Thursday, April 17, 2008

Brown People...

Guess which of the two of us are 'brown people'
(It's an old picture, but I rarely photograph well...so I'm using one of the rare photos I like of myself---it's my blog, I can)

I got a letter from the school because they are concerned by the discrepancy of the test scores between the "Black, Brown, Asian and White students" and would those of us who are Brown, Black or Asian want to learn how they are teaching math (Everyday Math for those of you familiar with the sadistic curriculum).

Brown? Ummmmm, hmmm, what?
When did brown become an identifier of people? And who exactly are the Brown people? Are we talking about the entire Continent of South America, the southern part of North America and some of the Caribbean Islands. Is it really about color? Because I've met some Germans darker then I am. As a matter of fact, my husband, of German, Russian, French and British descent, is darker then I am. Is it being of Spanish descent? Because last I heard, Spain was a European country off the Mediterranean...as is France, Italy and Greece...and yet they're not considered brown.
And another thing...what if you're more then one "color"? Why is someone half black and half white, considered black...I mean Obama is a black candidate, not a white one, yet he is equally white. I'm half of British descent...although my dad's side has been here since before the American Revolution and half Cuban (mom came here as a kid when Castro was just taking over) and yet...I'm considered (as are my children) Brown....even with a maiden name of TAYLOR.
Then we get to the math part of my rant.....Yeah, I'm so sorry, I'm teaching my kids to borrow from the 10's column rather then the weird way the school is teaching them...but it's not because I'm brown that I can't figure out what they're doing. My engineer 100% "white" hubby can't figure out the math homework half the time.....so really it's not about color, it's because it's STUPID. When I complained to Jake's teacher at the parent-teacher conferences she said it was fine that I helped with the homework my way......and good thing he's doing well, I would hate for him to be the one to ruin the testing stats of our school.
You know I should just take a page out of Martha's book....Martha Chang..and if you saw her blog, you would be floored that she was a Good Looking Blond Norwegian chick from the Midwest....so not what you'd expect from a last name of Chang....She plans on going in every year and changing her children's status, Caucasian one year and Asian the next. Come to think of it, there's no actual 'brown' box.....
I would really like it if they stopped with the whole what color everyone is, because, frankly we're all Americans.

14 comments:

Sitting In Silence said...

Um mar.....What kind of a letter is that....?

"Brown?"....bet that get heaps of lash back for that one....

Ali said...

A letter from the SCHOOL said that?!? Oh man, they are soooo going to get complaints - and rightly so!

tz said...

oh hey, i didn't mean to post and I was editing the rest of it and here you guys already commented...haha

we have like 5 'brown' families...so whatever lash back they get won't be a big deal to them.

Anonymous said...

Everyday Math....don't get me started!! My school uses it, so I started the school year with it but stopped after getting no where with. However, my daughter was taught with it, and she just scored incredibly high on a math placement test, so it must be good for something!

Rock Chef said...

Insane - but then again, the whole race/colour/ethnic thing in the UK is totally stupid!

tz said...

half past kissin' time...jake seems to be doing pretty well with the whole math thing, so hopefully it is working.

Rock Chef...so it's not only in the States? That's too bad.

Colleen O said...

I just bought my Mom and Dad the Genome project, national geographic kit. It's alittle big brother scary, but it will be interesting to know just how deep the translucent? peach? chalkasian? goes.

ganelle said...

What a great post.

I just never even check a box.

Dodi said...

OK, i have to point out that if the ASIANS aren't getting the Everyday Math right, there is something wrong with Everyday Math! And I'm not meaning to sound racist in any way - but seriously. The Asian and Indian kids at our school RULE that math competitions and spelling bees.

My UberWhite husband also happens to hate "fact triangles", "multiplication arrays", and "the subtraction algorithm." One night he's like: "When did they stop borrowing from the 10's column? Isn't that the way we're doing it anymore?"

From one brown chick to another... we rule.

OHN said...

I don't care if you are purple, very few people can help their kids with math homework. I quit when they were in 6th grade...and yes, I am a college grad. It is total BS. Not once in all the years since I graduated and have run my own company have I ever needed anything more complicated than probably percentages. I always thought that if they wanted me to figure out what X was, they needed to give me some freaking numbers instead of letters.

Sitting In Silence said...

LOL...OHN

TZ ...Love that photo,you look like a girl I know over here...

tz said...

I so want to do that genome thing...let me know how it turns out

ganelle, i think you should check it african american once just to see what people do when they see you...

dodi..see, i'm not the only one whowants to do it old school and borrow from the 10's

SIS...so your friend that looks like me, is she a 'brown' person too?

and ohn...actually i do solve for X when have to figure out meds...
but i was good at algebra...i'm sure there are other ways to figure it out too...

Anonymous said...

Off Topic- Your comment today cracked me up! What is creepy in a "good" way?! Too funny.

Have a great week.

Ken said...

I have not heard of Brown people either. Then again, I'm not sure what color has to do with math scores. I think there are many other factors that could explain the differences in test scores.