The national discourse on police stops has focused discussion on issues such as racial profiling and distrust in the African-American community with law enforcement. But data that was released back in September shows Davis faces its own racial disparity in the schools – we have often noted the achievement gap but there is also a discipline gap, embodied by the suspension rates.
Suspension rates have declined since 2002-03 overall – probably as educators and administrators become more cognizant that suspensions are a less-desirable form of discipline. However, suspension rates are two to three times higher for African-Americans and Latinos as they are for whites, and the gap is even wider for Asian students.
In the most recent data available, in the 2013-14 school year, 6.3 percent of African-Americans and 4.1 percent of Latino students were suspended at some point in the school year, while only 2.2 percent of whites and less than one percent of Asian students were suspended.
Jann Murray-Garcia, who headed up the project by Leadership in Diversity Student Research Scholars said, “We’ve had incredible achievement in suspension rates.”
The students also reported in a survey that they see the discipline differential. Latinos and African-American students believe they are disciplined more harshly for the same behavior always or most of the time.
The findings locally mirror overall trends in US schools. For instance, a November 26 Washington Post article found that, in “Minneapolis, a low-income black student is six times more likely than a white student to be suspended for at least one day in a school year.”
As the Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools noted, “That discipline gap has major implications for students’ academic success — when children aren’t in school, they can’t learn.”
She said, “I have begun implementing significant changes to how we discipline students in Minneapolis.”
Included in the plan was “a moratorium on suspensions for students in first grade and younger for nonviolent behavior – where the racial disparity in discipline begins.”
In April, a group called Racial Justice Now in Dayton, Ohio, launched “a campaign calling for a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions in pre-K and early elementary school grades, and for a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions for minor behavior infractions in all grades.”
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), schools with higher rates of school suspension and expulsion have less satisfactory ratings of school climate and less satisfactory school governance structures.
A report issued by the APA at their summer of 2006 annual meeting found that zero tolerance policies in use throughout U.S. school districts have not been effective in reducing violence or promoting learning in school. The report called for a change in these policies and indicated a need for alternatives, including restorative practices such as restorative justice conferences.
Advocates see these reforms as a way to eliminate “the School-to-Prison Pipeline.”
Suspension gaps mirror trends in terms of racial discrepancies in the criminal justice system. This summer, a report by the Sentencing Project found that racial disparity pervades the U.S. criminal justice system. African-American males are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white males and Hispanic males are 2.5 times more likely. Not only are racial minorities incarcerated disproportionately, they are also likely to be sentenced more harshly than white defendants for similar crimes.
The War on Drugs has exacerbated racial inequalities in the criminal justice system through discriminatory law enforcement practices and disparities in sentencing laws, including the application of harsh mandatory minimum sentences. While the federal Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) of 2010 reduced the crack/cocaine sentencing quantity disparity triggering mandatory minimum penalties from 100:1 to 18:1, there is still disparate treatment in the sentencing of individuals convicted of offenses involving these two pharmacologically identical drugs.
Because African-Americans constitute 80 percent of those sentenced under federal crack cocaine laws, the disparity in sentencing laws leads to harsher sentences for black defendants for committing similar offenses to those of their white or Latino counterparts convicted of powder cocaine offenses.
At the local level, the data again calls for educators and the school district to examine discipline policies. They also need to look into policies that move away from suspension and toward more restorative practices.
In February of 2013, the Vanguard did a story on the efforts of now former Davis High Vice Principal Sheila Smith, who had been slowly implementing restorative justice principles whenever possible into peacemaking situations – anytime a conflict arises, whether it is between two students, between a student and a teacher, or even other situations as well.
In September of 2013, Da Vinci received a grant of $38,000 to fund a restorative justice initiative that would train all 30 staff members and students in conflict management, through mediation rather than discipline.
A report from the UC Berkeley School of Law, Henderson Center for Social Justice, examined a pilot program at a middle school in Oakland. They write, “Restorative justice is an alternative to retributive zero-tolerance policies that mandate suspension or expulsion of students from school for a wide variety of misbehaviors including possession of alcohol or cigarettes, fighting, dress code violations, and cursing. Although zero-tolerance policies have resulted in substantial increases in student suspensions and expulsions for students of all races, African American and Hispanic/Latino youth are disproportionately impacted by a zero-tolerance approach.”
