(Future) Californians are stupid: evidence from high school assessments
According to National Assessment of Educational Progress 8-th grade scores, Californian students rank:
* ranks 44th in reading
* ranks 41st in math
Percentage of students by race:
White 25%
Asian 12%
Black 7%
Hispanic 53%
Multiracial and Native and other 3%
Math scores:
White 291
Asian 304
Black 260
Hispanic 263
State average: 275
Reading scores:
White 274
Asian 279
Black 248
Hispanic 249
State average: 259
Does this match with your experience? What does that mean for the future of California? It seems that the whole state is haloed by tech sector boom, but other than that the things are not pretty.
There's just so much diversity within California, you need to break it down by area. I bet the Bay and certain parts of LA are killing it, but places like the infamous Compton are bringing that shit way down. Good news is the people killin it are going to live to be 100 whereas street kids wont make it past 25.
Income inequality is going to keep growing is what that means. But yeah, overall it sucks how these kids aren't giving a fuck.
yeah i don't think OP's numbers paints an accurate picture... at all... there are a lot of bad parts of cali that are going to weigh down this average, but many of the nation's best high schools and students are in its wealthier areas. take a look at places like saratoga, arcadia, la jolla, cupertino, pleasanton, numerous neighborhoods of san diego and san jose... the list goes on... when you have extremely large states with lots of income diversity, you're going to see things like this.
what do you really mean by 'bad parts'?
Best public school students: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut
Worst public school students: Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, California
Now, I wonder if there are certain demographic factors that can explain this :^)
Best public schools: Wonder bread?
Worst public schools: Wheat toast?
Culture and emphasis on success/education have a lot to do with this.
Demographics and culture are key.
Recent immigrants tend to come from lower skilled backgrounds, aren't as educated and intelligent, and have a tougher time assimilating. This is a crucial reason why we need to get rid of the Visa lottery, reduce legal immigration, and prioritize those with advanced skills and knowledge.
Lmao Nigerian-Americans have the most post-graduate degrees per capita in the United States, I came in the lottery and have a post-graduate degree, as do many of my peers who are doctors, engineers, and work in some of the companies (like Facebook) that you put on a pedestal. Keep on with your xenophobia though bro, facts be damned.
Well said @Rufus1234"
Also bear in mind that California has BY FAR the largest Asian population in the US (I believe both as an aggregate and as a percentage). So yes, Hispanics generally pull down the average, but the Asians aren't pulling up the average enough to compensate.
In other words, California's public school problems go well beyond just demographics.
Yea, the demographic factor is wealth. Easy to see all the states in the "best" category are rich whereas almost all the states in the "worst" category are poor. Cali is the one that doesn't fit as they are a rich state but the wealth is concentrated among very few (silicon valley, Hollywood).
I used to think this but now believe the causal relationship is actually in the reverse - poor educational outcomes have led to low incomes. I’ve simply seen too many poor Asian communities change their socioeconomic class so quickly.
We will always see a correlation between wealth and education however.
This is factually wrong. The worst performing Asians are the Cambodians and some other southeast Asians that came here with poor uneducated parents and stayed poor. There is a big gap between them and east Asians. The best performing Asians are those who came here relatively middle-class with professional parents.
Asians are treated as an outlier or ignored completely from the conversation as it destroys every Liberal idea of who succeeds and who doesn't. Poor people can't become successful because of the White man, police brutality, etc etc.
Cue Asians who come from 3rd World shitholes and are often 1st generation college students that can break through all the statistics that say they shouldn't succeed out of the water.
Want to know why? Because of a culture that values hard working, self-reliance (no need for food stamps, Section 8, etc), and stable families (no baby mama's out the door or father locked up for life).
I've studied this problem quite extensively and it stems from a plethora of problems. One major reason is because of California Prop 13 (1978) which limits property taxation to roughly 1% of cash value. This as well as the fact that the prop also removed assessing houses past the years that they were purchased. Since property tax dollars generate roughly 50% of the total funding for public schools, the significant decrease in tax dollars meant public schools began to suffer.
If you compare pre-1978 statistics to post-1978, you will find a really large disparity between the data. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(1978)
Why is it always about the money? We outspend just about every industrialized nation yet have piss poor results when it comes to test versus other nations that spend far less.
John Stossel did a segment called "Stupid in America" and it basically came to the conclusion that money ain't worth a damn and that people have succeeded in educating students with less dollars not more.
You really think it's about the money? Please.
It's about the people they hire. And it's about the fact that they have no incentive to do any better. According to some, it seems no amount of money in the world is large enough for the government to do a good job...
Ok sure but I was approaching this from the fallacy that again many Liberals and California Limousine Liberals have that Mo' Money = Better Education & Success
You point out its on who they hire (assuming you mean teachers). I'd argue you can have Bill Nye the Science Guy teach with all his goofiness at a school in Inglewood or Compton and it probably won't make much of a difference.
It boils down to Black and Latino (hell even Arab, Pakistani, and largely Muslim) households who simply do not give a damn and or are so screwed up themselves that anything short of taking their kids away from them from Pre-K through 12th grade and feeding, clothing, teaching, them won't make an ounce of a difference.
I went to a school in the hood and the stereotypes were true even in 1st grade. I had classmates whose parents were so fucking poor they couldn't afford to buy glue for our 1st grade Communist-style sharing of school supplies pool.
Mind you these kids's had Parents or Parent that was on every type of government assistance possible and by the time I got to 7th grade they were in the same boat.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!
This is why I'd love to just end all welfare and give every citizen (fuck off illegals) cash payments (UBI) because what excuse will people like Nancy Pelosi of the world come up with when after receiving UBI they are still piss poor and in the same position they were before receiving assistance.
Yeah, the Hispanics pull the averages down. Just remember though, SAT scores are simply a measure of aptitude, not real world knowledge, street smarts or common sense. I know plenty of people that were/would be average on SATs and will tear apart the guy with a 4.0 and perfect SATs in earnings and business dealings. An SAT is just one way of looking at the big picture.
Damn, was really hoping Hispanics would be able to assimilate in the same way Asians have.
This doesn’t bode well for the future of the US.
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