Within Reason

This week our principal called us into the office in small groups to discuss issues of equity. She showed us suspension data by race, gave a couple of poor examples, and showed a video that mentioned how much state money we were losing because of our suspensions. What was intended to promote discussions on racial equality created a stir among faculty that found the entire presentation quite offensive.

After a stir in the lunch room I even had one coworker show up to the meeting and proclaim to the principal, “Don’t kick the black kids out, because we lose money when they get suspended.” Her jaw dropped. (Their meeting was a little more confrontational than the one with my group.
Our suspension data mirrored the following table:

So now what? The solution presented was to build relationships with these kids to impact their lives. I do agree with that ideology. However, this issue is too pervasive for that to really impact the situation. Our junior high teachers may be able to reach a few of these kids, but the problem is bigger than that. Richard Hernstein and Charles Murray, in The Bell Curve, discuss how intelligence can be found as a predictor for behavior.* They even wrote, "It seems highly likely to us that both genes and the environment have something to do with racial differences." Even if that is true, now what?

I have a professor right now, Dr. Temeca Richardson, who wrote a book called Can the Black Church Save Young Black America? Anyone can point out data that shows a disparity, but here is someone presenting a solution.

I recognize the limitations of my impact as an educator. I know what I can do. That will influence several students each year, but will not change the state’s numbers.

What should we do? Who else has a solution? Now what?

*The data also showed that people of above-average intelligence were less likely to be married by the age of 30. Good to know.