Everything I Write Is A Lie (Including This)

I can quit anytime, but once again Charles Blow, the Times race grievance-in-waiting heir apparent to Bob Herbert, has delivered a column so irksome I am taking his bait.

Here we go with his discovery of a "civility gap" in our private schools:

Private School Civility Gap

By CHARLES M. BLOW

Education reform is all the rage these days.

It’s no longer just the weighty obsession of parents with few options scrambling to get a child into a better school. It has also become the “it” topic of the cocktail crowd, including many parents with children who have never seen the inside of a public school. “Waiting for Superman” is the new “An Inconvenient Truth.”

This new discussion centers on the achievement gap in public schools. It’s an intractable issue and needs as much attention as it’s getting. But a study released on Tuesday highlights another subject that’s much less discussed: let’s call it the private school civility gap, particularly at religious private schools and particularly among boys.

This is a not-so-little, not-so-secret, dirty little secret among the upper crust.

Let's stop right there.  The study (press release, study) includes three categories - public schools, private religious schools, and private schools.  By way of example, the New York City Catholics schools would be counted as private religious schools, and I have no doubt many of them are excellent.  However, given their history and current mission I think it would be a bt of a stretch to describe these schools as oriented towards "the upper crust".

Mr. Blow plays this game throughout, conflating the religious and non-religious private schools and pretending that all private schools are either Andover or Exeter. 

Let's press on to Mr. Blow's Fun With Statistics portion of the program:

It is no wonder then that the study, which was conducted by the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics of more than 43,000 high school students, found that:

• Boys who went to private religious schools were most likely to say that they had used racial slurs and insults in the past year as well as mistreated someone because he or she “belonged to a different group.”

The press release has the numbers - 26% of public school boys, 27% of private religious school boys, and 16% of private non-religious school boys said 'yes' to that.  What Mr. Blow describes as "most likely" is not actually outside the range of statistical error.

• Boys at religious private schools were the most likely to say that they had bullied, teased or taunted someone in the past year.

Indeed thay were; the figures were 55%, 60% and 55% for public, religious, and non-religious.  Are the private schools really re-enacting "Lord of the Flies" on a daily basis in a way that public schools are not? 

• While boys at public schools were the most likely to say that it was O.K. to hit or threaten a person who makes them very angry, boys at private religious schools were just as likely to say that they had actually done it.

And the numbers: 57%, 57%, 44% for public, religious, and non-religious.  Apparently there is a "civility gap" in private schools because the religious schools, many of which serve the same demographic base as the public schools, seem to show similar results on certain "boys will be boys" metrics.

Now let's include a statistic Mr. Blow failed to report - In response to "I feel very safe at school" 27% of public school boys disagreed; for both types of private school 7% disagreed.

Or how about "I took a weapon to school at least once in the last 12 months"?  15% of public school kids and 8/9% of private school kids said yes.

I should laud Mr. Blow'd imagination for discovering a "civility gap" in these numbers.  As a product of public schools myself I am far too civil to tell him what I really think of his theory, so let me conclude by thanking him for ending his column with the paradox that inspired this post's title:

(This all assumes that these children told the truth. As it turns out, private school students were also the most likely to lie. According to the study, they were the least likely to say that they had answered all the questions “with complete honesty.”)

If he doesn't understand the problem with that I am not going to explain it.  Not. Going. To. Explain.  NOT.

Comments

[bgates]

Boys who went to private religious schools were most likely to say that they had used racial slurs and insults in the past year as well as mistreated someone because he or she “belonged to a different group.”

Like calling somebody a descendant of pigs and monkeys? There are religious schools and then there are religious schools.

It has also become the “it” topic of the cocktail crowd, including many parents with children who have never seen the inside of a public school.

Let Senator Kennedy rest in peace, and let the President finish his waffles.

[rse]

The overly broad DoEd interpretation on harassment and bullying this week applying Title VI to religious groups with common or perceived racial characteristics and Title IX to gay students was sent to public and private K-12 and public and private colleges and universities.

It also has a "should have known" element.

Also Arne Duncan in the past has said he wants DoEd rules to apply to private schools as well.

There was an EdWeek article yesterday complaining about the local and state concerns that still impede too much of education reform and suggesting that in light of Tuesday's expected loss advocates of a completely federal role in education should stay quiet for now.

The federal republic and the idea of a private sphere are truly in the way.

"They" have plans for "us".

[MarkO]

Civility is just another way of limiting free speech. I want to be the one who defines what's civil and what's not. Would that be okay with Mr. Blow? [with that name he's had to have suffered some incivility himself, at least I hope so.]

[cheap car hire]

Hmm. Interesting title for this post. It was interesting to read this.

[Rick Ballard]

RSE,

Christie is providing some hope wrt cutting ed spending. I'm hoping that Ryan (as Chairman of the Budget Committee) will propose returning the baseline to '02 levels. (1902 not 2002.)

