Racism against African Americans

Introduction

African American, Latino, and Native American students are suspended or removed in numbers greatly disproportionate to those of their white peers. This was correct in every school district investigated. Moreover, zero tolerance policies make worse this tendency. For instance, in Salem, Latino students were 22% of all suspended or barred students but only 10% of the student population.

Main Body

Students of color are much more likely to drop out or be pushed out of school and less likely to graduate than white students. For example, in San Francisco, both Latino and African American students represented a percentage of drop-outs in excess of their percentage of the population.

Students of color have less permission to advanced classes and gifted programs. The report shows that in all twelve school districts studied, students of color did not have fair access to Advanced Placement and gifted classes, which are necessary to admission to many colleges. In Durham, NC, African American students represent 58% of the district population but are only 26% of students in advanced courses.

The racial structure of a teaching corps seldom matches that of the student body. Most school districts do not need anti-racist or multi-cultural training for teachers and administrators. None of the twelve school districts had teaching staffs as varied as their student population.

A key suggestion from the report is that all school districts should be required to keep and annually bring out key statistics, disaggregated by age, sex, and race. In effect, each school district should publish an annual Racial Equity Report.

Three-quarters of the school districts in this study failed to collect or declined to make known at least some data broken down by racial categories.

Providing African Americans, males particularly, with a valuable public school education has proven to be a nearly perennial problem. Often attending under-resourced, overcrowded schools, they are quick to feel estranged from, rather than engaged in, the education process. Some do indeed state their dissatisfaction through antisocial behavior (Hrabowski, Maton, & Greif, 64). Nevertheless, African American students think they are triply disadvantaged that is “unfairly accused, unfairly silenced, and needlessly punished" (Sheets & Gay, 2006, p. 89). They are, in fact, far more likely than whites to be suspended.

Schools are now appreciating that the consequences of discipline inconsistencies established on race can thwart the educational success of an entire group of young people. As a result, many make use of a range of policies to make sure the evenhanded treatment of African American students specially, and the fairness and educative value of their discipline measures in general.

The Perception of Difference

U.S. society has long been described by lack of knowledge about African American social styles, unfair criticism of African American traditions, and constant unhelpful and fear-inducing media images of African Americans. As a result, as products of this society, educators may foresee negative attitudes about African American students and avoid, rather than guide them. Teachers may try to control black males more firmly than whites, thinking that they ...