Safe Schools or Racial Discrimination

Some folks refuse to look below the surface of the recent racial incident that occurred at Heritage Junior-Senior High School. Simply because it is not their children. But, if they did they might find some interesting facts, such as officials failing to understand or follow their own procedures.

But more disturbing to me is the recent 2007 ISTEP+ scores for certain schools in the East Allen County School District. Scores that may include their children and the failure to educate them.

For example, Paul Harding 37% if students passed the English test in 2007 compared to 28% in 2006. Sure, there is an increase but the overall score is alarming. The same students did a little better in math at 40% in 2007 compared to 27 % in 2006. For both English and Math the score was a dismal 29% in 2007 meaning 71% failed.

71% failed.

Now let's compared the 10th graders at Paul Harding, students passing English was 38%in 2007 compared to 25% in 2006. For math, 31% of student passed in 2007 compared to 17 percent in 2006. Overall scores for students in math and english was 20% in 2007 up from 10% in 2006.

Over 80% of students failed the ISTEP+ test. It is no surprise that the graduation rate is low or the fact that the majority of the students are predominately African-Americans. Otherwise, mainstream media would be writing about the school failure to educate its student.

The traditional focus on African-American students’ underachievement has been labeling students at risk of failure in education attainment. This prospective comes from those who work with students with behavior problems, such as educational administrators and criminal justice policymakers.

The educational administrators and criminal justice policymakers take this have a vested interest in taking this approach. It is target those students who are academically doing poorly in schools and excuse the educational experts. The approach is to sanction such students until the student gives up or behavior becomes so outrageous that the school is permissible in removing the student completely from the school.

Woodson,Carter G. wrote abut the "miseducation of the negro". Today there is misinformation about many African-Americans students who manage to get through a system structured for them to fail. Those who are unable to withstand the structure and limited school choices in their neighborhoods give up or behavior takes them directly to the criminal justice system.

In the recently release report by members of the Governor Commission on Local Government Reform, suggest that consolidating schools and reducing busing may improve schools. The member stated that in 2006 as many as 3/4 of graduate from the 77 Indiana School Corporation would not be eligible for admission to campuses in Bloomington or West Lafayette.

Indiana's brain gain appears to reside in only 1/4 of its graduating class. No once we seek to bring in young professional because Indiana fails to educate its own young professionals.

Is anybody else alarmed yet? Racialism hurts everyone.