On the surface, this article sounds a familiar alarm on unfair treatment of young people of color, but the presentation leaves me to wonder what the authors are really saying, versus what the data is actually saying, or not.
The title and language speak of results, whereby black and Latino kids receive more and harsher discipline than white and Asian kids, presumably. What is not presented is data on whether black and/or Latino infractions are also more serious, or not. The reader is left to assume that the black kids are punished differently for the same level and type of offense, but with no real way of knowing. Data on punishment following perceptions, rather than measured seriousness of offense, could be significantly misleading.
Two years ago, my son was assaulted by another black student at his high school, and the assailant was permanently expelled under a zero-tolerance school policy. The guardian of the boy thought the punishment was harsh, without consideration that zero-tolerance for breaking the law means ZERO! Because of my own experience, including the involvement of the local police in investigating and charging the young assailant, I am not so quick to assume that we are talking apples-to-apples in behavior data leading to disparities in discipline.
James C. Collier
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4 comments:
I have seen data at my school that shows that the "category" of the infraction is sometimes harsher and requires more punishment for black students than for whites.
For example, cursing is seen as inappropriate language for a white, but insubordination for a black student. Putting a check in the insubordination box leads to a much harsher punishment.
It’s probably a combination of many things, including racial bigotry and pure stupidity of the student trying to be “cool”. I remember back in the day I witnessed a number of sorry acting black kids raising hell in class. Most of them actually knew better but they wanted think they were “bad” and show off in front of the other kids. Well, many of those types didn’t even make it to thirty.
a.eye said...
I have seen data at my school that shows that the "category" of the infraction is sometimes harsher and requires more punishment for black students than for whites.
For example, cursing is seen as inappropriate language for a white, but insubordination for a black student. Putting a check in the insubordination box leads to a much harsher punishment
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Since you start from the axiom that black students and nonblack students act in exactly the same way, you can *only* conclude that it's racism that makes black students the target of more severe punishment. I disagree with the axiom. From the time i spent in an american high school, i have no difficulty whatsoever believing that the black students were more harshly punished precisely because their offenses were more serious or more numerous. It sounds exactly like what i myself experienced : that black students were acting much, much worse than anyone else.
also don't forget that the school authorities would probably *love* to trot out disciplinary records that showed that black students were being punishes strictly in their proportion of the school population (or even less than in their proportion). A principal who could show data like that would be a hero. They can't show data like that though. It's too much of a stretch compared to the reality.
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