March 22, 2023

"A candidate for the Madison School Board... said schools are the product of 'white supremacy' and accused her opponent of favoring competition in the classroom..."

"... a characterization her opponent embraced. 'Our schools are products of white supremacy,' said Blair Mosner Feltham.... 'They reinforce white supremacy and if we want to talk about how we make sure all students are thriving in our schools, we need to fundamentally change both the structure of our schools and the purposes of them,' she said. Badri Lankella, though, said 'we need to have competitive students. Yes, I am for competitive schools.... if you’re not competing in school, eventually we’ll be competing outside in the world.'"

77 comments:

Jeff Vader said...

“Achievement shouldn’t be measured by test scores, she said, but in the quality of life students can have after they graduate“ so true illiterate graduates are known to have the highest quality of life after schooling ends

Sebastian said...

"Yes, I am for competitive schools

Careful. Competitive schools are fine, but too much talk about "competition" will turn off nice moms and favor Asians. Can't have that.

hawkeyedjb said...

You just have to barf up a few slogans and you're a sure thing in the People's Republic.

Wince said...

What's wrong with your schools in a nutshell.

“Our schools are products of white supremacy,” said Blair Mosner Feltham, an equitable multi-level system of supports site coordinator at Sun Prairie East High School and former Madison teacher.

farmgirl said...

I wonder how far this whole white supremacy accusation will eventually go?
All the way back to the dark ages?

Rick67 said...

At this point one has to wonder, do these people have any evidence for such sweeping claims?

Or is the goal to disrupt, overturn, radically reorient the nation's education system? to turn first children then teenagers and finally adults into good revolutionaries?

They've been doing it for at least the last few decades if not longer. The reason we're having these discussions is because the frogs are beginning to notice the water is starting to boil.

Humperdink said...

Every instance of minority failure is attributed white (White??) supremacy. Interesting though that Asian students seem to excel is spite of this. What's a Caucasian to do?

Jersey Fled said...

I'M guessing very few members of the faculty at UW have their kids enrolled in Madison public schools.

Temujin said...

And we wonder why our schools produce kids who cannot read, write a cogent paragraph, or do any sort of math. Very few of our sitting Congresspeople have any knowledge of economics, history, or our own Federalist Papers. Our generations coming up will know far less and expect much more.

And of course, this person complaining about White Supremacy and competition is a White progressive woman who went to Barnard. This is my shocked face.

Lurker21 said...

And of course, Blair Mosner Feltham is white. If Christian "Stuff White People Like" Lander ever updates his book, "Attacking White Supremacy" would be #1 on the list.

Badri Lankella looks to be South Asian. With him this may be a struggle for career advancement and cultural hegemony that the rest of us should just ignore.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

"... a characterization her opponent embraced. 'Our schools are products of white supremacy,' said Blair Mosner Feltham.... 'They reinforce white supremacy and if we want to talk about how we make sure all students are thriving in our schools, we need to fundamentally change both the structure of our schools and the purposes of them,' she said.

What an evil monster

Anyone who supports her, votes for her, or agrees with her is also an evil monster.

"White supremacy": learning how to read, write, do math, and be a functional non-ignoramus

MOfarmer said...

"White supremacy" is a euphemism for "Western civilization." Yes, these people are trying to get rid of it.

rhhardin said...

Loury and McWhorter yesterday deploring dropping of standards. Black people have something to prove and ought to do it.

They don't yet see that good character is the saving alternative, and IQ doesn't matter, but it's progress.

Lars Porsena said...

A perfect fit for Madison schools. What's not to like?

Known Unknown said...

Get your kids out of government schools.

Static Ping said...

They don't seem to understand the existential threat they are causing to the institutions. The justification of public schools is they will teach children reading, writing, mathematics, civics, and other necessary and useful skills for adulthood. If the public schools reject this, there is no reason for the system to exist.

There comes a point when burning something down is the better option.

William said...

