kid for every black kid, or even [punish a white kid before you punish a minority.](http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/237011-another-executive-order-don-t-punish-minority-until-you-punish-a-white-3.html) Well, that’s taking it a bit far, right? Even _f_ (and I mean IF) fewer black kids get punished, deservedly or not, it makes no sense that educators will increase punishments for white kids in order to keep up. You can oppose the order on whatever grounds you want…say it’s unnecessary, say it’s not the right vehicle for improving education, etc. But this objection to it strikes me as nothing but flat-out racism. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-initiative-on-educational-excellence-for-african-americans/630293/2 "2012-08-03T14:14:09Z")
All of this assumes that the federal executive has some sort of authority over disciplinary action at public schools, which it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-initiative-on-educational-excellence-for-african-americans/630293/3 "2012-08-03T14:39:41Z")
There’s a Commission, you see…