Across the nation, teachers are feeling less and less safe in their own classrooms. In a recent survey, 14 percent of teachers reported that they faced physical violence from students, and one in three reported verbal threats or attacks.
Social media is filled daily with the latest videos of classrooms that have dissolved into a level of anarchy more fitting of a prison riot than a learning environment. This sad situation is a major reason that nearly half of teachers reported a desire to leave their profession or switch schools.
Any federal intervention in education ought to be laser-focused on solving this serious problem. But new policies from the Biden administration’s Departments of Education and Justice will only serve to exacerbate it.
In a new “Dear Colleague” letter, the administration said that data shows racial disparities in disciplinary rates for African American and Hispanic students. According to the letter, school districts where such disparities exist face investigation by the federal government — and thus a veiled threat of sanctions.
Such a move from the federal government is not new. The Obama administration released a similar Dear Colleague letter. Secretary Betsy DeVos later removed the letter during the Trump administration, but, like the villain in an ’80s slasher flick, it has once again risen from the dead under President Joe Biden.
If racial discrimination truly exists in American public schools, it should be rooted out. But all the evidence gathered during former President Barack Obama’s tenure suggests it does not, and that loosening disciplinary rules hurts the students it
