Education Secretary Arne Duncan Says Some Public Schools Discriminate
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks with high school student D'Wan Lewis before making a speech stressing civil rights at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. (Jamie Martin/AP Photo)(CNSNews.com) – In a speech commemorating the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” civil rights protest in Selma, Ala., Education Secretary Arne Duncan referred to certain failing public schools in America as “dropout factories” and places that “seem to suspend and discipline only young African-American boys.”
“The achievement gap in our country is shameful,” Duncan said on Monday. He said some public schools are discriminating against students because of their race, gender, or disability by limiting their access to advanced and college preparatory classes. “Fifty-six years after Brown v. Board of Education, 45 years after Bloody Sunday, the achievement gap is still a cancer that imperils our national progress.”
“America’s school children cannot wait six years, or eight years, for pervasive educational inequities to fade,” Duncan said.
The National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers’ union, issued a statement supporting the Obama administration's push to make sure schools are adhering to Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is overseen by the Education Department.
“NEA applauds the Department of Education’s decision to step up the enforcement of civil rights laws in education to ensure that school districts across the country know their responsibilities to fairness and equal opportunity,” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said in a statement.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks with high school student D'Wan Lewis before making a speech stressing civil rights at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. (Jamie Martin/AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – In a speech commemorating the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” civil rights protest in Selma, Ala., Education Secretary Arne Duncan referred to certain failing public schools in America as “dropout factories” and places that “seem to suspend and discipline only young African-American boys.”
“The achievement gap in our country is shameful,” Duncan said on Monday. He said some public schools are discriminating against students because of their race, gender, or disability by limiting their access to advanced and college preparatory classes. “Fifty-six years after Brown v. Board of Education, 45 years after Bloody Sunday, the achievement gap is still a cancer that imperils our national progress.”
“America’s school children cannot wait six years, or eight years, for pervasive educational inequities to fade,” Duncan said.
The National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers’ union, issued a statement supporting the Obama administration's push to make sure schools are adhering to Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is overseen by the Education Department.
“NEA applauds the Department of Education’s decision to step up the enforcement of civil rights laws in education to ensure that school districts across the country know their responsibilities to fairness and equal opportunity,” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said in a statement.
“The achievement gap in our country is shameful,” Duncan said on Monday. He said some public schools are discriminating against students because of their race, gender, or disability by limiting their access to advanced and college preparatory classes. “Fifty-six years after Brown v. Board of Education, 45 years after Bloody Sunday, the achievement gap is still a cancer that imperils our national progress.”
“America’s school children cannot wait six years, or eight years, for pervasive educational inequities to fade,” Duncan said.
The National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teachers’ union, issued a statement supporting the Obama administration's push to make sure schools are adhering to Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is overseen by the Education Department.
“NEA applauds the Department of Education’s decision to step up the enforcement of civil rights laws in education to ensure that school districts across the country know their responsibilities to fairness and equal opportunity,” NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said in a statement.