The sentiments she expressed are wrong, but the photo of her reveals a woman with a kindly, decent aspect. Maybe that's what the kids in her class picked up on and not her wokeness. Anyway if you scroll to the end of the article, there are head shots of the kids in the Madison schools. They look like nice kids. Their chances of holding down a steady job in later years would be enhanced if they know how to read and write. Maybe the calculator obviates the need for long division, but perhaps it would help if they also know how to add and subtract....It would also help if they weren't wildly resentful of American society and its values. I wonder if she's taught them kindness or resentment. Maybe different kids tune in to different frequencies. Anyway, they look like nice kids.

StoughtonSconnie said...

@Rick67: “evidence for such sweeping claims” is, wait for it, structural racism. Anything that aims toward fact-finding, the scientific method, etc is structural racism, per DEI. “We value truth over facts”.

gspencer said...

The lengths some will go. Really, is learning proper English and Algebra 1, 2 take hard?

roger said...

" what's a Caucasian to do?"

Oh come now Humperdink. We all know what the Caucasians are to do. They are stand by and listen to the minority faculty administrator while she accuses you of all manner racist microaggressions.

This is common knowledge.

Shouting Thomas said...

Scott Adams agrees completely, but comes to a different conclusion.

Yes, he says, the schools are the source of systemic racism, and that means that teachers and admins are at fault for failing their students.

The prescription for this is school choice and vouchers.

wendybar said...

Give it up already. These Progressive white women are nuts.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Shut them down then. If schools, almost completely dominated by leftists is still operating as a tool of white supremacy then end it. There’s obviously no way to mend it since you have a unanimous diagnosis of a poisonous environment. Declare the district a superfund site and start the demolition and remediation of the land. Maybe donate the property to indigenous peoples to make up for the hundreds of years of spreading hate that these schools are guilty of.

Or is this just more woke hyperbole? Maybe the lily white Madisonians are not really practicing paleface supremacy.

Joe Smith said...

These people are fucking insane.

It is worse than the Red Scare of the '50s and '60s.

It is a mental disorder at this point...

gilbar said...

Humperdink said...
Every instance of minority failure is attributed white (White??) supremacy. Interesting though that Asian students seem to excel is spite of this

Please Pay Attention!
Asians* are Even paler than whites.. Thus Asians are Even whiter than whites

Asians* of Course! i Don't Mean ALL Asians.. I mean the smart yellow ones

gilbar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael K said...

Let me get this straight. The black candidate is the "White Supremacist?" The white woman is accusing him of that ?

cfs said...

Has the left ever indicated exactly how far they will go to remove whites from all institutions and to prevent them from public discourse over major issues including public education? And, do any of these white liberal women who claim that white people are the root of all evils in the world include themselves when speaking of the harm caused by white people? One final question: Why haven't these white educators who speak out against their own race quit their privileged positions so they can be given to a "person of color"?

cfs said...

Has the left ever indicated exactly how far they will go to remove whites from all institutions and to prevent them from public discourse over major issues including public education? And, do any of these white liberal women who claim that white people are the root of all evils in the world include themselves when speaking of the harm caused by white people? One final question: Why haven't these white educators who speak out against their own race quit their privileged positions so they can be given to a "person of color"?

Aught Severn said...

I wonder how far this whole white supremacy accusation will eventually go?
All the way back to the dark ages?


Charles Martel pushing the Umayyad's out of the Iberian Peninsula was white supremacy!

Vikings conducting raids and colonizing Greenland was white supremacy (and colonization!)!

The Ancient Egyptians enslaving the Jews was white supremacy!!

Homo Sapien spreading throughout the Eurasian continent and interbreeding with Neanderthals and Denisovians to take over the world was white supremacy and requires reparations!!!

Breezy said...

…”we need to fundamentally change both the structure of our schools and the purposes of them“.

So what exactly do you mean, Ms. Feltham? You talk about how nice it would be if we could do this or that, but you have no concrete plan to reach that goal. You’re just talking, without any basis in the reality of what changing the structure and purpose of a school really means. Can you provide an example of even one successful school that you think gets students to that happy utopia you’re talking about?

