How "equity" in primary education actually hurts poor students

Ten years ago the education board of the city of San Francisco had a brilliant idea on how to solve the apparent "racism" and "discrimination" problem that Asian and white students in middle and high schools were scoring significantly better in national math tests than black and hispanic students.

You see, for the longest time, and like so many other cities and states in America, San Francisco middle schools also had a "gifted student program" in the form of, among other things, more advanced mathematics courses for mathematically gifted students. High-scoring middle school students could apply, among other things, for algebra classes (something that was normally taught in high school).

The "problem" was that the vast majority of students in these more advanced math classes were Asian and white. And this "problem", of course, was in dire need for a solution.

And what was the brilliant solution devised the San Francisco school board?

If you guessed "end the gifted student program" and "remove the advanced math classes completely", then you guessed right.

What a brilliant idea: If gifted students are denied the opportunity to advance in their studies, then they will have been dragged down to the same level as everybody else, and thus there will be no disparity, no "discrimination", and true "equity" will have been reached.

So we have ten years of running this experiment. Did it work?

Actually it did not. In San Francisco, black and hispanic students still score significantly worse in national math tests than Asian and white students, with no significant difference having happened in the last ten years.

How is this possible? Why did the brilliant plan fail?

Well, it turns out that the parents of the gifted students didn't just sit idle while their children languished in the same classes as everybody else. They started enrolling their children in the advanced math classes of private schools, or hired tutors to teach their children those things.

Which, as you might guess, means that only those gifted children whose parents can afford it will have the opportunity to advance in their mathematical knowledge faster than their peers. Children of poor families are the only ones who are hindered by the "brilliant" solution.

So, in the end, this brilliant "equity" measure only helped widen the gap between the rich and the poor even more than it already was, by denying the children of poor families the opportunity, for free, to learn faster and make a better future for themselves.

Great job, San Francisco. Great job.