Institutional Racism
Institutional racism is the collective failure of an institution or organization to provide an appropriate service to individuals because of their ethnic origin, colour or even culture. It can be witnessed in behavior and procedures, which amount to discrimination through, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping of minority ethnic groups that subject them to a disadvantage. Institutional racism may reside in a country’s policies and operations reinforcing individual prejudices and being reinforced by them in turn (Hill 9).
Historically, the barring of African-American and Caucatian immigrant students from joining certain public schools disadvantaged the students' educational opportunities and prevented them from achieving a status equal to that of others. What is being described as achievement gap in the education system is a clear example of institutional racism. There are a group of students mostly who wake and take a good breakfast before heading to well-equipped schools with highly motivated teachers. These students are likely going to enjoy their education and smoothly proceed to college. On the other side, there are caucatian and black students who have no computers, fight with thugs along the way to school and rely on school lunch as the only meal of the day.
Any effort to make this state an equal opportunities state should address educational policies to level the playing field for the minority African Americans and Caucatians. Giving equal opportunities to every child from their basic education to the highest level will rid this state off any racial prejudices. School vouchers as is being pushed by some policy makers may not be the best approach as it comes with its own challenges.
Works Cited
Hill H. Jane. Willey Blackwell,Marden MA. The every language of white racism. 2008.