Proponents of restorative justice approaches, they write that they “have begun to promote school-based restorative justice as an alternative to zero-tolerance policies. Restorative justice is a set of principles and practices grounded in the values of showing respect, taking responsibility, and strengthening relationships. When harm occurs, restorative justice focuses on repair of harm and prevention of re-occurrence.”
The Vanguard also met with Ron and Roxanne Claassen, authors of Discipline that Restores, which they wrote based on principles developed jointly to apply restorative justice principles in a school setting.
“What we found is that, when people start to look at and hear about the concept of restorative justice as opposed to simply punitive justice, all have had experience with the fact that punitive doesn’t work very well,” Mr. Claassen said. “So the idea that there are some real live options is exciting. Even some people who have been most opposed at some point often turn out to be some of the strongest advocates.”
Restorative justice in the classroom, he said, does not mean that things are let go or that chaos is allowed to rule. It begins with the concept that whatever response there is going to be to misbehavior is going to be a constructive response.
“What we’ve been working at is developing a series of options so that,” he said, if one approach does not work, they have alternatives. “It is all to work in the direction of the student accepting personal responsibility for what they’ve been doing and thinking about how they want to move forward.”
“When there has been an infraction it can be a process for how you repair that infraction,” he said.
Are these ways to move away from traditional approaches, like suspensions that have been proven ineffective? Time will tell.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
D. Greenwald: In the most recent data available – in the 2013-14 school year…
What’s your source for the data?
Jann Murray-Garcia compiled it but I believe it came from the data on suspensions and the achievement gap from the state last June.
I don’t find 2013-14 stats in the dataquest database, although 2012-13 is there. I imagine 2013-14 data will be available statewide in a few months, but I am not surprised that the data is available from DJUSD.
The school district missed a great opportunity to use restorative practices with the soccer player that they instead suspended. They quickly suspended the students for some reason. Were they more concerned with a very public response that they were dealing with the situation than making the incident an opportunity for learning for the involved students. Did CIF expect the school to suspend the students? There were many restorative options that they could have explored but did not. Instead they went punitive in a very public way. Someone should be asking the school board for an explanation. We should expect better from our schools.
Agreed. I have never understood the point of using suspension as a punitive practice. I don’t see what good it does to force students to miss school, (especially if they are already struggling academically.)
He showed violence to an adult, which is one of the conditions another commenter said was enough to kick them.
Just because the school district can suspend them does not mean that they should. There were better alternatives that did not take them out of the classroom where they are supposed to learn.
“In the most recent data available – in the 2013-14 school year 6.3 percent of African-Americans and 4.1 percent of Latino students were suspended at some point in the school year while only 2.2 percent of whites and less than one percent of Asian students were suspended.”
This is outrageous! Suspend more Asians!
LOL Alan. Being that Davis mirrors the national numbers I must conclude that either the black and Latino students are creating more trouble or we in Davis have racist school administrators and teachers. Which is it?
BP wrote:
> we in Davis have racist school administrators and teachers
Maybe they have “unconscious bias” and need “de-biasing training” like AG Eric Holder said will soon start at the NYPD (just like at the Seattle PD, New Orleans PD and other cities that Holder was investigating for alleged civil-rights violations)…
SOD, well it has to be one or the other. Either the black and Latino kids cause more trouble or the administrators and teachers show racism. Do you notice how this question is being dodged?
Are you implying that a largely white, and disproportionately female, largely Democrat, teaching core is racist?
TBD wrote
> Are you implying that a largely white, and disproportionately
> female, largely Democrat, teaching core is racist?
David just feels they are “subconsciously” racist…
Don’t you know, the story line is everyone is either a racist or subconsciously a racist. You just don’t realize it. I don’t care who you are, from the southern white KKK Imperial Wizard to the very liberal, progressive, Democrat teaching in a Davis school.
I’m trying to find a good explanation – it’s not that you’re a racist and don’t realize it, it has to do with the way the brain processes information shortcuts.
