Shelia Jackson is right--San Diego Unified School District has not figured out how to teach black and brown kids

See all Shelia Jackson posts.

SDUSD trustee Sheila Jackson has come under attack for stating the obvious: our schools don't know how to teach black and brown kids.

Jason Robertson, a San Diego Union Tribune reader, says this can't be true because SOME black and brown kids graduate, so that proves the teachers do their jobs.

Then he says that it's the parents fault that the others don't graduate.

You can't have it both ways, Mr. Robertson. It seems to me that you've got to give the credit to the parents, not the teachers, of the kids who succeeded, if you're going to give the blame to the parents of the kids who failed.

Actually, I believe that SOME people know how to teach black and brown kids, and are caring and creative and intelligent, but the majority of our teachers are not up to the task. Far too many of the people who are responsible for teaching black and brown kids don't know how to do their jobs. They react with too much anger and judgment to children's failings, and thus create life-long problems out of obstacles that should be temporary. Some teachers of black and/or brown kids are out-and-out racists, intentionally or unintentionally undermining the very people whom they are paid to educate.

I've corrected the spelling of Shelia Jackson's name; I had spelled it Sheila.