Primary Colors: Racism and Discrimination vs. Education May 1, 2008

I created this video to show how racism has entered the world of education. In the video, there are images of racism and a few places where you could find it.  Though racism is intertwined with many things in our society, it can be overlooked and mistaken for something that it is not.  It can be literally invisble. 

In the video I have also provided some facts and statistics about how intitutional racism affects minority students within public education.  It also depicts the unequal distibution of academic programs and opportunities. I also touched on some of the alternatives of how to end racism in our public schools. 

Get in the Ring (Round 2)

Here we are again…in the ring.  In round 2 we involve the students themselves.  I was able to find an example of how to involve our students in making a difference.  There are organizations for children that teache them about racism and how to identify it, cope with it, and keep their environment safe and happy for themselves and for their peers. 

Artists Against Racism (AAR) is an organization that does just that.  The organization’s main goal is to “about the basic human right of equality, so that a civilized society will, in the next millennium, finally result” (www.heartsandminds.org).  The groups goal is to teach children not to discriminate against someone different then themselves based on background, race, religion…etc.  They teach the youth to learn about people different from themselves. 

Children are like spounges, they obtain all information faster than ever.  If we instill the right ideas in their heads, they will be the ones to change the future of racism.       

No Child Left Behind: Helpful or Not? April 28, 2008

So far during my research, I have come across many articles that mention the No Child Left Behind Act and how it is or isn’t helping our poor and minority public school children.  The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is an Act of Congress that reauthorized a number of federal programs aiming to improve the performance of U.S. primary and secondary schools (wikipedia.com). 

On the subject of racism, some believe that NCLB encourages racism in that it enables segregation in the way that the data in collected to monitor improvements in the student’s performance.  As mentioned in the article from my last blog, the data is separated based on race so as to keep a successful record of the different groups improvements or decreases in improvements. According to an organization called Citizens Against Racism and Discrimination, the targeted groups that are labeled problematic are usually the African American and Latino students (card.wordpress.com).

So far I have not found as much information on how helpful the law has been aside from the fact that it opens a few more doors for the less fortunate. It is amazing how laws like these can be linked to racism in a society that is supposed to be “colorblind”, or from a society that is supposed to function of off “All men are created equal…”.

Lingering Issues: As told by Andrew Kelly April 25, 2008

We have had many different cases. debates, and laws passed to try to eliminate racism, discrimination, and segragation in our public schools.  The question now, is are these laws and regualtions really helping?  Are they affecting our students and their education in the way that they were meant to if at all?

I came across an aritcle written by a high school priniciple, Andrew Kelly, from Washoe County.  He addresses some of the issues of racism that are still taking place withing public schools and the schools systems.  He also lists a few potential solutions that could help. 

A point that he mentions is how Presiedent Bush signed for the No Child Left Behind Act, but poor and minority children are still getting left behind. ”This law has failed to adjust the social inconsistencies that in many cases continue to hold our poor and minority students down” (Kelly, newsrjg.com).  The law, though in its youth, has not helped to improve our public schools, nor has it given fair opportunities to all students just yet. 

Something that I found interesting in this article is one of the replies at the end.  The person writes about how he was the minoity white student in all black schools in New York and how the minority students with poor families are brining themselves down.  He also talks about how it is not the governments problem it is the minorities themselves.  “I was in the same economic class, I was interested in learning and my parents were happy when I bought home a good grade” (newsrjg.com).  Though this person was a minority in an all black school and made good grades, what about the extent that his school was able to help him learn?  What if he were to attend school in an all white wealthy school, would he be able to excell the way he did at his poor minority schools? 

Here is the link to the article!!!

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080424/OPED/804240306

 

50 Years Down the Road… April 21, 2008

Fifty years after Brown vs Board of Education, are things improving for America’s poor and minority students?  History repeats itself as schools become more and more segragated as we speak.  I found an article on racism in public schools as it is today.  Though the issue of segregation may seem invisble, it is occuring.  According to the Harvard Civil Rights Project, “ public schools today have re-segregated at a level not seen since the 1960s. Wealthy, all-white suburban schools sit a few miles from poor inner-city schools that are predominately Black and Latino” (socialistworker.org).  Currently things do not seem to be “separate but equal” within out colorblind society (or what we may think is a colorblind society).  Why is it that 50 years after the desegreatation of public schools, poor and minority students are not recieving equal opportunities as their wealthy caucasian counterparts?  Years ago, the segregation of public schools were such that black schools had no running water, flushing toilets, or electricity (socialistworker.org), and the white schools had an abundace of books, classroom space, and other neccessities needed for their students to gain their education.Similar incedences like this are happening everywhere in the US today.  As mentioned before in one of my past blogs, I attended many different schools and all of which were segregated, though not segregated by law.  These schools were segregated more by class and status. It is amazing to see how history really does repeat itself even when we try to prevent it all from happening again.  

What Would Bill Do?? April 20, 2008

I found an article written by Bill O’Reilly about how former President Bill Clinton wanted to deal with the issues of racism within public schools.  According to the National Assesment of Educational Progress, “60 percent of poor children who attended the fourth grade last year can barely read. They achieved a “below basic” score on standardized tests. For black fourth-graders, the results are even worse: 63 percent of them scored “below basic” (O’Reilly pg.1).  O’Reillly questions if Clintons methods of improvement actaully improved anything.  Millions of tax payers dollars went to these causes, learning better and the ”strive higher and acquire academic skills that would assure their futures” (O’Reilly, pg. 1), and there is nothing to show for it currently.  Many minority students withing the inner city public schools are struggling to get even the most basic of education, even with help of the president.

Check out the article:   http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22492

Racial Bias March 29, 2008

I found an article from 2000 in the New York Times about a study that had been conducted on racial bias within a small variety of large school districts across the United States.  The different districts include, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Durham, South Carolina, Los Angeles, Miami, Columbia, San Francisco, Missoula, and Providence. 

According to the study, “black students in pulic schools…are far more likely than whites to be suspended or expelled, and are less likely to be placed in gifted or advanced placement classes,” (Lewin, pg. 1).  The issue is often overlooked and mistaken for a personal problem among the individual student and the teacher or administrator.  In an altercation at a high school in Decatur, Ill. 6 African American students were arrested and expelled, though it was not specified if students of other races were disciplined the same (Lewin, pg. 1). 

The overall message from the article is that racial bias in public schools exists, and it does not only exist in certain places.  The study was done on a variety of school districts across the US and the results were the same for most.  Minority students are being unequally treated in comparison to their non-colored peers though we are in the era of color blindness.