I think we can all agree that the United States of America has come a long way, as have most civilizations and cultures. And yet, this Chicago area school proves that we have not come nearly far enough.
You don’t have to look into American history all that far back to realize that race has always been a controversial issue. Unfortunately, it took us over 100 years to legally put whites, blacks, Hispanics, etc., on the same legal ground. And even then, not all were considered equal.
Now, we’d like to think that things are different, that all men (and women) are truly equal, given the same rights, opportunities, and legal standing.
One school in the greater Chicago area says that isn’t the case, but they aim to fix it.
How?
Well, by bringing back segregated classes to its minority students.
As The Wall Street Journal has recently reported, Evanston Township High School in Evanston, Illinois, is now offering new classes meant to “shrink (the) learning gap” between white, black, and Latino students. Basically, the new classes eliminate the white component, allowing minority students to learn undistracted by race.
SEGREGATION: Chicago area schools offer black students the option of going to classrooms free from Jewish and/or white students. When a WSJ reporter arrived at a public meeting to learn more, a district spokeswoman said she would cancel the meeting if the reporter didn’t leave. pic.twitter.com/EYfRCAFDMN
— @amuse (@amuse) November 27, 2023
If you know much about the education system nationwide or have family in the education industry, you’ve likely heard about this learning gap. To be sure, it is a very real thing in many schools across the country. Based on test scores, grade point averages, etc., many schools have found that black and Latino students don’t often perform at the same level as white or Asian students, with their results usually being lower.
There are clearly, a number of reasons for this, from poverty levels in the area, fatherless homes, parents’ contribution to education, and so much more.
However, leadership at Evanston seems to think the real reason is that black and Latino students are still being oppressed by their white peers. How? By just being in the same room as whiteness.
So the plan is to simply remove that white element.
The new classes, called affinity classes, offer an atmosphere devoid of whiteness on any level. Only black and Latino students are allowed to join these classes. And only “of color” teachers will be leading the classes, the Journal reports.
So far, some 200 black and Latino students have signed up to take affinity math classes and writing seminars.
Now, to be clear, the classes are completely optional. In this way, education lawyers claim the school can get around any possible legal issues on the grounds of discrimination.
I don’t know what is more disheartening; that kids have been brainwashed into thinking that whiteness is really a distraction or that teachers and school personnel actually believe this to be a solution.
For starters, it doesn’t offer these students, on either side of the issue, anything close to reality. I mean, these teachers do realize that the rest of the world isn’t segregated, right?
Let’s say these classes actually work to improve minority performance in education (of which there is little evidence of it doing). Great, so these kids are finally doing well in school.
What now? Now, they are thrust out into a world that is filled with the very white “distraction” they’ve been sheltered from for years now. Will they be prepared?
I have my doubts. The real world is tough, and to be successful, these students need to know what they are up against. Simply putting them in a “safe and secure” box free of whiteness isn’t going to prepare them for that.
It’s also clearly taking us back a few generations, to a time when segregation and even more division were commonplace. Do we really want to go back to that?
And last but not least, how dare these educational leaders assume that these kids can’t achieve greatness unless they are coddled?
It is a slap in the face to every black, brown, red, yellow, and even white individual out there. As if they are nothing more than the color of their skin and that somehow defines how they will and can perform, both in education and life.
And we should all be furious at such an insinuation.
