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Lillian Allen

Dr. Ortega

ENC2135

2 October, 2023

Old School to New School: The Legacy of Bias in the Education System

Personal success begins in the classroom. From learning phonetics to understanding how

to mediate conflicts, the education system is where the fundamental blocks of one’s intellectual

and moral values begin to form. Schools are institutions that “provide a context or moral space

for youth to develop their identity” (Farmer). In such a critical environment, one would expect an

unbiased and comprehensive approach to be the norm. However, the foundations of our

education system are built upon historical transgressions and prevalent biases against minority

groups: Jim Crow laws designed to prevent African Americans from gaining educational

experience, the forced assimilation of Native American children into white society, and

legislation prohibiting Chinese and Latino students from attending school. Although racism and

bias may not exist as overtly as they did years ago, their stain on our institutions continues to

deprive minorities of equal treatment in the most basic of places. These structural issues

prevalent in our society have prevented many minority groups from receiving an equitable

education, trapping them in cycles of poverty and keeping them from receiving opportunities

others may be accustomed to. Racial biases in American education and bureaucratic systems

have led to instructional inequities, furthering the current deficit in educational proficiency.

Historical textbooks dictate that the 13th Amendment was ratified and accepted

throughout the United States in 1865 – 158 years ago. However, Mississippi ratified the

Amendment in 2013. When concerned with racial equality, the American bureaucratic system
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often moves with a purposeful deliberateness. Jim Crow laws, mandated in 1877, established a

multitude of racially charged laws designed to prevent the socio-economic advancement of

African Americans. These laws manifested in various forms, ranging from anti-vagrancy laws to

segregation and exclusion from public spaces and institutions. Though gradually phased out,

these laws gave birth to doctrines and practices that continue to negatively influence our

education system. The Separate but Equal doctrine, outlining the forced segregation of African

Americans, often prevented African Americans from attending places of higher education.

Various white Southern states implemented programs intended to forcibly remove African

Americans from their community – Missouri attempted to send African Americans to other states

to attend universities (Anderson). Although this doctrine was overturned by Brown v. Board of

Education, the trend of segregation and inequitable treatment persisted throughout both periods.

Following the ruling of Brown v. Board, African-American students still “had difficulties

finding schools in their districts or they were forced into schools that did not meet proper

standards” (Lynch). Government funding consistently favored white schools, leaving black

schools under “constant threat of closure” and without adequate resources to facilitate an

effective learning environment (Lynch). The integration of schools through the Brown v. Board

of Education ruling, “was significant in terms of starting the long process of desegregation in

public schools and, arguably, setting off the civil rights movement” However, the forced

assimilation of black students into predominantly white institutions led to largely unexplored

consequences (ABA). For example, Black teachers were put out of jobs – as white parents

complained about their children being taught by a person of color – and were subsequently

replaced with white, middle-class educators. The cultural divide present at the time led to

inequities, as white educators “did not necessarily understand the students of color in the
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classroom” (ABA). Though it may appear, through legislative and community efforts, that

racism and bias have disappeared from our education system, their effects remain largely the

same. Black children are seen to receive less accommodation for disabilities and are often

overlooked for admission into gifted programs (Quinn). Racial bias and class differences

continue to dictate educational opportunities in schools, altering classroom quality and enforcing

stereotypes.

Modern-day bias exists as “a silver cord woven through cloth” (Scialabba). Its subtlety

and innate nature make it harder to detect, and rectify when compared to the overtness of racial

aggression of the past. Implicit bias exists in everyone and is primarily shaped by exposure to

environmental and societal factors. Our society still holds misconceptions concerning physical

and mental anatomy, medicine, and its effects on minorities. These fallacies trickle through and

perpetuate biases that adversely affect class settings. Many schoolchildren will go years without

reading textbooks containing diagrams that resemble themselves, and many more will receive

skewed interpretations of historical events. To this day, schools predominantly populated by

minorities receive significantly less funding than their white counterparts. In addition, minorities

are disproportionately concentrated in poorly funded and low-performing districts. (TCF)

Minorities face discrimination and misrepresentation in an environment where “emotive

discovery, socio‐cultural formation and cognitive development take place,” taking away

opportunities and reinforcing stereotypes (Farmer).