So teachers and school administrators are clearly racist. Why don’t we see riots and looting in the inner cities, and Harvard Law school student protests and then a demand that their exams be delayed because of the related stress?
The point and question are not a joke.
Correlation is not causation. And you cannot solve a problem unless you address the cause.
What is the cause? Is anyone on the seeing-the-work-through-race-tinted-glasses side of the debate brave enough to start a debate about cause, or will they only continue to demand more hypersensitivity protection patches to the worn out and frayed racial social justice quilt?
Here is a very interesting and nearly honest and nearly frank discussion about race and the Ferguson and New York incidents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf-ZC5qQbuY&feature=youtu.be
Note the stress of these three worrying that they might just be persecuted (metaphorically lynched?) by the self-anointed political correctness officials and their media pals. Honesty? Frankness? Open discussion? It was close based on our modern tolerance. Maybe one day we can cut the crap and reject all the hypersensitivity BS. Maybe we can send off the race baiters and professional social justice crusaders that lack enough other meaning in their life to work on other truly helpful causes.
Watch this and think about the media talking head comments before the video plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjVhjMeiGzM
Uncut version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2b21yAeEpQ
Hypersensitivity is killing the ability to truly communicate. I don’t blame hypersensitivity as a cause of race relations, but I blame it as a cause of our lack of progress to improve race relations. We have effectively stalled because of hypersensitivity. Basically blacks and Latinos have been exploited by a certain segment of the primarily liberal population fond of maintaining their power and relevancy by “protecting” those groups they can label as “victims”. And that “protection” is driving a wedge between the rest of society that can help make a difference, and the victim group being protected.
“So teachers and school administrators are clearly racist.”
I don’t believe that’s the case.
” Why don’t we see riots and looting in the inner cities, and Harvard Law school student protests and then a demand that their exams be delayed because of the related stress?”
Probably because inequity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for rioting and looting.
I provided some alternative approaches- restorative practices rather than suspensions, what do you think of them?
Then what is it? Are you admitting that black and Latino students create more trouble?
I think the literature on subconscious bias is more instructive on this.
So are you now saying that teachers and administrators, including our Davis school system, are subconsciously biased and because of this they come down on blacks and Latinos harder than whites and Asians?
Before I comment on what I think of restorative practices, can you answer the question… what do you think are the root cause(s) of the higher number of black and Hispanic student suspensions if not racism in education?
And while you are at it, since you don’t believe that the education system has a racism problem as “proved” by the over-representation in black and Hispanic punishment statistics, then please explain how law enforcement is “proved” as having a racism problem because of the over-representation of black and Hispanic punishment statistics.
And while you are at it… you might also consider that the education system problems with black and Hispanic over-representation in punishment might be causation, or at least some preliminary source of understanding the causation, of the over-representation of blacks and Hispanics in crime and punishment.
Frankly: “What is the cause?”
I don’t know enough African-American families in Davis to begin to hypothesize about suspension rates for black students. But I know enough affected Latino families to suspect that the issues are connected to poverty, lower educational levels among parents, and social isolation of families because the parents don’t speak fluent English.
Frankly: “And while you are at it… you might also consider that the education system problems with black and Hispanic over-representation in punishment might be causation, or at least some preliminary source of understanding the causation, of the over-representation of blacks and Hispanics in crime and punishment.”
Are you saying that blacks and Hispanics will have higher suspension rates because the parents will be of more questionable influence (I think you might be inclined to say, “crappy parents”) because a higher percentage will have been through the criminal justice system?
The links on the issue of pre-school suspension stats that I cite included an interview with a mom, and there didn’t seem to be any indication of crime in the parents raising the black child who got suspended from pre-school. The father was an officer in the Air Force.
No. I am saying that crappy education experience probably leads to more choosing a life of crime.
But to your point, go back and watch the video of the three black NBA commentators. Kenny Smith makes an interesting comment about the “family conversation”. I don’t think it is crappy parenting, but it is probably a form of destructive conversation from the adult role models of these kids. The kid with the father in the military… it would not matter if his father was a PHD professor at UCD… if the father was fond of communicating a black victim mentality, it could certainly result in a greater sense of hopelessness and acting out.
