The Problem Of Racism In Public Schools

In Chapter 1, Alexander provides a brief history of race and racism in America. For those readers less familiar with the narrative of American history, this tour through slavery, Bacon’s Rebellion, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Populism, the end of Jim Crow through Board, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s is very instructive. Even if this narrative sounds familiar though, what comes next is probably less so. The backlash to the Civil Rights Movement manifested itself in the Southern Strategy and the first construction of stereotypes such as lazy “welfare cheats” and black criminals. “Law and order” rhetoric became a popular way to stoke hostility towards blacks; it was carried out by conservatives to win votes among poor whites.

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

Explanations that justify the use of racism directly relates to differential treatment of minority groups and contributes to racism’s existence as an unstoppable social problem. The foundations of these explanations are based on the common misunderstanding of the definition of race. Thus, problems that tend to concentrate in one race are mistakenly judged as “race problems”. This judgement leads to the establishment of a system of inequality between a superior race and inferior races. However, the logic behind these explanations don’t account for the true reasoning behind minority individuals value status. In fact, these explanations contribute to minority individuals’ further struggle in life.

My study displays how people from several categories have differing opinions about racists teaching in the education system. It can help determine peoples’ attitudes toward race in the schools. However, there were some of the limitations to my study. One was that I could not interview and interact with the respondents personally. I was not able to ask in depth questions as to why people felt a certain way about racist teachers. Also, I wanted to know if the respondents surveyed ever had any interaction with a teacher that was deemed to have racist attitudes towards them or a family member. It would have been nice to study the information based on location of the respondents polled. This would further help understand the attitudes people have towards race based off of geographical location. There are some behaviors that people perceive to be racist and talking with people individually would help get all of this information. I ran multiple cross-tabulations to help me in my study on allowing racist teachers in the education system. These were using the independent variable allowing racist to teach and the dependent variables, education, race and sex.

Many raised in urban less affluent areas can quickly become dissolution with the education system being offered to them. Ultimately, resulting in dropping out of High School and continuing in the vicious cycle of poverty. However, “Prosperoman” knew that escaping the harsh living conditions from the inner city would require him to worship and put all his faith and desires into education, books and knowledge as he knew that religion alone would not be sufficient. He was raised by an illiterate single parent but would not allow his circumstances to define his future. Therefore, “Prosperoman” dedicated himself to graduate high school and continue to higher education at a prestigious University where he majored

My educational experience with other races had been limited before high school. I can count on one hand the number of classmates from elementary and middle school that were not caucasian. Even in my church there are only a couple of families of color. Entering high school was quite a learning experience for me. Suddenly I was thrust into the world of Joliet West where only a third of the students are white. Entering this new world was like discovering mythical creatures, created by the stories from movies and my older sister, were real. Based on the myths I heard, I found myself questioning if any of the Hispanic students in my classes were illegal immigrants. I encountered loud black girls that intimidated me with their larger than life personalities.

Since, I am black and have lived thru some of the societal problems at hand, or know somebody that owns. My belief is there are many social problems associated with racism. In the same fashion they all intertwine to make one significant problem. First of all, the media play a part in this massive problem. It portrays other races in negative ways. As a result, dominant groups of society forms, bias opinions toward the subordinate groups of society. Members of society that are from privilege neighborhoods have never interacted with the working poor. Therefore, the majority of their opinions is formed from the media.

After living in a place like Bend Oregon for 18 years I haven’t ever noticed a difference between blacks and whites. Bend has been said to be “one of the whitest places to live”, yet I never viewed a city by its race. Being racist to me meant that it was the whites who had a problem with the blacks and whites didn’t want anything to do with blacks. I hadn’t actually seen racism in action from anyone here. Now, after watching the film Crash and reading the essays “Blinded by the White: Crime, Race and Denial at Columbine High” written by Tim Wise and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” written by McIntosh, my understanding of race, diversity, and communications have changed.

All systems of inequality that exist today are products of pre-conceived notions. Historically, people of color have been subjugated to violence, maltreatment, and a scarcity of opportunities in the United States of America. Though it is important to acknowledge the modern-day institutions that uphold the oppression of black people, it is also important to recognize the institutions initiated these injustices. Racism as a modern-day institution is the consequence of slavery because the initial enslavement of people has historically been used as part of an economic agenda. Considering this, African slaves were perceived to be assets that were essential to the economy of the Americas. Nonetheless, while slavery was used as a system to promote the growth of economies, the decision to enslave any group of people is based on the preconceived notion that the people being enslaved are in fact inferior.

Another dull Thursday starts again with a student who trudges sadly across the school hallway to the abhorrent front office. With an emotionless manner, the administrator states that the student is hereby expelled, however, no one else expected anymore because a black student is much more likely to get suspended or expelled than white students. With regret racism is still well and alive in many schools across America, but wait some people are bound to say racism does not exist and especially not in school, but what if I say that nonwhite races especially blacks are more likely to get suspended or expelled and minority students have less access to higher education and teachers. The lack of teacher can come from the lack of teachers and staff

I think the way we handle racism in our country could be a lot better especially when it comes to police brutality. Racism in general is still very evident in America unfortunately.

I attended a school with majority of whites. We did not have too many other race such as Asian people. Half of the school got alone with each other. My principal did not play about boys walking around the school sagging. There was a lot of cyberbullying between the African Americans. It was not really any racism going on at our good which is good.

On November 9, 2016, my high school became the forefront of an atrocious act of racism. Upon discovery of the racist graffiti, a million emotions scuffled up my tightened throat. I wanted to scream and barf but my body ceased to numbness. In those short moments I simultaneously felt everything and nothing at all.

On Friday, October 16, 2015, at approximately 12:43 pm Thomas Eugene Glover, Jamel Lamar Davis, James Nasir Hymes and Tyrae Lamar Coleman were involved in a physical altercation while transitioning to the 200 building. During the transition a code blue was called over the radio. Tyrae Coleman had punched Thomas Glover in the face during an agreement. A fight broke out between Thomas Glover and Tyrae Coleman. The two separated after exchanging blows. Tyrae Coleman was then approached by Jamel Davis and James Hymes who are friends of Thomas Glover. They all began to fight. Staff members were separating the students as they continued to resist and had to be physically removed from the situation. SRO Friday and SRO Johnson put all four

Institutional Racism in the education system can be combated by teachers and administration working together. Schools must take the initiative of incorporating different cultural perspectives in the curriculum. Only addressing the basic characteristics of culture such as dance, food, and religion is not enough. Racism affects people on many levels, and it's essential to acknowledge the history and culture of a society in all aspects. Cultural characteristics influenced by the political, social, and economic climate. To have an accurate grasp of the values that shaped the culture one must break down and analyze the bias and discrimination of the society.