Racism refers to prejudice or discrimination against a person or a particular group of people because of their religious affiliation, class, geographical location, ethnic group, or color. It is common in schools where students and teachers come from various parts and they all have different cultures, beliefs, and upbringing. Both teachers and students show favoritism to a certain group of students, as they think of them as superior to what they think of others. It often involves sidelining other individuals, mocking other students based on their origin and color, and denying other individuals the right to access certain services or places (Chatterji). Color is the most common type of discrimination people face since many believe that blacks are inferior and socially unfit. Racism should be discouraged by all means and the government should do its best to educate citizens on the importance of unity and the disadvantages of racism. Racism has adverse effects on students as it causes hatred to spread, deterioration of academic performance, and affects the mental health of students, the government should mitigate this through proper training, policy formulation, and continuous monitoring of schools to ensure quality delivery, this will help promote unity among citizens.
Students are the most affected in terms of racism in schools. Within the students, there exist many divisions based on class, ethnicity, and religion. Black students often experience a hard time in school but when they are from poor families, the experience is much worse. Racism is experienced in school in various ways (Farmer). Each way through which it is experienced can be solved by using the appropriate method to curb it.
Proper education of students helps to mitigate racism. For example, bullying is the most common way through which racism is felt. Black students are often bullied as they try to maneuver in the school. From dining halls to class, to sleeping places, black students are always bullied. Bullying involves, harming the physically as other students will try to beat them up or injure them just to show them that they are unwanted or inferior. The main goal of bullies is to diminish the social well-being of black individuals (Jones). They aim at making them lose their self-esteem and finally admit that they are inferior and do not belong to that particular place. Bullying has resulted in many cases of suicide as well as murder as many bullies go to extremes. Indeed many cases have been reported and there are many convicts in jail because of this act. The result is the complete deterioration of the academic performance of these students. The government should do its best to curb this by proper education of students on the importance of unity. Students should be advised on the importance of appreciating one another and the importance of each individual in society.
The government should conduct proper monitoring in schools to ensure quality and fairness. For instance, black students are often neglected in schools. This is another way in which racism is displayed. It happens when they seek help from authorities around the school. Oftentimes, students face many challenges when in school and they try their best to solve these problems in various ways by either involving other students or officials in school. In such cases, they try as much as possible to engage fellow students and share their problems (Joorst). To their dismay, instead of getting help they are often neglected and left to solve the problems on their own. They will not obtain any help from other students no matter how dire they need it. It usually annoying that even officials who should be on the front line of giving aid to all students are often engaged. Such may include academic challenges, economic constraints as well as physical challenges like being sick or hurt. Whenever students are neglected, it not only affects their social well-being but their psyche as well. The best way of curbing this is by proper monitoring of the behavior of staff and students and doing the proper correction where necessary.
Proper training of lectures and teachers is will enable them to understand the value of each student. For example, when grading academic credentials racism is experienced as black students end up getting lower marks for the same argument on a particular paper. This mostly happens when a given lecturer is racist and knows the black students in his class by name. Such lectures display increased meanness when marking papers of black students (Farmer). They will heavily penalize them when they make minute mistakes and will not reward them as they should for making commendable efforts in their academic work. The main aim is academic frustration and it also amounts to bullying. Such biased assessments are aimed at forcefully proving to the black students that they are not fit to be in a particular class or school. This is often not the case as people display intelligence in various ways. Black students are as much as smart and equal to white students. The difference is just skin color, otherwise, we are all just the same. The government can minimize such acts during the training of lectures. Only those that show no partiality or any form of racism should be accepted into the service.
The government should also conduct proper vetting before licensing to ensure the selected trainers in schools have undergone proper training. For instance, in sports, racism is often displayed in the highest manner (Gaddis). Teammates may refuse to play with a particular player because of his color. They may also sideline him during training and do their best to ensure the player misses training, of course without him knowing it was their plan all along. Coaches also display racism and favoritism. A coach may declare that he is not comfortable with a particular player as soon as he is signed into a club even before interacting with the particular player. He will do his best to ensure the player is off the team. In other cases, a coach will be so hard on a particular player. He will force the player to do harder training than the rest and for minor mistakes, the player will be punished more than others will (Chatterji). In other cases, the player is denied several games for no reason just because the coach is not comfortable with the player. This will often cause the player to be discouraged and stressed. The best way to mitigate this is proper vetting and evaluation of coaches and team policies before licensing. This will promote fairness in sports and lead to proper progress.
