Racismlimited the educational opportunities for minorities along with housing andjobs.
Racism tends to be a huge factor in the way minorities perform in school.African Americans that walk to school must face the possibility of beingharassed by a police officer and some have to walk through metal detectors inorder to step foot in school. In the article How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning, Melinda Anderson,explains the struggles Zion Agostini faces every day as a black male. Forexample, Anderson states, “Me being a black male, I’m more likely to be stoppedand frisked by a cop. Then I’m going to school with more cops… messingwith me a 7 in the morning” (Anderson, Melinda).
Later, in this article, Zionexplains how his tardiness puts him behind in his classes because in additionto him being stopped, he must go through metal detectors which in turn slowsthe process. Another issue that affects minorities education is the limitedopportunities offered due to school’s systems not having a wide range ofprograms to help them succeed. In the novel Thechildren In Room E4, Susan Eaton explains how Weaver High School as awhole, performed poorly in math and science statewide test, which resulted inonly a small percentage of students from Weaver High School reaching the states’goal.
The odds were against Jeremy, a Puerto Rican kid from Hartford, NorthCarolina that had a lot of potential, but his chances of going to college wereslim. Since Weaver High School did not offer a rigorous curriculum, Jeremywould not have the proper preparation for college (Eaton, 2007). Unfortunately,many minorities currently face these odds daily because of the lack ofresources available to schools that are in poorer communities. In addition,many families today, face similar issues regarding lack of educational opportunitiesdue to district polices that prevents their kids from attending better quality schoolsin other districts. A disagreement that was significant to me has to be thediscussion we had in class about kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Aclassmate did a news share about a 6-year-old boy being silenced by his teacherfor kneeling during the National Anthem. In this article, the teacher wrote aletter to the parents of the young boy explaining how the class is learningabout what it means to be a “good citizen”. The author Jeffery Solochekexplained the teacher’s opinion about her statement about being a good citizen. Solochek states, “That means respecting theUnited States of America and our country symbols and showing loyalty and patriotism”,the teacher wrote, “and that we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
” (Solochek,Jeffery) The mother of the young boy felt that the letter was stripping awayher sons right to speak up and in turn he may feel that his words or actionswill get him in trouble. This topic is sensitive to a lot of people becausesome see it as disrespecting our military, while other see it as AfricanAmericans standing up to the injustice we face daily. I also think its pitifulthat the same people arguing that kneeling during the National Anthem is disrespectfulto our military when those vary people do nothing to help them find steady jobsor shelter.