ION - RCP now has the spread at 45-85 for a 65 seat average. It appears that the President's grandstanding has been very beneficial.

For the Republicans.

[r5d4]

"• Boys at religious private schools were the most likely to say that they had bullied, teased or taunted someone in the past year.

Indeed th[e]y were; the figures were 55%, 60% and 55% for public, religious, and non-religious."

This section here demonstrates that the "study" is trafficking in complete bullshit.

There is no way that 40% to 45% of boys of any age in any school have gone a whole year without "teasing" or "taunting" someone.

Claims reaching that level of idiocy can only be written and believed by people who have never been around kids.

[BobDenver]

Good point, r5d4.

[Rick Ballard]

"demonstrates that the "study" is trafficking in complete bullshit"

The fact that it appears in a Blow column in the NYT strongly supports that contention but we must always seek to remain absolutely civil when commenting upon the product of a manure spreader in overdrive operated by a demonstrable idiot who exhibits his intellectual deficiencies without any apparent self awareness whatsoever. "Mr. Blow and the NYT were made for each" should be the very civil word of the day.

[Clarice]

I say, keep Obama out there campainin' , Rick.

About that teasing and bullying, r5d4, it's a good thing the study didn't cover girls, because the figures in all categories, if honest, would also be about 100%. (and if you add teasing and bullying of siblings......)

[bgates]

Is it no longer possible to insert images? Because I tried one to accompany my shock at the idea that a boy from an exclusive private school could become an uncivil liar, and it didn't work.

So now you'll just have to guess who I was thinking of.

[Threadkiller]

Civility's just another word for nothing left to lose.

[jack]

"bullied, teased or taunted"

One of these things is not like the other... The difference between the first word in the phrase and the other two is enough to make the question meaningless. The religious kids were probably the ones who were able to answer the poorly designed (or was it?) question correctly.

"racial slurs and insults"

As if certain races don't do that %100 of the time %100 percent of the days within their own races...

[narciso]

I'd remind Mr, Josephson that it's not unique to students of different ethnicity, people of the same get taunted, take my word for it, and
I doubt it happens more in private then public
school.

[Captain Hate]

I can easily believe the Manbearpig was ridiculed at St Albans; but that would've happened anywhere that his bigoted old man would've sent his dull son. Other than that Blow is typically full of merde.

[Extraneus]

the rally is lame so far. live stream @ treacher

looks like an encounter session for them to start drowning their sorrows early.

[Walter]

IIR the Jurassic Age C, my teachers at religious schools were far more likely to ask us to 'examine our conscience' for instances of taunting, teasing, bullying and even lying than teachers at the public schools I attended. Could be that has changed, but, as TM carefully does not point out, the study does not preclude similar pedagogical differences existing today.

[rse]

Neal McCluskey from Cato really nails why ed reform will never really work as long as the government has a monopoly and our tax revenue. It's all about political power and parents and students just do not have the clout.

"So Long, Wonder Woman" is LUN.

AS most of you know, I have been researching and documenting how this is in fact getting worse under Obama despite the innocuous or inspiring rhetoric.

[matt the komodo lizard]

I'm not sure if I'm being civil in my latest post, but I sort of kinda tried."Lizards" LUN

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--(This all assumes that these children told the truth. As it turns out, private school students were also the most likely to lie. According to the study, they were the least likely to say that they had answered all the questions “with complete honesty.”)--

Oh brother. Whatever type school Charles Blow attended, it seems safe to assume he graduated at the bottom of it.

[Captain Hate]

LOL Iggy; that quote has an almost infinite amount of dumbassery in it.

[RightKlik]

I suppose that Blow hasn't considered the possibility that the different groups of boys might have different perceptions of what would be described as "bullied, teased or taunted."

[macphisto]

"it was O.K. to hit or threaten a person who makes them very angry"

i'm supposed to have a problem with the enforcement of civility? [sarc]sounds like redistributive justice to me[/sarc].

back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and i attended public high school the administration surveyed the students on drug use; the word went out immediately not to answer honestly lest the true level of use inspire the administrators to crack down. all people subject to administrative authority eventually act like convicts, and this is particularly true of public school students.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--LOL Iggy; that quote has an almost infinite amount of dumbassery in it.--

No kidding CH. I bet the car salesmen lick their chops when they see Chuck walk on to the lot.

[Jack is Back!]

Well, my son attends a private Catholic school, albeit in Florida, where we're just a bunch of "crackers" and I sit on the school board. What little we have of anything resembling bullying is dealt with quickly, severly and determinedly - we do not tolerate it, period. As a result we have traces of it from time to time but nothing like Mr. Blow's dream world. One other thing, Catholic schools nationwide are not considered "exclusive". In fact, at our school we have over 1/3 of our students on scholarship of one kind or another. We keep our tuition to about 75% of total cost of teaching a student. We out perform the public schools significantly and accept non-Catholics (who by the way are very quick to accept that invitation). Then when you consider our teachers work for 10% less salary than the unionized public school teachers and with one year non-extendable contracts our performance is remarkable. I happen to know the principle players in NYC and area Catholic schools and Mr. Blow is blowing smoke. He should be looking at the significant contribution, at much cost, Catholic schools make to inner city education before he blows off again.

