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7 Votes
10 Comments
The Wright Side of the Brain
News Type: Opinion — Seeded on Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:14 PM EDT
Article Source: Wall Street Journaladvertisement
Mr. Wright proudly propounded the racist contention that blacks have inherently different "learning styles," correctly citing as authority for this view Janice Hale of Wayne State University. Pursuing a Ph.D. by logging long hours in the dusty stacks of a library, Mr. Wright announced, is "white." Blacks, by contrast, cannot sit still in class or learn from quiet study, and they have difficulty learning from "objects" — books, for example — but instead learn from "subjects," such as rap lyrics on the radio. These differences are neurological, according to Ms. Hale and Mr. Wright: Whites use what Mr. Wright referred to as the "left-wing, logical and analytical" side of their brains, whereas blacks use their "right brain," which is "creative and intuitive." When he was of school age in Philadelphia following the Supreme Court's 1954 desegregation decision, Mr. Wright said, his white teachers "freaked out because the black children did not stay in their place, over there, behind the desk." Instead, the students "climbed up all over [the teachers], because they learned from a 'subject,' not an 'object.' " How one learns from a teacher as "subject" by climbing on her, as opposed to learning from her as "object" — by listening to her words — is a mystery.
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 | Jeremiah Wright's Slave | The OttO Show | Fri May 2 | 32 |
 | Defiant Wright Puts Obama in Tight Spot | Chicago Tribune | Tue Apr 29 | 1 |
| Looking for Mr. Wright | The L.A. Times | Tue Apr 29 | 1 |
| What should Obama do about Wright? | Salon.com | Tue Apr 29 | 4 |
| Still More Lamentations From Jeremiah | The Washington Post | Tue Apr 29 | 9 |
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{"commentId":1752313,"authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
Embracing the notion that blacks shouldn't be expected to listen attentively to instruction is guaranteed to perpetuate into eternity the huge learning gap between blacks on the one hand, and whites and Asians on the other.
Does Obama agree with this, or is he on-board with his "uncle," the Rev. Wright?
It is racist to claim that black people can't sit still, or function in society.
{"commentId":1752313,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
- 3 votes
#1 - Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:15 PM EDT{"commentId":1752912,"authorDomain":"ajzzz"}
Mr. Wright proudly propounded the racist contention that blacks have inherently different "learning styles,"
This is not true (like I wrote in my article), Wright didn't say that, Hale's research is not about that. She's a sociologist, and her research is about how culture impacts a learning style's effectiveness. It's confusing and problematic to use terminology like "African American", and "black", words loaded in racial meaning, but it's excusable given that society often uses the words referring to culture.
If you want theories about inherent ability look to geneticists and "bell curve" theories not sociologists.
http://www.answers.com/topic/race-ethnicity-and-culture-cultural-expectations-and-student-learning
{"commentId":1752912,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"ajzzz"}
- 2 votes
#2 - Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:52 PM EDT{"commentId":1753051,"authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
These "theories," including Hale's, are just ways to make excuses for people, and psycho-babble fit for writing grant proposals for funding (money).
All humans are capable of great things. We don't need more "theories" which are in truth techniques to make their authors and their followers feel good (and mask their subconscious condescension towards the subjects of their "research").
I thought we were striving to get beyond classism. But continually dividing humanity into smaller and smaller groups of x-challenged can-dos and can't-dos is just taking us right back to a class structure -- measured by some elite group of "intellectuals."
{"commentId":1753051,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1753215,"authorDomain":"ajzzz"}
I'd like people to at least understand it. Clearly, the author of the article hasn't understood Wright or Hale, and has completely mischaracterized them on a basic level.
I don't wish to defend Hale's research, I don't know the details of it (although I guess you've studied them). I wouldn't trust Wright to give an accurate description or trust his judgement given he also reads AIDS deniers. I wouldn't bet against it being rubbish, but I'd prefer to judge it from a position of knowledge, I don't know anything about any of her research methodology.
''The department in no way believes that any child is less capable than any other child,'' he said in a telephone interview. On the contrary, he noted, ''the reason for citing these characteristics is to alert teachers that some children may have such learning styles and that they should not be interpreted as deficits.''
But he acknowledged that Ms. Hale-Benson's observations were not accompanied by sufficient explanatory material to place them in a proper context, and he said the reference to black children should have referred to a broad social and cultural group that includes all races.
New York Times: Educators Call Regents' Booklet Racist
On anti-intellectualism, classism, etc... we have a means to gain knowledge that is reliable, this is called science. In science people are encourage to criticize research on its merit, scientists are encouraged to be highly skeptical. We already have groups that are different, if it's supported by strong evidence we should consider it in their treatment, but liberty is also essential.
{"commentId":1753215,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"ajzzz"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1753235,"authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
the author of the article hasn't understood Wright or Hale, and has completely mischaracterized them on a basic level
Let people decide for themselves: Transcript of Jeremiah Wright's speech to NAACP
To me, having seen what's happening in inner-city public schools, Wright and Hale's "science" is throwing gasoline on the fire.
{"commentId":1753235,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1753290,"authorDomain":"backroadsbubba"}
At this point, it's hard to believe Obama doesn't agree with Wright. He has to be nudged to respond.
{"commentId":1753290,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"backroadsbubba"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1753298,"authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
"I'm outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Mr. Obama said. He added: "I find these comments appalling. It contradicts everything that I'm about and who I am."
... Obama said that Wright saw the world through the lens of race—a lens that the candidate rejected as old-fashioned and out of date. "The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static, as if no progress has been made, as if in this country—a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land … is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past," Obama said. ...
{"commentId":1753298,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1755250,"authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
Wright goes on and on about how "different" black children are from white children, but proposes absolutely no "solution" to this supposed "difference," except for saying, "We can make the change if we try. We will make a change if we try. A change is going to come."
What change? Is he saying that all black children are capable of is climbing up the classroom walls or "say[ing] every word from every song on every hip hop radio station?" What is he proposing, separate teachers and classrooms for black and white children?
It seems that the pastor actually supports the notion of "separate but equal" (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896).
{"commentId":1755250,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1756961,"authorDomain":"backroadsbubba"}
Wright is a separatist, after all.
{"commentId":1756961,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"backroadsbubba"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1757254,"authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
That's true and his own church admits so on its website (see also here for "Dr. Wright's talking points").
{"commentId":1757254,"threadId":"257915","contentId":"1462393","authorDomain":"thedoctori"}
- 2 votes
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