Another instance where proper vetting will help to reduce racism is when teachers are assigned roles in schools. Here, teachers are the most affected as they are responsible for assigning these roles. The outcome is that black is never given any meaningful leadership roles even when they show great capability of handling various issues and solving problems. Black students may display real leadership skills daily as they may be able to guide other students academically as well as socially. However, a racist teacher will always look for a reason to dismiss the student. Even the pettiest of reasons will be considered just to ensure a given student does not attain any leadership role in the particular class (Farmer). The effect is demotivation. All students love it when their efforts are appreciated. However, being racist and denying appreciation where it is due because of particular racist beliefs not only derails academic progress but also denies students the platform to practice leadership skills. To mitigate this the government should not only focus on proper training and vetting of teachers but also carry out routine checks to ensure there is fairness in all schools.
Nationwide campaigns on the importance of love and harmony help reduce racism in schools. Among students, racism may display when a given group of students are not allowed to interact or access other parts of the school (Chatterji). Students are fond of creating many rules among themselves mostly to ensure there is class among them. The truth is these rules are based on what these students learn either from the internet, in the community or at home. Racism is a learned act, this is why students who are racists are often linked to racist families. Such acts also involve banning other students from talking to them because of their racial affiliation. Student leaders who are racists use their position to undermine other students, often black students (Almagor). It is always challenging to handle matters that only involve students as many of these are not reported. However, the government should ensure proper counseling is done for students found guilty of oppressing others. They should also be limited from obtaining leadership positions. It is also wise to conduct nationwide campaigns in schools to inform students about the value of each of them.
The government should also formulate strict policies to limit racism in schools. Teachers found guilty of racism should face stiff measures and proper counseling to ensure they do not repeat such acts. Laws should also be made to protect those who are often discriminated against and are usually in no position to defend themselves (Jones). The government should also force schools to adopt anti-racist policies and ensure they formulate policies that promote fairness to all students. It should also regulate teachers’ training and ensure teachers are trained on the importance of valuing students from all walks of life (Balf). Incentives and awards should also be offered to students and teachers who champion fairness in schools, this will encourage other students and teachers to shun racist beliefs and embrace oneness.
Solving the problem early is the best way the government can stop racism from escalating. Racism spikes hate among students and teachers. As teachers and other students go about bullying and discriminating against other students, makes them hate each other even more. No student will want to be associated with a teacher or another student who was once very cruel to him and showed him a great deal of disrespect. It spikes aggression among students. Little conflicts will appear and cause huge fights in the school vicinity (Ruiz). Conflict resolution becomes a major problem especially when teachers who should be neutral and fair when solving such problems also become biased. The affected will always opt to solve matters their way. Instead of solving the problem, this will only escalate the issue and make it worse (Joorst). Solving an already grown conflict is often challenging thus, such conflicts should be solved in the early stages before they cause much damage. The government should always carry out widespread awareness around the country to ensure students know the value of peace and harmony among themselves.
In conclusion, racism affects students in many schools and should be taken seriously. If ignored it not only retards academic progress but also affects the social well-being of those affected. The government can play a big responsibility to eliminate racism in schools, the best of which are, the formulation of favorable policies, education, and creation of awareness. By combating racism, the government helps in promoting unity and nationalism. The world would be a better place if racism did not exist.
Works Cited
Almagor, Lelac. “Standardized Testing Can Be Good—But Only If We Put Students First.” Boston Review, 2020, Web.
Balf, Todd. “The Story Behind the SAT Overhaul.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 2014, Web.
Chatterji, Roby. “Fighting Systemic Racism in K-12 Education: Helping Allies Move From the Keyboard to the School Board.” Center for American Progress, 2020. Web.
Farmer, George. “What Racism in Schools Looks Like.” Education Next, 2020, Web.
Gaddis, Gay. “The Truth About Standardized Testing In Texas.” Texas Business Leadership Council, 2021, Web.
Jones, Britney L. “Reducing Racism in Schools: The Promise of Anti-Racist Policies.” University of Connecticut Neag School of Education, 2020, Web.
Joorst, Jerome. “Racism is Still Rife in South Africa’s Schools. What Can Be Done About It.” The Conversation, 2019, Web.
Ruiz, Michael. “How to Combat America’s Creativity Crisis.” Greater Good, 2017, Web.