Obstacles black boys face in high school

Obstacles Black Boys Face in High School

The truth is that the American society is still partly inclined towards racism and even if the situation has far improved in the past decades, some particular races find it hard to socially integrate in a society that proves to them on every day bases that they are judged according to race and colour of skin. This is very much available for African-Americans leaving in the United States. Focusing on the obstacles that a black boy faces in high school, one can discover that racism and different behaviour according to race are also available in our high schools.

Every day reality proves to us what investigation data has analyzed - that black boys have a harder time in high school in what concerns their academically experience and racist attitudes towards them both when interacting with other students and with their teachers. Several articles that deal with this issue have pointed out that black boys face discrimination and more severe punishments comparing to white children. According to several investigations, African-American students are subject to higher rates of more severe punishment for less serious disciplinary infractions.

Teachers and our society in general thinks greatly in stereotypes when interacting with black boys, thinking that they are more likely to cause trouble and act in a violent and disrespectful behaviour. Of course such a manner of perceiving a certain race is clearly racist and should not be encouraged, but it is hard for our society and government to take measures against such behaviour as most data is hard to prove and fight against.

Certainly, black boys are not the only ones that cause problems in high schools and they are not the only ones that are punished for it, but they face harder punishment and they have to prove their commitment to studying a lot harder than other children.

We are speaking in this article about black boys and not about black students, because boys seem to be a more discriminated category than girls based on the misconception that they are more inclined towards violent behaviour. This discriminatory behaviour against black boys is more noticeable in urban high schools, where criminal rates are higher and there is increased noticeable gang behaviour. Based on these premises, urban high schools usually look like correction institutions, with high fences and increased security systems. Also, these high schools tend to have a more correctional role in the lives of their students, as punishments and zero tolerance policies apply more harshly in these institutions.

The most serious problem that black boys have to face in high schools related to discriminatory behaviour against them is the problem of punishment. It is more likely for a black boy to receive a harsher punishment in school for a misdemeanour than a white boy committing the same crime. Teachers seem to be more inclined towards sanctioning black boys for several reasons, but all of those reasons have to do with the stereotype of perceiving black boys as violent, trouble causing, gang members. This is clearly a stereotype as such a pattern of behaviour can not be generalized. Some teachers might apply harsher punishments to black high school boys out of the belief that they are troubled young men that must be brought on the right track through correctional methods. Other teachers think in such racist terms that they honestly believe that all black boys are violent and undisciplined and therefore they must face serious punishment. No matter the reason behind such behaviour, students should not be judged and educated according to their skin colour just because criminal rates are higher among black teenagers. Generalizing is never fair.

Clearly, being a black student in an American high school is hard. Unfortunately, punishment is not the only way in which black boys are discriminated against. The media played a very important part in creating this type of stereotype of violent, unfocused and uneducated black boys. We are constantly witnessing how the media, through television shows, movies and news reports creates the image of a problematic demographic of teenage black boys which constantly get into trouble and have all king of illegal behaviour and activities. Far from claiming that these situations presented do not exist, but it is hard for the public opinion to think in other terms when almost no case of a successful, decent young black man is presented. So, based on what they witness on tv or on what they encounter in real life, people have created a certain image of African-American teenagers and it is extremely difficult for any program to break the habit of thinking in this stereotype.

It is a reality that black boys face harsher punishment and unfortunately they are confronted with the judicial system a lot easier than white children. Considering that a high school boy is on his way of developing his personality and that he is just beginning to form himself as an adult, a harsher and unjust punishment can have a devastating effect on a teenage boy. Instead of providing more useful and less aggressive ways of punishment of minor offences, teachers and the society in general tends to be more focused on providing the student a harsh lesson of life. Black students feel persecuted and they develop the tendency to rely only on other black boys as they are the only ones to understand them. Hatred and resentment gradually grow in the heart of black boys who eventually end up confirming the stereotype as a response to the unjust society they live in. So instead of providing a useful education, our high schools encourage the continuing stereotype thinking.

Studies conducted in several urban high schools have revealed that African-American male students are more likely to face corporal punishment than white students and they are more likely to be referred for special education service for emotional and behavioural disorders.

Considering that black boys are more likely to be punished more harshly and that they often face juvenile correction, they are more likely to leave high school, if they finish their studies, and have a very hard time finding a job. This inequality has been a constant phenomenon in American history and unfortunately it is not improving very much. African-Americans continue to be one of the most uneducated, unemployed and underprivileged minority in the United States and the life of adult black men is shaped in school. "Contact with the juvenile justice system places black youth on the path to joblessness, increasing the likelihood that they will engage in further criminal activity in order to subsist."

One of the methods considered appropriate by our system in educating high school students is using the so-often misguided "zero-tolerance" policies. These policies assume that at-risk children are best educated by using extremely harsh punishment intended at convincing a child to come back on the right track. Unfortunately, especially in the case of teenagers, such measures prove to do more harm than good, as most students feel persecuted and lose faith in the educational system. This is even truer for black students that are used to facing inequality on a daily basis.