At that time, many black kids performed poorly on the IQ test and wound up in special education classes. A lawsuit claimed the test was biased and a judge agreed — banning public schools from giving the test to black children while allowing it for everyone else.
It seems to me that the judge should have told the state to throw out the test altogether and come up with one that wasn't biased. I'm assuming the case in question is Larry P. v Riles in which the judge ruled that the test was racially and culturally biased.
If I were to characterize this, I'd say that they took the most politically expedient route and metaphorically swept it under the rug. To avoid the appearance of racism, they instituted a policy that is clearly racist in that it differentiates between children who take the test and those who don't based solely on ethnicity. Instead of trying to get to the bottom of the problem, they just slapped a bandage on it. Black children are now excluded from testing that could indicate which ones really should be in special education classes. And this helps them how?
Whilst poking around via Google regarding this case, I found this post by Cassandra at I Love Jet Noise where she asks:
Why not just change the policy so poor performance on the IQ test doesn't force children into special ed classes?
Why not indeed.
And I love jet noise, too. Why? To paraphrase Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean, "Pilot!"
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