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‘They’re white and not hungry’: Teacher distraught that students in her district passed ‘racist, super biased’ tests

September 29, 2022 | | Print Article

A white female teacher has gone viral for trashing a school district whose students performed well during their most recent round of standardized tests.

To hear the teacher tell it, the only reason the district’s students performed well on the tests is because the tests were “racist” and “super biased,” and because most of the students were “white” and therefore not “hungry.”

Listen to her ranting and raving below:

“So they just released the, like, scores of the districts or like their ‘distinguished’ status or whatever crap they call it. And it is making me crazy. Like, I live in a district that’s distinguished or whatever. I don’t even know. Whatever. I work in a different district,” she said.

“And so people are, like, ‘oh my gosh, we are so proud, we are so excited for our district, like, we are so proud.’ You guys, all that this is saying is that the kids in this district don’t worry about being fed, and that they can pass the racist and super biased tests because they’re probably white and not hungry.”

There are a couple of things to note about what she said.

One, she automatically assumed that the students in the district where she lives (but doesn’t work) are “probably white,” meaning she evidently thinks non-white children are innately incapable of passing standardized tests themselves.

She also automatically assumed that white children are “not hungry,” meaning she seems to think non-white children are not properly fed by their parents.

Both of these beliefs are rooted in the soft bigotry of low expectations. In other words, both beliefs are rooted in racism. The same type of racism, in fact, that was spouted by President Joe Biden in 2019 when he said that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

This form of racism is unfortunately very prevalent on the left, where there’s been a growing push to eliminate standardized tests because they’re allegedly racist.

John McWhorter, a black intellectual and linguist who works at Columbia University, staunchly disagrees with this perspective because he believes this mindset itself is what’s rooted in racism. Indeed, writing for The New York Times in a column published back in March, he explained what he meant.

“This impulse [to ban such tests] is based on an assumption that because Black, Latino, Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native kids, on average, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, don’t perform as well on these tests as their white and Asian peers, the tests must be, in some way, racially biased. But what, really, does that mean?” he wrote.

“Is it that the tests ask racially biased questions? Which ones? Is it that it is somehow unfair to give a Black or Latino student a test of abstract cognitive skill and that Black and Latino students should be tested differently? This would seem dangerously close to saying that they aren’t as intelligent as others. If that isn’t the intention, then is the inference that there is something cultural, broadly speaking, that hinders their ability to perform well on these tests? If so, what?”

Put bluntly, women like the white female teacher seen in the video seem to think minority students are too dumb (and poor, apparently) to perform well on standardized tests.

“In many quarters, it’s considered bad form to even dwell on questions such as these. Equity is the goal, and so, Black and Latino kids, we won’t require you to ace tests the way white and Asian American kids are expected to. We’ll factor race into admissions decisions and then applaud the diversity that brings to college campuses, but we won’t redouble our efforts to make Black and Latino students better at the tests,” McWhorter continued.

This is the correct answer: Instead of eliminating standardized tests, teachers like the woman up top should work harder to empower non-white students with the knowledge needed to fare well on standardized tests.

Of course, this would require hard work from the likes of the teacher. And, according to some reactions, based on her appearance and demeanor, it doesn’t appear hard work is her strong suit …

Vivek Saxena
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