Employment Law Entry 2
Today in Business Law, we spent all most the entirety of class discussing a couple of articles. Both articles focused on racism. The first article presented was about African-American persons not being selected for jury duty. I don’t want to get into quoting statistics, simply because that’s often where I start losing focus, but Dr. B-A did cite a very interesting, yet sobering, study. A study was conducted by the state bar in Houston, Texas regarding race problems in the state legal system. The average sentence for raping a white woman is ten years. The same crime committed against a Hispanic woman carries only a five year sentence, while raping a black woman carries only an average two year sentence. The implication of the study shows that a white woman has greater value in the eyes of our legal system.
While not as sickening, the second article definitely caught my attention. Apparently, white parents of students in a certain school district in Texas have been transferring their children over to a different school district because of what they believe to be a better, safer learning environment. A problem has occurred in that so many of these parents have done so that the courts are refusing to allow anymore white students to transfer over to the allegedly superior school district because it upsets the racial mix. Now these parents are claiming reverse discrimination.
I don’t know how this transfer system works. Where I was raised, transferring school districts without moving isn’t an option. I grew up in the Brookwood school district, so I had to attend the Brookwood elementary school, middle school, and high school unless I went to a private school. There must be some loop holes, though. One of my classmates pointed out that in Georgia school districts, if 60% of the tax payers in a certain school district are of a certain race, then 60% of the students in that school district must be of that same race.
What’s so ironic is that schools are just as segregated now than they were before desegregation. According to Dr. B-A, desegregation is how suburbs developed in the 1960s. To fight desegregation, white people started congregating in certain areas. In effect, they opted to move to a place with a low minority demographic so their children wouldn’t have to attend the same schools with those minorities.
What bothers me so much about this issue is that the quality of public education is still divided over, if only indirectly through socio-economic status, racial lines. I wish all public schools could provide the same quality education, even if some taxes from wealthy district A were to go support schools in impoverished district B. No one should have reason to complain. I like to think I would hold to that belief regardless of circumstances. Granted, I grew up very sheltered by my parents. I’m sure my ideals could vanish in the face of the way things really are. My parents were a lot like those parents in Texas; they made it clear that they wanted me and my siblings in a predominately white, upper class school district. My sister was once a very liberal person, not that I mean to say one must be liberal to disdain discrimination. However, she was way over on that side of the political spectrum, meaning she held those equality values and then some. Now that she has kids of her own, she’s very adamant about wanting the same environment for them that our parents wanted for us. She’s kind of taken on the, “screw my old principles, I’m not gambling with my own kids’ futures as long as I have to resources not to.” I think some people just go a little nuts trying to “protect” their kids. At least, that’s what I think right now. I don’t condone what those parents in Texas are doing, but I can’t honestly condemn them without feeling a little hypocritical. Of course, in the end this kind of behavior probably shapes the kids for the worse. They grow up and start following their parents’ example at some point. It perpetuates the school segregation and teaches that raping a white woman is five times worse than raping a black woman.
While not as sickening, the second article definitely caught my attention. Apparently, white parents of students in a certain school district in Texas have been transferring their children over to a different school district because of what they believe to be a better, safer learning environment. A problem has occurred in that so many of these parents have done so that the courts are refusing to allow anymore white students to transfer over to the allegedly superior school district because it upsets the racial mix. Now these parents are claiming reverse discrimination.
I don’t know how this transfer system works. Where I was raised, transferring school districts without moving isn’t an option. I grew up in the Brookwood school district, so I had to attend the Brookwood elementary school, middle school, and high school unless I went to a private school. There must be some loop holes, though. One of my classmates pointed out that in Georgia school districts, if 60% of the tax payers in a certain school district are of a certain race, then 60% of the students in that school district must be of that same race.
What’s so ironic is that schools are just as segregated now than they were before desegregation. According to Dr. B-A, desegregation is how suburbs developed in the 1960s. To fight desegregation, white people started congregating in certain areas. In effect, they opted to move to a place with a low minority demographic so their children wouldn’t have to attend the same schools with those minorities.
What bothers me so much about this issue is that the quality of public education is still divided over, if only indirectly through socio-economic status, racial lines. I wish all public schools could provide the same quality education, even if some taxes from wealthy district A were to go support schools in impoverished district B. No one should have reason to complain. I like to think I would hold to that belief regardless of circumstances. Granted, I grew up very sheltered by my parents. I’m sure my ideals could vanish in the face of the way things really are. My parents were a lot like those parents in Texas; they made it clear that they wanted me and my siblings in a predominately white, upper class school district. My sister was once a very liberal person, not that I mean to say one must be liberal to disdain discrimination. However, she was way over on that side of the political spectrum, meaning she held those equality values and then some. Now that she has kids of her own, she’s very adamant about wanting the same environment for them that our parents wanted for us. She’s kind of taken on the, “screw my old principles, I’m not gambling with my own kids’ futures as long as I have to resources not to.” I think some people just go a little nuts trying to “protect” their kids. At least, that’s what I think right now. I don’t condone what those parents in Texas are doing, but I can’t honestly condemn them without feeling a little hypocritical. Of course, in the end this kind of behavior probably shapes the kids for the worse. They grow up and start following their parents’ example at some point. It perpetuates the school segregation and teaches that raping a white woman is five times worse than raping a black woman.