Those Black Wimmin!

The Right has this Thing about Black Folks naming their kids those funny names. That's part of the reason they were so tickled with Tom Wolfe's clumsy book -- he "dared" to reveal the stunning "truth" that black people gave their kids those "funny" names, you know, like Jamal and Taron and Kesha. (It was about as daring and as new a truth as noticing that those feminists are pro-choice, frankly.)

Now Steve Sailer is happy to report, on his blog, about a study that's been done, showing that teachers in schools discriminate against kids with these funny names:

Richard Morin writes in the Washington Post about a study of Florida students by economist David Figlio that found:

Here's a reason to think twice before naming your newborn Ashlee, Da'Quan or LaQuisha: Economist David Figlio says his research shows that children with such names fare worse in school than siblings with more typical first names.

And it's not the children's fault, says Figlio, a professor at the University of Florida. He argues that teachers subconsciously expect less from students with first names that have unusual spellings and punctuation. As a consequence, he says, these boys and girls suffer in terms of the quality of the attention and instruction they get in the classroom -- differences that show up on test day.

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2005/03/does-naming-your-son-deandre-rather.html

Sailer goes on to say it's probably got not as much to do with the teacher's discimination, though, as it does with the fecklessness of that (black) mother, who is, no doubt, a slut, and an ignorant slut -- you know how black folk are:

To quote:

"The kind of woman who names her son D'Shawn or Trevon is more likely to have children by more than one man than the kind of woman who names her kid Alexander or Ansel. If she gives one son a super-black name and another son a more mainstream name, it might mean they had different baby-daddies with different tastes, and different child-rearing styles and/or different genes."

And this:

" Naming your kid Jamal instead of James sends him a message about how you expect him to act, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that individuals Jamals act more like the average Jamal on average than individual James do."

There's more. It's charming.

I'd point out to Steve that over here in Arkansas white folks have been naming their kids Fab'ezia and LaZilla and other funny names (funny by my standards: I'd guess their parents must think these names are just fine), but no doubt he would just see that as corruption in the culture: thos Black Folks Leak, or something. Hollywood. Who knows.

Also, the point of the Washington Post article? Which Steve seems to have missed?

"But, [Figlio] said, names can have a subtle effect, and teachers need to be aware of this potential bias. "