Study Debunks Racism Myth As School Expulsion Debate Reignites
NM students fail equally as government school enrollment plummets
In January, New Mexico legislators considered a bill to ban expulsions in grade school.
Crying racism, the state’s early childhood education secretary, Elizabeth Groginsky, claimed that “the white dominant culture” suspends or expels Blacks, Indians, Hispanics, and students with disabilities at disproportional rates to Whites.
“We all have biases,” she told NM Political Report in February:
“The white dominant culture has taught us to think things about people of color. Not intentionally but it’s very much implicit. It’s very saddening, actually, because that’s how ingrained it is in us over all these centuries. How we think about boys, Native American, African-American, Hispanic boys. We look at the data. Those same populations are not doing well.”
The state Senate wasn’t buying it. Perhaps someone on the committee countered this pandering do-gooder’s “White-dominant culture” myth with the fact that only 36% of New Mexicans are non-Hispanic White or that, like racial disparities in crime, the “systemic racism” fantasy is the dull spine of Occam’s razor, bad behavior its edge. Or maybe legislators didn’t want to broadly paint every public teacher as being a bigot.
Whatever the reason, the bill never got past the Judiciary committee.
Six months later, it seems Albuquerque Public Schools didn’t get the memo.
A new proposal would prevent any K-12 student from attending an APS school for one year if they have ever been expelled—from anywhere in the country, whether from a public or private school.
The teachers union is likely to kill the proposal for the simple fact that public resentment and disappointment in government-run education has led to continuous declines in enrollment. APS lost 9,000 kids in the last three years alone, making it increasingly difficult to justify current spending levels. They’ll take anybody they can get.
But the attempt to reignite a discussion on this type disciplinary policy is commendable.
The lack of classroom discipline has been a long-time complaint among parents. The more disruptions that are allowed, the less time students spend learning. The less time they spend learning, the more time teachers must dedicate to behavioral problems and the underperforming students who fall even further behind as a result.
The cycle also drags down smart and well-behaved kids, who are ignored as the squeaky wheels turn, a reality reinforced by a recent Wallethub study showing that New Mexico had the most equitable educational outcomes in the country, a pyrrhic achievement measuring racial disparities in graduation rates and test scores.
New Mexico may be consistently ranked among the. absolute. worst. states for education and child well-being, but at least we’re not racist about it. In New Mexico’s government-run schools, everybody fails equally.
Take that Groginsky.
My late wife taught special ed at several Title 1 schools. She eventually resigned as classroom sizes became unmanageable. A classroom with too many on Behavioral Plans (BIPs) is tough denying kids who really need the help because of a few requiring too much attention. She complained about Native Americans who had a sense of "you owe me" and blacks relocated from New Orleans who came with chips on their shoulders. She found ways to break through those barriers even with some parents who were not concerned. She relished the progress she made and thought if she could get a few kids ahead it was a victory. As my sister (a former teacher herself) warned the teaching would be joy but the admins would drive her out. And it came true.
I think all kids have innate curiosity that needs to be nurtured. I was well influenced by her thinking as I watched her work many evenings preparing various reports, assessments and plans. Most teachers are not required to create those individual plans, but I suspect they have utility. Kids are not the classroom count on day # that sets the budget. What does count is classroom assistants, adequate counselling and nursing staff and librarians - all in support of the front lines. As in the military, the officers don't matter because their troops, the front lines do. Officers are supposed to provide whatever supports are needed for those front lines but the educational rulers think they are the important ones.
We need a real General to get the Colonels and Captains to think kids first and ensure the troops have the necessary tools. And of course we need those teachers to be engaged and well trained (including some practicum), not a haven for those otherwise less capable. Teachers are in a profession not a job. An adequate salary is needed but money isn't why professionals work.