Web Resources

I chose to highlight the Children's Defense Fund; accessible here: http://www.childrensdefense.org/

This organization was grown out of the Civil Rights movement and continues today to help children that are from impoverished households. It tackles discriminatory issues against minorites and empowers the poor. It strives to improve programs and policies that affect children and continues to partner with other organizations to encourage children to succeed past the poverty level.

There was a link to this editorial on the Children's Defense Fund website: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20110302-editorial-poverty-is-root-cause-of-racial-disparities-in-school-discipline.ece

The title alone struck me and sure enough, I am glad I read it. It discussed the racial disparity amongst discipline in schools in Texas. According to the editorial, "Black students are three times more likely to be removed from school for lower-level offenses than whites, according to statistics compiled by Dallas Morning News reporter Tawnell Hobbs." This is a scary statistic, indeed. Not because black students actually do have more behavioral problems, but likely because teachers may subconsciously tend to recognize when a black student is misbehaving over a white student. This issue can be tackled head on if educators would become aware of the implications caused by punishing black students more often and severely than whites. It is causing an alarming disparity in statistics and skewing actual data. This is something that needs to be addressed in all parts if the United States.