The Real Question

I see a reoccurring and disturbing trend with the students at the school where I work. It is something that I dealt with when I worked for the county government as well. Minority students are more and more, blaming their poor behavior on the racism of others. In this case, it is their teachers who are being called racists.

The “race card,” as it has become known as, provides a certain amount of undeniable leverage in a dispute. Some minorities have learned this, and worse yet, they are now teaching it to their children. The seventh graders I work with would not know about such things if they hadn’t been taught about it.

Bad behavior is bad behavior. Race is not the issue. In fact, the question should not be, “why are we disciplining minority students so frequently,” but rather, “why are certain groups more prone to behavior problems?”

It should be noted that not all of the minority groups are overly represented in detention, and yes, there are more than one or two minority groups. So why is it, that children from a particular demographic are more likely to have behavior problems? Where do they get the idea that “no one can tell them what to do?”

Most Caucasians these days are too conscious of the backlash of anything that might be remotely construed as racist, to say anything off-color. My own personal experience is that this same level of respect is not universal, and some minorities have exhibited blatant racism directed at whites, that would never be tolerated otherwise.

With the children that I work with, they vocally demand a high degree of respect, while simultaneously exhibiting behavior that is abusive, insubordinate and often threatening. Essentially, they demand respect, but are completely unwilling to give respect to others.

We have not seen the last of this problem. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. Despite the huge gains society has seen in equality, some people don’t really want it because it will relieve them of the leverage that they currently get by pointing a finger and shouting “racism.”