Blind Justice: Statistics vs. The Real World
Previous administrations took a pragmatic, reactive response to racial discrimination. The administration would essentially wait until it got a call, then send a team to investigate the merits of the case. They let the victims provide the necessary filter for legitimate cases, and corrected the problem whenever one occurred. Not so in the Obama-nation. Under Obama, any inequity must be caused by racial discrimination. If a school population is 75% White, then White kids better get 75% of the suspensions. If the school population is 13% Black, then Black kids better only get 13% of the school’s suspensions. Otherwise, Holder’s coming after you.
There’s a major problem with this system: in most cases, discrepancies in this raw statistic do not indicate racial discrimination. Kids don’t pay attention to their class’ racial breakdown when they’re breaking school rules. There’s not a “bully quota.” And if—as is often the case—the discrepancy is based on a behavior gap, then “correcting it” results in true racism where punishments are doled out according to the color of a student’s skin.
Here’s a fictional example. The racial breakdown of PC High is equally divided between purple and yellow students. At PC high, fighting is an offense that warrants a suspension. Even though the population is equally divided, 80% of students who fight are purple, and only 20% are yellow. Thus 80% of suspensions for fighting are given to purple students even though they account for only 50% of the population, a 30% discrepancy according to Obama. The school would be investigated for racial discrimination, and could possibly lose federal funding simply because its administrators had the audacity to grant equal punishments for an equal crime.
The school now faces a difficult choice. It can waste valuable resources defending a constant wave of senseless investigations, or it can comply with the Obama policy and make the discrepancy disappear on paper. If PC has ten students involved in fights in an average year, then eight are purple and two are yellow. To make the statistics appear non-biased, the school must either not suspend six of the eight purple students, or find six yellow students to suspend arbitrarily. Most schools would probably see reducing the sentence of six purple students as the lesser evil.
Now purple students are punished for fighting only 25% of the time. Meanwhile 100% of yellow students caught fighting are suspended. In an effort to clean their books and escape the Obama justice probe, the school has gone from a policy of equal enforcement to one where yellow students are punished four times more harshly simply because they’re yellow. Far from eliminating racial discrimination, the Obama policy has given birth to it.
Think PC High could never play out in reality? It already has. When the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona discovered disparities in the suspension and expulsion rates among various ethnic groups, they were quick to act. They dedicated “special attention” “to data regarding African-American and Hispanic students” because those students were being suspended more frequently. When disparities were found, the schools had to take steps to eliminate them. Of course, this doesn’t solve the underlying problem of which groups are committing the offenses. Much like PC High, the Tucson schools now have a two-tiered justice system, and the groups committing the most offenses receive the most lenient treatment.
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Assuming all groups are otherwise equal then a group that makes up 10% of the total population should also make up 10% of the disciplinary cases (with some standard deviation). If a population is over represented in disciplinary cases then that should be investigated to find the underlying cause.
This article is very disingenuous in its assumptions... implying that disciplinary cases that go over the expected number for a given population will be ignored, while populations that are under their expected average will have students disciplined for no reason. Can evidence of this be shown? Or can evidence be shown that a policy designed to eliminate the possibility of unequal treatment towards students actually leads to unfair treatment towards other students.
Long on claims, short on facts!
While I think you have the right of it that root causes should be the purpose of investigations, I think you're missing data that is already widely available.
The argument is not new. The situation is virtually identical to that observed in our prison system where a disporportionate number of inmates are minorities . In fact, it could be argued that reverse racism , where minorities aren't held equally accountable for their actions, contributes to statistics observed in our prisons . If you teach a child it will not be held accountable for misconduct, that child is in for a rude awakening when it finds as an adult it doesn't work that way in real life.
Many of the problems today are related to gangs. For whatever reason, it is inarguable that such gangs are disproportionately made up of minorities.
That hasn't always been the case. Take the romanticized motorcycle gangs of the sixties and seventies. For a time, every feather head with a leather jacket was a wannabe Hell's Angel: a subculture develops where it's good to be bad. As inherently stupid as it would appear to any rational person, the more often your badness is officially recognized by being caught, the higher your status in the subculture. So, not only is misconduct involved, but also a conscientious effort to draw attention to it so that it may be officially recognized.
Perhaps we need new legislation to ensure whites are equally and proportionately represented in such gangs. Eh?
