As you scroll on down
this blog, you will come to a bevy of articles that I am posting for a
multiplicity of reasons. The overarching
reason concerns the low-grade quality of most of what gets published in the Star Tribune pertinent to K-12
education.
Star Tribune editorialists and staff members themselves have very little
knowledge of K-12 education and are largely ignorant of the inner workings of a
local school district such as the Minneapolis Public Schools.
Those who write
opinion pieces and secure publication in the Star Tribune focus on particularistic concerns of the moment but
rarely discuss the most fundamental factors abiding in the education
establishment that impedes movement toward K-12 excellence.
Because of the lack
of knowledge betrayed by both Star
Tribune staffers and most of the opinion writers whom the editorial board
opts to publish, readers must ever be attentive to subtext and the underlying
issues. This blog provides the
information that readers need to be properly informed about K-12 education generally
and the locally centralized school district represented saliently by the Minneapolis Public Schools specifically.
As you scroll down the
blog, you will see two opinion pieces written in response to ideas emanating from the Center of the American Experiment, the latter including those expressed by Katherine Kersten in an article published on the opinion pages of the Star
Tribune on Sunday, 18 March. Before I post my own response and
interpretation of the Kersten article, please read these responses and evaluate
the arguments of the writers against those of Kersten and the Center of the
American Experiment with which she is associated.
Second of the two
responses was written
by Julia Hill and Dana Bennis, as follows >>>>>
by Julia Hill and Dana Bennis, as follows >>>>>
Julia Hill and Dana
Bennis, “Let’s Discuss Race Issues in Schools--- Calmly:
Katherine Kersten’s recent commentary on school discipline brought the
fear, Not the facts. It won’t work--- people know better.” (Star
Tribune, Opinion Exchange, 20 March 2018)
Katherine Kersten’s
contemptible March 18 commentary “Undisciplined” was yet another attempt to
create fear of people of color in order to further dangerous and racist
policies--- in this case a fear of
students of color in order to instill even harsher school discipline policies.
Yet Minnesotans can
see through her scare tactics, her misleading claims and her cherry-picking of
data.
Kersten begins by
making up a false argument: that those
working to reduce racial disparities in
school suspensions believe that racist teachers are to blame. In her mind, there has to be someone to
blame, so rather than teachers she blames the students of color themselves,
allegedly proving her case by selecting a few incidents.
This is the typical
dog whistle meant to portray people of color as either lazy or violent. The truth is there is no one person or group
to blame. Disparities in school
suspensions exist for the same reasons we have mass incarceration of people of
color: an incredible wealth gap between
white people and people of color, disparities in rates of homeownership and
much more--- the pervasive,
centuries-long history of institutionalized and systematic white supremacy and
racism.
This is not the time
for a blame game. This is a societal
reality whose existence and solution involves every one of us.
Kersten then brings
out the tired statistics about out-of-wedlock births and the myth that fathers
of color are not involved in their kids’ lives.
In fact, a 2013 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
found that black fathers are actually more involved in playing with, reading,
and feeding their children than are white fathers, whether or not they live
with their children.
What’s most important
to know here is what Kersten conveniently left out: that schools and districts around the country
are implementing policies to reduce racial disparities in suspensions using
research-based practices such as restorative justice and circle processes that
are tremendously effective. They provide
young people and educators with the chance to see one another as humans, to
look at the reasons behind the actions, and to seek out solutions that result
not only in reduced violence but also greater understanding of how to sustain
strong communities of support and trust.
Furthermore, in the
St. Paul Public Schools in particular, where 82 percent of the teaching staff
is white while 79 percent of students are children of color, the district and
the St. Paul Federation of Teachers are trying to take on the real work of
supporting teachers to own and understand the role that white privilege and
institutionalized racism play in the struggles we face in public education.
Scare tactics and dog
whistles won’t work any longer. People
are wising up and rising up.
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