Ken Van Dellen

Thanks, Becky.

I was attempting to suggest that, perhaps because of editing to fit available space, the article may have gotten scrambled. As printed, it seemed confusing and self-contradicting. Here are four statements that puzzled me, in view of the heading, because of my experience with special ed.

1. "I have worked with brilliant students who have not been able to work to their full potential for various  reasons.... For Black students, there has been another reason: unconscious bias, which has led to placement in special education."

- unable to work to full potential because of being placed in special ed? Special ed helps students to work to full potential. It doesn't hinder them. Remember the college-scholarship student who thanked my wife for help in special ed.

- placed in special ed because of bias? Students are admitted to special ed only when testing shows they need it, and not for punishment or because of bias.

2. "His mother requested a special education evaluation due to poor academic achievement, but at the time of the evaluation Al was found not to be eligible for services."

- Evidently his mother thought it was desirable when he was in third grade.

3. "During seventh grade, Al was reevaluated for special education, and it was determined that he met eligibility criteria for Other Health Impairment (OHI), due to attention-deficit-like characteristics. Al was placed in a special day class within the school."

- Evidently his tests showed he now needed special ed. This was an attempt to help him reach his full potential.

4. "Al is one of hundreds of thousands of students who have been placed in special education based on biases."

- Can "hundreds of thousands" be substantiated? Based on biases? If they qualify for special ed, it isn't bias.

- Now Al was getting what his mother sought earlier.

- Where was the bias? It seems they were trying to help him because he needed help, perhaps because of being fatherless and various other factors in his life, not because he was Black.

- My wife had general ed students who told her they would like to be in her class.

Thanks for your input, Mark.

My wife and I view special ed as a good thing that helps kids. Al reportedly qualified for special ed. I was struggling with how putting a student into special ed would be a bad thing to do, and why it would be an indication of racial bias. It was not "picking on me because I'm Black." Why did the author see that as an act of racial bias?

You wrote, "You have decided that racial bias is not a factor in Al's story..." No, I merely don't understand why putting Al into special ed, when he apparently tested in, was an act of racial bias.

I happen to have affinity for non-Caucasian people. After retirement I was a volunteer counselor at a walk-in crisis center for mostly Black people for a few years until I got into teaching English to Middle East immigrants. Along the way, I spent four months at my own expense in Kenya as a volunteer visiting lecturer at Daystar University. I also served a week at my own expense on a medical mission trip to Belize. I also really do want African Americans to do well, and am saddened that many efforts to assist them appear to be counter-productive.

Perhaps I misunderstood the author. I would agree that not giving Al needed help is neglect, but can't see why helping him is an indication of bias.

I have made it a practice to operate under the principle that taking offense when none is given, is just as wrong as it is to give offense. I hope I'm not violating that here.

I thought I should focus on the title topic, not the entire Trump presidency. Both supporters and detractors think many of the Tweets and remarks are disconcerting and unhelpful. However, it was the alleged statement in the title that was used as a basis for a charge of racism.

These days, that serious accusation is frequently used to label people who other people don't like , and I think actions speak louder than words. I think that what a person does is a better indication of a person's standards than that person's words or a detractor's interpretation of them. If we think we need to judge someone, this seems to be a Christian approach. Instead of a list of Trump's Tweets, there should be a list of racist actions, if that's the issue, or actions of the opposite type.

 

After the recent charges of racism, Sen. Rand Paul issued a statement reporting that Private Citizen Trump had provided major financial backing for medical mission trips to Haiti where ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Paul and his team performed eye surgery on hundreds of Haitians. If providing that financial support was racism we need more racists. It's a Christlike act in my view.

Of course, lurking behind the latest fuss is concern over merit-based immigration and I'd like to make a comment on that. I'm not comfortable with full-blown merit-based immigration. We obviously can't admit everyone who wants to immigrate, and I think it wouldn't be wrong to establish limits or proportions for different skill categories of immigrants. I did not say racial categories. What concerns me, though, is brain drain, and that seems to differ from the views of the president.

I spent a stretch as a volunteer visiting lecturer at Daystar University in Kenya, and several students asked me if I could help them get a visa for America. My standard reply was that I was there to help educate the future leaders of Kenya. I pointed out that if everyone who wanted to live in America were to immigrate, America would be in worse shape than any country in the world. In the same vein, I think it would be wrong to pull away the best educated individuals from countries that need them.

Thank you for your good and kind words.

You are right about the adversarial culture. Too many think we have to hate those with whom we disagree. I have many good friends I don't always agree with, and am married to one.

Many times "insensitive" statements are such in the "eye of the beholder". If you look for it you will find it everywhere and will constantly be taking offense. I have been falsely accused of racism, sexism, etc., because in was inarticulate in expressing myself. I operate by the rule that is wrong to intentionally give offense and equally wrong to take offense when none is intended. I am happier and I believe those with whom I have contact are happier because I tend give the other person the benefit of the doubt and don't have a "What did you mean by that?" attitude.

Pardon me if any of my comments to you appear offensive. This is a discussion, dialogue, and debate, and we are presenting different points of view.

No problem, Gerrit. I don't think I said you called the President a racist, but someone did.

We're talking about the same thing. Whether or not Trump said what he is alleged to have said, it is a matter of interpretation if that was racially insensitive. The language on this has evolved. In the past we innocently used "third-world countries", then "developing countries", although more recently the term "hell-hole countries" was used, too. The reference was to countries from which we can't possibly accommodate all who would like to come as refugees and to which we are reluctant to return refugees because of bad conditions, however one might label them.

If the President said something that might be racially insensitive, it seems to me that it would have been a good thing to suggest that he might use a better choice of words in the future even if only white guys are present. That would require no more courage than to think, "I can hardly wait to get out of here and tell the world what this jerk said" and then proceed to go public with an accurate or enhanced version of what was said in private and in the process offend a lot of people who otherwise would not have been offended. This would be another topic for discussion. Is it Christian to offend people and inflict pain on them if that is a side effect of exposing offensive behavior?

Easy! Just don't talk about "your country" and "your president".

Note that in my post I attempted to avoid criticizing your country and government. I thought I was quite pleasant.

Have you seen any comments directed at your country or prime minister from our direction?