The most grave injustice being done to minorities today is allowing race to be used as a cop out for accountability. Any way you slice it, it still comes down to telling someone they need to be treated differently than everyone else because they aren't good enough to be held to a universal standard. It's hard to imagine anything that would be more degrading than telling someone they are so far below subhuman they should be treated with the kind of pity one would show toward a dog peeing on the rug. Just pat them on the head and say, "Poor doggies don't know any better. After all, they're just dogs .".
That's bigotry carried to a level even the pre Civil War South would find hard to match.
"In fact, it could be argued that reverse racism , where minorities aren't held equally accountable for their actions, contributes to statistics observed in our prisons ."
I am afraid I don't follow you... are you saying that minorities are over-represented in the prison population because they are not being held accountable for their actions? How exactly does that work out?
"Many of the problems today are related to gangs. For whatever reason, it is inarguable that such gangs are disproportionately made up of minorities."
The reason is poverty ... people join gangs because they have no other options, and because in poorer areas the gangs are a significant force.
Poverty and racism are intertwined, each feeding the other.
"The most grave injustice being done to minorities today is allowing race to be used as a cop out for accountability. Any way you slice it, it still comes down to telling someone they need to be treated differently than everyone else because they aren't good enough to be held to a universal standard."
So racism does not play any role in it? Yes people should be held equally accountable... but that works both ways, if those in power are not treating all people as equals then how can we expect the same? Should we not take what steps are necessary to drive such bias from within the wider culture... and look to those in the minority to hold themselves up?
If minorities are over represented then shouldn't we investigate to find out why that is, and ensure that racism doesn't play a part in it?
"It's hard to imagine anything that would be more degrading than telling someone they are so far below subhuman they should be treated with the kind of pity one would show toward a dog peeing on the rug. Just pat them on the head and say, "Poor doggies don't know any better. After all, they're just dogs .". "
Where is that being done?
read what I wrote until you do. I'm quite sure I used language that is readily understandable to any reasonably literate person, and you appear to be reasonably literate.
It's the concepts you're having trouble with. Those concepts are not so complex as to baffle any person of average intelligence who isn't possessed of preconceived notions in conflict with the obvious.
Start with sweeping out the cobwebs. You say, "Poverty and racism are intertwined, each feeding the other.". How do you figure that? I've met plenty of people who are not white who are quite well off. They went to the same schools as those who wound up poor, lived in the same neighborhoods, and quite obviously managed to find enough opportunities to get ahead in life.
If racism were an issue, there would be no one of that sort. If whitey can hold some of them down, whitey ought to be able to hold all of them down. Two minorities sitting next to each other in the same classroom would necessarily be equally oppressed. It would be impossible for one to succeed and the other to fail if racism were the prime cause.
RE: "people join gangs because they have no other options"
You appear to be a bigot of the exact sort I described previously. You view these people as "Poor doggies don't know any better. After all, they're just dogs .".
According to you, they don't have brains, they aren't capable of telling right from wrong , and they aren't capable of making intelligent decisions. They're just poor, stupid dogs that don't know any better.
I don't see it that way. I believe they are 100% bonified members of the human race with the same inate intelligence, imaginations and abilities as any other member of the species. If some individuals choose not to make the best of their natural abilities, they need to be held accountable the same as anyone else. Sooner or later, those individuals will associate bad choices with bad consequences and realize the power to change their lives is in their own hands, and no one else's.
The moment you say we should throw the dog a bone, you're as bad as any klansman. I say they are our equals and deserve the same opportunities to learn from their mistakes and you and I have had. If you take that away from a person, it really is possible to hold them down forever.
They are equal until they misbehave.
"With the goal of creating a "restorative school culture and climate" that conveys a "sense of belonging to all students ," the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect "no ethnic/racial disparities."
From the section of the 52-page plan titled "Restorative School Culture and Climate," subhead, "Discipline":
"School data that show disparities in suspension/expulsion rates will be examined in detail for root causes. Special attention will be dedicated to data regarding African-American and Hispanic students."
The board approved creating an "Equity Team" that will oversee the plan to ensure "a commitment to social justice for all students."
The happy-face edu-speak notwithstanding, what the Tucson Unified School District board of governors has approved this summer is a race -based system of discipline .
