Arlington County Schools are engaging in “courageous conversations about race,” as part of the school district’s Cultural Competence Initiative. One of the main goals of that initiative, according to the Arlington County Citizen, is to create “a school climate where tolerance and respect are encouraged and modeled.”
To help accomplish that goal, the schools brought in diversity consultant Glenn Singleton to “provide a framework” to begin the conversation about race. And what perspective does Singleton bring to the conversation? I’ll just quote from his Pacific Educational Group website:
Systematic racism is the most devastating factor contributing to the diminished capacity of all children, especially African American (Black) and Latino (Brown) children to achieve at the highest levels, and leads to the fracturing of the communities that nurture and support them.
In Singleton’s schema, institutional racism apparently encompasses more than overt discrimination: It includes supposedly “white” cultural characteristics such as individualism and a future orientation (which I interpret to mean a willingness to defer gratification). The Pacific Educational Group helps educators focus on “heightening their awareness of institutional racism” and develop strategies for closing the achievement gap in their schools.
Gee, I thought that Arlington County was one of the more politically progressive municipalities in Virginia when it came to race and diversity. I imagined that expressions of “institutionalized racism” would be relatively subdued. But I guess I’m wrong. If the school system has to call in an outside consultant to root out all that racism, prejudice and discrimination must be rampant.
But maybe not. Hans Bader, an Arlington County attorney, is less than impressed with Singleton’s track record. He has a few comments on Openmarket.org blog, the staff blog of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