In case you missed it on other threads - the Remembering Peter UK and Bad movie is at LUN.

[Thomas Collins]

I'll bet the private religious school boys impose a higher standard upon themselves than the public school boys and the non-religious private school boys. Those schooled in an environment in which Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle are the guiding lights are likely to be more severe on themselves than those schooled in an environment in which Bill Ayres and modern schools of education are the guiding lights

[Rob Crawford]

I think Walter nailed it -- the religious school kids are more likely to know what they did is wrong.

Keep in mind that public schools are run by people who think about race with the same focus and fervor as the most ardent segregationist.

[Thomas Collins]

Sorry, Walter, I wasn't trying to steal your point and claim it for myself. I was remiss in not carefully looking over all of the comments.

[Thomas Collins]

OT Alert:

See LUN for the ultimate in tax planning.

[Barbara]

Speaking of lies...

Jerry Brown is caught with his own words in Meg Whitman's new ad. LUN

[Boatbuilder]

There is a very good article by Michelle Rhee in Today's WSJ. While treading carefully with the politics, she makes it clear that the problem with our public schools lies with the teachers unions--in particular their leaders and political allies. This is not news, of course, but it took real courage and conviction to take on the problem.

[Boatbuilder]

If I had not been educated in public schools a very long time ago I could LUN it for you. You'll just have to take my word for it.

[Jack is Back!]

Jerry Brown is probably correct about his tenure. Why would he have a plan? He barely has an ethic or idea or sense of reality.

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

If I had not been educated in public schools a very long time ago I could LUN it for you. You'll just have to take my word for it.

LOL! So funny Boatbuilder. I believe you!

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Boatbuilder - to LUN just note the "address" of the article you want to link...then come here, write your post, and in the Your Information section type the "address" in the Web Site URL box.

Your name will be bright blue & if we click on it, we will go to the address you typed in.

[Frau Lokus]

Some of us were born *before* the '60s,Boatbuilder.

[Frau Lokus]

I'd vote for Pat Brown if he were alive and running.His son should stay in his present $1.6+ million-dollar home and remain quiet.Jerry left such a bad taste in the mouths of CA voters,that his sister Kathleen Brown Rice* could not get elected.

*As Dave Barry sez, I am not making this up.

[Joe Esky]

test
Size Adjusted:

[Boatbuilder]

testing

[Boatbuilder]

OK-this is my first LUN, thanks to Janet. From the link, click on "Life and Culture" for the Michelle Rhee article.

I'm so damn proud of myself.

[Danube of Thought]

Surely Cleo, in whatever incarnation he may choose, and Bunkerbuster will have much to tell us about being bullied, teased and taunted. We can all be certain that neither of them was on the offending side.

How is it that we know this?

[Frau Lokus]

Damn right!Hubba,hubba,Boatbuilder.You are now a certified JOM LUNer!(Just don't LUN left.)

[Stephanie]

Actually DOT, they were probably on the offending side once, til the scrawny one they thought to be a pushover/easy target decked them flat.

Then they were left with the daily whine to mommy about those evil mean kids.

[Boatbuilder]

"Just don't LUN left."
Not bloody likely, Frau.
I was actually born just before the 60's, but the formative educational years were in the 70's, alas. Now that I have this linky thing down, though, I sense a new educational awakening.

[caro]

Lookee!Boatbuilder is no longer a Luddite.Congrats.

That is a great,but sad article,by the way.

[Neo]

• Boys who went to private religious schools were most likely to say that they had used racial slurs and insults in the past year as well as mistreated someone because he or she “belonged to a different group.”

Somehow this reminds me of the argument that we are currently experiencing more storms that cause power outages ... or is it that we just now have better reporting.

Perhaps these students are more likely to tell the truth, while other do not. It doesn't mean that they "used racial slurs and insults" are a greater rate .. just that they reported them more truthfully.

[Video]

Great!!! Finally someone is serious about education! I hope we get education reform all over the country. It is time to educate our children so they care about their country and future instead of indoctrination they get at school currently that makes them obedient little citizens that worry only about Hollywood and football.

[jag]

I remember a similar survey on drugs and sex taken at my public high school in a comfortable suburb back in the 70's.

The outcome had to astonish the surveyors as every guy I knew said they were on dope constantly and prolific lovers (neither of which was remotely true).

We were all smart a****s back then and, given the chance to get a rise out of anyone (much less some gooey "study" people) we'd answer in the most outrageous regard as possible. There's nothing more unreliable than a survey of high school students, on ANY subject.

NOTHING.

[sbw]

For WSJ subscribers this is another Michelle Rhee URL