Posted on 10/07/2010 10:23:03 AM PDT by earlJam
Are minority students disciplined more harshly? Obama administration to issue suspension guidelines
Published: Thursday, October 07, 2010, 12:06 PM
Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press
Are minority students disciplined more harshly than white students?
The Obama administration thinks so, and is planning to make addressing racial disparities in school discipline a high priority, reports Education Week’s Mary Ann Zehr.
The administration intends to “release guidance” on school discipline this winter, presumably telling local schools how they should deal with problem students, Zehr reports.
The U.S. departments of Education and Justice held a conference late last month and Zehr quoted Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights.
“Regrettably, students of color are receiving different and harsher disciplinary punishments than whites for the same or similar infractions, and they are disproportionately impacted by zero-tolerance policies—a fact that only serves to exacerbate already deeply entrenched disparities in many communities,” he told attendees.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the gathering that he, too, is concerned.
Zehr reported that according prepared remarks, Mr. Duncan said he was “deeply troubled by rising discipline rates and disparities in discipline” in the nation’s schools, and that the administration has already launched five compliance reviews on school discipline.
Agency leaders said the different treatment might not be intentional.
Zehr quoted staff n the Education Department’s civil rights office as saying that staff looks for “different treatment” when enforcing civil rights law, where people are intentionally discriminated against.
But, Zehr noted, the feds also look for “disparate impact,” meaning that a particular group is disproportionately affected by a policy though no intention of discrimination may exist.
So, a school might not intentionally look to suspect minority students, but if a greater percentage of minority students are disciplined, there might be a problem.
But some argue that a crackdown on the districts could lead to administrators being afraid to hand down discipline if they fear they could be hauled into court or face cuts in federal aid.
A leader of a Washington-based civil rights group told Zehr that she backs the closer look at discipline — and said the Bush administration neglected the problem.
“Now is the time when we need to have strong enforcement of civil rights laws with regard to public education because we see the numbers are so outrageous with regard to outcomes for children of color,” Judith A. Browne-Dianis, the co-director of the Advancement Project, told Zehr.
Is he saying The Board of Education should be applied to their Seat of Knowledge equally?
Free speech: use it or lose it.
That should be a classic..."
I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. However, I know gold when I see it, so I adopted it and try to use it often. I love the phrase; it has a lot of loaded subtext and underlying irony.
Everyone has a bias, including everyone here (as is apparent in many of the messages on this thread). People have biases for everything, including height, weight, personality, and so on. We could narrow down “biases” forever. People sometimes act on their biases.
But, that’s not the point. It doesn’t matter if you believe your group (whatever it may be) is being treated unfairly or if you believe another group isn’t.
The real point is: The government wouldn’t be enforcing guidelines on discipline if the vast majority of parents weren’t giving the government that power by putting their children into government-financed, government-run schools.
Part of the leftist agenda for a race war.
What garbage! The schools, especially in city (large and small) schools are chaotic and UNDISCIPLINED as it is! Minorities have and do run rough shod over the teachers and the entire school. Teachers are not allowed and therefore unable to get control of the classrooms, forget about the hallways!
They cook! They clean! They sing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty!
OMG I need this so bad! Perhaps I will steal your idea and start my own business! Either way it would be an answer to a problem we have.
If you steal the idea, please write and tell me how it is going!
I really think that if this got going more people would Homeschool.
LOL!!!
The treaty was really fun. If Tom did a better Russian accent, we could perform it for Cub Scouts campfire program.
Heck, I WANTED to be disciplined (expelled) when I was in high school I hated it so much. Even when I was called into the assistant principal’s office for cutting class though, he wouldn’t do it. My brother taught at my high school, so all he would say is, “I know you want me to expel you, but I’m so fond of your brother I can’t do it.” BTW, my high school was over half Hispanic.
Can there be any doubt that Obama is trying to be the totalitarian ruler of this nation? Who the he!! let this despicable man think he has the power? If we don’t get control of this government back to “We the People” it’s all over for this free nation.
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