Racially-Charged Essay Forces 13yr Old to Leave NY School

The Rochester School District in Upstate NY has driven an African-American girl out of school after she claimed she is being failed by white teachers.

Education Action Group reports on the disturbing story of a 13 year old girl in New York who has been pulled out of the Rochester City School District by her mother.

Jada William’s mother felt she had little choice after her ‘A’ student daughter started receiving failing grades following the fallout from a controversial racial essay she wrote. Jada, who is African-American, was studying the autobiography of former slave Frederick Douglass. As this book was part of a district-wide reading initiative it was clearly considered suitable subject matter for discussion by the district, which would also presumably be aware that a 13 year old might lack some technical adroitness in dealing with sensitive material.

In her essay Williams argued that a parallel existed between the way slave masters used illiteracy and ignorance to maintain oppression and the current situation in her illiteracy-ridden school district. The charges of illiteracy in Rochester are completely justified as 75% of the district’s students cannot read at the appropriate grade-level. An analysis by the New York Times last year identified the district to be among the lowest performing in the state.

Nor is the contention that passive racism still exists a new one; President George W. Bush spoke about the “soft bigotry of low expectations”. What appears to have gained Jada the wrath of her former teachers is the use of racially charged language within the essay:

“Most white teachers that I have come into contact with, over the last several years of my life, (have) failed to instruct us even today,” Williams wrote in her essay. “The teachers are not as vocal about us not learning … but their actions speak volumes.”

Ms. Williams reports that her teachers told her they were offended by her choice of language and felt that she was mocking them.

“When the white teachers began to pass out pamphlets and packets, they expect us the black students to read the directions, complete it and hand it in for a grade,” Williams continued. “The reality of this is that most of my peers cannot read and or comprehend the material that has been provided.

“So, I feel like not much has changed, just different people, different era, the same old discrimination still resides in the hearts of the white man,” she concluded.

One would assume that insensitivities of language would have been anticipated and provided an obvious jumping-off point for a class discussion on the importance of careful consideration in the choice of words one used in sensitive discussions. This does not appear to have taken place. Nor was her report used as a learning opportunity by the teachers to improve standards.

Williams explains the reason for her choice of language:

“I basically used the terminology that was used in the book.”

Jada is currently being taught at home, but misses school. She claims that all she wants to do is be able to learn.

“I feel misunderstood because grownups are making it a racial issue when it’s a learning issue,” Jada Williams said. “I also feel hurt because I’m not in school right now. They’re taking from me the one thing I do love and I feel confused. …”

“I thought I lived in a country of freedom of speech.”

Comments

Joe

March 13, 2012 at 12:51 pm

” the same old discrimination still resides in the hearts of the white man.”

Would it be very “white” of me to gently remind people that even though some of us are racist not all of us are? And not all of us are men either, although some of us are clearly guilty of this crime.

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a former white teacher

March 13, 2012 at 3:21 pm

Jada,
You are speaking truth to power. Rather than kick you out of school, your teachers and principal should be celebrating your courage, thanking you for your feedback and promising to do better. You also need to promise to do better, be more “politically correct,” and inspire your classmates to work harder and meet the teachers halfway so that they will do better. Your teachers and classmates need you to be in school so that everyone can learn from this experience. It is sad that the administrators in your district can’t see the value in that.

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- Linda Brees
  
  March 14, 2012 at 4:21 am
  
  Please don’t put “politically correct” in quotes like it’s a bad thing. Speaking truth to power is one thing. Thinking that “white man” is a monolith which all white people worship does no credit to her reasoning skills at all.
  
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NORRIS720

March 13, 2012 at 4:34 pm

The student is given a assignment. She does a excellent job on the assignment. Now, it’s the teachers job to grade her on the asignment. The principal is suppose to protect the students under him. A+ students who’s grades start to all suddenly go down should throw up red flags. The principal should be investgating the Teachers. The mother did right my taking her daughter out of a hostile enviorment.

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- Kevin
  
  March 14, 2012 at 4:22 am
  
  This is all true. Even if the essay used questionable language, the fact that all her grades took an immediate hit is a huge problem. If the language was so inappropriate, it should have been handled and any kind of retribution isn’t just petty it’s very troubling.
  
  Besides, I kinda agree with what she said.
  
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Blessing

March 14, 2012 at 7:41 am

She is a child, and the beutiful thing about children is that they are not marred by the gray worlds of adults. They speak from their hearts, as they see it. Teaching her to be politically correct, takes away from this innocence. Her essay should have been applauded and used as a teachable moment. Both to her, that she’s an ‘A’ student partly because of her teachers, and to her classmates and teachers. I truly hope the decline in her grades is because she slacked in her school work and not because adults were acting below the level of children.

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- Joe
  
  March 14, 2012 at 8:17 am
  
  Children are an unfiltered data dump of what their parents are thinking. They don’t possess some kind of innate “innocence,” they just lack discretion that would allow them to screen out things that their parents don’t want the world to know they think.
  
  “old discrimination still resides in the hearts of the white man” doesn’t come from her “innocence,” but more likely straight out of her mother’s mouth.
  
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  - Sue
    
    March 17, 2012 at 9:48 pm
    
    I don’t think that it is always the case that a child’s views are an unfiltered version of their parents’ views. I don’t think there is evidence for or against her being influenced by her parents presented in the article.
    
    In any case, although I’m sure you don’t intend to disrespect the young girl, by saying this, it is a way to marginalize and dismiss what she said and what her concerns are.
    
    It sounds like she has observations that are not out of line with other people’s assessment of her school’s achievement levels. The fact that her essay made a critical point without attempting to soften the blow, really bothered her teachers.
    
    In the racial debate in this country, my observation is that people are convinced that intent to not be racist trumps any effect of what they do or don’t do. The student’s teachers probably don’t intend to be racist. The fact that the achievement levels are so low and the girl’s criticisms of specific teaching actions are the substance of her essay. The parallel that she draws between current causes of illiteracy and causes during slavery are an interesting point that could be discussed.
    
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Santana

March 18, 2012 at 8:57 am

I think the real issue is that she’s not speaking about one white person or just HER teachers that are white. She’s speaking about this corrupted system that is ran, written by, and geared towards the majority. Yes there are many factors that contribute to the system failing almost ALL of the american children, not just a particular race. But she’s right to vocalize what she thinks and it proves again that the SYSTEM won’t allow any person to speak freely and all her white teachers did is prove her right by beginning to fail her and not wanting to teach her. It proves that desegregation was probably not the best choice for America. The teachers are predominantly white and may have a hard time understanding their students as a whole and therefore no matter what the efforts may not be able to reach them in the best way. I think that she should write about white teachers because that’s ALL she knew in school!!! Are there teachers of other races that are not qualified for the job?? Sure. But they DON’T work in Rochester schools system. Freedom of speech is okay until you start talking about white folks. Shame on America. History is what it is, and it is OBVIOUSLY repeating itself.

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Marcia

March 26, 2012 at 7:28 am

This is true of most teachers since State Boards, politics, and money (not educators) took over in most states like Texas

Being a former teacher, we were trained to teach, not to have to teach to test made by “friends of politicians” to enjoy the money made on test. Classroom teachers are able to evaluate each child’s abilities.

This child know s only whitea teachers; this is true for teachers of all races. Politicians took teaching from all teachers. Communities are paying the price.

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