Aww look now you hurt her feelings!
Posted on 03/30/2014 8:06:49 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Why black children are being funneled into the preschool-to-prison pipeline.
Black students, particularly Black boys, are most likely to be suspended, expelled, and referred to law-enforcement. The school-to-prison pipeline has been well documented for middle and high school students: black teenagers are forced out of school, onto the streets, and ultimately become trapped in the revolving door of crime and incarceration. New data issued by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights reveal that thousands of black preschool students are also being suspended from our nation’s public schools. While black students comprise about 18 percent of preschool students, they represent half of the students suspended multiple times. Black boys are the largest victims of racial disparities in pre-K punishment, though black girls are suspended more than girls of any other race. The data also show that punishment begins early and persists in later grades: black students are three times more likely than white students to be suspended or expelled. Black students only represent about one-sixth of all public school students, but account for nearly one-third of those arrested in school. Likewise, the proportion of black student with disabilities being restrained—strapped down, handcuffed, or legs tied—is almost twice that of other special needs children. Calling the police, handcuffing students, and kicking four-year-olds out of school are irresponsible educational practices that contribute to the criminalization of black children. These experiences can traumatize any child, at any grade level, but the stigma of punishment for black kids has been shown to increase the odds of dropout and incarceration. Racial disparities in early childhood education threaten to destroy the potential of black children before they even have a chance to excel. Why are black children being funneled into the preschool-to-prison pipeline? Part of the problem can be traced to the rise of “get tough” and zero-tolerance policies that have become popular in the post-Columbine era of schooling. Far from increasing school safety, these strategies have resulted in kindergarten students being suspended for "Hello Kitty" bubble guns, kissing another student on the hand, or playing cops and robbers.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 7-year-old girl was sent home and banned from school because of her “distracting” locks. Ninety-five percent of school suspensions are for non-violent offenses like dress code violations and tardiness, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. In early 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan called for the end of zero-tolerance policies, which disproportionately target black and Latino students, “make students feel unwelcome in their own schools,” and “disrupt the learning process.” Instead, they advocate what good teachers and smart parents would recognize as common sense: clear boundaries, high expectations for students, and caring relationships between teachers and students make a difference—not kicking students out of school. The Obama Administration should be applauded for tackling the misuse of punishment in our nation’s public schools. However, this does not address the main reason why black students are suspended so often. America continues to see our children as natural born criminals.
For example, The National Review offered the following commentary on the preschool discipline gap: “…The black crime rate […] explains the school-suspension rate. Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanic males of the same age combined. Given such high crime rates, what do the civil-rights advocates and the Obama administration think is going on in the classroom — docile obedience and strict self-discipline? In fact, the same weak impulse control that leads to such high crime rates among young black males inevitably means more disruptive behavior in school.” [Emphasis added]
In addition to the “weak impulse control” of black people, the author blames single black mothers, absentee black fathers, and the “civil rights industry.” Ronald Reagan perfected this kind of fear mongering about black criminality in the 1980s, while the politics of fear fuel Bill O’Reilly and today’s white minority politics.
Let’s be clear, there is no evidence that black four- and five-year-olds are baby thugs. Disparities in school discipline cannot be explained by the behavior of black children, or black boys in particular. This month, Indiana University researchers released an exhaustive review of the published scientific literature on race, behavior, and discipline. The researchers concluded: “Regardless of the source, there is virtually no support in the research literature for the idea that disparities in school discipline are caused by racial/ethnic differences in behavior. Studies comparing the severity of behavior by race have found no evidence that students of color in the same schools or districts engage in more severe behavior that would warrant higher rates of suspension or expulsion.”
Black kids aren’t little gangsters; rather, we have lost the ability to recognize the innocence of black children. Fear of black children can make Trayvon Martin’s Skittles and a hoodie seem like an eminent threat, or cause Jordan Davis’ killer to fire nine rounds over loud rap music. In the classroom, fear results in harsh punishment for behaviors that might be overlooked among white children. Cutting-edge research published by the American Psychological Association confirms the tendency to see black children as older, less innocent, and as potential criminals. “Racist” preschool teachers are not hatching a plot to destroy black people, but it’s not difficult to find teachers who are afraid of and fearful for black children.
The vast majority of early childhood teachers are white, middle-class, female teachers who too often enter the profession with little prior experience interacting with black children, families, or communities. Some white teachers are less patient, less forgiving, and underestimate their black students, resulting in black students feeling disrespected and treated unfairly because of their race. Teachers are not immune to the harmful stereotypes of black criminality that circulate in popular culture. Rap videos, such as 6-year-old Albert squirting half-naked women with a supersoaker, or 10-year-old Lil Poopy posing as a drug dealer, contribute to the view that black children need harsh discipline before they grow up to become a real threat. Breaking the supposed “cycle of violence and thuggery” was the motivation behind the Omaha police releasing the video of the swearing toddler. Closing the preschool-to-prison pipeline will require abandoning “get tough” school rules and challenging those politicians and media moguls who profit from the myth of black criminality. We must also address the lack of diversity in the nation’s teaching workforce. Black men represent only two percent classroom teachers. The #Dangerous Black Kids social media movement is flooding the Internet with photos of adorable, innocent black children. This is one example of how everyday folk can fight back. Of course, parents must remain the first and last line of defense by continuing to demand that all children are afforded basic civil rights throughout the entire schooling process.
