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How do the disciplinary measures only affect minority students?
They are saying they are disproportionately applied to minority students -- which certainly seems borne out by the fact that 25% of the population comprises 60% of suspensions.
As far as kids' behavior -- my teacher friends feel like the biggest problem here is the parents -- parents who defend Johnny or Janie when they get in trouble and pressure administrators to do away with any assigned punishments.
The rules are applied without bias, I've witnessed it first hand with my very own son (a long story, and one that occurred a few years back) who is Caucasian.
I'm not questioning what did (or did not) happen to your son, I was not htere, and have no knowledge, but from a realistic point of view, one anecdote makes not a fact.
For any statistical validity to your comment, a sample size of one would not qualify.
I think the issue of race and bias is VERY complicated. I'm sure that statistically, the rules are applied more to people of color. I'm sure that sometimes it's because there is latent racism that the person who applies it doesn't even recognize. Sometimes there may be overt racism. Sometimes people from a lower economic bracket may actually have more infractions, and I'm sure there is some reverse bias due to the fact that people are conscious of the bias.
My point is that all of these things occur, and any one of them does not exist on an island. It is a VERY complicated thing to quantify race bias.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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It might also be that the minority students are disproportionally poor, and poor people are more likely to get in trouble. It might not have anything to do with race at all.
As an African american with 3 children (1 only 1 year removed from entering into high school) who just moved to Cary....this is disconcerting to say the least.
However, as an educated male from the DC area, I'm not afraid to lawyer up if need be
As an African american with 3 children (1 only 1 year removed from entering into high school) who just moved to Cary....this is disconcerting to say the least.
However, as an educated male from the DC area, I'm not afraid to lawyer up if need be
I wonder how much is also those with the resources to "lawyer up" vs those who do not have the resources?
They are saying they are disproportionately applied to minority students -- which certainly seems borne out by the fact that 25% of the population comprises 60% of suspensions.
And what if those 60% of suspensions were warranted? So suspension rates must be identical to the overall percentages of each race or else there is discrimination?
Just another example of our society having an issue with any sort of personal responsibility.
And what if those 60% of suspensions were warranted? So suspension rates must be identical to the overall percentages of each race or else there is discrimination?
Just another example of our society having an issue with any sort of personal responsibility.
Agreed, BUT what if they are not? ALSO another example of our society having an issue with any sort of personal responsibility. I gave several possibilities of cause in my response above. I'm sure that they don't all apply equally, but also pretty sure there is some element of all of them in the data. Also 110% sure there are many, many more influencers.
My point here is that just because you have identified one of the causes, you can't bury your head in the sand and ignore the others. That is a common practice of both sides of partisan politics in the USA.
The questions are deeper than merely whether discipline is being applied evenly. There are significant societal issues regarding how we handle adolescents with behavioral issues and what the linkage is between school discipline policies and the criminal justice system.
Let us credit schools' policies with feeding the prison system. Personal responsibility, whether student or parent, and individual behavior has nothing to do with it. :|
I have spent enough time volunteering in classrooms to understand that certain students are less interested in studying and more interested in playing the fool. But I realize I won't win this argument because it is politically correct to spend more public resources on these students and mollycoddle them and their supporters than to seek to inculcate a sense of responsibility into them.
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