My brother of Mexican descent will tell you as he tells me that if it had not been for the influence of his “Frankly” family, he would have probably not have gone to college and he would be renting some ranch land and own a few cows, goats and chickens and do landscaping work like his dad. It is clear that the message and communication from parents makes a big difference. But the education system, like our system of law enforcement, cannot use that as an excuse to turn the other way. Teacher and educators have the job to teach and educate. Law enforcement has the job to enforce the law. If we have too much negative representation, we need to start solving the root causes.
So what do you think the root causes are? There is a great sound of crickets on this question.
Don’t you agree that it is difficult to impossible to solve a problem if you don’t understand the root causes?
You said they are clearly racist – I don’t agree with that assessment. However, I think it is a factor, as I told BP, I think unconscious bias is a better explanation and I think it goes a lot deeper than that.
I focused on restorative justice because I think you actually have to deal with the inequities first before we can get to root causes.
Frankly: My brother of Mexican descent will tell you as he tells me that if it had not been for the influence of his “Frankly” family, he would have probably not have gone to college and he would be renting some ranch land and own a few cows, goats and chickens and do landscaping work like his dad. It is clear that the message and communication from parents makes a big difference.
So if a family doesn’t have the “Frankly family influence,” then you can expect the current education system to make up for it?
I actually think the current education system can be modified to make up for it, but it means providing regular structured homework support after school, supplemental enrichment activities (music, sports, etc.), and family counciling about post graduation opportunities. I would even throw accessible healthcare and healthy foods as well.
Frankly: So what do you think the root causes are? There is a great sound of crickets on this question.
I gave you an anwer.
You seemed to have ignored it, and you seem to have fogotten when I have mentioned it at other times. Keep in mind that I refer to DJUSD, because those are the statistics we’re talking about. But I suspect that some similar issues are probably in play outside of DJUSD.
But I will expand. In DJUSD, families are offered a menu of options to choose for their kids — GATE/AIM, Spanish Immersion, DSIS, Montessori, athletics, music/performing, Da Vinci, robotics, and maybe a few others that I’m forgetting. You generally would know about these options because you went to grade school in the U.S. and had some experience with some of these programs, the district information is more readily available in English, because all the staff speak English, you learn of it in conversations with local friends and neighbors, from the Davis Enterprise, and the Davis Vanguard.
If you are a Spanish speaking parent with limited English skills, it probably also means that you probably have less education and income level. You don’t know as readily of all these options that are available to your kids. By the time you might learn enough of these programs to make a choice, it is already too late to join up. On top of that, because NCLB insists that higher needs students maintain high benchmark scores on standardized tests in English and math, the district will automatically put your kids in any remedial support programs that are available, such as pullout ELL in elementary school.
By the time your kids get to junior high, they are often obligated to take an extra ELL class in their schedule, and maybe even AVID, because your kids may not have great study skills. That takes up all of your elective opportunities. If you go to Harper of Montgomery, you have a very structured after school homework club to help with homework.
By the time your kids get to high school, there isn’t the same kind of structured homework club, and by that time, your kids have probably missed out on every socializing enrichment activity that’s out there — athletics, robotics, music, journalism/yearbook, etc. Without a structured homework club, then your kids start getting failing grades. They’re isolated, they think they are crappy students, and they’re somehow aware that the fact that their family speaks Spanish, that’s a liability to them and their future. At this point they don’t see a future, and they are likelier to act up and get suspended. What’s the point?
Why isn’t there the same kind of structured homework club as Harper and MME? Because the tutors for Davis Bridge all come from UCD on a student work study program. But rules say that they can only tutor through junior high, not high school. At Montgomery and Harper, it is possible to have plenty of tutors and a low tutor to student ratio. Additionally, tutoring that is available in this work study program is designated only for math and English Language Arts, not other subjects.
All ELL students, ideally, should receive some grade school academic instruction in their native language. That would allow them to be bilingually fluent and literate. That is the direction that K-12 education is going; if you don’t graduate from high school with some bilingual literacy, you have fewer opportunities (source). Bilingualism is something that these students can achieve. Most can speak and understand Spanish, but have had very little experience with reading and writing.
