Anthony P. Carnevale is a research professor and the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
The U. S. Department of Education’s practice of counting Hispanics of all races as singularly Hispanic blurs our understanding of socially significant differences. This policy is most harmful to black Hispanics because of the unique persistence of discrimination and disadvantage among African Americans.
This conflation of race and ethnicity inevitably distorts the diagnosis of the unique educational problems of black Hispanics—or, worse yet, averages them into obsolescence. This is particularly harmful because false or partial diagnosis of any problem inevitably produces less effective policy responses.
As much as we would all like to believe that we have put race behind us, the evidence clearly shows that race still matters. I come to this conclusion reluctantly. While I was vice president of the Educational Testing Service, we spent a substantial amount of time and money trying to find a class-based substitute for race-based affirmative action. However, as much we tortured the data, it would not confess that the educational opportunity problem was about economic class or language barriers rather than race.
Our research since then at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce continues to show that being Black still has independent and powerful negative effects on educational opportunity, quite separate from language and class barriers.
This policy has another unintended consequence. By counting both white and black Hispanics to be simply Hispanic, the Department is implicitly making Hispanic ethnicity into a race.
The resolution of this bureaucratic hiccup is relatively simple. Local educational institutions collect data on both the race and ethnicity of students, and the data reported should be as nuanced as the data collected.
Emma Woodward: I find it saddening that this whole article is basically a discussion on what ethnicity or race is worse. Educational figure heads should work on making race a non-issue in schools. Academic achievement should be solely based off of an individual achievement. As for the racial grouping, people should not be pigeon holed into an ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteThis article is upsetting. While many think that society has come a long way in improving racism, this article proves that racism is still quite evident, even in places such as schools which are supposed to promote equality. There are distinct and clear differences between race and ethnicity, which are incredibly important to helping to describe who someone is. Ethnicity is about tradition, learned behavior and customs. Race is your biologically engineered features, such as skin color, eye color, and hair color. By calling both white Hispanics and black Hispanics simply Hispanic is denying part of their identity and is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree with emma. I think it's silly to say that just because a person belongs to such and such race they do poorly in school. As much as people, being people, want to find a specific reason for why something is there just isn't always a simple answer. And in the case of why some 'races' do worse than others you cannot just pin the problem on race. I know I wouldn't like being a smart, hardworking African American who does anything and everything possible to do well in school, but then be grouped into the category of the worst academics simply because of my race. I would like to be looked at as an individual, not grouped with an entire race.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people should be looked at as individuals and not grouped into certain categories solely because of their race. Educational achievments and any achievments or things done in life should be looked at individually and not pre-determined because of race or ethnicity. I also agree that it is not fair that Hispanics are being placed into one category, when there are numerous mixtures of Hispanics. This is again going to make individuals choose one of their races, which will remain the race that they identify with themselves, even though that is not their only one.
ReplyDeleteI think that this article was, sadly, not surprising. Even though many people like to believe racism is not a problem in our country today, it is still dominant. Even though there are laws forbidding anyone to be turned down because of race, these laws have not stopped people from doing just that. Not only is it insulting that all Hispanic men and women are looked poorly upon, there is such a variety of cultures within this Hispanic generalization that probably offends everyone who is generalized within it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emma Woodward; it is horrible that the main idea of the entire article is whether being considered a Hispanic or a black is worse. Not once does the article propose a way to solve the problem of being forced to pick a single race. The author focused on the negative aspects of both races. Along with what Olivia commented, it is unfair to assume that being part of a particular race affects a child's education. Children of every race should be given equal opportunities in school, and not be judged by the color of their skin or the way they speak.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Holly; a person's accomplishments should not be based on their skin color or any kind of heritage, it should be based on honor, skill and merit. Especially in schools today, because the ideals that children learn in schools they will most likely continue to practice into adulthood. Educators should strive to instill the right values into children young, so we can hopefully try to diminish the effects of racial profiling.
ReplyDeleteThis article personally disturbed me. We live in a society that is no longer segregated and preaches equality, but in reality it's still very evident. People have ethnicity and race. Ethnicity is based on traditions while race is our external features. Unfortunately all people are seeing is the race of people. In this article it discusses is it worse to be Hispanic or black. Instead of having to choose ideally everyone should be treated equally and given the same chances.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peyton that there are still forms of segregation in the U.S., but people just don't admit it. The whole purpose of making racial designations on school forms is to try to fix any lingering racial inequalities in the education system, but instead, people have gotten so caught up in the racial categories and who fits in them that the idea of improving education was lost in the political name-game.
ReplyDeleteEmma Woodward responding to Bess's comment: Ethnicity and race are completly different facets of a person, I agree. Accept I do think that it could be socially acceptable to categorize people by ethnicity rather then race, as people are doing with Hispanics, or more specifically Latinos, because this way criteria for classification are broader and more detailed.
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad to think that race still matters to people so much in our world today. With so much diversity in the world it is hard to believe that people still judge people based on the color of their skin or the accent they speak with. It appears that Hispanics, especially black Hispanics, are facing the same problem as multiracial people, they are all put together in one category which makes it very difficult to track the specific problems they are facing in today’s society. The educational system needs to do a better job of accurately depicting people and base their information not entirely on the color of someone’s skin but include their ethnic background as well. With a simple resolution apparently available I do not understand why the educational system does not collect the data in a fashion that will show the entire picture of who an individual actually is. Another aspect of the article hints that people are also discriminated against because of their economic class. The educational system needs to focus on how they can effectively make sure all people, no matter of social differences, receive an education where they are not discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteThis article supports the opinion that racism still exists in society. Although society talks about racial equality and no discrimination, there are still incidences of racism occuring. Although it has become more subtle and people will no openly discrimination they have found other ways to try and promote the idea that "whites are the superior race". classifying Hispanics by themselves when they are also mixes of white and black is not acceptable. This puts them at a disadvantage in the school system. Although it may never be truly equal powerful people need to try and give all students an equal opportunity in education.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very eye-opening; many seem to think that racism has come a long way but this article proves that in reality race issues are still a big part of America. This article proves how subtle the racism is today, it does show that it still exists. It shows, discreetly, how schools try to say "white race is better" without saying it. This article allows us to see how schools are trying to classify Hispanics without acknowledging that they are a mixed race, just assuming they are a race by themselves. By trying to generalize the Hispanic ethnicity puts them at a disadvantage in the school system. This article makes it very apparent that racism will always be prevalent even if it is not obvious.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shannan, because we like to believe that racism isn't a big deal, but sadly it is still a big deal. We know that laws make it illegal to be discriminated against but Shannan is right, that doesn't stop people or organizations from being racists.
ReplyDeleteThe findings of the university were quite interesting. Often, when trends are found with races in relation to occupational and educational opportunities, the explanation is given that these trends only exist because the majority of that race lives in areas where good opportunity is hard to come by. The findings completely disproved this as the trends appeared even when the race was in a good position to succeed. This further proves how race plays a key factor in determining the success of an individual in live. Racism is still prevalent despite the progress that has been made.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bess. Race and ethnicity are two very different things and it is a shame that the two are intermingled in a negative manner. This occurs often in schools. their ethnicity determines the culture. Race determines your DNA makeup. Data should be based on the DNA not the customs.
ReplyDeleteThis article shows that racism is still present if our society, especially in schools. It is sad to think that the one place where race or ethnicity should play no part is where racism is continuing to persevere. Also, classifying people who are party Hispanic as entirely Hispanic is wrong. By classifying someone as Hispanic who also classifies their self as another race, they are being denied their true identity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Claire. Racism is still alive and well today. Especially in schools, children can be the most cruel humans on the planet. Only knowing what they have been brought up around and expressing their views in immature ways. There has to be a different way of explaining cultures beginning at home than in the youngest form of education like pre school.
ReplyDeletei agree with emma woodward when she says "Academic achievement should be solely based off of an individual achievement," as a young student you are more vulnerable to being hurt by racism especially in school. Like Bess said, they should promote equality because they are molding us into being adults. This is raising our generation to also be racist; when it should be the complete opposite.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam's comment about how, "the educational system needs to focus on how they can effectively make sure all people, no matter of social differences, receive an education where they are not discriminated against." Since when does how much money a family make and what your heritage is effect how you learn to read or how you are taught to do math. I think way too much time is spent on race and "what you look like" and not enough time on the point of these tests which are to see if the students are learning enough. These check boxes are teaching kids it is okay to label a person just on how they look and that is moving us back so many years in the civil rights movement. I also liked how Sam said she would prefer the education system to look at the whole person and to "collect the data in a fashion that will show the entire picture of who an individual actually is." My suggestion for this system? No check boxes. If they need to know what race the students are, have them write it in their own words. I think that would be the most interesting. Perhaps over the years people would change from writing "irish" to "white" and "brazilian" to just "hispanic" as the children get socialized to see themselves as they are told to.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to think that schools still have racism. It should be the one place where every child feels safe; like their second home. These kids are not just "Hispanic" and should not be seen as that. The fact that someone is White, Hispanic, or Black should not be the basis for whether that child gets into a particular school or not. All children should have equal opportunity no matter their color.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam, our world is so diverse that one would think racism would have ended by now. "The educational system needs to focus on how they can effectively make sure all people, no matter of social differences, receive an education where they are not discriminated against." It should not matter what these children's backgrounds of ethnicity are but yet what they can bring to the school grade wise. They just might be missing out on some amazing students by judging by their covers.
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