How do friends let their friends be so publicly ridiculous.

Enigma said...

Flashback to the "Ebonics" or ebony phonics language effort and its sarcastic rejection in the 1990s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonics_(word)

Competition is at the heart of biology and evolution, and this affects plants, bacteria, and fungus too. The most functional response would be to find the highest school standards in the world (NOT US standards) and have super aggressive early school training with no summer vacations to see how much struggling children can achieve. It'd result in greater personal gains than adjusting standards down and thereby delaying the mandatory competition that affects all living things.

Quaestor said...

Everything good, normal, just, and effective is white supremacy. So hurrah white supremacy! Count Quaestor among the white supremacists.

And drink coffee often. It promotes white supremacy, therefore it's good for everyone.

EdwdLny said...

Libs are fascist terrorists in word, deed, and belief. This is just another example. Treat them accordingly. These idiots never see just how racist and ignorant their assertions are.

EdwdLny said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PM said...

My all-boys high school divided students into four levels of descending difficulty:
A, B, C & D. There were blacks, whites, browns and yellows in all four. Anyone could rise or fall depending on his focus and determination, which, of course, are colorless.

Freeman Hunt said...

"White supremacy" has turned into another "Latinx"--a tell that anything following is unlikely to be worth listening to so you can zone out for a while. A segment of the white woman demographic has gone wild as of late. Half of the segment thinks a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile elites runs the world, and the other half thinks the police are literally out hunting black people. As the young say, "So cringe."

robother said...

Eliminate all testing and grades, as products of White Supremacy. Voila, equality achieved. Now, do sports.

Paul said...

So tell me, are they saying white supremacy is so prevalent that society was built on it... and what is their alternative? South Africa shithole country? Zimbabwe mudhole? Heck Brazil?

Do notice all those people trying to get into our 'white supremacist' country...

What is there shining example of non white supremacy societies?

Yancey Ward said...

Oh, for fuck's sake, let's just dispense with the charade and give high school diplomas to all the kids at age 5. No more grading, no more testing, and everyone is above average, even if none of them know what 10% of 100 is.

Gahrie said...

Bullshit like this happens because of an unpleasant reality that many are unable or unwilling to face: Despite decades of effort and billions in time, money and resources, the IQ and academic gaps between the races has not significantly narrowed. Take Head Start. It has been completely ineffectual. yet we still spend billions on it. Affirmative Action, lowering standards have produced little more than mismatch.

The Left has decided that because it is apparently impossible to raise educational outcomes, they will instead lower the educational outcomes of those who are successful.

School choice is the answer. The money follows the kid. I say this as a public school teacher.

Jupiter said...

I'm with Feltham. Close the fucking things down. Or keep them open as negrariums.

JAORE said...

"... an equitable multi-level system of supports site coordinator...".

As the Swedish Chef might say, "Vert der ferk?".

That word salad job title is enough to lose my vote.

takirks said...

The Army went through this crap during the mid-1990s. We used to have this thing called a "Skills Qualification Test" that you did annually, for every enlisted rank. The scores were used as a promotion discriminator... You did well, you got promoted earlier than your peers. The scores were important, but what was more important was the fact that they put the spurs to people to learn their damn jobs and maintain technical proficiencies on all your skills, even the rarely-used ones. Because, those might show up on the annual tests.

Then, the Army decided that the testing system was too expensive, and that not enough minorities were doing well on them. The reality was more like what one of my Asian-Pacific Islander peers told me: "I don't need to study... I'll get promoted, anyway. Look how many of us (he was Guamanian, and an utter POS as an NCO and soldier...) there are in this MOS. I make Staff Sergeant, I'm a sure thing for Sergeant Major because they have to have some of us up there..." Yeah, he did make it to Sergeant Major before retirement, and he never once showed the slightest signs of competency or ethics in the job.

So, they did away with the testing, first for the junior soldiers and then for the NCOs. With predictable results, because after the tests went away, nobody bothered keeping up on their professional skills.