I would also insist that the district make information about all the “choice” programs available in Spanish for the sake of explaining it all to the parents. Also that their bilingual staff be given some extra training in information about these programs (perhaps with a stipend) so as to be able to discuss options with Spanish speaking parents.
I don’t think many here will really have the cahones to answer, but I’ll give you a few.
Most African American and Latino children don’t act out in school, don’t create problems, and are typical everyday school children. We are talking here about the 3% or 6% which some have chosen to thus label our school systems as racist.
1. The lack of in-the-home Fathers who also show restraint, hard work, humility, and family values. Children learn from modeling, specifically the same-sex parent has the most influence. This is likely one of the most important reasons, and impact everything else.
2. I read recently that truancy rates in Los Angeles in the African American families was significantly higher than the norm. This has to play into the family structure, values, and a host of issues that will also affect how a small percentage of children act.
3. Current day music, specifically rap, and gang culture – largely promote anti-social behavior. So when the children of a Dr. Ben Carson watch their 1 hour of TV, if they happen to catch a poor role model, they will likely be corrected and admonished that this is not proper behavior. Not so while the single mother is working two part time jobs, and her child is watching MTV with his uncle or friends. Don’t forget, it is rap music that taught youngsters to call women “Bs” and “Hoes”.
4. Studies I read years ago show that African American children watch far more TV than their white counterparts. (This may be skewed with the new media choices, smart phones etc.)
5. Studies – again, years ago – showed that a high percentage of young white male children think they will play professional sports (the power of TV); an even higher percentage of young AA male children think they will play pro sports. If you believe you are going to play pro sports, why listen to your intrusive English or math teacher who are teaching you things you don’t want to learn, that aren’t applicable to life in the NFL or NBA?
6. For those who are really serious about this issue, read several articles about the studies and work of deceased UC Berkeley Nigerian-American anthropologist and professor Dr. John Ogbu. His “acting white” research, as well as his study of middle class black students in Cleveland broke new ground.
Frankly: …if the father was fond of communicating a black victim mentality, it could certainly result in a greater sense of hopelessness and acting out.
Is this what you mean by communicating a black victim mentality?
Levar Burton: “I Was Continually Harassed By LAPD”
and
Burton: I put hands outside car when pulled over
TBD wrote:
> I don’t think many here will really have the cahones to answer, but I’ll give you a few.
> 1. The lack of in-the-home Fathers who also show restraint, hard work, humility, and
> family values.
TBD’s #1 answer is the #1 reason we have problems with kids of all races. Can anyone name a kid in Davis that beats up gay guys like Clayton Garzon who has a Dad that has dinner with him every night? How about a kid that kills people like Daniel Marsh, anyone know of one with a great Dad who takes the kid fishing and helps the Mom prepare a family meal seven days a week?
We would have a better country if people on the left like David tried to figure out ways to prevent black and latino dads from not getting married before having kids and leaving their kids at higher rates than other races rather than blaming a problem on the “subconscious racism” of other left leaning liberals…
Clearly I need to do a more detailed article on unconscious bias.
Absolutely! Who else? What other institution if not the education system?
But I need to correct something about my brotha’ from another motha’… he also had strong “achievement” role models in high school. Teachers and coaches that pushed him to be the best that he could be. He graduated high school in 1979. Things have changed since then in terms of choice and tolerance for standard boy behavior.
I think we have both a conscious and unconscious bias in talking about the importance of Fathers. Which also means marriage.
How many Ethiopian or Nigerian or Japanese Christian Black Male children do we have joining gangs, dealing drugs, and talking back to teachers in a threatening manner? I think in math we call that “the empty set”.
Please, spare us.
TBD: How many Ethiopian or Nigerian or Japanese Christian Black Male children do we have joining gangs, dealing drugs, and talking back to teachers in a threatening manner? I think in math we call that “the empty set”.
How many? Maybe check here.
“I’m trying to find a good explanation – it’s not that you’re a racist and don’t realize it, it has to do with the way the brain processes information shortcuts.”
Since I don’t read Palin’s comments I can only guess it’s got something to do with race. Probably nothing useful to add. He just want to attack, as usual.
I decided to donate to the VG the other day but am at the point where this is probably my last post. I don’t read Palin’s comments but unfortunately many comments here are a response to him. Don’t the readers realize he is just baiting them, without adding one word of substance to any discussion? I can’t get drawn into this nonsense in the comment section any longer. Waste of time.
It’s just another attack on me from this same poster, I thought these kinds of personal attacks were against Vanguard policy. She claims she doesn’t read my posts but she might leave because of them? Hard to figure that one out.
Um, the topic of this article was about race. So yes, most of the comments were also about race. Of course you won’t read this though because you don’t read my posts so I guess I’m typing this for no reason. LOL
Come on sisterhood. Don’t go. Your contribution is valued just as is Mr./Ms. Palin’s. Can we just agree that this is a topic that rises passions on both sides. I have not read one post that indicates that the writer does not care about the issues. There are just different perspectives and different ideas toward a better tomorrow. And along the way of explaining our differences, I think we should allow a bit of heat to boil off.
I was thinking about the Ferguson and New York incident and all the riots, looting and protests. I was wondering how much the growth in racial hypersensitivity and political correctness speech codes have contributed to the problems we see. We are all risk averse to some degree. If we have a problem with our neighbor of a different race, but we cannot have a frank and honest discussion for fear of breaking one of the hundreds of political speech code rules or causing some hypersensitive response, and then being labeled a racists by the relentless race-focused social justice crusaders, then we will just stop talking to that neighbor and likely we will move away from that neighbor.
I think this is true across the board. If we go so far to protect certain groups we consider victims then they might become isolated because other groups don’t accept the risk of damage from making some mistake in the large and growing rule book of protection. I have seen this in the workplace. The hypersensitive employee complaining to management about what should be normal human encounters… and then noting that the hypersensitive employee becomes quite lonely at work as other employees seek to mitigate risk of being a subject of a complaint. It seems we would be much better off fighting hypersensitivity while we also demand civility and empathy. Teaching coping skills. Teaching that “diversity” should not just be about race, gender, sexual preference etc… but a deeper consideration that humans are all different and their differences should be accepted.
Sisterhood wrote:
> Don’t the readers realize he is just baiting them
It is scary that someone is so far left that she thinks that posts from a right leaning moderate can’t be real views and are just posted to “bait” others…
re: Frankly’s 9:22 post
Well said Frankly! I especially like your last couple of sentences.
Sisterhood, could you consider that one of the reasons that racial relations have not improved markedly (some would say they have gotton worse lately) might be that the dominant storyline pushed by academia and the mainstream media (and also reflected in Vanguard articles like this one) might not be entirely accurate or helpful? Perhaps by examining the dominant line of public discourse on the subject of racism, we can improve it; any legitimate stance on a controversial subject can withstand challenges (at least in the long run).
Sisterhood: I would suggest giving it a bit longer. You’ve offered some valuable comments on several articles, so it would be a shame for you to leave because of this. All such online discussion tools have this same issue–how to deal with users who just want to bait others. It’s a nuisance sometimes, but you can focus on the more substantive comments.
Plus, it gets tiresome to see the same half dozen or so people always talking amongst themselves and not very often engaging with less frequent commenters or newbies, so having your comments and those of others who have recently joined is a nice change.
Source, podcast, Is This Working? or transcript
Evidence that this starts at a very early stage, at an age when it is questionable if they fully know the difference between right and wrong.
wdf1 wrote:
> Evidence that this starts at a very early stage, at an age when it is questionable
> if they fully know the difference between right and wrong.
Does this mean that you think black children learn the “difference between right and wrong” at a later age than white and asian kids?
SoD: Does this mean that you think black children learn the “difference between right and wrong” at a later age than white and asian kids?
No. If you listen to the podcast (or read the transcript), you will hear a brief interview with a four-year old black child who doesn’t understand why he was suspended. He doesn’t even quite know what “suspended” means. Having raised four year olds who were not African-American, I doubt my kids would have understood that punishment at that age either. I question why these percentages of suspensions happen in pre-school the way they do.
wdf1 wrote:
> I doubt my kids would have understood that punishment at that age either.
