EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION/ANALYSIS: It makes them more vulnerable to ‘poor psychological outcomes’ … but what’s the solution?
A recent study by a pair of Rutgers University social work professors purports to show a “link between depression [and the] perception of school climate among Black boys.”
As reported by The Daily Targum, Professors Adrian Gale and Lenna Nepomnyaschy found that black males from lower SES (socioeconomic status) backgrounds “perceive a less positive school climate than their peers from other racial backgrounds, resulting in increased vulnerability to poor psychological outcomes.”
Unfortunately, as is often the case with such research, when pinned down for specific remedies the response is akin to Jeff Goldblum’s from “The Fly”: I dunno.
If there are nitty gritty solutions in this study, you’ll have to pony up $18 to read ’em. All the study’s abstract, “impact statement,” and corresponding Targum article offer are a lot of academese and, as Gale noted, stuff like a schools’ “structural issues” and/or “lack of funding.”
At the risk of sounding like a self-promoting academic at The Conversation, as a long-time public school teacher in a former federally mandated desegregated district, I saw and experienced many efforts at improving school climate and allegedly unfair discipline policies (which are directly related to climate) for low-SES students/minority students.
Needless to say, there are endless contradictions to it all. For example, is it really “unfair” that black males are suspended from school at higher rates than other groups when such mirrors the overall crime statistics of the demographic? (Or to put it another way, why would the nation’s school teachers, one of the most progressive groups in the country, act “racist” by punitively disciplining that group?)
As with efforts to curb racial disproportionality in the justice system (no cash bail, less severe sentences, early release, etc.), alternatives to school suspensions end up harming the (much) greater whole. Chronically disruptive kids easily catch on to laughable discipline alternatives, and act out even more in class.
The Manhattan Institute’s Rob Henderson recently noted schools began implementing so-called “restorative justice” practices because chronically misbehaving students were now considered “kids in pain” whose disruptions were just “cries for help.” Activities such as “talking circles” ended up replacing detentions and suspensions. These involve the victim and offender getting together with a teacher, counselor, and perhaps an administrator to discuss a disciplinary incident.
Imagine being a kid who’s been mercilessly bullied by another. After numerous complaints to teachers and admins by yourself and your parents, instead of suspending the culprit school officials organize a talking circle.
How would you feel being forced to “chat” about your experiences of being bullied with your bully present — and all the while the bully has a snide smirk on his face because he knows the whole activity is bullshit … and that he’ll face no real consequences for his behavior.
Remedies such as more black teachers and/or schools and special programs for black students (Gale alludes to “the importance of considering both sex and socioeconomic context in efforts to enhance the well-being of Black adolescents”) are legitimate considerations, but in the public arena run the risk of violating civil rights laws.
We already know that merely throwing a ton of money at a (public) school to offer virtually anything desired has proven a failure, at least in terms of improved academic performance.
So given the failures, what should be done? For one, consider the recent report showing states (mainly red) that utilize of evidence-based teaching, ditch ideological nonsense, and make school safety a priority do better academically and have better school atmospheres. Doing these things, of course, helps sustain traditional public school enrollment.
On the other hand, states that don’t do these things (mainly blue) will continue to bleed students to charters, private/parochial schools, and homeschooling as parents and guardians (of all races, but especially black, given Gale’s research) get fed up.
Consider, too, the effect this contrast has on teachers. Logic dictates that schools which use evidence-based teaching, ditch ideological nonsense, and make school safety a priority will have more success recruiting teachers than those which don’t.
I live in a deep blue state; it is crying out for good teachers — teachers who certainly could help its over-15 percent black male student population.
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