Issue Of The Week XXIII: Do We Need To Address Racism And Race Relations At The High School Level?

It is just crazy that racism in this form still exists. The youth is supposed to grow up sheltered from the past - so that they improve and move on without judgments held on to by those before them. I am not sure what kind of action should be taken in these situations. I do not necessarily think that the schools should be involved in the cases that have already occurred but the parents definitely should. I think that schools from an early age should be mindful to teach to children that all people are people. I don't think that they should necessarily point out color (because young kids don't "see" different colors unless they have been taught by their parents), I do think respect for others and for other cultures cannot hurt the world.

Personally, I feel that racism and race relations should be taught in the high school level. Racism exists throughout all parts of the world and has an effect in our daily lives such as the workplace, schools, athletic activities, etc. If racism was taught at the high school level, it may change the perceptions of countless people in the future. People have to remember that children are abused to racism early on in forms such as personal points of view, movies, advertisements, and so forth. It can make a difference to talk about this sensitive topic to our peers because we can understand different perspectives for how racism has hurt people's lives. By doing so, we can minimize how racism is used in our society for the forseeable future.

After watching the video of these two girls it just disgust me . That is why racism should be taught in school so students can learn at a young age about people and their culture instead of making assumptions and racial slurs about them. In my high school racism was an issue in my senior year . It was two races fighting against each other after an incident happened in class of a mexican boy calling another boy the "N" word. It was so sad to see how much hate people could have for each other just because they are a different race. I believe schools should take action in problems like these because their job is to provide education to students and racism should be apart of their learning. If school incoporated classes on racism in their education system students would be able to learn about their own race and others.

I do believe that bringing it up in school may make it a much more pressing issue in the eyes of the students and perhaps put things in a better perspective for them. It’s sad to think that this is still such a prevalent problem in the world today, and its even sadder that its an issue for the youth. And while I don’t know if this is a problem that will ever dissolve completely over time, we should do our best to reduce the negativity associated with it so the generations to come may become more accepting and understanding of others. If we are capable of doing this, we can began to grow, but I do think that delicacy in the matter needs to be stressed more than anything; I think that we need to make sure that if we are going to present this to the kids, careful planning must go into making sure that the message gets across while not causing a backlash of sorts. But if done correctly, maybe we can start on a road to acceptance and understanding.

I think anyone who makes a video like this, especially when they name "schoolmates in particular", should be punished from their school.

I understand we all have freedom of speech but this is just a form of hate speech and I don't feel like it should be protected... especially if it disrupts the school and causes fights.

These students need to be held accountable for their actions and they need to learn that this type of hateful behavior is not okay.

I feel the schools have a responsibility to take corrective action when these individuals' expressions of their First Amendment rights may very likely cause a dangerous situation. I think actions such as sensitivity training sessions (to show the real harm such racism causes) may pay dividends. I am reminded of my own six year old daughter who recently had a peer demand money from her at school. When confronted, the other child broke down after realizing her actions were hurtful. Is it possible these teens' reprehensible actions are partially due to an ignorance of just how harmful such hate speech is?

It seems like lately people are addressing negative issues towards specific races. I believe that there should be Intercultural Classes in High School so that individuals can see their own ethnocentrisms. If not, negative opinions make a disturbance on school premises. I do not know what kind of action should be taken on individuals who permit these negative comments, but I do think they should take intercultural classes. Of course, people only change when they help themselves. Everyone should just embrace every color so that peace can have a voice.

Schools should definitely be taking on the responsibility to inform these teens about racial issues at an earlier age than what is being taught now. They need to learn in school and learning about racism is very important. That way if they are lacking this understanding at home, or if they are being educated it can reinforce or teach them and help them become better people for it and improve our society.

This article touches a very personal chord with me because I am a black mother of a 14 year old black girl. The school she attends promotes this "colorblind" ideology and it has proven to be harmful to her, in particular as a black girl in a predominately white school. The insensitivity surrounding issues of race are not being adressed properly. On more than one occasssion my daughter has come home in tears because one of her peers has expressed to her a racially charged comment about her beauty and character.

Basically, a little boy said to her "I would never date a black girl because they are all dirty and ugly." Thankfully, my daughter has a sociologist for a mother,(up and coming anyway)and we discuss issues of race and inequality regularly in the home. Also, as a black mother I have tried my very best to equip my daughter with the necessary tools she needs to defend herself when she is inevitably faced with having to engage in such conversations.