Some kids are just better at following rules. Most of my friends have all white kids yet most of them have a single kid that gets in trouble/breaks the rules more than the others.
My parents have some good friends that worked real hard and did real well financially, but couldn’t have kids of their own. They ended up adopting one infant from Korea and one infant from Columbia. One of their boys was a national merit scholar who was bad at sports while the other struggled in school but was the superstar of every soccer team he was on.
“They ended up adopting one infant from Korea and one infant from Columbia. One of their boys was a national merit scholar who was bad at sports while the other struggled in school but was the superstar of every soccer team he was on.”
God, I just have to ask what everyone is wondering . . .
Columbia: An Ivy League university in NYC, NY.
Colombia: A South American country which gave the world Sofia Vergara and her lovely assets.
Colorado: A baseball team which usually finishes in last place in the NL West.
Columbia: A city in MO where I was born.
My wife is a preschool administrator and teacher. They never suspend kids but they will kick kids out of school if they are hurting other kids. That usually won’t happen until after many warnings and meetings with the parents. If the kids don’t shape up they have no choice because the other parents won’t put up with their children coming home hurt.
David’s Headline:
“Local Data Shows Same Racial Gap on Suspensions, Calls for Reform”
My Headline:
“Local Data Shows Blacks and Hispanics still getting in trouble more than Whites and Asians, Calls to Suspend more Whites and Asians for Minor Offences so the School District does not appear Racist”
Yeah… based on the article and headline you can actually draw that conclusion. It is the egalitarian social justice tendency to seek easy emotional comfort by dragging down everyone else instead of undertaking the more difficult challenge to actually lift up the downtrodden. Misery loves company. Envy is a call for empathy instead of scorn. Victim of this, victim of that… your momma’s too thin and your daddy’s too fat.
People are more equal in Cuba except for the politicos who live high on the hog even though they produce nothing of value other than oppression that keeps everyone else equal. Last I checked there are very few Asians living in Cuba.
wdf1:
> the issues are connected to poverty, lower educational levels
> among parents, and social isolation of families because the
> don’t speak fluent English.
If suspensions are “connected” to “lower educational levels among parents, and social isolation of families because the don’t speak fluent English” any idea why Asians in the United States with “lower educational levels among parents, and social isolation of families because the don’t speak fluent English” don’t have the same issues?
SoD: any idea why Asians in the United States with “lower educational levels among parents, and social isolation of families because the don’t speak fluent English” don’t have the same issues?
Why did you leave out poverty? You don’t think poverty would be a factor?
I think across the board, regardless of race, suspensions in secondary grades are heavily influenced by enivornmental factors of families being in poverty, having lower educational levels, and if they don’t speak fluent English, that’s an additional barrier. In Davis it so happens that there are more Latino than Asian families that fall into this situation.
So you are making the case that the root cause of these negative over-representation stats in education suspensions are due to poverty?
What are the root causes of poverty?
According to Wikipedia, these are the root causes of poverty:
War
Genocide
Slavery
Imperialism
Colonialism
Disease
Declining union influence
Economic structures
Lack of education
Parents leaving the family
Divorce
Teenage pregnancy
Domestic abuse
Employment abuse
Immigrant status
Minority status
Physical and mental illness and disability
Loss of job
Low wage rates
High medical bills
Fraud
Theft
Disasters
Fires
Flood
Poverty Imperative
Lack of or inability to afford adequate health insurance
Lack of awareness of government policy
Industrial change
Apathy
Greed
Overpopulation
Inequality
Dictatorships
Racism
Globalization
Social Factors
High taxation
High growth rate of population
Lack of job opportunities in secondary sector
Lack of land resources
Lack of industrialization
Over dependence on agriculture
Inflationary pressure
Unemployment
Drug abuse
Income inequalities
Accidents
Stolen money
Natural disasters
Vulnerability
Government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_poverty
Frankly: So you are making the case that the root cause of these negative over-representation stats in education suspensions are due to poverty?
For “achievement gap” students who are Latino in Davis, yes.
Frankly: What are the root causes of poverty?
