The answer is simply this: everything. Though police brutality has just in the past few years become such a hot debate, the black people versus white people in the media has not. Because of the way they are shown by news outlets, the public can very easily come to the racist and wrong opinion that black people have far more behavioral problems than white people do. So, when it comes to referring students for special education, those same inferences of who is more dangerous can come into play. If the media tends to criminalize black people and victimize white people, that is how the public will begin to see them. These inferences become stereotypes. When there are stereotypes about a certain type of person being dangerous, then at the first sign of trouble, a teacher will be more likely to work to get that student removed from his or her class. When this happens, suddenly there is an influx of black students in special education who do not belong there, and because of the typically lower standards that are held for students with IEPs, the students who should not be in there are no longer able to reach their full potential. Along with that, oftentimes special education students develop a learned helplessness which directly contributes to the poverty cycle, which will then be used as an excuse as to why those black students suddenly do belong in the separate classroom, or at least should be handled by someone who is considered more
The answer is simply this: everything. Though police brutality has just in the past few years become such a hot debate, the black people versus white people in the media has not. Because of the way they are shown by news outlets, the public can very easily come to the racist and wrong opinion that black people have far more behavioral problems than white people do. So, when it comes to referring students for special education, those same inferences of who is more dangerous can come into play. If the media tends to criminalize black people and victimize white people, that is how the public will begin to see them. These inferences become stereotypes. When there are stereotypes about a certain type of person being dangerous, then at the first sign of trouble, a teacher will be more likely to work to get that student removed from his or her class. When this happens, suddenly there is an influx of black students in special education who do not belong there, and because of the typically lower standards that are held for students with IEPs, the students who should not be in there are no longer able to reach their full potential. Along with that, oftentimes special education students develop a learned helplessness which directly contributes to the poverty cycle, which will then be used as an excuse as to why those black students suddenly do belong in the separate classroom, or at least should be handled by someone who is considered more