BLACK STUDENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO FACE REMOTE LEARNING CHALLENGES
Distance learning has been tough on everybody, including parents, teachers, and students. For most students, remote learning has become the new normal. The pandemic has shown us that our education system desperately needs to be reformed and magnifies the racial and socioeconomic inequalities in today’s society.
Many black students lack the proper tools and resources to be successful in a remote environment. Black, Hispanic, and Asian students are, on average, more likely to live in a “remote-only” school district than white students, according to Brookings. Without proper procedures being executed, the online learning gap could continue to increase by race.
The black community suffers from common household learning barriers, such as living in crowded conditions and limited internet access. Numerous black families don’t have an adult in the house that have a completed high school education. Countless black children look forward to going to school for a sense of structure and two free meals they can’t get at home. Continued distance learning raises risks they will fall behind by several months compared to their peers who are back to learning in the classroom.
The generational trauma caused by 300 years of slavery combined with systematic oppression has led to higher poverty rates, unemployment, adverse health outcomes, and many other issues that still affect the black community in 2020. We often forget that black people were educated in segregated schools funded at rates ten times lower, if not more, than the white education systems. Blacks were excluded from higher education entirely, hence establishing historically black colleges to cater to blacks’ educational needs.
We must create pathways for all children to excel during this challenging time.