A contributing factor to the instructional inequities minorities face in the education

system is the adultification of POC children, specifically African Americans. Black children as

young as nine are vilified by law enforcement and civilian bystanders for knocking on doors or

playing out on lawns. This trend has continued throughout American history – black children
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have been treated as “expendable, an enslaved workforce, a nuisance, or a menace” (CPE). The

adultification and criminalization of POC children dually lead to the school-to-prison complex, a

phenomenon that implicates and traps young minorities in the criminal justice system.

Oftentimes, minorities also face an abundance of over-policing and experience the

criminalization of their educational environment. This refers to “a combination of reactive

disciplinary policies, surveillance, metal detectors, unwarranted searching and lockdowns that

reflect the contemporary criminal justice system within the school environment” that are

disproportionately applied to minority populations. (Farmer). Black students are 3.5 times as

likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers, and disciplinary actions that increase

the likelihood of dropping out – court referrals, suspensions, and expulsions – are commonly

applied to minority groups. These disciplinary practices deprive minorities of educational

advancement, leading them to experience difficulties gaining employment, building credit,

qualifying for public assistance, and securing housing. Students charged with felonies are forced

into even greater socio-economic positions, potentially losing their right to vote, work and

receive financial aid (SOD). The amalgamation of racial misconceptions and bias also negatively

affects the people most directly responsible for a student’s mental development, educators.

Educators play an immeasurable role in the formation of a student’s moral and

intellectual values. With students in critical developmental stages spending more than thirty-five

hours a week with a teacher, teachers must operate with as much equity as possible. However, 77

percent of teachers express pro-white/anti-black implicit bias, while 30 percent of teachers

express explicit pro-white/anti-black bias (Brookings). These biases lead to “lower expectations

of students, worse instruction quality and pedagogical choices, and less concern for fostering

mutually respectful classroom environments” (Brookings). Studies have shown that teachers will
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grade essays from white students more harshly than they will from black students. The subtle

behaviors and practices birthed from implicit and explicit bias influence academic performance

as well as behavior. Counties where teachers display higher levels of bias also display lower

median test scores for minority students. Disciplinary actions, including in-school suspensions,

also suffer from large discrepancies between races. The two factors correlate – with bias levels

and disciplinary rates rising in tandem.

Teacher and non-teacher populations have comparable levels of implicit and explicit bias,

and upwards of 90 percent of American citizens admit to having some level of racial prejudice

(Schwartz). Even when confronted with statistical or anecdotal evidence of the biases present in

our democracy, a startlingly large proportion of Americans still harbor predilections towards

dismissiveness. This culture of avoidance is harmful and negatively influences the policy making

necessary to improve discriminatory practices in the education system. Recently, Governor Ron

DeSantis implemented several restrictive laws concerning what can be taught in Florida

classrooms. An example of this is the Individual Freedom Act – a legislative bill that bars

teachers from teaching lessons that would incite feelings of “guilt, anguish, or any other form of

psychological distress” (Politico). Lessons on critical race theory, white supremacy, and the

historical truths of slavery are omitted and replaced in favor of more palatable and biased

interpretations.

Through a coalescence of factors, racial bias has maintained a firm grip on the

educational system of today. Stereotypical notions concerning behavioral and intellectual

characteristics, bureaucratic indifference, lack of accountability, and historical inequities that

have yet to be remedied or acknowledged, all contribute to the pervasive and present nature of

inequitable education. Minority students are those inordinately affected by these biases, and the
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experiences they face in school environments hinder their academic and moral development.

Bureaucratic and educational institutions must first acknowledge the deficits present before

attempting to remedy the issue. This issue must take center stage, as the education children

receive dictates not only their success but the collective success of larger communities.
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