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That's basically my feelings as well. You can't expect anyone to learn jack if a teacher can't get a few minutes of undivided attention. And I don't see how teaching four function math and basic writing skills can be a white culture thing.

edit: And I think "white culture" is a very lazy and potentially dangerous term to use.

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i agree with your edit. the way you're describing my argument isn't what i'm trying to say, though.

what i am basically saying is that, by selecting AGAINST minority backgrounds in a variety of ways that i have already mentioned, schools effectively select FOR whiteness. this doesn't happen so much in the way we teach actual subject matter - although there is still plenty of bias in the way american history is taught.

where quite a bit of it happens is in micro-level processes like special education referrals, discipline, parent interactions, etc. research has consistently demonstrated that bias occurs in these processes. this falls in the realm of human error (although it is also good to look at whether teacher and staff training or other regulatory processes might have an effect here too).

there is still systemic bias as well, although some of that affects race residually due to the broader class effects.

school funding is a great example of this. a lot of education policy, including the NCLB act, punishes schools that have low test scores. it doesn't reward a school for improving scores over time, but for being at a certain threshold. schools not at that level are selected against right from the start - they can be sanctioned, which tends to make them less desirable to potential teachers, and you can see where the cycle goes from there.

this legislation - puposefully, in my opinion - selects against poor school districts with historically low achievement rates and test scores. (the fact that so much is based on test scores is also a sore point, since many people feel that a lot of standardized tests are culturally biased). this means that poor schools stay poor and affluent schools keep getting more funding.