Though it has been quite a while since the people of a different racial and/or ethnical background gained the same freedoms and rights as the latter, racism is still an issue in many American schools (Gasman, 2012). According to the recent research on the problem, the instances of racial profiling are still a sad yet obvious part of everyday school reality despite all the attempts to establish the relationships based on equality among school students.
The fact that racism exists in American schools raises the question whether there are any regulations concerning the issue, and if there are, what makes them so ineffective. As it turns out, the Imperatives for American Schools say that educators should “give top priority to insuring that all students receive their birthright of educational equity” (Pine & Hillard, 1990, 1).
According to the existing definition of the possible racism victims, the reason for discrimination can range from race or gender prejudices to religious beliefs and the state of the family income of a discriminated student. The latter seems to be the most frequently occurring case (Pine & Hillard, 1990, 2).
The delivery system, though, as one could have expected, leaves much to be desired. Mostly due to the fact that it is hard to take into account every single instance of discrimination and control ever student, the policy hardly seems to be efficient (Casares, 2012).
However, over the past few years, the financing for the improvement of the current policies on school discrimination has improved. Therefore, it can be suggested that further steps to eliminating discrimination in schools will be taken. In the light of the PSQ history, which seemed to lack being specific, the attempts to distill certain rules of racial relationships among students is a considerable improvement (Hesch, 2012).
Speaking of the current PSQ on discrimination among the American students and its efficiency, one must admit that it obviously tries to reduce the instances of discrimination, yet fails often. Unfortunately, students in many American schools suffer from racism: “a. Students, especially African American students, are often denied opportunities to enroll in high-level, challenging classes. b. Teachers have low expectations of certain groups of students (in this case, African American)” (Rozansky-Lloyd, 2005, 599).
However, the given explanation lacks precision; it seems that, instead of taking measures, the U.S. officials are tiptoeing around the problem. Speaking of the victims of racial discrimination, the current regulations suggest that the solution should be “not to ‘integrate’ them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become ‘beings for themselves’” (Rozansky-Lloyd, 2005, 596). Therefore, active steps should be taken to eliminate racism in schools.
At the same time, it is important that students should not manipulate racial discrimination motifs as an excuse for their poor academic performance. Thus, it will be reasonable to offer precise rules on racial relationships in schools. Moreover, strict principles on grading should be introduced, so that it would be clear whether the teacher was racist indeed or whether the student’s skills did not suffice to pass a test.
Judging by the fact that the rates of racial discrimination are getting increasingly high in a number of the U.S. schools, it must be admitted that the existing policy on racial issues and multicultural relationships needs a considerable revision and a great change. Creating an effective intervention model, however, one can expect improvement in racial relationships between students of different national backgrounds.
Reference List
Casares, C. (2012). Coverage of Texas schools ignores racism. The Texas Observer. Web.
Gasman, M. (2012). Racists in America. Web.
Hesch, R. (2012). In Lak’ech: Racism and antiracism in the USA. Our Schools, Our Selves, 21(4), 29–44.
Pine, G. J. & Hillard, A. G. (1990). Imperatives for American Schools. Web.
Rozansky-Lloyd, (2005). African Americans in schools: Tiptoeing around racism. Western Journal of Black Students, 29(3), 595–604.