Now, I happen to know a little bit about how that happened, and the situation was that the various proponent branches of the Army had their schoolhouse Sergeants Major get together to make the decision about keeping the program going. Our guy who was running the Engineer School at the time on the enlisted side was your typical glad-handing political type who'd never done well on the tests, throughout his entire career. Guys who knew him "back when" were telling me what would happen before it did, namely that he'd be voting to do away with the testing, because he'd always scored in the low sixties on the hundred-point scale.

I later overheard him talking about it, during one of his staff visits, wherein he basically confirmed that he'd finally succeeded in doing away with the whole thing, because he thought it was useless. After he'd demonstrated his utter and profound lack of knowledge about our jobs by trying to sharpshoot me on a training site, only to have someone explain to him that not only was I right, I was training things that had been doctrinal for over a decade, by that point. Which showed how much he kept up on it all, from his position in charge of training for our entire branch. Dude was perhaps one of the dumbest people I've ever met, and a perfect example of why you don't promote people based on how they look.

In any event, that guy just demonstrated the same thing this woman is: They destroy the standards because they're threatened by them, offended at the idea that someone might be smarter or better than they are. It's actually a sign of profound feelings of inferiority and a lack of native ability. They know they're sub-standard, and they feel safer by chopping everyone down to their levels.

I've yet to run into one of these supposedly "egalitarian" types where this wasn't true. Whenever you hear someone talking about how anything competitive, or that has standards is "unfair", you can bet it is because they're actually unable to meet them. You never hear someone like Yo Yo Ma saying that competition or actual standards for performance is unfair, oddly enough. They know better. It's always the mediocre or the actually inferior that cries out for these things, because they know that if there were any standards, they'd be hard-pressed to meet them.

jaydub said...

Does Madison have any rational government entities or board members? It seems every local Madison controversy or kerfuffle Althouse blogs about is firmly grounded in delusion or neurosis. And this is supposed to be one of the best places to live in the US? Spare me.

JK Brown said...

The competition between students drives the schools most prevalent outcome of inculcating in all but the top 1% that they are losers. It is very detrimental and a fallacy since the "peaked" in high school is a real thing not only in athletics but also academics.

So they are both wrong, which just shows that public education is always a political prize and cannot not be political as long as it is publicly funded and compulsory.

====
"Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college." --Lillian Smith

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books. --Thomas Carlyle

n.n said...

Systemic DIEversity. That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one.

Butkus51 said...

its a race to be most woke

lets make white people suck BBC in busy intersections

how bout that?

samanthasmom said...

I think the only solution is to eliminate public schools. Let parents organize their own like people in the US used to do. Get together with some other like-minded people and hire some teachers, educate your children yourself, let your kids educate themselves, or let them run around as feral children. Then parents will have no one but themselves to blame for the quality of their kids' education. Or for the content.

who-knew said...

“Achievement shouldn’t be measured by test scores, she said, but in the quality of life students can have after they graduate“ I wonder how she proposes to measure this?

Not Sure said...

Before the civil rights era, black kids were put in bad schools by unapologetic white racists.

In the woke era, they're put in bad schools by apologetic white racists.

Progress!

Readering said...

School choice coming.

Rusty said...

So. Graduating a bunch of people who can barely make change.

Tommy Duncan said...

Is White Supremacy a factual result of an actually existing massive conspiracy that has spawned the creation of a network of invisible systems whose sole purpose is to suppress the non-white races?

How were the whites able to pull this off? How is it possible that the conspiracy still exists, particularly in Black-majority controlled areas?

It seems curious...

Joe Smith said...

There's a reason they banned IQ tests in California public schools...

Richard said...

So no more sports in schools. Guess which group of students that will hurt the most.

n.n said...

its a race to be most woke

To quote Garbage

The queerest of the queer
The strangest of the strange
The coldest of the cool
The lamest of the lame
The numbest of the dumb
I hate to see you here
You choke behind a smile
A fake behind the fear
The queerest of the queer


The wokest of the woke... can't fight the progress.

Freeman Hunt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kevin said...

We a fix this!

