#christopher jencks

Tall buildings all fall down

Fifteen buildings of in Yunnan, China, were imploded on Aug. 27. (Taiwan News) Is there something off-kilter about the photo above from a video sent to me yesterday by architectural theorist Nikos Salingaros? Yes, there is. At first I thought it was a video of Pruitt-Igoe, the St. Louis public housing project, all 33 eleven-story buildings of which were demolished in between 1972 and 1976 – an…

This blog, in November 2018, reported on Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom’s[1] work that cites studies regarding sociological/historical factors and how they have affected racial and ethnic groups.  Specifically, that research looked at these groups’ ability to prepare their offspring to succeed in school.  

That posting, “Disadvantages Beget Disadvantages,” compares the relative disadvantages African Americans have as compared to what white, Asian Americans, and Hispanic families face.  The history of African Americans has been measurably more challenging than that of these other groups.

         This posting will continue this report.  An influential work that reports on the relative strength of various ethnic-racial groups in preparing children for schoolwork is that of Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips.  They provide often cited statistics in this area of concern.  Summarily, they state,

Change in parenting practices might do more to reduce the black-white test score gap than changes in parents’ educational attainment or income. … Cognitive disparities between black and white preschool children are currently so large that it is hard to imagine how schools alone could eliminate them. … Changing the way parents deal with their children may be the single most important thing we can do to improve children’s cognitive skills.[2]

The previous posting made the argument that this current situation is clearly the product of the history these groups have experienced.

         Of importance, Jencks and Phillips highlight the amount and character of verbal communications between parents and children.  This can be analyzed according to the amount and type of communication that transpires. One effort to measure the effects of that history is provided by Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) group and its scale.  That study unfortunately reveals significant differences among white, Hispanic, and black households.

         Broad comparisons (in rough numbers) on a testing scale found the following:  in terms of cognitive stimulation, whites scored 104, Hispanics scored 94, and blacks scored 93; and in terms of emotional support, whites scored 103, Hispanics scored 99, and blacks scored 91.[3] But before one is tempted to listen to racial bigots who cite such statistics to “prove” there exists inherent differences among racial and/or ethnic groups, deeper study proves them to be wrong.

         As the Thernstroms argue, such factors as parental education, occupation, and income do make a difference.  One can also add to those more cited variables child’s weight at birth and age of mother also correlate with school performance.[4]  When one controls for these factors, one finds no difference among these groups.

They further suggest that a researcher could probably conflate these other measured variables by just counting the number of books in the home – the more the better.  On this last factor, the Thernstroms report that in a 1998 study of kindergarten students, whites had on average 93 books at home and black kids had half that number. How many books a child has access to at home does not make the difference, but that number is a telling one for other factors.

         Can school systems control for these factors?  Directly, they have little to no control.  But they can be aware of them and tailor their efforts accordingly.  Of course, in dealing with challenged students, their strategies should reflect knowledge and sensitivity to what is; what the challenges their students bring through the front door of the schoolhouse.

But more importantly, perhaps, is the responsibility of informing the general public – and their children – what these sociological factors are and to what extent they exist locally.  And this needs to be done sensitively.  The last thing challenged students need is fodder material that can be used in bullying or other derogative treatment by fellow students.

But generally, if there exist inordinate obstacles that confront portions of the student population, the whole community needs to be made aware of them.  They need to be instructed on how the community can address the unjust conditions that face any grouping within their midst.  And civics education can and should play a central role.  It should, at the secondary level, lead to a productive response by teachers and administrators with the aim of truly federating all families.

[1] Abigail Thernstrom and Stephen Thernstrom, No Excuses:  Closing the Racial Gap in Learning (New York, NY:  Simon & Schuster, 2003).

[2] Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips, The Black-White Test Score Gap (Washington, DC:  Brookings Institution Press, 1998), 24, 45-46; a version of this work can be found online, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Black_White_Test_Score_Gap/Ywb7r1oOxJYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover, accessed January 2, 2020.

[3] David J. Armor, Maximizing Intelligence (New Brunswick, NJ:  Transaction Books, 2003); a version of this work can be found online, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Maximizing_Intelligence/nR0uDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover .