Saturday, September 3, 2011

Right Question, Wrong Answer

People complain about the economic and employment disparities between whites and Asians versus African-Americans and Hispanics. This New York Times article is an example.

What this article does, blame the disparities on racism, is typical. A much more sensible answer would be the blame the disparities on education levels.

Today people with baccalaureate degrees, or higher, have unemployment levels half those of people with less education. African-Americans and Hispanics get less education than whites and Asians.

Why do they get less education? The reasons are largely cultural, not the fault of racism.

Those cultural reasons are not the same for Hispanics and African-Americans. Each group has its own unique reasons for not pursuing education.

A people evolve their group's culture. Not all cultures are equally functional in terms of producing economic wealth and employability. Culturally driven unequal outcomes are not a sign of racism.