In this instance, she was able to challenge his ideas in a thoughtful manner and said "I'm sure there are some dirty black girls out there, but there are dirty girls of all races and I'm black, do you think I'm dirty and ugly?" The little boy responded "No, but you're different". His response speaks to the harmful effects that "colorblind" ideologies can have. My daughter was trying to make a statement, that while she may be in a predominately white school and her friends are predominately white...she is BLACK! She wants to be recognized. She was appalled that this litle boy apparently did not "see" who he was making those racist comments to. She wants to be "seen", and for her beauty features to be acknowledged.

Of course, we live in a society where the European beauty standards reign supreme and all "others" are judged by this standard of beauty. My daughter is a beautiful black girl, but as a black girl her black features are the antithesis of what society deems as "beautiful". As a teenage girl, when hormones are raging and the need and the want to have attention from the boys is at an all time high, this binary between black and white beauty is extremely problematic for all black girls.

I think the goal should be to promote more multicultural training for teachers and administrators, get rid of the harmful "colorblind" ideologies and learn how to intervene when students make hurtful comments. Address stereotypes such as the one the little boy was alluding to "the jezebel", by stating "all black girls are dirty". Given the context of the conversation, which was about who is and is not acceptable to date (I gathered, and my daughter did as well) he meant "dirty" as a euphemism for being promiscous.

So, how did I address this issue with the school? As a responsible parent I called the assistant principal,gave her an overview of the situation and explained that this was not the first time that my daughter has been verbally assaulted by racist comments. The administrator's response was to single out this one student and reprimand him. Clearly, that is not the solution to this problem; it is systemic and there needs to be action from the top down.

So, I guess that is my next challenge. I am aware of the difficulties I will face in trying to shift the consciousness of an entire society. I am thankful to know that I am not alone in this struggle.

Just because something is a person's right doesn't make that particular thing right. Although these students are protected under the First Amendment, their actions can be deemed hate speech. It is despicable that in modern day, so many young people are perpetuating racism in society. It's unfortunate that the young men and women making these videos are the future leaders of America. How can the United States hope to prosper as a nation when there are individuals who are so blatantly racist? Schools have a duty and an obligation to teach students about racism. When problems outside of school are spilling in to an educational setting, I feel that parents and educators need to work cohesively to teach students about racism and the harsh implications it has on the lives of minorities.

I do think that race should be brought up in the high school level. This will help the student get an understanding of an individual that they did not know once before. It will provide the student with the idea of knowing other ethnicity. If the child's parent are not teaching their child the proper lessons about racism then the school needs to intervene and give them the right information so that they do not grow up with stereotypes and do not discriminate others.

After reading this article and viewing the video the two 14 year old girls posted my opinion changed regarding this topic. Initially I thought it would be crucial to implement lessons based on racist issues within high schools but especially after viewing the girls' video I don't know if lessons implemented in high school would have an impact. The opinions and thoughts the girls shared seemed so extreme, not at all reflecting the opinions of the county (I watched further news interviews based off this video). Therefore, this issue is not due to the community rather, it is a personal issue these girls have. In order to fix the racist issues we still have in our society, I think it is necessary to begin enforcing acceptance from an early age. If children grow up in a household, society, school system, etc. these racist issues would hopefully decrease.

This video was very disturbing, but at the same time I would have to say that punishing these kids would be inappropriate because of our freedom of speech. However, I do strongly believe that these girls probably represent a lot of the youth in schools currently. The issue of race and racism should definitely be talked about in school because kids nowadays should not be speaking like these girls in the video. Dividing the african american culture into subcultures like "ghetto", "educated", and the "n" word. Being african american is african american. Obviously these kids have identity issues in such a way that they need to fit into the "status quo". I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but these kids have no filter and there is definitely certain things you cannot say out loud or publicly. The longer I watch this video, the more I'm afraid for the youth and future. They are so caught up with themselves, so ethnocentric ... that they don't take the time to understand any other culture but their own.

I had no idea about the 2 girls posting those videos in florida, but after reading and thinking about it, i have not idea how people bring themselves to do that. The fact that people are still that racist today is sickening to me. Its one thing if you were brought up in the earlier years, like our grandparents years, or even our parents year. Then it was slightly acceptable, but now, its completely unacceptable.

As long as races exist racism will always be here. Our youth has grown up in a little less racists times from the past, but still racism is still prominant. I do believe racism should be addressed with the youth. Not only will it help take racism away but it will help our future generations be aware and learn about racism. Schools should be directly involved in this. Awareness is key to help stop this

The problem in society today is that racism still exists and it seems as though nothing can be done to stop it. The only way to stop it is for it to end on an individual level within the youth of society. The youth are almost brainwashed by others to think that it can be acceptable which then leads to there actions.

