My letter as published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Saturday 3
May, on the editorial page A 9. It also appeared in the early edition for Sunday 4 May. Mine is the first letter. Hugh Murray
A front-page April 27 article revealed “Black students suspended at disproportional rate in U.S.” However, in this detailed article by Andrew Phillips, one small paragraph discloses that males are suspended at a much higher rate than females. Does this gender disproportion of suspension prove that the schools are discriminating against male students? The gap between males and females is greater than the gap between blacks and whites. If black suspension rates prove racism, then does not the larger gap between male and female suspensions prove anti-male discrimination in schools?
On the same day, an editorial condemned the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision permitting Michigan to ban racial preferences in university admissions (“Court’s decision harms minority college applicants”). The argument is that without such preferences, the percentage of blacks and Hispanics has declined in that state’s universities. Implicit is the same quota ideal — if blacks are 14% of the population, they should be 14% of the university admissions, 14% of pupils suspended from schools, 14% of CEOs. Any major deviation from 14% indicates discrimination.
But does it? Most players in the NBA and the NFL are black, but blacks are only 14% of the American population. Whites, about 60%, are greatly underrepresented. Do not these statistics prove anti-white discrimination in basketball and football? Would the leagues improve if there were more “diversity,” with the federal government requiring teams not to recruit another black until whites approached their fair share of the
teams — at least 60%? The NFL and the NBA are predominantly black because the blacks who compose the teams are the best players, not because of anti-white discrimination. Similarly, universities should be allowed to admit the best students academically, no matter the racial percentages of diversity. If blacks are underrepresented at some universities, and whites underrepresented in the NBA, let them try to improve so they will be among the best next year.
On objective exams to enter universities, whites, as a group, outperform blacks and Hispanics, as groups. The results do not prove discrimination. Treating people equally is not discrimination. Giving preferences
to blacks and Hispanics is racial discrimination. Affirmative action for one person is a negative action against another.
Hugh Murray
Milwaukee
Suspensions determined by behavior I just don’t understand the motivation behind Andrew Phillips’ article citing the disproportionate rate of suspension of black students in the United States (“Black students
suspended at disproportionate rate in U.S.,” April 27). The only thing I can come up with is that he wants to fuel animosity between the races by insinuating that one group is being picked on while another is given a free pass.
As a retired high school educator, I can tell you that suspension is very predictable. There are certain behaviors that can almost ensure a suspension, and the students know that when they choose those behaviors, they choose the consequence. In fact, some students intentionally do just that. It doesn’t matter if you’re white, black or purple. It’s the behavior that determines the suspension. If you are violent in the classroom, you should be removed from the classroom for obvious reasons. If you are disrupting the learning environment of other students, you should be removed from the classroom. What parent with children in
that classroom would want it any other way?
I’m willing to bet that an analysis of the data would show that a pretty small proportion of the student body (white, black or purple) in a given school is ever suspended. It is much more likely that students who
choose behaviors that cause suspensions do so multiple times. This was apparently the case with Amontre Ross. That quickly skews the data.
I am the mother of three white children who were never suspended. Rather than feeling guilty for having children who got a free pass while children of a different race were being discriminated against, I prefer to
believe that my children were not suspended because I sent them to school at age 5 with the clear message that the adults at school deserve the same respect that we require in our household and that the classroom is a place of learning, not a place to be disruptive.
Jan Von Hoff
Brookfield
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