Final Project

· Regarding the case of Michael…

The counselors placed Michael in lower track classes because he was an African American. The teachers were racially biased and did not want to give him equal learning opportunities to other students. Michael was not teacher-friendly, and this all made them fail to consider his request to be placed in college prep courses. The teachers did not like him because of his race. Placing Michael in lower track courses was a form of discrimination. The teachers failed to provide equal opportunities for advancement in education. They only selected specific students for the college prep courses. They might not have wanted the college prep courses to be filled with African American students.

It would be difficult to control these incidents because teachers are likely to point out other reasons for denying some students chances to specific educational programs. Some teachers might cite students’ competency and skills when they are driven by the need to exclude students belonging to specific racial groups from various courses. Even though school policies ban such incidents, the school administrators and teachers might continue practicing them. If school administrators do not believe in social justice, they might promote racial discrimination against specific students. There might be inadequate policies to protect minority groups from racial discrimination in certain school districts.

One of the resources is Grissom, Rodriguez, and Kern’s article ‘Teacher and principal diversity and the representation of students of color in gifted programs.’

It explains the importance of increasing the number of black teachers to enhance the inclusion of black students in various educational programs.  “Schools with larger numbers of Black teachers or a black Principal have a greater representation of Black students in gifted programs (Grissom et al, 2017)." The article also explains the importance of having Hispanic teachers to increase the representation of Hispanic students.

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