The burden of inequity — and what schools can do about it

Black students may have little choice in what social burdens they must bear, but educators have a choice in alleviating them.

It was my turn to sit in the principal’s office. Not as a student, but as a parent. My rambunctious young son had once again been removed from his 6th-grade classroom — this time for crawling on the floor.

The principal, a stout older woman, curled into her chair and carefully leaned forward before she struck. “Your son needs to return to the school in his neighborhood. He is a troublemaker. He’ll likely just end up in jail anyway,” she said.