Black Males Receive Unfair Treatment: “Discrimination in the School System”

Less than 4% of the total student population enrolled in America’s colleges and universities (one of the smallest subgroups based on race/ethnicity and gender.) According to the Schott Foundation, the graduation rate of Black males in CT is between 51%, whereas White males in CT have an 83% graduation rate—a 32% gap. Moreover, the achievement gap between Black women and Black men is the lowest male-to female ratio among all racial/ethnic subgroups. (Strayhorn 1). The disproportionate and devastating failure of Black males in the educational system has further ramifications in our social system as black males are over-represented in the criminal justice system: “African-American males represent approximately 8.6 percent of the nation’s K-12 public school enrollment but make up about 60 percent of all incarcerated youth” (Smith 2005). In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the academic crisis of adolescent black males, one must examine the research findings surrounding the Black-White achievement gap, black male standardized test scores, black male literacy achievement, and the socio-cultural achievement barriers that obscure black males’ self-perception of themselves as readers. “According to many standardized assessments, educators in the U.S.

African American students account for the larger majority of minorities in public schools in the United States. Most areas in the northern part of the United states and coastal areas are ethnically diverse. However, down south this is not the case. Students of color will experience a harder time in the education system. African American students meet the obstacle of educators who will not want them to succeed based on a preconceived thought. In fact, Caucasian teachers make up for 85% of all

In the article Black Males and Adult Education: A Call to Action written by Brendaly Drayton, Dionne Rosser-Mims, Joni Schwartz, and Talmadge C. Guy want to expose the challenges that black males face in education. They make it clear their purpose is to incite a great change in the way black males are treated in the education system, give black men a voice, and endorse an analytical evaluation of institutional procedures and practices. More importantly the article states that the authors’ point is not to encourage the stereotypes and behaviors attributed to black men that society has put upon them, rather their point is to show the world that their destructive view on black males is stopping them from reaching their full potential.

Systematic racism within education Institutions, such as the lack of adequate funding as well as subtle discrimination, continues to be the root of the problem that plagues this nation. Even though segregation was abolished in 1964, the lingering effects that remain are significant and cannot be passively mended. Although it is tempting to think that this prejudice is caused by a select few and not the many, it is clear that this problem holds more depth. Recent studies conducted by the National Education Studies (NEA) have proven that even in school’s African American students are often times targeted and punished at a significantly higher rate when compared to their white peers. The study states “Black students make up almost 40 percent of all school expulsions [in the] nation, and more than two thirds of students referred to police from schools are either black or Hispanic” (Blacks: Education Issues). This study conducted by the Department of Education, cabinet-level department of the United States

Due to the discrimination of African-Americans, and oppression resulting from it, the government, justice system, educational system, and society has made it clear that African-American teenagers obtaining a thorough and effective education is the least of their concerns. It is almost as though African-American teenagers are purposely being set up to fail. As stated in “The Oppression of Black People, The Crimes of This System and the Revolution we need”, “Today the schools are more segregated than they have been since the 1960s with urban, predominantly Black and Latino schools receiving fewer resources and set up to fail. These schools more and more resemble prisons

African Americans are not the only ethnicity group to be singled out with behavior. Racial and ethnic minority students report experiencing low teacher expectations, having less access to educational resources, being placed on lower educational tracks, and being steered toward low-paying employment (Kozol, 1991; Olsen, 2008).This low expectation is causing

females (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011). The second reason is that the less experienced teachers are commonly placed in the most difficult schools teaching the most difficult students (Douglas, Lewis, Scott, & Garrison-Wade, 2008). Poor teacher quality is a huge factor in the achievement gap (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011).

