Rampant racism at Montgomery Blair High School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, I am being very unclear in my posts today! What I meant was that my kid works on the newspaper and they all do courageous reporting -- looking at controversial topics and not shying away from them because they might embarrass MCPS, etc. My kid has not been the subject of discrimination.

I do think one of the reaons Blair is so great is how balanced it is in terms of diversity.

There's nothing special about Blair w/o the magnet program.

OMG here you go again. Just go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, I am being very unclear in my posts today! What I meant was that my kid works on the newspaper and they all do courageous reporting -- looking at controversial topics and not shying away from them because they might embarrass MCPS, etc. My kid has not been the subject of discrimination.

I do think one of the reaons Blair is so great is how balanced it is in terms of diversity.

There's nothing special about Blair w/o the magnet program.

OMG here you go again. Just go away.

Do you disagree?

[Anonymous]

Are there any black racist teachers?

[Anonymous]

^ I am sure there are. Racism runs both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, I am being very unclear in my posts today! What I meant was that my kid works on the newspaper and they all do courageous reporting -- looking at controversial topics and not shying away from them because they might embarrass MCPS, etc. My kid has not been the subject of discrimination.

I do think one of the reaons Blair is so great is how balanced it is in terms of diversity.

There's nothing special about Blair w/o the magnet program.

OMG here you go again. Just go away.

Do you disagree?

I'm the one who wrote that. I disagree with the poster who says there's nothing special about Blair except the magnets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ I am sure there are. Racism runs both ways.

No, racism doesn't run both ways.

However, anybody can be a racist (for example, expect lower performance from black kids because they are black kids, or assume better behavior from white kids because they are white kids), and anybody can be a bigot about anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recent stories in the school newspaper:

http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/12902
It took Dahal a relatively short time to notice a pattern with the class. He soon realized that he, among other non-white students in the class, was often ignored when he requested personal help or asked a question. "Of course teachers have favorites and tend to prefer those favorites," he says, "but the teacher in question had favorites based on the student's race."
And the bias wasn't just evident in providing assistance to students. Non-white kids who disturbed the classroom were often treated harshly and belligerently, while white students who created a disturbance were treated to a mild scolding or laugh. It happened so consistently that after a while, it began to have a significant effect on Dahal's education.
Blair principal Renay Johnson considers racial profiling to be a relatively small issue at Blair. "What most people don’t realize," she says, "is that we have 908 Hispanic students, 780 African-Americans, 647 whites and 544 Asians. It’s hard to profile when the minority are the majority."

http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/12972
These are familiar sentiments to black and Latin@ students in Blair's magnet programs—phrases sometimes spoken aloud, sometimes just implied. Phrases that they internalize. Phrases that make them feel that they aren't fit for Magnet Calculus or AP English. Phrases that nag at the backs of their minds, and tell them that they aren't good enough.

Unfortunately, this is factual about a lot of schools.

Proof?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2678799/

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.pdf

+1. Kudos to Blair students for writing about it. MCPS will never be able to close the equity gap without addressing this, but it will never be able to do so because it requires LOTS of teachers to acknowledge their own racism and change their own behavior. There has been some discussion at the national level about inequitable discipline outcomes, but the inequities run so much deeper than that.

Sadly, our DD (white) complains about similar treatment she sees of her non-white peers at her MS and HS (not Blair). She jokes, with a mordant sense of humor, that she is privileged to have the "white girl's hall pass," which means she can walk around school or be late without getting in trouble. There is one minority student that is maybe 3 seconds late to her class because he is standing in the hallway when the bell rings. He walks 10 feet to the classroom, and the teacher calls him late and demands that he go back to his prior class to get a "pass" from the previous period's teacher. Of course, since he wasn't late due to the previous teacher, what this really means is that this non-white child just wanders the hallways for awhile and forges a note so that he can get back in class. Tons of his educational time has been wasted by this teacher. Other white students are treated differently.

DD also sees plenty of racism in terms of low expectations by race.

More studies .... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/27/black-students-punished_n_7449538.html -- "Teachers of All Races Are More Likely To Punish Black Students"

Interestingly it says the Stanford researchers are working with local middle school teachers to change their view of students from labels like "troublemaker" to students who are "people who can grow", and that the teachers also need to think of themselves without labels (like racist) but also as "capable of growth"

While I fully believe that there is serious implicit racism in schools that hinders black/white educational equity and outcomes, maybe it's not so helpful to label it as racist (even though I think it is).

[Anonymous]

While I fully believe that there is serious implicit racism in schools that hinders black/white educational equity and outcomes, maybe it's not so helpful to label it as racist (even though I think it is).

This is a good point. Racism is a complex issue. Full blown racism is believing that a particular race is genetically inferior and always will be inferior. They believe that race causes the inferiority. Most people do not describe to this belief.

Racial bias is different. Many people act on bias whether they admit it or not. Bias is a normal human behavior. We go through life making predictions and acting on assumptions subconsciously all the time. Why do you stumble when the ground is uneven? Why didn't you look? You predicted where to put your foot based on your experiences with your previous steps. Have you known someone with a dog that has a strong reaction to a particular type of person? For some dogs, if a woman wearing a hat is mean to them then they will become suspicious of all women wearing hats. Humans have higher order thinking to know that hat wearing doesn't cause meanness but if a person has multiple experience with women wearing hats being mean to them then they'll be suspicious too.

School systems that have a demographic where the AA kids are low SES/lower performing and white kids are high SES/higher performing create all these experiences for teachers where they see one type of student demonstrating one type of behaviors and one type demonstrating another. This create racial bias and makes the situation worse as the teacher's reaction makes it even harder for the low SES/lower performing students to do better. One of the things that I've noticed is that the teachers in private school seem to much less likely to demonstrate racial bias. They are used to seeing AA students demonstrate the same behaviors and performance as their white peers because the SES and educational background is similar.

Calling a teacher a racist for demonstrating racial bias, while technically accurate, doesn't fix the situation. The teacher knows that she isn't a full blown racist but stays unaware of her bias actions. The solution lies in having open dialogue about bias, developing self awareness and better management within the schools.

[Anonymous]

I had to deal with an elementary school principal that assumed my child's IQ was 60 points lower than my DC score actually was when tested. Why? I am a single parent, so she assumed my child could not be smart and must be a "bad" kid. Similarly, I can only imagine what it must be like for AA children in school. And I know that this specific test is a joke because it is gives the teacher too much descrection in determine the score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ I am sure there are. Racism runs both ways.

No, racism doesn't run both ways.

That right there is a racist statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ I am sure there are. Racism runs both ways.

No, racism doesn't run both ways.

That right there is a racist statement.

It is? How? It's merely saying that there is no such thing as "reverse racism".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ I am sure there are. Racism runs both ways.

No, racism doesn't run both ways.

That right there is a racist statement.

No, no, no. Do some research and educate yourself.

Racism is a power dynamic. If you are in the group without the power, you can't, by definition, by racist about the group in power. You can be a bigot or prejudiced, but not racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ I am sure there are. Racism runs both ways.

No, racism doesn't run both ways.

That right there is a racist statement.

No, no, no. Do some research and educate yourself.

Racism is a power dynamic. If you are in the group without the power, you can't, by definition, by racist about the group in power. You can be a bigot or prejudiced, but not racist.

Exactly what definition are you referring to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry, I am being very unclear in my posts today! What I meant was that my kid works on the newspaper and they all do courageous reporting -- looking at controversial topics and not shying away from them because they might embarrass MCPS, etc. My kid has not been the subject of discrimination.

I do think one of the reaons Blair is so great is how balanced it is in terms of diversity.

There's nothing special about Blair w/o the magnet program.

+1,000,000

The magnet program grants special privileges to the privileged class and exists because the privileged parents want it to continue existing. The magnet must and will be shut down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

While I fully believe that there is serious implicit racism in schools that hinders black/white educational equity and outcomes, maybe it's not so helpful to label it as racist (even though I think it is).

This is a good point. Racism is a complex issue. Full blown racism is believing that a particular race is genetically inferior and always will be inferior. They believe that race causes the inferiority. Most people do not describe to this belief.

Racial bias is different. Many people act on bias whether they admit it or not. Bias is a normal human behavior. We go through life making predictions and acting on assumptions subconsciously all the time. Why do you stumble when the ground is uneven? Why didn't you look? You predicted where to put your foot based on your experiences with your previous steps. Have you known someone with a dog that has a strong reaction to a particular type of person? For some dogs, if a woman wearing a hat is mean to them then they will become suspicious of all women wearing hats. Humans have higher order thinking to know that hat wearing doesn't cause meanness but if a person has multiple experience with women wearing hats being mean to them then they'll be suspicious too.

School systems that have a demographic where the AA kids are low SES/lower performing and white kids are high SES/higher performing create all these experiences for teachers where they see one type of student demonstrating one type of behaviors and one type demonstrating another. This create racial bias and makes the situation worse as the teacher's reaction makes it even harder for the low SES/lower performing students to do better. One of the things that I've noticed is that the teachers in private school seem to much less likely to demonstrate racial bias. They are used to seeing AA students demonstrate the same behaviors and performance as their white peers because the SES and educational background is similar.

Calling a teacher a racist for demonstrating racial bias, while technically accurate, doesn't fix the situation. The teacher knows that she isn't a full blown racist but stays unaware of her bias actions. The solution lies in having open dialogue about bias, developing self awareness and better management within the schools.

In the original article that OP posted, what do you think was the reason for the bias? The kid who was being discriminated against was Indian American. Why were the teachers biased towards him? Was it racial bias , which according to you is totally "normal" or racial suppression? You know one leads to the other, right?