Students from poor and minority communities suffer worse educational outcomes for several reasons. Firstly, poor parents are less likely to afford to pay for activities that would enhance their children’s academic or extracurricular performance. For instance, they may not afford tutors, extra lessons, art, and music classes. Secondly, children from poor backgrounds have more social, health, and emotional problems than those from rich backgrounds. These problems interfere with their learning, leading to subpar performance. Thirdly, children from minority communities receive harsher punishments for misconduct. For example, Black students are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than white students. Lastly, minority students perform poorer in schools because their teachers do not have high expectations for them. Teachers’ expectations influence the quality of feedback given to students. Low expectations result in inadequate or poor feedback, which negatively affects students’ performance. In general, both race and class significantly impact academic performance.
The Texas Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) restricts teachers from discussing controversial issues related to social affairs. In particular, the bill seeks to limit the teaching of the critical race theory and gender inequality (Lopez, 2021). SB 3 has caused controversy because some people believe that it is imperative to teach children about race and gender, while others argue that such classroom discussions will increase the divide between people of different races and genders (Lopez, 2021). Bills such as Texas SB 3 could prevent instructors from discussing how deep-rooted slavery was and how racism persists today. It may also bar students from learning about the contributions of Black people and how these contributions have been erased over the years. I think Texas SB 3 will whitewash history and limit what students learn about Black people’s contribution to American history. The bill should be repealed to allow teachers to hold insightful discussions regarding issues such as discrimination, slavery, and inequality.
Reference
Lopez, B. (2021). Republican bill that limits how race, slavery and history are taught in Texas schools becomes law. The Texas Tribune. Web.