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I am a minority teacher who taught in mostly public schools for over a quarter of a century. As a military wife, we moved around and I got a taste of a lot of different schools, with different demographics.
The perceived severity of a student’s misbehavior and its potential impact on other students, whether as an interference with education, a threat of harm to others, or a likelihood of inspiring others to misbehave, is often a primary motivation for a school’s list of which behaviors warrant detention, suspension, or expulsion. Some schools have a formal rubric that is well understood, some just fly off the cuff, but most are in-between. The more off the cuff that decision is, the more likely that certain demographics of students will receive different treatment.
Part of what determines how severe a student’s punishment at school for a particular action is the past history with that child and their parents/guardians when there are problems, whether academic or behavioral. When this is not the first incident, part of that history considered will be is the reaction of their parent/guardians to any previous academic or disciplinary problem. A parent who cannot make their child turn in work when they are in danger of failing is unlikely to be able to control their behavior in other ways. A parent who responds to previous reports of misbehavior or poor grades by turning into a defense lawyer or accusing the school of being at fault indicates quite clearly that they aren’t going to deal with the child’s behavior at home so any discipline will have to come strictly from the school.
Another aspect considered is how contrite a student acts when confronted with the current issue at hand. Unfortunately, this is an area where cultural differences do have an impact. Instead of just saying “I messed up, I’m sorry,” I have watched too many minority students stick out their jaw and strike their tough guy pose. They end up being suspended instead of getting detention because they were disrespectful on top of their misbehavior, not for just the misbehavior. I have spent many a year convincing some kids that saying “I’m sorry” is not a sign of weakness and admitting mistakes is to their benefit.
Students raised in single parent homes have more discipline problems, regardless of race. I’m sorry, I know people aren’t going to like that statement, but it is true in far too many cases. Same is true for students in lower income families. And guess which race has a higher percentage of kids that fit in those two categories - saying that does make a person a racist, it isn't a judgment, it is merely an unfortunate reality. It can also be true for students who come from non-English speaking homes, if they think the school can’t communicate with their parents.
Demanding that we racially norm punishment is not the answer. Proactively working with problem students to better understand the cause and effect of their behavior, including their reaction to correction, is what we need to target. But more than anything, all parents need to teach their children that they are responsible for their behavior and that to respect the authority of their teachers. They can start by not talking badly about the profession in general in front of their kids.
I agree with you on the many fine points you have brought up. My friend has also talked about what you have. You are so in point.
Problem is that some parents are also not responsible as a parent, how are they going to teach their child what being responsible is. And we all know that some adults don't even show respect for authority. And I believe that some children learn from what they see and hear.
Some parents forgot, that having the child was the easy part, raising them to be a productive, respectful, compassionate, caring hard working adult, is another.
Your statement is what some might have a problem with, anytime we touch on the truth of a matter, some people get all up in arms over nothing but truth.
That definitely does happen. I have seen it working in schools, as have those in my circles who currently work in the school environment. Children should be dealt with in the same manner when they commit the same infractions.
Agreed unless one student tends to repeat the infraction more often than others.
That is because their parents will give them a "high five" when they get home. The white parents will implement additional dicipline and corrective action.
The teachers are doing the black kids a favor by going hard on them now to get them to fit in to society.
Yeah... like that white kid in Texas who got 10 years probation because his parents never disciplined him. Afluenza... now thats discipline.
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