Soft Bigotry? More Like the Bold Bludgeoning Bigotry of Low Expectations

“The soft bigotry of low expectations” is actually a contradiction of terms. There is nothing soft about the harsh consequences that low expectations create. With low expectations in school come underachievement. With underachievement comes underemployment. With underemployment often comes poverty. With poverty often comes greater exposure to crime and violence. With crime and violence often comes incarceration and sometimes death.

There are profitable multi-million dollar corporations that use third grade reading scores to determine the number of prison beds to construct. Why would corporations do that? Because those reading scores help predict the numbers of future adults that will end up in our prison system. Soft? Ain’t nothing soft about under or unemployment. Ain’t nothing soft about poverty. Ain’t nothing soft about, crime, violence, incarceration, and death.

In my almost two decades in education, it's the bold bludgeoning bigotry of low expectations that presents the biggest obstacle to the achievement of black and brown children. If you don’t in your heart believe that little black Ronnie is capable of getting an A, you will celebrate and settle for his D or C. When you believe that brown skinned Naveah is actually incapable of grasping the concepts of trigonometry, you’ll work with her just to pass Geometry and encourage her to focus on careers that don’t require higher level math. When you believe that ebony Mike is violent in his heart, you’ll give him rewards to just sit in the class and keep his hands to himself without getting him to dissect the poetry and prose that could illuminate his future. When you don’t expect greatness from your children, you will allow schools where only 5% of the kids can read. In an average school of 300, that means only 15 kids can read, while 285 children cannot. Some of the highest performing public schools in the city only have about half of the children reading, writing, and doing basic math on grade level. And this level of achievement is lauded, while half of the students languish. Bold. Bludgeoning. Bigotry.

We expect greatness from every child at Ali Academy, and every school district, every teacher, every parent, and every child, should expect the same.