For “achievement gap” students who are Latino in Davis, those causes are generally, from Don’s list, some combination of
Economic structures
Lack of education (which also relates to limited English ability)
Immigrant status
Low wage rates
Lack of awareness of government policy
Social Factors
Don, why did wikipedia leave off these more important factors in causing poverty?
Communism
Socialism
Military juntas
Anarchy
Lawlessness
Corruption
On the flip side, we know for a fact that democracy and capitalism have led to prosperity the world over.
You’re welcome to edit it. I assume you know how Wikipedia works.
TBD: Don, why did wikipedia leave off these more important factors in causing poverty?
Socialism
How does Socialism cause poverty? European socialist countries seem to have lower rates of poverty than the U.S.
wdf1, how has socialism fared in Cuba, North Korea, or elsewhere? Not too well. India also abandoned it after trying it for many decades, and when they changed to a capitalist system, their lot in life improved dramatically. I’m no expert in the area, but please, educate me. Singapore, Hong Kong, their economy screams.
Yes, places like Sweden and Germany have a much bigger social contract, but they are not a pure socialist system, just as we aren’t a pure capitalist system.
You ask how it causes poverty? There is a lack of motivation, when you can work 30 hours at a slow pace, and make as much as the person working 50 hours diligently. It’s called the “race to the bottom”. There are also poor or no market feedback mechanisms as no one is pursuing profit. East Germany is a perfect example. After the wall came down people realized that they were 30 or 40 years behind West Germany. No motivation, no profits, no reason to innovate or become more efficient. Even the USSR failed, and still struggles to this day for various reasons.
Those are Stalinist Communist Party dictatorships. Not socialism.
wdf1 wrote:
> Why did you leave out poverty?
Sorry I just didn’t cut and paste your entire post. Even when you just look at Asian kids in poverty they are not getting in trouble much.
My cousin teaches in SF where there are a lot of Chinese kids living in poverty (many are exploited by relatives who bring them here and make them work more than 8 hours every day after school), yet even the Chinese kids living in POVERTY who come from Chinese poor uneducated peasant families, who are isolated washing dishes after school every day and don’t speak fluent English are rarely a discipline problem (unless you count falling asleep in class more than other kids a big problem)…
If your story is true, your cousin has legal and moral obligations to report the plight of those exploited children to the appropriate law enforcement and protective agencies.
;>)/
In Davis, Asian-American families generally have higher levels of education and income.
Biddlin,
there are many Chinese immigrants who live in SF who never learn enough English, even after 20 or more year,s who get their US citizenship. I don’t know who filled out the forms for them, because when I interviewed them, they knew no English. I don’t know who would deny their kids and grandkids a shot at a better life.
I grew up on a farm, and if these laws had reported ME working as a child, my family would not have eaten. I also worked construction as soon as I could talk my dad into taking me along, crawling steel at 12 years old.
Just another view… Exploitation? Maybe in a restaurant, hardware store, each case a little different.
These are all root causes of poverty that explains more Davis black and Hispanic kids being expelled, of just the root causes of all global and historical poverty?
So let’s assume that this is accurate and that poverty IS the primary root cause of greater suspension of blacks and Hispanics.
How do we fix it?
Let me start with some hypothetical ideas.
– Seal the border and deport all illegal immigrants.
– Implement a robust foreign guest worker program for farm labor.
– Implement trade apprentice and trade boot camp programs.
– Stop and reverse all the extreme environmental regulation and other regulation that stifles economic development and growth.
– Implement tax reductions to spur economic development. Offer business tax credits for the number of American jobs the company develops and retains.
– Increase economic development policy and public-side investment to start and grow business is undeserved markets.
– Completely reform the public education system so that it better engages students and prepares them for the workforce.
– Implement public-side investment in private community moral institutions that promote traditional strong family values (Note, that these should not include any material gender, racial, ethnic or gay bias.)
Former esteemed Democratic Senator Barbara Jordan of Texas was for halting immigration for five years to allow poor African Americans a chance to catch up and move up within our economic system.
Frankly: …deport all illegal immigrants.
This is how you would suggest resolving the issue of higher rates of suspensions among Latino students in the Davis schools?