As someone here or elsewhere cogently pointed out, any 'studies' department at any college is simply tacked on and meant to house the quota hires.
Yes, the Zero Tolerance policy will only apply to white kids, as is the case already.
Thanks for the headache.
Another example, albeit a shameful one, is Louisville's weekend orgy of violence.
I suspect he doesn’t realize that in inner-city schools where black boys are being “unjustly punished,” the teachers are black as well, along with the administrators. I bet one year of trying to teach some of these students would open his eyes wide.
Who would be silly enough to draw a correlation between a lack of self control with a lack of parenting?
We can see it in our politicians of color who are now embracing the “thug culture†Single parent homes, unwed mothers, irresponsible black males, children out of wedlock and most of all a security net encouraged, supported and funded with tax dollars by community organizers,activists the media and politicians makes this thug life scenario attractive to the young. They are brought up surrounded by it and adapt. It’s difficult to look inward and blame yourself much easier to look out and find someone to blame.
Aww look now you hurt her feelings!
Start with poor parenting.
Bingo!
I’m repeating myself again posting this story. I have a friend that is an assistant principal in minority heavy school. The kids are so out of control that the school hired a behavioral specialist to try and help the hard cases.
Her husband at the end of last school year was shoved through a sheet rock wall by a middle school student.
I’ve been in a classroom where a black kid refused to set down despite being repeatedly asked by the teacher. The counselor came up and tried, nothing. They gave up.
Another time I saw a principal and assistant principal physically drag a disruptive boy out of class because he was pitching a fit in class. At least they took action, but one wonders if this happened today under these new rules of engagement, if they would even still have a job.
Isolated incidents? perhaps, in all cases it was black boys. Seems black boys arrive feral, girls seem to join them in early part of middle school.
I doubt he’s naive.....or at best he is willfully naive.
Deep down, I bet he knows the truth. I’d be willing to bet that even this fine professor gets nervous when he stumbles across a band of black youth...might involuntarily grab his wallet, switch to the other side of the street, lock his car door, etc. And I’d bet even more that he doesn’t do any of that when he runs into a group of white youth.
For those of us educated in good middle class schools, these may seem like trivial things. My sister teaches in an all-black school and experiences the reality every day. Tardiness and dress code violations are not trivial...they are all about disrupting the class and getting respect from other low-life thugs. They don't quietly enter the classroom late and meekly take their seats. They strut in all defiant, showing off, acting up, challenging the teacher's authority and physically threatening everybody. These are not isolated instances, either. It happens day after day after day after day.
The author is clearly living in a cloistered la-la land.
The entire article as well most of the comments, with all due respect, are moot.
When the economy implodes, EBT cards stop and hell breaks loose, it will be the black population as well as their distinguished white liberal enablers that will be the first engulfed by the chaos.
Nature has a way of dealing with inefficiencies in the world.
I don’t know about becoming Rhodes Scholars, but black kids really do need to have all black teachers and faculty-this is what thwy themselves are saying when they say that only black teachers can understand how to deal with black children. My only caveat is that, that will work two ways. If only black teachers can understand black kids, then it only makes sense that only white teachers can understand white kids, and we should proceed accordingly.
And after the Kansas City School District billion-dollar boondoggle, at the expense of the taxpayers who moved their families to safer, higher-scoring schools which didn’t receive all those billion dollar amenities (they just paid for them for the majority black district), I don’t want to hear a word about “separate but unequal”. The only thing that’s “unequal” is that white taxpayers paid billions of dollars for the majority black schools to have Olympic size swimming pools with underwater viewing areas, while the majority white schools had to hold bake sales to pay for their students’ extracurricular activities (after paying the billions in taxes for more than world-class amenities for the majority black schools). Even after all that, the scores of the majority black schools didn’t rise, and just a couple of years ago, a lot of the schools had to be closed-billions of dollars, down the toilet.
I think he’s suggesting we apply Affirmative Action to children’s class room conduct.
Obama signed this executive order in 2012
Ditto.
They need to break the chain. Mandatory marriage.
Meanwhile, sterilize the baby-mill parasites, remove the kids, adopt them and raise them “white” (etiquette and premium education)
Then release the millions of new black scientists, engineers and professionals into American society as proud Americans.
Of course that will never happen.
I have read cop blogs where they said that in the projects, incest is endemic, because so many of the mothers and therefore the children don’t even know who the fathers are. Not to mention, the government is subsidising a dysgenic underclass-the worst of thw worst breeding with each other, as that is what the government pays for.
They should be forced to live in Detoilet or south Chitcogo for a year.
Never fear, they will still support it in the case of white kids-part of our “white privilege”.
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