Louise Sundin referred to a "30 million word gap" in an attempt to explain the difference in academic performance between black and white students, presumably a reflection of differences in exposure to the spoken language during a child's first 3 years. One would have to read at a pace of 200 words per minute for 15,000 hours to expose a child to that many words.
Why didn't Ms. Sundin just come out and say that black students are generally inferior to whites as learners, at least as far as the ability to acquire language skills is concerned, due to some defect in African-American culture? That was certainly implied. Ms. Sundin is expounding a "culture of poverty" theory that is just as lacking in any scientific foundation as the idea that "stupid genes" are more heavily distributed among black people. And there is an explanation supported by research that does not support the contention that blacks are basically less intelligent than whites. The ability to learn to speak a language is imprinted on just about everyone's neural circuitry. If you are exposed to a language, you learn it. Language instruction is not necessary. And a person's innate ability to acquire language skills cannot be impaired to a significant degree unless there is very little to no exposure to any language during the first three years of life. -- The process of learning a written language is quite different. The ability to learn to read and write is generally not imprinted. Instruction is necessary Here is alternative explanation for average differences between black and white children on cognitive ability tests at the point they enter the school system: White people, on average, have higher incomes, and people with higher incomes generally spend more on preschool programs. In a study of 483 low-birth-weight children from birth to age five, Greg Duncan at Northwestern University and Jean Brooks-Gunn and Pamela Klebanov at Columbia University compared IQ test scores of Black and White children from families with similar economic situations. White children outscored Black children by an average of 3 points: not a significant difference - source: Rowen, Carl T. (1996) The Coming Race War In America pp. 281, 292-3; Little, Brown & Company. -Doug Mann, King Field Mann for School Board www.educationright.com - REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