Offenses by students will be judged, and penalties meted out, depending on the student 's hue.
Certainly, from the point of view of a public-school administrator, such a policy is beyond insane.
TUSD principals and disciplinarians (assuming such creatures still exist) are being asked to set two standards of behavior for their students.
Some behavior will be met with strict penalties; some will not. It all depends on the color of the student's skin.
It is an invitation to chaos.
The students of the Tucson Public School District certainly deserve more.
They deserve a chance to excel academically.
Instead, they get this. Genuine apartheid."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2009/09/19/20090919maceachern0920.html
Let me try to spell it out: White students are being treated differently. This is not equal treatment . 'Equal' and 'different' cannot coexist. When the driving force behind an instance of reprimand is not "Who deserves to get the punishment for this act" and becomes "Are we over this weeks limit of black students getting detention?", it is then basing the punishment on the color of the student's skin.
These are self-evident facts.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
"They are equal until they misbehave"
They should still be treated equally when they misbehave... regardless of their race , gender, sexual preference, religion , etc...
"With the goal of creating a "restorative school culture and climate" that conveys a "sense of belonging to all students ," the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect "no ethnic/racial disparities.""
Shouldn't it be doing so... ensuring that a student feels as though they belong, regardless of their background should be an important goal for any school. Why shouldn't a school strive to eliminate ethnic / racial disparities?
"School data that show disparities in suspension/expulsion rates will be examined in detail for root causes. Special attention will be dedicated to data regarding African-American and Hispanic students."
Again, I fail to see the issue here... if African-American and Hispanic students are disproportionately represented in disciplinary cases the the 'root cause' should be sought out so that it can be dealt with.
Are you claiming that if a school had a racial group disproportionately represented in the population of students suspended / expelled that that should be looked at?
"Offenses by students will be judged, and penalties meted out, depending on the student 's hue."
[Citation Needed]
"TUSD principals and disciplinarians (assuming such creatures still exist) are being asked to set two standards of behavior for their students."
Again [Citation Needed]... can you provide a specific point in the school policy where this is enumerated?
"Instead, they get this. Genuine apartheid."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2009/09/19/20090919maceachern0920.html "
Except that that article is pulling a Beck... Building a strawman and then screaming about it to panic people.
"
SolarSanitizer
They are equal in that they are students.
They are equal until they misbehave.
"With the goal of creating a "restorative school culture and climate" that conveys a "sense of belonging to all students ," the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect "no ethnic/racial disparities."
From the section of the 52-page plan titled "Restorative School Culture and Climate," subhead, "Discipline":
"School data that show disparities in suspension/expulsion rates will be examined in detail for root causes. Special attention will be dedicated to data regarding African-American and Hispanic students."
The board approved creating an "Equity Team" that will oversee the plan to ensure "a commitment to social justice for all students."
The happy-face edu-speak notwithstanding, what the Tucson Unified School District board of governors has approved this summer is a race -based system of discipline .
Offenses by students will be judged, and penalties meted out, depending on the student 's hue.
Certainly, from the point of view of a public-school administrator, such a policy is beyond insane.
TUSD principals and disciplinarians (assuming such creatures still exist) are being asked to set two standards of behavior for their students.
Some behavior will be met with strict penalties; some will not. It all depends on the color of the student's skin.
It is an invitation to chaos.
The students of the Tucson Public School District certainly deserve more.
They deserve a chance to excel academically.
Instead, they get this. Genuine apartheid."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/2009/09/19/20090919maceachern0920.html
"Let me try to spell it out: White students are being treated differently."
How exactly are white students being treated differently? Where exactly does the policy say "a white student gets X punishment , a non-white student gets Y punishment".
What it sounds to me is that the school district noticed a problem (African American and Hispanic students over-represented in disciplinary cases) and is taking steps to discover the root cause(s). Is that not a logical thing to do when presented with such a discrepancy
"'Equal' and 'different' cannot coexist. When the driving force behind an instance of reprimand is not "Who deserves to get the punishment for this act" and becomes "Are we over this weeks limit of black students getting detention?", it is then basing the punishment on the color of the student's skin."
So what is the quota? Where exactly is your statements above supported in the schools policy, what are the documented instances where what you describe above has occurred?
MrBook for a rebuttal.