IT’S HARD NOT TO GET DISCOURAGED WHEN YOU READ STUFF LIKE THIS: “Beware of anyone who means to suggest, either implicitly or explicitly, that Black students are more likely to misbehave than their white peers, because bigotry, as always, boasts of an extraordinarily limited bibliography. Such a perception has been disproved time after time.”  I’ve seen similar statements in lots of places. I wish they were true, but wishing won’t make it so. And believing falsehoods leads to bad public policy.

If the statement were true, it would mean that elementary school teachers (a very Democratic leaning group) are among the most racist people in the universe. Pacific Islander, African American, and American Indian children really are disciplined much more often than white children, who in turn are disciplined much more often than Asian children; if it’s not due to differences in behavior than it must be racism.

But there are differences in average behavior.   And, contrary to the above statement, the “bibliography” is extensive.