Scapegoat

The Star Tribune printed an article on black vs. white suspension rates. In Minnesota, black students are being suspended at six times the rate of white kids. Is the problem cultural? Let's look at the article:

Keenan Hooper likes to joke around and admits he has a motormouth. He also admits to getting into trouble again and again with teachers weary of his antics. School officials have sent him home more times than Keenan or his mom can count.

"Teachers need order in the classroom, I agree," Keisha Hooper said. "I think where we part ways is that they seem to lose patience with the black kids more than they do the white."

Poor Keenan. Let's read it another way: the other kids in class cannot learn because Keenan is a motormouth and his antics interfere with the teacher trying to help students learn the material. Ms. Keenan thinks that the white kids in class that act as bad as her son get off easy. My guess is that Keenan couldn't name another student in his class that acts as poorly as he does.

How's this one, courtesy of "school officials" - i.e. those that don't work with these children on a daily basis.

But any effort to study why black children are suspended more than whites should include looking at how well a mostly white teaching corps connects with an increasing number of black students, school officials say.

Ah, the teachers don't understand black kids. Okay, maybe I'm not part of that culture, but don't I know how all students should act in a classroom?

Here is the one that takes the cake for me:

"Teachers have to develop more tolerance. And the only way they can get that is through teacher training," said Roger Banks, a research analyst for the Council on Black Minnesotans. "Discipline is a teaching moment. This is where your abilities as a teacher come into play."

The truth is, teachers have become too tolerant. If we were to make rules that everyone could live with, once broken we'd offer second and third chances. Only then would we send kids down to the office. The administrators notice that this is the first time that they've been sent down, so they get a warning. Only on the twenty-seventh occurrence of the behavior would a student be suspended. Isn't this the way it always is? My ability as a teacher is to teach mathematics. One student can ruin that for the other 34 because of that one student's ability to destroy a classroom. What Mr. Banks doesn't see are the eye rolls the disruptive ones constantly get from those willing to learn but unwilling to speak up.

Here's one case:

Cashon Richard, 15, was suspended a few times in middle school. "But it got real crazy this year," said the Washburn High School ninth-grader.

This year, Cashon -- who says he's a gang member -- has been sent home several times for fighting. But he's also been suspended for being three minutes late to class, for going to the bathroom without a pass and for sleeping at his desk. In all, he guesses, he has been suspended 15 times this school year.

Said Cashon: "I think the teachers just don't like me."

If readers think that Cashon was suspended for only sleeping at his desk or for only being three minutes late to class, they are way off the mark. If my decade and a half of teaching these students means anything, Cashon cares very little about getting an education (in Minneapolis, the average cost per student is $17,900 - I'm sure his "share" is much higher), and has been in trouble many more times than 15. Too bad that the writer can get Cashon's take on the suspensions, but the school system cannot talk about Cashon due to privacy issues. Could you imagine what his teachers would say if there was no fear from reprisal?

Here's another gem:

The 14-year-old at North View Junior High in the Osseo schools has been suspended twice for turning up her volume. "I think some teachers don't like me because I'm kind of loud," she said.

There is one teacher -- Denise Rupert -- who Brandi says is firm, funny and patient, "as long as you don't disrespect her."

Brandi's mom, Sheila Stamper, said: "That's really what the kids are looking for, to be heard."

A postscript: Brandi was suspended again Thursday and Friday for getting into an altercation with a girl who knocked her books out of her arms. Sheila Stamper learned about the suspension through a phone message.

It seems that Brandi was heard loud and clearly by the other girl. I guess this is progress.

I have no problem with the data...if black kids are suspended more times than white students, we need to know and discuss why. You can't hide from the data. But if the article suggests that white teachers just need to get to know black students better and everything will be fine, then they have better back that up with more data. Otherwise, I'll have to assume that white teachers don't like white boys as much as Asian girls.