"Black studets are far more likely to be suspended from school then their white classmates -- and MN's disparity in suspensions is twice the national average. What's the cause? What are the consequences?"My dad gave me this article to read, because the main story has to do with a kid from my school which i happen to know and I happen to be friends with. So i think you should check out the slideshow or atleast the headline on the newspaper from sunday..http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/19019659.html?location_refer=Slideshows
All of this leads you to ask questions. Why are the black students getting suspended more? && is this problem for better or worse? And also what can we do to stop it? What can teachers do to stop it and what can students && the community can do to stop this. It's a list of questions that will never end?
All of this leads you to ask questions. Why are the black students getting suspended more? && is this problem for better or worse? And also what can we do to stop it? What can teachers do to stop it and what can students && the community can do to stop this. It's a list of questions that will never end?
2 comments:
I think this is true for many subsets of people as well. For example, my brother has been tested to be in the gifted range but has dyslexia and dysgraphia. People see his writing and make assumptions about him like when a teacher showed his class that cornstarch and water mix where if you mix equal parts it breaks into chunks but still is runny in your hands. Well, she asked in kind of a challenging way whether the kids thought it was a solid or a liquid. WHen Ben told her it was a nonnewtonian liquid, she got mad at him and told him to stop making stuff up and confusing kids. When he told her that because it didn't follow the laws of Newtonian Physics, the correct term for the mixture was a nonnewtonian Liquid she kicked him out of her class for being sassy.
I get away with WAY more stuff than the kids in his special classes - or the ESL classes etc. Like, I can smile at a teacher and apologize for forgetting an assignment and can get special permission to call my mom to bring it on her lunch break with no penalty. If my brother grins and apologizes for forgetting an assignment, he is often told to 'wipe that grin off your face. Irresponsibility isn't amusing' and he is given a stop and think ticket (Get 5 of them in a year and you are suspended.) He is not allowed to call and gets half off his homework. There is this one kid I know who gets sent to the office everyday because the teacher doesn't like the look on his face. He isn't black but it still isn't fair. And, now he does act up because he syas if he's going to get punished no matter what, he might as well make it worth it. Anyway...Sometimes I don't understand people. The good news is, I have teachers who treat everyone the same no matter what and I think my mom has been talking to the school to get my brother those teachers, too. They have 2 groups of teachers that work together and one group is fair and flexible. The other is strict and unreasonable.
Thanks Jasmin for posting this. I think it is really important for people to be aware of. Whenever I'm faced with these kinds of issues, I never know where to start. I don't tend to swing towards a really strong opinion, but when you look at all sides and understand what they are going through, it almost can seem harder to come up with a solution.
I know TVbyGirls has power to bring people's attention to things, but I'm not sure what is the best way to do it. We're good at recognizing problems, but what are we supposed to do after that? I'm sure someone has ideas...
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