What should the policy for racism be in schools?
What should the policy for racism be in schools?
Hi! I am a member of a race education group in my school (11 to 18). We were discussing instances of racism and came to the conclusion that the school - teachers, especially - were not giving proper or effective repercussions for racist incidents. Racism in the school is quite normalised, especially against Black and Asian students, including:
CW: list of racist incidents
- Calling black people "monkeys", unnecessarily calling them "fast" and that they "should be at the back of the bus"
- Playing stereotypical Indian music and linking brown people to "curry" and tech-support scammers
- The Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees chant and mocking the Chinese language
Most teachers report the incident, triggering an investigation into what happened; the student(s) are usually suspended - possibly being temporarily transferred to another school - the offending student(s) are talked to by senior staff members and attend anti-racism sessions. This approach feels appropriate, although I want to hear your thoughts on it as racism is still a significant issue in the school.
In addition, quite a few teachers instead push to "settle the matter" in-class (say sorry, shake hands) or give lesser punishments that are intended for things like swearing or talking over the teacher. These are not appropriate punishments and shouldn't be tolerated. Bigotry is never equivalent to just rude behaviour or minor arguments (that includes bullying).
The school administration has been made aware of our thoughts and fortunately they are very open to the idea of writing a clearer and more effective policy on racism in the school.
Do teachers need to be trained better on their tolerance of racism? Is the policy not corrective enough? How would you write a racism policy for a school for 11 to 18 year olds?
Thanks again!
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Back in the 90's when I was in high school, my school had a zero tolerance policy. Anyone who used racist language, or committed violent acts against a minority was expelled. There were investigations, police were called, etc. But if the events were found to be race based, the perpetrator would be expelled. A black and Indian girl got int o a fight over a boy. The black girl called the Indian girl a sand n-word. Black girl got expelled. Another event was two friends calling each other the n-word, not even fighting, both got expelled due to the word being on the banned list. A teacher got fired for calling a Chinese kid something too, though don't remember what it was. This was in LA California if that helps. My 5 years there, saw at least a dozen expelled or fired.
police were called
I don't think calling the police would be a good idea given their reputation of brutality against people of color and the fact that it would rely on more of a tactic of fear against children.
My 5 years there, saw at least a dozen expelled or fired.
Firing teachers for racism is a good stance for me! We'll probably still push for temporary suspension rather than expulsion unless they are a repeat offender.
Edit: Removed idea of calling the police as I have since changed my opinion.
I'm very far from an kind of authority on how to handle school discipline, but calling police to school seems like a very bad idea. Cops and prisons don't solve problems.
Oh, I see. For me, I would evaluate the idea of calling the police to school like this:
- Further clarifies the weight of racist incidents and the zero-tolerance policy that the school has for it
- Relies on a tactic of fear, plus the police are a major source of racism
In that perspective, inviting the police does seem like a very bad idea. Though I still like the idea of at least including senior members of staff to talk to the students as they should further clarifiy the severity of racism.