Tennessee high school principal apologies for saying black students are “less smart”

Not only did the principal not say that blacks were less smart, he specifically stated that there was no reason for any test score difference between any of the groups for which scores were shown. All of the data he presented are accurate and calculated and presented the same way by the state every year. This is a case of deliberate distortion and defamation.

Things must have changed. When I was a kid someone who got a C on a test was less smart than someone who got an A.

The only mistake the principal made was to state the results of the test. If the results of the test show that blacks scored lower then everyone else proving his statement then the only people he should apologize to are the black students who were offended but scored as good or better then students who are not black.

Look at whose fault it really is. White kids are "less dumb" than blacks, but Asians excel past white kids because they have the Tiger Mothers and the Asian father meme types. Any kid can be at their full potential only when the parents are involved in their education.

People need to look in their own houses as painful as that may be.

You can apologize all you want, but facts are facts.

If you put "less smart" in quotations, the principal better have said exactly that. I clicked the link and couldn't find a direct quotation with "less smart" in it anywhere in the corresponding article. If I were this principal I would sue the media for defamation.

Yahoo News is "less smart" than other news sources.

OK, once again, if the white kids did worse than the black kids, would there be any complaining if he said the white kids were less smart? Political correctness has made telling the truth almost impossible. Without the truth, we cant make changes. I feel sorry for those kids when they hit the real world.

Well....What the f* did he say? This article is a f*ing joke. Why bother writing an article at all...

From what I can tell all the dude said was "there are groups of students who didn't score well"...How does that single out black people?

I thought he was trying to say there is no reason for any student to score that low. Since the stats are broken down by race I think it was a poorly presently motivational tactic. A "here's what the state says, let's prove them wrong" kind of thing. I certainly didn't think he was putting anyone down. He just went about it in the wrong way. And I live in Memphis (Germantown is more like a large subdivision of Memphis with slightly less crime) and saw the story air when it first broke. He never said blacks are less smart. He conveyed the scores broken down directly from the way the state of TN reports it back to the school systems. Maybe the states should break down the scores by economic groups instead of race and they might learn something more important than skin color.

This is a sad subject. I've been studying intelligence tests and giving them (in the seventies) for about forty years. The gap between blacks and whites is persistent and continuing. This is true whether the school is integrated or segregated, spends a lot on education or little, or has a wide or narrow teacher to student ratio. Why? It isn't for any of the reasons given by people who think this gap is not real. The most likely explanations are that black parents are less likely to value education, that lower class black teen society is hostile to kids who 'act white' by learning communications skills and achieving, and by a ghetto culture that glorifies violence and criminal activity. It isn't self esteem. The lower achievers often have a higher level of self esteem than the successful students.

We've spent billions, we've bused children, we've forcibly integrated, we've done everything science and reason said we should, and blacks still lag far behind. Perhaps we should start with one pernicious and serious problem-- you are almost certain to fail if you think your problems and failures are somebody else's fault, and that's what too many black leaders and individuals believe. It would be the same whether this were true or not.

Exerpt from the linked article--

The following is an email sent from a student at GHS to News Channel 3: "As a student of GHS that attended the class meeting, Dr. Horrell used statistics (broken down by race according to the school report card) to show how students compare in the school. He mentioned that there is no reason for the differences in numbers among the performance levels of all the students (based on race and income). He also stated that all of the students at GHS should be performing at the same level. The segment failed to mention this, which makes Dr. Horrell seem like a bad principal. How can the children improve if they don't know there is a problem? Information is valuable. I was glad Dr. Horrell shared the information. As a student there, I do want to know how we are performing when it comes to standardized tests. Dr. Horrell mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that he wanted to share the data with students because we are the ones being evaluated. I think (based upon the reactions in the audience at the meeting) that once people were made aware of the data, they made judgments and did not fully listen to Dr. Horrell. The changes Dr. Horrell is making to GHS is to better the students. "

Perhaps Yahoo should hire this student, because he or she managed to do a much better job explaining the situation in this one paragraph than the journalist did in the entire article. Pointing out that one group performed better on a test than another is NOT the same thing as being biased against the second group--nor does it mean that one thinks the second group is "less smart." If Horrell did not use those exact words (and I sincerely hope he didn't), he should sue the journalists claiming that he did for defamation of character and libel, because no one should be punished for telling the truth--and those who claim to be journalists SHOULD be punished for using inaccurate, inflamatory language in order to create a scandal.

Its so confusing which facts you are allowed and are not allowed to use when it comes down to race.
If you say that statistically speaking a neighborhood has a higher crime rate, if that neighborhood is also predominantly a black or other minority neighborhood, you are accused of racism.
If you say that statistically speaking, on average people of color are less likely to have a drivers license or other form of ID, you are lauded. In fact, you are called a racist if you think that minorities have the same ability to get an ID as other races.

This puts things more in perspective. Asians score higher than Caucasian, Caucasian scores higher than Latino, and Latino higher than African American. In the end, what did we get? A score on a sheet that doesn't reflect at all what they can accomplish, only what they have been taught in school. Take the people responding and posting here. If you believe that a Latino or African American student is less capable of learning, then what do you think is going to happen?? Exactly what you believe. Look at states like Florida that show great gains in Latino and African American performance over the past few years. If it was genetic, no matter what they try will the gap change...the pecking order persists but each moves up. In their measurements the gaps closed significantly. No dumbing down, no whining, just changing policies and getting better results. Other states that do not...don't show comparable gains... Same pool of people, different results. Not that this will change the mind of racists...how else would they make their pathetic selves feel better?

If we could only put all the stupid people on an island somewere... oh.. I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was there should be an I.Q. requirement for everything. I can't tell you how many times I have been stuck behind some idiot looking for the bar code on some grapes in the self checkout.

So which is it? Are they less smart for scoring less on the tests or are they just lazy for not trying to learn. The fact is they score less!!! No amount of political correctness can change the facts.

It's been 150 years since slavery was abolished, in that time we have made great strides in technology, we have went from riding horses to riding in spaceships, we have went from witchdoctors to robotic surgery, and yet we just can't find it in ourselves to get past this racism. If we are ever going to suceed as a human race we need to start helping each other and quit complaining about things that happened so long ago. We can't change what has already happened but we can change what is to come. We can't have a seccessful future if we don't learn to do it together.

Truth don't lie. But its so easy to play the victim card.

So what is so wrong about reporting the truth? If the black community is so upset why don't they establish after-school activities and tutoring periods to help the kids rather than whine about it? I am so tired of hearing about this "Woe is me" mentality. Get off yer butts and actually do something about your situation. A book can't be read unless you open it.