No Excuses is a follow-on to their monumental America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible (1997). In it, they explore the awful but critical question of why “non-Asian minorities”—that is to say, blacks and Hispanics, though particularly blacks—lag so far behind others in learning. It is their conviction that “the racial gap in academic achievement is an educational crisis,” and also “the main source of ongoing racial inequality”— which is “America’s great unfinished business.” They say that “for too long,” this gap has been treated as “a dirty secret—-something to whisper about behind closed doors. As if it were racist to say we have a problem.”
How bad is it? Extremely bad. By the time senior year in high school rolls around, black kids “are typically four years behind white and Asian students, while Hispanics are doing only a tad better.” In other words, “these students are finishing high school with a junior high education.”
Comments