Nelson Mandela once said: “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”. This quote shows the world that things can and should change. No one is just born racist, they were taught how to act by society, teachers, and parents. It can also work the opposite way. People can be taught to love. From a young, we are surrounded by the idea that being black is ugly. Starting from having white characters in books, movies, and even the toys we played with. There were barely any black Barbie dolls and no black girls in books. Young black children don't have a lot of teachers who look like them or understand them in school. They never felt safe in school. All these things were ‘normal’ up until a couple of years ago. Even though the world has made changes we have a long way to go. If black children are going to grow up safe in school, we need to implement strategies to educate students and teachers on the matter, because racial injustices affect children mentally and could have an effect on their future.
On the apa.org website, there is the article ‘Inequality at School’, written by Kirsten Weir. He provides research to show how racist discipline in school is, which prevents students from meeting their full potential. Weir says: “Research shows that compared with white students, black students are more likely to be suspended or expelled, less likely to be placed in”. Black students are more likely to be given the wrong level of education because of racism. This affects kids’ abilities to learn and grow. It adds to the stereotype that black children are always in trouble and ‘ghetto’. Situations at school are escalated and when POC students get suspended, it changes how teachers think about them. This is wrong because in society if a white student were to get in trouble, they were just seen as having a bad day, but when it’s a black child, they're seen as a troublemaker.
In the article ‘Anderson How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning’, written by Melina d Anderson, she talks about how students who experience racism don’t do as well as those who don’t. Racism in school affects students mentally. Anderson states that “physiological response to race-based stressors—be it perceived racial prejudice, or the drive to outperform negative stereotypes—leads the body to pump out more stress hormones in adolescents from traditionally marginalized groups”. She also says that “according to the paper, among this population of students, perceived discrimination from teachers was related to lower grades, less academic motivation, and less persistence when encountering an academic challenge”. The study also found that anxiety surrounding the stereotype of academic inferiority undermined students performing academic tasks. Students in college have added to stress because of discrimination in school. Kids in college already have enough to stress about. Because of some ignorant people students' grades suffer. Further influencing the stigma that ‘POC aren’t smart’.
On the Black Lives Matter at School website, they give us a list of things we can do to have diversity in school and a safe place for POC to talk to. They said that schools should hire more black teachers and fund counselors, not cops. If we hire more black teachers, POC will have people to go to and relate to. Of course, any kid can go to any teacher, but it’s a little more helpful when it comes from someone who has been through the same thing. We should fund counselors, not cops, because having cops present will influence more students to get arrested. When cops come into the situation, it can get alleviated into something it didn’t need to. The situation could’ve been fixed with the principle. Adding more ethnic studies in the K-12 curriculum can further educate all kids and teachers on more than just slavery. Slavery is most of what is taught in black history. Instead, let's add in the good things and more countries. Like Latino history.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” (Desmond Tutu). If we continue to sit back and watch these youth suffer in the school system, not only will they suffer, but it would cause everyone to think the same way. All these narratives about ‘white being superior’ comes from teachers and parents failing these children. If you see anyone at school being discriminated against, don’t sit back. Educate that person. Let’s change how our school systems are run.