I've become very interested in academic performance at local public schools, primarily due to my teaching credential program. Last week, I stepped onto the campus of a middle school in the San Diego Unified School District to observe a seventh grade social studies classroom. Anticipating my first truly "urban" school experience, I braced myself for some of the challenges described in my textbook. Twelve-year-olds wearing gang colors. Unruly kids disrespecting their teachers. Eighth graders reading at a third grade level. Despite attending the school made famous by Dangerous Minds, I do not feel that I had ever experienced this.

Instead, I entered a classroom with kids seated quietly at their desks, working on a warm-up activity in which they hypothesized some of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire. And the great majority of them seemed not only engaged, but to be coming up with reasons that demonstrated higher-order thinking skills and a deep understanding of historical events.

Does this experience point to the success of San Diego schools? Does it demonstrate that unlike the typical urban school described in my textbook, the school I visited suffered none of the challenges commonly present in the public schools systems of metropolitan areas? Contrary to research and popular belief, was this class of 36 proof that a smaller student-to-teacher ratio is not necessary?

Unfortunately, no.

I wanted to look at Barack Obama's heritage, if I may. 

Obama is half-Kenyan and half-Caucasian. He may self-identify as "African-American," but his heritage really has very little in common with most African-American blacks.

His ancestors were not slaves, but were actually free Africans from the opposite side of the continent. It's similar to comparing someone whose family is from Norway and someone whose family came from Austria. Same continent, but two completely different cultures. 

But, the society that we live in seems to believe that if you have any 'black' heritage in your bloodline, then you ARE black - despite the fact that such thinking is outdated.