teach1st
08-20-2005, 06:55 AM
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-owens2005aug20,0,624476.column?coll=orl-news-col
(Opinion)
Outrage gripped the Hispanic community this week after Orange County teacher Jan P. Hall pulled a John Rocker, throwing Hispanics, Haitians, Middle Easterners and other immigrants under the school bus.
In a letter to an unspecified congressman, which the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia translated into Spanish and published, Hall, a fifth-grade teacher at Sadler Elementary School in Orlando, allegedly ripped "foreigners" for leeching off taxpayers' money and blamed immigrants for the diminishing quality of schools.
Hateful stuff, to which Orange County Superintendent Ron Blocker swiftly reacted by suspending Hall without pay pending an investigation.
"There is no room for racism and discrimination," Blocker insisted.
Right on, Ron.
If Hall indeed wrote and believes this vile bile, give her a dunce cap and the boot. If Blocker or anyone else believes censuring the 59-year-old teacher will boot out such attitudes from the classroom, give me a break.
All her letter did was air dirty linen usually stuffed in some pedagogical hope chest: Prejudice drags on minority students like an overstuffed backpack.
The issue often comes to light through suspension statistics.
One study, "The Color of Discipline: Source of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment," found blacks were not only suspended more, but also often for more arbitrary offenses. Researchers cite this as "evidence of a pervasive and systemic bias."
Prejudice too creeps into the classroom in subtler ways. University of Florida economist David Figlio found teachers give less attention and tuition to black kids with nontraditional names such as Da'Quan or LaQuisha than students with common names.
The reason? Teachers graft on biases about the parents' educational level and commitment to their child's education, and approach the student with lower expectations.
Read more (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-owens2005aug20,0,624476.column?coll=orl-news-col)
(Opinion)
Outrage gripped the Hispanic community this week after Orange County teacher Jan P. Hall pulled a John Rocker, throwing Hispanics, Haitians, Middle Easterners and other immigrants under the school bus.
In a letter to an unspecified congressman, which the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia translated into Spanish and published, Hall, a fifth-grade teacher at Sadler Elementary School in Orlando, allegedly ripped "foreigners" for leeching off taxpayers' money and blamed immigrants for the diminishing quality of schools.
Hateful stuff, to which Orange County Superintendent Ron Blocker swiftly reacted by suspending Hall without pay pending an investigation.
"There is no room for racism and discrimination," Blocker insisted.
Right on, Ron.
If Hall indeed wrote and believes this vile bile, give her a dunce cap and the boot. If Blocker or anyone else believes censuring the 59-year-old teacher will boot out such attitudes from the classroom, give me a break.
All her letter did was air dirty linen usually stuffed in some pedagogical hope chest: Prejudice drags on minority students like an overstuffed backpack.
The issue often comes to light through suspension statistics.
One study, "The Color of Discipline: Source of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment," found blacks were not only suspended more, but also often for more arbitrary offenses. Researchers cite this as "evidence of a pervasive and systemic bias."
Prejudice too creeps into the classroom in subtler ways. University of Florida economist David Figlio found teachers give less attention and tuition to black kids with nontraditional names such as Da'Quan or LaQuisha than students with common names.
The reason? Teachers graft on biases about the parents' educational level and commitment to their child's education, and approach the student with lower expectations.
Read more (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-owens2005aug20,0,624476.column?coll=orl-news-col)