Minority students in the United States still experience inequality in schools. A recent federal data showed that African-American and other minority students experience racial disparity, with black students four times more likely to face suspension in schools than their white counterparts.
The new data from the U.S. Department of Education found that African-American K-12 students are 3.8 times more likely to be given one or more out-of-school suspensions than their white counterparts, USA Today reported. During the 2013-2014 school year, 18 percent of African-American boys and 10 percent of African-American girls were suspended. Meanwhile, only 5 percent of white boys and 2 percent of girls were suspended once.
U.S. Education Secretary John King said the recent findings indicate the failure of the U.S. government when it comes to educating all students equally, USA Today further reported. King said students of color, especially those who have disabilities and ones whose first language is not English, are not being given the same educational opportunities as their white peers.
According to NPR, 49.7 percent of public school students are people of color. Out of that percentage, 24.7 percent are Latino or Hispanic, 15.5 percent are black or African-American, 4.8 percent are Asian and 3.1 percent are other races.
Consequences Of Suspensions
Suspensions usually have negative outcomes. A recent study from the University of California, Los Angeles said that suspensions in the 10th grade end up in more than 67,000 high school dropouts. Researchers projected that each dropout accounts for $163,000 in lost tax revenue and $364,000 in other social costs like health care and criminal justice expenditures.
Russell Rumberger, one of the co-authors of the UCLA study and a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Gevirtz Graduate School of Education said suspension isn't the only way to discipline young people. Rumberger added that other schools have disciplined disruptive students without the need for suspension.
Minority Students Face Other Forms Of Inequality
Minority students face racial disparities in advanced academic programs in K-12 schools. Only 28 percent of African-American and Latino students are enrolled in gifted and advanced academic programs in 2013-2014, which includes calculus, physics, chemistry and Algebra subjects. Gifted and advanced academic programs benefit students when they reach college, the Atlantic wrote.
Minority students are also more likely to have inexperienced teachers. Eleven percent of African-American students and nine percent of Latino pupils study in schools where one in five teachers is on the first year of their teaching jobs.
