Florida passed a law in which they will place students in
specific expectations based on their race. The article is below:
http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2012/10/12/florida-passes-plan-for-racially-based-academic-goals/
For example, in reading, 90% of Asians will be required to read
at or above their grade level and only 74% of black students will be expected
to read at or above their grade level.
The fact that the Board of Education is placing expectations on students
based primarily on their race is discouraging and disgusting. Students, already, are being
categorized based on test scores, now with the enactment of this new law it will
narrow their possibilities and expectations more. I always thought that the fundamentals of education was to
not segregate, but to recognize that all students, no matter socio-economic or
racial backgrounds, have the potential to succeed beyond expectations, and as
teachers, we should encourage that.
The Board of Education states that while they are ambitious, they are
also realistic. This “realism”
that the Board claims, to me, is a cover-up for their willingness to give up,
to throw in the towel; this reflects their lack of trying to figure out how to
fix the education problem and to help our students succeed. This law is proof that the Board of
Education has given up on students.
With this in mind, the day we start to give up on our
students and their ability to succeed in school is the day they begin to give
up on themselves. Too many times I
have read stories and statistics on students not finishing even high school and
too many times have I read about students not being given the proper education
to fuel their cognitive development.
This law will only perpetuate the problems that exist in the educational
system. Placing race as a means of
viewing and expecting success suggests that we are going backwards in time,
viewing the outcome of education of students as demonstrative of the color of
their skin. How will this affect
students? Well, for the students
that are placed in the lower percentage, they will think that if even the Board
doesn’t have much faith in their academic ability, then why should they. This is a kind of attitude that so many
teachers attempt to draw away from their students, urging them to know that
they have the ability to succeed.
If we narrow the expectations of our students, they will not try to
succeed, thus they will not be able to live up to their potential. This will, in turn, add to the already
low educational success of our students.
Right now, literacy is low and due to standardized tests taking away
from the critical thought that must be embedded in our students, education is
suffering. By implementing this
socially and racially demoralizing law, Florida is attributing to the already
down slope of education. By
separating students based on race only widens the gap between those who can
succeed and those who can’t and in turn, segregation becomes the focus.
How this law was able to pass is unbelievable due to the
fact that it discriminates based on race.
How is this acceptable? How
do those who helped this law pass not see this as a potential danger to certain
students? How do they not view
this as a way of contributing to the failures of certain students, never
knowing their full potential? What
will happen to the future of these students who fall at a lower
percentage? I fear the
inevitability of this law. I fear
the gap will grow and segregation will once again rear its ugly head.
Faithfully,
Cristina
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