OPINION:
Forty years ago today, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was struck down by an assassin’s bullet at the age of 39. Many Americans will mark this tragic day with service and civil acts of conscience. In doing so, we recognize that King’s dream was for all men to be treated equally and that access and opportunity would be available to all without regard to skin color. Today, that dream must extend to our inadequate, segregated system of education. It is the moral mandate of the 21st century — the civil rights edict of our time.
Former Education Secretary Rod Paige was correct when declaring no tolerance for the “soft bigotry of low expectation.” It is bigotry when liberal elites call for the lowering of educational standards for black or Hispanic children under the guise that they can’t be “expected” to learn at the same level or rate as their white counterparts. Such bigotry plays well only for the sake of moral self-appeasement. While some may argue sincerity on their part, we’d argue that they are “sincerely” wrong. Parents of every race have a right to set high expectations for their children. Our system demands equal access for all students and educators should be held accountable when that does not happen.
We’re all familiar with King’s plea that one day his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. That is the kind of bigotry King fought against and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed when meeting with editors and reporters at The Washington Times. Speaking about today’s “soft bigotry,” Miss Rice reflected: “I know what that feels like.” She added that the primary reason she was attracted to working for President Bush was not foreign policy, but education. More specifically his plan to address this “soft bigotry” through the No Child Left Behind Act.
Instead of lowering standards to address learning disparities, NCLB creates a standard of accountability while acknowledging that all children can learn, all children can achieve at a higher level, if given the tools to do it regardless of their their skin color. Recent results reveal that NCLB is working and the achievement gap between white and black students is in fact narrowing. Still, the road to effective reform is a treacherous one. Economic and racial disparities continue to plague our educational system as evidenced in the horrific truancy, dropout, graduation and achievement rates among high school students. We call on Congress to address and enact the administration’s new proposals to reauthorize and expand NCLB beyond elementary school to high school.
Tonight, CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien takes a sobering look at the King assassination in a series titled “Black In America.” The earnest presentation is worth watching as it rings as a reminder of what this great moral leader died for.
We hope politicians and ordinary Americans would heed King’s own words: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
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