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

A Broader Problem that plagues Black males are not totally the responsibility of the public schools, but are a responsibility of society as a whole (Delpit, 1995). We can say, however, that the public schools do play a major role in addressing the problems of Black male students. The educational experiences and the support services afforded Black male students could play an

Howard is the voice of the alarmist” These questions are raised because a close examination of the current state of education for African American males in PreK-12 schools reveals that these students’ underachievement and disenfranchisement in schools and society seem to be

For decades there has been research conducted on the racial disproportion of black student’s suspension in schools compared to white students (Skiba et al., 2000; Skiba et al., 2002; Wald and Losen, 2003; Welsh and Payne, 2010; Kinsler, 2011; Wright et al., 2014). Recently, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014) study revealed that black students were three times more likely to be suspend and 3.5 times more likely than their white peers to be expelled. In the studies conducted, racial gaps in suspension rates are persistently found and still remains a significant unknown when using different analytical strategies and methodologies (Wright et al. 2014). It is important to note that no studies have yet been able to account for the different variables that contributes to the racial disparity in school discipline. A deeper investigation of past and present research literature is useful in the determining variables that may contribute to the racial gap in school suspensions and its purposed channel in the school to prison pipeline. Some earlier researcher’s suggestions have been socioeconomic factors, the lower academic performance of black students, the difference in behavioral problems, or the lower academic expectations of black students from teachers to support the racial gap in suspension (Magnuson and Waldfogel, 2005; McCarthy and Hoge, 1987; Tenenbaum and Ruck, 2007). Even in studies that attempted to control for social economic status and differential

American society likes to believe that race relations in our country are no longer strained. We do not want to hear about the need for affirmative action or about the growing numbers of white supremacist groups. In order to appease our collective conscious, we put aside the disturbing fact that racism is alive and well in the great U.S.A. It hides in the workplace, it subtly shows its ugly face in the media, and it affects the education of minority students nationwide. In the following excerpts from an interview with a middle class African American male, the reader will find strong evidence that race plays a major role in determining the type and quality of education a student receives.

Institutional racism has solidified its position into various aspects of American society. It has installed itself into employment practices, all levels of education, healthcare, housing, politics and the criminal justice system. Institutional racism has made some subtle changes to replace the boldness of slavery and Jim Crow. However, in educational institutions the effects of racism and discrimination are so delicate they typically go unnoticed by students of color. Individual racism usually happens on the personal level where the prejudice is expressed either consciously or unconsciously while there is some form of interpersonal encounter. When it comes to institutional racism it is similar to the individual concepts, however policies and practices are associated with with the belief of racial dominance of one group over another. It is a powerful system that use race to determine power and privilege(Reynolds et al., 2010). Even after the desegregation of school, educational institution are still separated. In Shelby County where I have lived since 1999 there are schools for minorities, and there are schools for whites. The schools for minorities in the city of Memphis have police officers walking the halls and there no books for learning. There are higher numbers of Whites students enrolled in private, charter, and magnet schools in the more affluent segments of the county. They will be exposed to the advantages of a proper education because of their race and privilege

Education, too, is a weapon. However, it is not hard to understand why going to school can be fearful for black children of this nation: they are three times more likely than their white peers to be suspended or expelled, according to U.S. Department of Education. Along with other institutions, education is discriminatory down to the system’s very roots. Ta-Nehisi Coates would most probably agree, having received “nothing short of fearful education he earned growing up in Baltimore” (Hagan 60). He explains that rather than learning to trust his education and educators, he, as a African American, “cannot say that [he] truly believed any of them” (Coates 26).

The Cold War in the 1950s established a conservative climate in the country and American society started to boost. It started with the African American civil rights movement, which was followed by many other social revolutions. Prior to these events, African American struggled to get recognition for their achievements and equality in education throughout the country. For instance, the Progressive Education Movement was committed and supported interracial harmony which was supposed to reject educational segregation. However, despite of its avowed commitment, schools remained mainly white. Reason why the school’s system was still operating under segregation ideals was because Progressive schools were simply not willing to challenge wealthy white parents who wanted their children to be educated in with the appropriate “social contacts” (Selig), which would eventually help their children to “marry favorably” (Selig). Wealthy white families were the cause of resistance against enrollment of black and other minority classmates in privileged white schools. Classroom instruction was implementing more cultural teachings on different minority groups, however, the student body was predominantly white, and were not accepting minority students. Teaching minimal aspects of minority cultures was only showing the differences between them, what was needed was to include minority students in the classroom so that every student would assimilate appropriately to become one American people. If