Insanity: Doing the Same Thing and Expecting a Different Result In America’s Schools by Andii Layton

America’s Racism Problem

Outside of the home, school is considered the external institution that provides knowledge on how students should navigate society to live up to their fullest potential. Ultimately, school is supposed to be where students are nourished with the fundamentals necessary to be healthy, happy, and prosperous, but unfortunately, this is not the case for all.

The Civil Rights Data Collection (CDRC) provides extensive data on the state of educational inequities. According to the “First Look” report, students of color face different treatment than their white peers in schools nationwide. For example, Black preschool children are 3.6 times more to be suspended than their white counterparts. “Only a third of high schools with high numbers of Black and Latino enrollment offer AP courses, or calculus, compared to 56% of those that serve low-numbers of Black and Latino students.” (U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, 2016, p. 9). These data show that there are significant discrepancies between students of color and white students. Sadly, these patterns are the norm in urban enclaves across the United States. For example, “in Chicago where Black students made up 40% of the public-school population in 2013, they made up 88% of the students whose schools were closed. However, 87.5% of those students were sent to schools that were not significantly higher-performing and to teachers unprepared and unsupported for the influx of new students into their schools (Cohen, 2016).

Although we live in a diverse world many elementary, and secondary teachers are white, female, and come from segregated middle-class communities. As Goldring et al. (2014) explain, “women make up 76% of the total teaching force, and 82% of the teaching force is white.” (as cited in Affolter, 2019, p. 12). In these schools, where many students of color attend, many experience racism, discrimination, and oppression in almost every arena including higher suspension and expulsion rates than their white peers, less access to advanced level courses that require high order thinking, and Eurocentric curricula that celebrate whiteness while erasing and diminishing the accomplishments of people of color (Affolter, 2019). If educational goals are meant to help all students thrive, we must address the racism problem that lives within our schools.

As bell hooks (2013) argues, “Working to end racism in education is the only meaningful and lasting change that will benefit black students and all students. Significantly anti-racist educational settings not only protect and nurture the self-esteem of all students but also prepare students to live in a diverse world” (p. 80). Being anti-racist must begin with acknowledging what racism is and how it operates in our daily lives, including educational institutions. “Today, the majority of white Americans seem to be in denial about the seriousness of racial prejudices, emotions, and discrimination in their own lives, the lives of their friends and relatives, and the larger society” (Ausdale & Feagin, 2001, p. 29). People should no longer hide behind the veil of ignorance when it comes to recognizing the effects of racism in our schools. Racism is not an illusion or a game of make-believe. Schools in the United States have a racism problem, and perhaps anti-racist teaching can be a solution.

Anti-racist Education and Addressing Racism in Schools

Educators who are committed to breaking down the steel wall that blocks students of color from the opportunity to compete and thrive in a global society understand the sense of urgency of anti-racist pedagogy and practice. Kailin (2002) suggests that “the assumption underlying anti-racist pedagogy for teachers is that they must confront racism in their backgrounds and their backyards to become conscious of how it is expressed in their teaching practice and their interaction with students of color, as well as white students.” (p. 18).

Examples of anti-racist education can include:

• “Anti-racist education specifically and actively challenges racism in education by examining racist school structures and policies and problematizing whiteness.” (Sleeter & Bernal Delgado, 2005, cited in Affolter, 2019, p. 32).
• “Anti-racist education centers diverse forms of knowledge and experiences and utilizes that knowledge to disrupt and challenge racial inequity (Pollack, 2008, as cited in Affolter, 2019, p. 32).
• Anti-racist teaching requires consistent, objective self-reflection and learning. This work is not a symposium or a professional development workshop. Anti-racist work is a lifestyle.

Specifically, it is not enough to acknowledge inequities surrounding race and racism, and leaders must model practices focused on the purposeful addressing of social, political, and educational oppression. Addressing racism in schools will benefit students of color and provide equal educational opportunities for this nation. By maintaining inequitable learning opportunities, the United States cannot reach its fullest potential, specifically when compared to other wealthy nations. As cited in Joseph et al. (2016), “if the educational opportunities available to White students in our public schools were made available to all our students, the United States would have been the 7th highest scoring nation in mathematics, the second-highest scoring nation in reading, and the 4th highest scoring nation in science. Schooling for millions of US White children is working quite well. On the other hand, were our minority students “nations,’ they would score almost last among the industrialized countries of the world.” (Berliner, 2006, p. 963-964).

Altogether, this data illustrate how racism in schools affects students of color. The racism that exists illuminates the historical legacy of racism in this country. America has a race problem from taking ownership of Indigenous people’s land, the enslavement of Black bodies, unfair immigration policies, George Floyd, and countless other forms of oppression and discrimination. Until our nation and schools become deliberate and committed to anti-racist practices, we will continue these problems. As a community, we can commit to being anti-racist leaders charged with making a positive change so all students can be healthy, happy, and prosperous.

About the Scholar

References

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Berliner, D. C. (2005). Our impoverished view of educational reform.

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Diem, S., Carpenter, B. W., & Lewis-Durham, T. (2019). Preparing antiracist school leaders in a school choice context. Urban Education, 54(5), 706-731.

Feagin, J. R., & Van Ausdale, D. (2001). The first R: How children learn race and racism. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Goldring, R., Taie, S., & Riddles, M. (2014). Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the 2012-13 Teacher Follow-Up Survey. First Look. NCES 2014-077. National Center for Education Statistics.

hooks, b. (2013). Remembered rapture: The writer at work. Henry Holt.

Joseph, N. M., Viesca, K. M., & Bianco, M. (2016). Black female adolescents and racism in schools: Experiences in a colorblind society. The High School Journal, 100(1), 4-25.

Kailin, J. (2002). Antiracist education: From theory to practice. Rowman & Littlefield.

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Pollack, W. S., Modzeleski, W., & Rooney, G. (2008). Prior Knowledge of Potential School-Based Violence: Information Students Learn May Prevent a Targeted Attack. US Department of Education.

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. (2016, March). Civil rights data collection data snapshot: School discipline (IssueBrief No. 1). Retrieved from http:/ ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf