Posted by
Andrews on Sunday, May 11, 2008 12:55:07 PM
My wife sent me an
interesting article about a local school board which is trying to train staff to reduce the number of suspensions of black students*. Apparently black students have been suspended at a rate far exceeding that of other students, and the school system is blaming this on a lack of cultural understanding. As the article puts it:
Teachers and administrators may misinterpret the body language and
occasional confrontational behavior that some African-Americans learn
in their neighborhoods and use at school as a way of standing up for
themselves, veteran educators say. They will often back down if they're
made to feel safe.
"Being rude means one thing to you and another to me," said Ella White
Campbell, a retired city school teacher and an education advocate in
Baltimore County.
All of which sounds very nice and high-minded, but in reality ill-serves the students.
These students may learn their behavior in their neighborhoods, but that does not mean it is correct. Unless we plan to confine blacks to ghettos, they need to be able to interact with the larger culture. And if their behavior is seen as rude, aggressive or violent by the larger culture, then it will cause them problems in the future.
As school is supposed to be preparation of life, shouldn't we be teaching the students how to interact with people in
our common culture rather than forgiving them bad behavior because it is accepted in their
insular community? And isn't it patronizing to hold other groups to the standards of society at large but forgive black students? Doesn't that say that we think they are incapable of learning our rules?
Once again, the multicultural attitude is not only
patronizing, but harms those it claims to help.
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* For those who are offended by my use of "black" rather than the nom du jour "African-American", see
my earlier comment on this topic.