Uncomfortable truths

I said to a parent last week, when asked why I teach, that one of the reasons was to change the future of some of the students, to lower the dropout rate (for example) of black males. (I want to change the future for all students but feel this group needs more.)

I was told I was a racist and he went complaining to the administration about that.

I would think I would be a racist if I wanted to perpetuate the current condition. Nope, you are a racist for noticing.

There is a local magazine (available in the gas stations) that allow you to see who has been arrested. I have 8 lovelies that I have taught in the past in jail right now. All black. And yet I teach classes that are never more than 30% black.

All were not-good students, all had impulse issues, some did not graduate. Could I have made it better?

I had a teacher come into my room a couple of years ago who told my class that the black males did poorly on the state tests. When he left, the class was irate that he was racist. I showed them the statistics on the state website. And learned that it was racist to have a county that was only 20% black.

We have to acknowledge that we are getting results (lower state scores, higher incarceration rates, lower graduation rates) for some ethnic groups or this will only get worse.