We just need to put black kids in a separate, but equal, school run by black teachers and administrators.

JAORE said...

Has anyone told the DOJ and EEOC about this long term, pervasive racism? Seems like there are quite a few criminally racist administrators in the school system.

Solutions?

Firing?
Perp walks?
Reeducation camps?

MadisonMan said...

How does this awful School Board candidate view the competition for the position on the School Board? Is that also because of White Supremacy? Should she therefore not be participating, as a protest?

takirks said...

who-knew said:

"“Achievement shouldn’t be measured by test scores, she said, but in the quality of life students can have after they graduate“ I wonder how she proposes to measure this?"

The thing that's going on here is that said individual doesn't want to be held accountable for lousy results. Attacking objective measures of success means she's never going to answer for her failures as an educator or administrator.

It's obfuscation, basically.

Dude1394 said...

White supremacy my arse. That we continue to not laugh these people out of the room is really, really sad.

Dude1394 said...

Black people continue to LOSE against all other cultures. And it is because of this type of garbage. They don't want to compete because in the classroom, with their cultures, they lose. They lose everywhere. No matter who is competing against them. Penniless asians, africans, hispanics, indians... who cannot even speak the language, everyone. Their culture is a losing culture, but they have found a way to gain power anyway, via the democrat party.

Dude1394 said...

Government shools in blue cities are not worth the trouble. All good students have already left, leaving it a big donut.

Jim at said...

Leftists have had an iron grip on public education for decades. So, if there's a 'white supremacy' problem, just whose fault is that?

bobby said...

If competitiveness and merit are anti-black, then the black culture in this country is doomed.

What a self-defeating culture. My assumption remains that the racist Dems encourage such a world-view in order to keep blacks under their thumb.

tommyesq said...

... educate your children yourself, let your kids educate themselves, or let them run around as feral children.

So, just like public school education (at least in Dem-controlled cities)?

n.n said...

Color supremacy is a subset of rabid DIEversity.

JIM said...

Next to C02, White Supremacy is the most destructive force in the universe. According to the cult of the Left. Culture and Science Industrial Complex.

Mr. T. said...

77 square miles surrounded by reality...

Tom said...

If we don’t teach kids how to compete, they will fail as adults and that has deadly consequences. One of the downsides of low teacher pay is that we now have a lot of life-losers teaching kids to continue the cycle of failure.

I grew up in a poor working class town. I remember the first time I met someone who had clawed their way out of that town, started a business, and made it to the upper middle class. I was a freshman and was dating his daughter. I learned so much from him but the main thing I learn from her dad is that getting out of my hometown was rare but possible and I had the capability to do it.

We must arm kids with the capacity to survive in the calamity of life. Stable homes. Good spouses. Wise financial decisions. Delayed gratification. And a capacity to compete and win is critical.

Gahrie said...

We just need to put black kids in a separate, but equal, school run by black teachers and administrators.

Most Black kids are already attending schools like that.

Gahrie said...

There's a reason they banned IQ tests in California public schools...

Only for Black kids when deciding special ed or gifted placement. They are still legally mandated for all other races.

Spiros said...

These kids need tough grading and high expectations. I also think teachers must stop their obsessive focus on students with the lowest skills. Kids who are a bit behind should get special education.

gilbar said...

Dude1394 said...
Black people continue to LOSE against all other cultures

Not ALL black people.. Just the ones from the USA.
Black people like Colin Powell and Kamala Harris do just fine..
It seems, the trick is: To be an immigrant black.

wildswan said...

The largest minority in Madison is the Asian-Americans -almost 9%. Are they onboard with claiming that white supremacy rules in Madison schools? Or with dumbing down the schools? I doubt it. It's very possible the "competition is good" school board candidate knows his constituency.
In any case, the public school curriculum was devised by Gov. Evers who headed the education department before he was governor. So saying the Madison schools are racist is saying Gov. Evers is a white supremacist. But Gov. Evers is a Democrat. A Democrat can do no wrong. Therefore the Madison schools are not racist. QED.