August 27, 2008

The latest Kinsley gaffe

An excerpt from "No Apology from Gwinnett Superintendent" in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

During a discussion two weeks ago, an administrator said the disproportionate discipline of minorities is a problem for school districts nationwide except in Idaho, according to a study.

[Gwinnett County Schools Superintendent J. Alvin] Wilbanks then asked: "Do they have any blacks in Idaho? They don't have many."

Wilbanks has said his statements were not meant to be "racist" or "insensitive."

However, the NAACP has asked for Wilbanks to apologize.

Wilbanks simply doesn't understand professional protocol. The appropriate, time-honored way for educrats to respond to learning about the exceptionality of Idaho is to stroke their chins thoughtfully, remark, "Clearly, we all have much to learn from Idaho," then debate whether the official fact-finding mission to Idaho to study its racial sensitivity should go to Sun Valley in February or Coeur D'Alene in August.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

My goodness.

That isn't the Coeur d'Alene I remember from my childhood camping trips.

Anonymous said...

This makes me think of the commercial that was run exhaustively suring the Olympics, claiming the U.S. was losing its competitive edge because our educational system ranks 21st, behind "countries like Finland and South Korea."
Hmmmm ... now what kind of kids are in Finnish and South Korean schools?

Anonymous said...

Why does no one ever complain about the disporportionate disciplining of boys vis-a-vis girls? That's far more lopsided than the difference between the races.

kurt9 said...

Bill,

The pictures do not do justice to the changes.

Coeur d'Alene is nothing like the rustic, down to Earth place it was in the 70's and 80's. It is now all upscale (like many "trendy" areas) as a result of the 90's and 00's bubbles. Lake place prices have reached the $400-500K level (although I think they are declining now).

The boats you see on the lake are now mostly upscale cabin cruiser types. I have even seen a few cigarette boats as well.

I have noticed far fewer water skiers than in the 80's. They are not replaced by very many jet skiers. In general, Coeur d'Alene has an atmosphere much more like the large lakes in Switzerland than its 70's and 80's version of itself.

Anonymous said...

Mon, Mar 03, 2008
U.S. educators seek lessons from Scandinavia
High-scoring nations on an international exam say success stems from autonomy, project-based learning

A delegation led by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) recently toured Scandinavia in search of answers for how students in that region of the world were able to score so high on a recent international test of math and science skills. They found that educators in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark all cited autonomy, project-based learning, and nationwide broadband internet access as keys to their success.

Anonymous said...

Funny thing was, when were were taught in school about Galileo and the Pope it was always meant as a swipe at religion.

When I think of dogmatism today, it isn't the Church which comes to mind.

Now all we need is the guy to play Galileo. I hear James Watson was offered the part, but turned it down at the last minute.

Anonymous said...

"the disproportionate discipline of minorities is a problem"


ha ha ha, well he nailed it there!

Unknown said...

Hooray for Idaho! That's the state I'd live in if I were in the US. I am thinking of retiring there, assuming it's like it is now in 20 years. It's true that it's gone from a small-town atmosphere to upscale for escaping Californians, but it's still a great place to be. And the reason is perfectly simple ....

Anonymous said...

"However, the NAACP has asked for Wilbanks to apologize."

The thing about NAACP and other black grievance organisations is that they do actually know the score. They just cannot admit it because their Black Nationalist egos would take a serious punch, and they may no longer get buttered bread.

Unknown said...

Let's all go over to

http://www.blackhandside.net/2008/08/georgia-schools.html#comments

and give a shout-out to the man who spake words of truth.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Yeah, Kinsley didn't think this through. He sounds like someone who actually wants to attempt to solve problems, not just look like he's solving them. But as the actual solutions are politically unacceptable, he is trapped. Selling out and going on junkets makes some sense.

Anonymous said...

"However, the NAACP has asked for Wilbanks to apologize."

I would refuse to give so much as the time of day, let alone an apology, to an organization whose name I am not even allowed to speak openly.

Anonymous said...

... or Coeur D'Alene in August.

UBER!


--Senor Doug

Anonymous said...

Wilbanks' reasoning is so obvious a child could see it: You can't have "disproportionate discipline of minorities" if there are no minorities. It is ridiculous that anyone has taken offense at this simple concept.

His only "crime" was to state the obvious in such a blunt way. I would expect that someone who has risen so high in the educational bureaucracy would know how to couch the idea in more politically acceptable language. For example: "Hmm, Idaho. Yes, well, Idaho lacks enough diversity to make a comparison." That the lack of diversity is always a bad thing is a shibboleth of PC society. Thus, by wording his remark this way, Wilbanks would have spoken the literal truth and yet also turned the blame for this situation back onto Idaho for being so monoracial. It's a win-win situation!

Anonymous said...

I don't know, Idaho is pretty close to Canada. And as we know, none of the other states on the Canadian border has a below-average number of black and Latinos(except Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine), and they all have average IQs well above the national average, so the IQ points are obviously blowing south.

Thanks, Canada! (Just make sure you don't send too much our way or the NDP will start winning again.)

Anonymous said...

Trust me, you've got the same SWPL whites in Idaho as you do anywhere from Portland, ME to Portland, OR. Yesterday I sat in an airport that might as well have been Dubai's, but was actually Salt Lake City's. There I overhead the moronic pep rally known as a political convention, staged for those who still believe in something called "democracy", and the guy from Idaho loudly blustered about how the Dems in his state had voted for Obama by the (measured shouting) "LARGEST MARGIN IN THE UNITED STATES!" That should be something Steve analyzes - percentage of whites by state versus the percentage of Obama's victory margin over that manly Clinton broad. Steve readers wouldn't be surprised by the results - MSM tools would furl brows and scratch heads.

You should have seen the front page of the local paper in the Idaho ski town I live in when the parties were giving their nominations. The Dems were so serious, so moral, staring at the camera, superior to their neighbors in their choice for the friendly seeming black fellow. (The Republican ones are more into bombing most of Asia). I could write for years about these people. The deracinated white is an amazing breed.

Anonymous said...

That should be something Steve analyzes - percentage of whites by state versus the percentage of Obama's victory margin over that manly Clinton broad.

I think Steve has pointed out that the corollary is percentage of white Obama voters by state versus percentage of blacks in the state. Thus, Democrats in lily-white Idaho who work with that 99th percentile black fellow in the IT department vote for Obama.

--Senor Doug