This past week I went to a very interesting presentation by the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education, Russlyn Ali.
The title of Ms. Ali’s talk was Achieving Equity in Education: The Resurgence of Civil Rights & Education in the Obama Administration.
The presentation was offered by a local law school (the University of San Diego), and the hosting organization was the Black Law Students’ Association.
While Ms. Ali talked about the classes that are protected by the Office of Civil Rights, and what actions are being taken to assist fairness in education, she also had a lot of insights to share on the subject of education in the U.S.
The definition of civil rights according to TheFreeDictionary.com is “rights guaranteed to U.S. citizens and residents by legislation and by the Constitution. [These] rights include…freedom from certain types of discrimination.”
Are our children, as Latinos, facing discrimination in schools such that they are not able to get an education?
Ms. Ali talked about the various driving factors that might be behind someone’s caring about education. Once we get people to care, then we can address the reasons keeping kids from obtaining educational equity.
She said there is a demographic imperative (our numbers are increasing and we need to make sure our children are equally afforded the opportunity for an education), an economic imperative (as a nation, we’re behind and to catch up we need to increase our educational attainment), and a moral imperative (a belief that everyone deserves a fair chance).
Other countries are outpacing us rapidly, not just with regard to educational attainment, but what that means for their economy.
On the other hand, Ms. Ali talked about the challenges we face, such as the need in the U.S. for remediation even for high school graduates. Of Latino and black students who do graduate, they are often 4-5 grade levels behind.
Said Ms. Ali, the expectations have never been higher for our education, but the disparities have never been greater.
There are a lot of programs that are being tested and implemented in a variety of schools; however, there are still a number of children who are not being given a fair, equal opportunity.
An example that keeps kids from learning is keeping them out of school. If they’re not in school, they can’t learn. Latino and black males especially have severe disadvantages, much of which stem from the negative expectations placed on them.
Black boys, for example, are more likely to be suspended (multiple times) for the exact same behavior that other students are not similarly punished for.
And lack of role models is also an issue. Only 1 in 50 teachers is a black or Latino male.
All of this leads us to consider both what can be done, what is being done, and how we can address the myriad of issues.
As a first step, Ms. Ali spoke of the data that her offices (and others) are compiling and sharing with the public. For example, go to www.ed.gov/ocr to see some of the data that has never been disclosed before.
Moreover, the office has 27 specialists gathering to determine what can be done for educational system.
Given that we all need to be thinking about how to address educational issues, I was inspired by the talk.
What do you think are effective methods to address educational challenges? What have you seen in your community?