This country thrives on the fact we are supposed to be able to freely speak. As long as they are not physically hurting anything or breaking any sort of privacy laws, can we really stop them from speaking, no matter how hurtful it might be? I don't think so. Racism will always exist. We will all always have stereotypes, prejudices, perspectives. Do colors get the most of the beating? Yes. But let's think about it- whites will always thought to be prejudice. Stereotypes exist because they are true to an extent in someone else's eyes with something they have experienced.Therefore, I don't think anything will truly ever solve this problem. But I think we should study it. Being a psychology major, I think it would be interesting to study the demographics of this, We should try to study different part of the country, or maybe different types of areas to find where it seems most severe. I'm not trying to pin point racist areas, but I have seen information collected on obesity in America and where it's worse, and although it wouldn't be as much as a numerical study, I still think t would be interesting to try. It was intriguing to me that these students were from similar areas.

I am shocked and disgusted at the high school students placing nooses in trees. This is a clear indication that we must discuss race relations and racism at a young age. When young adults (or even young children) act out in this way, it is a clear cry for help that learned racism and discrimination must be countered by new ideals. Discrimination, in my opinion, is a product of fear of diversity. Children who act out racism should be taught that they should not turn away or be afraid of dissimilarities, but embrace them as that is what our world is made up of.

I believe we need to raise the awareness of race relations in schools period. People shouldn't have to wait until they get to college (assuming that they're going) to learn about their true ancestral history. People fail to realize that certain ideologies and beliefs are passed down from generation to generation. If people continue to sugarcoat history and tell it through a Eurocentric perspective, then more individuals such as these two girls will continue to post videos on what they believe. The idea of 'freedom of speech" is being abused. If two black girls were to do the same thing, not only would they be reprimanded twice as hard by the public but they'd probably be expelled from their school as well. Then you have to take into account where these girls are from. FLORIDA. This state is notorious for hate crimes and crimes committed against people of color. It's time to stop sugar coating race issues and get down to the core of why things are REALLY the way they are.

I believe we need to raise the awareness of race relations in schools period. People shouldn't have to wait until they get to college (assuming that they're going) to learn about their true ancestral history. People fail to realize that certain ideologies and beliefs are passed down from generation to generation. If people continue to sugarcoat history and tell it through a Eurocentric perspective, then more individuals such as these two girls will continue to post videos on what they believe. The idea of 'freedom of speech" is being abused. If two black girls were to do the same thing, not only would they be reprimanded twice as hard by the public but they'd probably be expelled from their school as well. Then you have to take into account where these girls are from. FLORIDA. This state is notorious for hate crimes and crimes committed against people of color. It's time to stop sugar coating race issues and get down to the core of why things are REALLY the way they are.

I believe we need to raise the awareness of race relations in schools period. People shouldn't have to wait until they get to college (assuming that they're going) to learn about their true ancestral history. People fail to realize that certain ideologies and beliefs are passed down from generation to generation. If people continue to sugarcoat history and tell it through a Eurocentric perspective, then more individuals such as these two girls will continue to post videos on what they believe. The idea of 'freedom of speech" is being abused. If two black girls were to do the same thing, not only would they be reprimanded twice as hard by the public but they'd probably be expelled from their school as well. Then you have to take into account where these girls are from. FLORIDA. This state is notorious for hate crimes and crimes committed against people of color. It's time to stop sugar coating race issues and get down to the core of why things are REALLY the way they are.

I believe we should start dealing with race relations as early as possible. By the time a person gets to college, their prejudices are already in place. How did any teenager think about hanging nooses? I can’t imagine what kind of conversations are taking place in their homes for them to even consider such actions. But, let’s face it; with the rise in bullying at not only high school, but also in middle school, dealing with all forms of racism is way past due. Recruitment for gang membership begins in early adolescence, so why can’t the time for teaching tolerance begin at the same time. I personally think even high school is too late. By the time kids get to middle school, a lot of their attitudes towards anyone different than themselves are already formed. Hopefully though, it is still early enough to change their mind on racial differences. The problem in this day and age is the use of social media and the speed at which these ugly rants can be seen. While the attorneys should be left to deal with any first amendment rights, I wonder, what do their parents think? As a parent, I would not care about their rights on whether or not they can legally say these things, I would ask them “What the heck were you thinking?” There is a reason the video was removed from the internet……..it’s just disgusting and wrong! How about some form punishment that includes working with minority kids? Turn this into a life lesson. Let these girls go out and explain to other kids how wrong they were to be so hateful. A class on social injustice should be a requirement for all students, let’s just make it before high school.