God bless Jamal, that’s got his own. Because he’s on his own.
New research from the Yale Child Study Center confirms our own worst expectations: Preschool teachers are more likely to expect and identify disruptive behavior from black kids, specifically boys, than white ones.
The research has two parts. Part one had teachers watch videos of kids in a classroom setting, and asked them to identify potential challenging behaviors before they happened. “What we found was exactly what we expected based on the rates at which children are expelled from preschool programs,” lead researcher Walter Gilliam told NPR. “Teachers looked more at the black children than the white children, and they looked specifically more at the African-American boy.”
The second part of the study had teachers reading a short passage about a student who was being disruptive in class – like scratching others or throwing toys – then asked them to rate the severity of the behavior. Again, bias came into play but in surprising ways. White teachers, with lower expectations of black children, rated the severity of the behavior lower. Black teachers, who held black students to a higher standard, consistently rated their behavior as more severe.
Finally, some teachers were given information about a disruptive child’s home life, to see if it would make them more empathetic. Here comes another surprise – the teachers were more empathetic only if they were the same race as the student. If not, severity reports skyrocketed, confirming earlier research that we tend to be more empathetic to people who look like us.
This is the first research that confirms implicit bias in teachers at the pre-school level. Black children are 3.6 times more likely to receive a suspension in preschool than their white classmates, according to 2013-2014 data from the Department of Education. Put another way, black children accounted for 18 percent of preschool enrollment but almost half (48 percent) of the kids suspended more than once.
Because they lose so much valuable school time at such a tender age – not to mention the lasting pain of being branded as a problem child –early suspensions feed the school-to-prison pipeline. These kids become disengaged and are more likely to drop out and drift toward the criminal justice system according to clear research from the Center for American Progress.
The final surprise: The teachers who participated didn’t know the true purpose of the research until it was completed. They’ve dedicated their lives to helping children, so I imagine the outcome must have come as a shock. But they did us all a solid by letting their results stand. (Only one withdrew.) In they end, they taught us the most valuable lesson of all: That we all have implicit biases that need to be managed, if only we take the time to see them. And that’s a song we can all learn to sing.
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On Point
| Latinx voters are changing the nation |
| In an opinion piece for Newsweek, Janet Murguía, the president and CEO of civil rights group National Council of La Raza, doesn’t just make the case for Latinx voters in this election, she says that they are prepared to change the trajectory of the country. “The good news for our fellow Americans is that the more than 55 million Latinos in this country are maturing into a political force for good,” she says. |
| Washington Post |
| Diversity workshops are becoming friendlier to white men and that’s great news |
| After employee surveys revealed serious racial and gender tensions, Rick Gesing, a VP at Applied Materials, invited a team of white men to a leadership workshop. What he didn’t tell them was that it was actually diversity training. He tapped “White Men as Diversity Partners,” a new program which helps white men face their own advantages in ways that lets them lead the discussion without making them feel “beaten and humiliated.” Journalist John Simons offers an inspiring must read. |
| Wall Street Journal |
| New York City to pay $5.75 million over horrific death of mentally ill inmate |
| The man’s name was Bradley Ballard and he was discovered naked and covered in urine and feces after he’d been abandoned in a Rikers Island cell for six days. He had been deprived of medication for schizophrenia and diabetes, even running water. It’s the largest settlement of its kind, and continues to shine a light on the terrible conditions at the prison. The story doesn’t mention if Mr. Ballard had been suspended in kindergarten. |
| New York Times |
| A lawsuit highlights discrimination against Asians in tech |
| Palantir, a data-mining company, is the subject of a Department of Labor lawsuit over hiring practices that it alleges "routinely eliminated" Asian applicants who were "as qualified as white applicants." Although the company denies the allegations, the suit highlights an under-reported reality that Asian professionals tend to be weeded out of leadership in tech: They make up 27.2% of professionals at top tech companies, but dwindle to just 13.9% in the executive ranks. |
| The Guardian |
| UN Report: The U.S. owes black people reparations for a history of racial terror |
| The history of slavery in the US justifies reparations for African Americans, argues a recent report by the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, a Geneva-based U.N. group, “as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent." The report continues: "Contemporary police killings and the trauma that they create are reminiscent of the past racial terror of lynching." |
| Washington Post |
The Woke Leader
| Why do we dance? |
| Dance is a language, says TED fellow Camille Brown. And social dance is a language that emerges from a community, that isn’t choreographed by any one person. Social dance in the African American community has a very specific purpose and deep meaning – and has played a unique role in our lives for centuries, even if we didn't always realize it. “The present always contains the past,” she says. You’ll be bopping at your desk before you know it. |
| TED |
| Black travelers are seeing the world while changing it |
| African American travelers, particularly women, are banding together and traveling in groups to better enjoy overseas excursions. But by visiting places that have very few black people – like India or Switzerland – they’re shattering stereotypes that are opening minds. A short video that will make you want to reach for your passport. |
| Travel Noire on Facebook |
| First transgender child actor to appear on television tonight |
| The ABC sitcom Modern Family is airing an episode tonight that will feature an 8 year old transgender actor, a first in television history. “This is Jackson Millarker,” the show’s director posted on Instagram. “He’s 8 years old, from Atlanta, and just happens to be transgender. He plays Lily’s friend Tom in this week’s Modern Family and he’s wonderful. One of the many reasons I love being a part of this show.” |
| Time |
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