The Nation : Scholars Assail Schools’ Views of Blacks

Accusing the nation’s school systems of fostering mistaken notions about poor people and their ability to learn, 29 prominent black scholars called for reforms to remove barriers to children’s academic success. “What we demand is this: that the schools shift their focus from the supposed deficiencies of the black child and the alleged inadequacies of black family life to the elimination of the barriers that stand in the way of academic success among these and other children,” said Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, an education professor at Harvard. Lightfoot was the principal author of a new study, “Visions of a Better Way,” by the Committee on Policy for Racial Justice of the Joint Center for Political Studies.