By: Ignacio Pullum

Ignacio Pullum — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:21:21 +0000

This is nothing new. People fear what they do not understand. Black boys are more likely to be on the recieving end of corporal punishment, more likely to be placed in remedial classes, Learning Disability (LD), more likely to repeat a grade etc. Now if a white boy, girl, or even a black girl were to demonstrate the same behavior, they will be placed in “time out”. But if a black boy looses his cool, well black men are innately violent and need to be addressed and treated as such. What happens is that the schools end up making black boys into the very same thing that they think that they are keeping them from. Treat them like beasts, well that’s what they will become, to the backbeat and soundtrack of thug rap.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:18:01 +0000

This is a very important article, in my opinion. A portion of the point of this blog goes back to this situation. The situation may not be as bad in places other than Chicago or other big city schools. But it is a problem in many places. Boys as a whole, regardless of race, get suspended and expelled more than girls. In addition, the teaching staff is mostly female. I think the key is what the article says about the position of the district administration versus the position of individual building principals and teachers. It is not conceivable that the rank and file staff could have the same concern about overall suspension and expulsion rates as the district administration. I wonder if there is any way for district administration to “order” the rank and file to “care” and lower the rate of suspension and expulsion. This was shown by the fact that the program that was supposed to get started still hadn’t begun by the end of the school year. This type of article brings me back to what I think is one of the key themes: How bad does it have to get before the majority of people agree there is a problem that MUST be dealt with? For instance, look at the chart at the top of the blog. It says that 82% of females definitely or probably plan to graduate from college as compared to 76% of males. With only a 6% differential, by and large people don’t care. If the diffential were 75%, you can bet that everyone would care. What about at 25%? Or 15%? Would the majority care at those differentials? Will it ever get to that point? The evidence seems clear. An alternative to punitive suspensions and detentions needs to be found if there is any hope of having these minority boys successfully graduate.

Comments on: Black boys in Chicago schools: not a great story

By: Ignacio Pullum

By: Anonymous