Racial Equity

School district’s policy is misguided

I share Joe Yarkin’s concerns about the potential for unintended harm under the school district’s policy on racial equity (“School district policy needs work, has potential to cause issues,” Nov. 22).

If this policy aimed to take a hard look at how the school district can help disadvantaged kids of all races succeed, then I’d be all for it. However, a fair amount of the commentary by the policy’s advocates rests on a belief that non-whites are victims of a racist society in which white privilege unfairly disadvantages them.

Their arguments focus on the sad, ancient history of slavery and the Jim Crow laws of the South. That history, combined with the disparate outcomes in society today, is held out as proof that ours is a racist society. However, correlation is not causation. Over-representation by black American athletes in the NBA, or of Jewish law clerks on the Supreme Court or the superior test results achieved by Asian American students are not due to discrimination on their behalf. Those who condemn our country as racist need more than arm-waving to make their case. Moreover, even if their assessment were true, how does that help a disadvantaged student succeed? Will convincing kids that they are victims of an unfair system help them? Empowering them to see failures as “Not my fault!” or as a reason to demand redress is unlikely to be a strategy for success.

There are many kids in our schools who are suffering from disadvantages that hold them back from the success we should all wish for them. Divorce, poverty, the absence of a caring adult in their lives, learning disabilities, a feeling of not fitting in due to being “different,” are all potential hurdles for students struggling in school. Let’s try to help all of our disadvantaged students succeed.

— Ron Weston