The Effect of Racism in Schools on Education

Introduction Racial discrimination is a real problem in American schools where African American students are segregated and their rights violated in many ways. Racial discrimination is especially advanced in public schools where majority of the students are colored. In these institutions, the government has failed to offer credible support thus subjecting them to serious problems making the learning process close to impossible (Blank et al, p.108). The departments of justice and education have admitted that serious problems are experienced by school going children in most of the American schools. Positive policies on discipline are being put into measure as a way of reducing the cases of racial discrimination as it affects learning of students negatively and eventually leads to failure of the students.

Brown states that the current reason for forced busing is the absence of white students in black schools. Forcing students of different ethnic backgrounds to sit next to each other is by no means integration (Coeyman, 1998). This practice is actually creating a hot zone for racism. Studies have shown that elementary school children seem to be unaffected by race. However, once these children become middle and high school students, society seems to come down on them and the students align themselves along racial boundaries (Amor, 1995) .

In a study of the effects of teacher racial identity on a class made up of mostly black students, the researchers found that the white teachers often soften their lesson plans for their African American students because of their belief in the stereotypical narrative that African Americans are not able to keep up academically (Douglas, Douglas, Lewis, Garrison-Wade and Scott 47). The authors of, “The Effect of White Teachers on the Academic Achievement of Black Students”, state that “this approach does not assume Black students’ potential, but aims to compensate for what is presumed missing from the student’s backgrounds” (Douglas, Douglas, Lewis, Garrison-Wade and Scott 48). This means that teachers are purposely watering their courses down to fit their assumption that African American students are not as equipped as other students to succeed in the classroom, as their white student counterparts. These teachers are not recognizing the potential or the gifts of their minority students, so the teachers are unable to help nurture these natural abilities. In the article, “The Alarming Effect of Racial Mismatch on Teacher Expectations”, the author, Seth Gershenson, summarizes his research findings by saying, “…non-black teachers have significantly lower educational expectations for black students than

Racial and Cultural Test Bias, Stereotype Threat and Their Implications A substantial amount of educational and psychological research has consistently demonstrated that African American students underperform academically relative to White students. For example, they tend to receive lower grades in school (e.g., Demo & Parker, 1987; Simmons, Brown, Bush, & Blyth, 1978), score lower on standardized tests of intellectual ability (e.g., Bachman, 1970; Herring, 1989; Reyes & Stanic, 1988; Simmons et al., 1978), drop out at higher rates (e.g., American Council on Education, 1990; Steele, 1992), and graduate from college with substantially lower grades than White students (e.g., Nettles, 1988). Such performance gaps can be attributed to any number of factors, such as socioeconomic status, academic preparation, and educational opportunities; however, Steele (1997) pointed out that even when background factors are held constant, subsequent achievement remains lower for minority students. Moreover, much research in this area has focused on how African American students’ lack of motivation and negative attitudes contribute to their inferior academic performance (Ogbu, 1990); yet many Black students often report high educational aspirations (Fordham, 1996; Fine, 1991; Ogbu, 1987, 1990; Hauser & Anderson, 1991), even higher than White students of comparable class background (MacLeod, 1995). What remains certain is the urgent need to explain what accounts for the persistent academic underachievement of Black students.

According to an evaluation by the U.S. Department of Education, in schools with less than 7 percent poverty, 27.6 percent of poor students and 11 percent of non-poor students achieved below the national average. However, when school poverty levels increase to greater than 24 percent, 56 percent of poor students and 36.9 percent of non-poor students fell below the national average. (Kennedy, 1986) Thus, concentrations of poverty affected the non-poor students in the school, even more so than the poor students. Therefore, economic segregation in schools jeopardizes the futures of all children, their employment prospects, and our

It has come to my attention that other colored students are currently experiencing and receiving the same inadequate learning environment and educatio... ... middle of paper ... ...vironments then blacks. Minority students are being over represented in special education programs. As an African American, I will need to prepare myself for my future as an educator. When I become a teacher, I may encounter a student that has difficulties keeping up with his peers. I need to know whether this student is a slow learner or a victim of the achievement gap.

Resource scarcity and lack of opportunity repeatedly are presented as the only conceivable explanations for poor performance in education. Besides that, highly diverse educated groups explained for low academic achievement of black children positioned the problem in the children themselves and in their families. An essence are unchallengeable, according to this view, as Palen (2001) narrated that “Inequality, it claims, is natural, those who prove themselves superior in the competitive struggle are superior from birth and their strength lies in their genes.” (p, 13). Thi... ... middle of paper ... ...Child Left Behind Act, voucher or choice, and charter schools can improve our children's academic performances, especially minority students. For example, debate over school vouchers is that minority families will be mostly expected to leave the public schools and enroll their children in private schools if given the opportunity.

The media affects the way people view all different races as well, not only gender. One passage that stood out was when Omi exclaimed, “all racial minorities were represented as “less than human.”In the 1930 's African and white children were split into different schools. In this era white Americans disfavored against African-Americans because they did not have the same skin color. For this reason, African-Americans endured mistreatment and misunderstanding. This primarily affected African-American children because their education system was different from the white children.

Many argue that this is not a viable argument. They point to other minority groups such as Asians, some of whom are financially worse off than blacks, and they excel in school . They felt that because the civil rights legislation removed all roadblocks back in the 60’s and 70’s something else must be contributing to the large gap.

Racial segregation in schools is strongly linked to segregation by class, almost ninety percent of the student body, primarily black and Latino, is at an economic disadvantage (Segregation Today)—this is physically and mentally harming our students. Tozer introduces the concept of Pluralism which means valuing and maintaining cultural and linguistic differences within a society. Where has the respect gone? So what if children misbehave, they are kids they will act up, it is the responsibility of the teacher to discipline her class. As I have mentioned earlier, children, especially those of the black community, need to be respected before they can respect.