Black educator Andre M. Perry writes in the Washington Post:
The achievement gap for black children is not a sufficient reason to push underperformers out. (It’s no better, and no less preposterous, than another path to close the gap: stop educating white people.) If schools don’t have everything they need to instill positive behaviors in their toughest kids, then let’s find the resources and staff for them to do it. Instead of lobbying for more disciplinary autonomy for schools, let’s petition for wrap-around services, restructured in-school suspensions, conflict mediation, restorative justice programs, parenting courses, out-of school behavioral services or a host of other interventions that address the problem. Just as long as we keep the kids in school.
The main problem in our schools is bad students, not bad teachers.
