Betsey's NPR post about the high school in LA made me think of this graph from my Race and Ethnic relations class (as a sociology major I'm full of fun stats like this), and since you can't post pictures under comments I'll just post it here. I know you (Betsey) commented about how the students were racially dividing themselves, but the fact that caught my eye was that the white kid who pulled a gun isn't getting in any trouble. I just hope there's more the story than what was in the article which could explain the differences in charging.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Betsey's NPR post about the high school in LA made me think of this graph from my Race and Ethnic relations class (as a sociology major I'm full of fun stats like this), and since you can't post pictures under comments I'll just post it here. I know you (Betsey) commented about how the students were racially dividing themselves, but the fact that caught my eye was that the white kid who pulled a gun isn't getting in any trouble. I just hope there's more the story than what was in the article which could explain the differences in charging.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
In the past, we have had the same kind of statistics concerning student infractions on our discipline reports. As the coordinator of our school improvement plan, I have to view all these trends, and discuss ways that we can change practices to improve student performance. I often wonder why these trends happen. I don't believe I discipline my black students any differently than my white students, however, I do have more of a problem with black females than black males. Cultural differences in the general population often produce assertive (ie bossy?) black women, and passive young men who eventually develop a "pimp" or "player" attitude to regain their depleted self-confidence.
Of course, this is just armchair psychology, but I do think about it a lot. These past two years, I have had more discipline problems with some spoiled rotten white males. They've been led to believe that they can get away with anything because they're so cool. My black young men are usually quite respectful and deferrential.
These statistics represent a real crisis in the African-American community, and I don't know why is hasn't been addressed more aggressively by black leaders. There is such a dearth of good role models for black young men because they have been abandoned by their fathers (some who may be in prison).
I wish it could be a perfect world, where we could see beyond color, and where good behavior would be considered cool.
Okay, I'll shut up now.
Love, Claudia
Post a Comment