PLEASE READ WITH AN OPEN MIND

Even though things have changed, due to America’s past, the U.S. still tends to oppress certain groups. One of these groups being black people. This is displayed in schools every day, one of these schools being Dakota. While it isn’t prominent to the blind eye, if we look at data, as well as number, it will be abundantly clear.

Here are a couple facts about Dakota in relation to this topic:

1. Black students receive 50% more referrals in comparison to their white peers.
2. 22% of class failure from black students vs. 8% of class failure from white students.
3. Black students often under perform on State tests as well as the SAT/ACT.

You may look at this fact and think, “Well how is it oppression, they’re just bad student”. But that is false, and here is why! If you’ve ever been to any American school, you will notice what color the people in the history books are, what color the people who write the literature we read are, what color most of your teachers are, etc. For non-minority groups, these things are not something to be looked at. But, for all minorities, it is almost an instinct to point these things out.

Now how do any of the things I just pointed out prove that statement wrong? Well, because of the way the human brain works, we pay attention to things that include us. If I am in U.S. History, and we are talking about the British Tea Party, as a minority, what does that have to do with me. Why would I pay attention to a bunch of white people yelling at each other over tea and taxes? I’m sure that it still doesn’t make sense, so here’s an analogy. If you go to the store with your mom, and you’re only there for fruit, but the store has absolutely no fruit other than the ones that went bad, you would not only be upset but you’d want to leave. The “fruit going bad” represents how there are indeed things about black people within our curriculum, but they are all negative things (i.e. slavery, segregation, Jim crow, etc.)

Now that I’ve pointed out the problems. Here are some things we can do to help. We need to teach our teachers how to teach black student, how to adapt to the way they think and view things. We also need to do a complete 180 to our curriculum. Students have been learning about the elites for too long. Update the textbooks, they’re so outdating regardless of the topic. You cannot claim to be such an inclusive, diverse, and non-biased school when your curriculum, staff, and thought process says you’re completely wrong.

I hope that this helped you realize what the problem is, and I also hope that some type of change will come from this.