Starla Muhammad a Final call news staff Writer wrote a very strong editorial entitled Back to school or back

to hell? Why Americas education system continues failing Black students. (Final call 1/5) To compare School with Hell and claim that the School system is failing Black students is a heavy accusation to support, which she does very well. Muhammad starts the first paragraph with vivid descriptions of the schools conditions Faulty equipment, Fights in the hallways, overcrowded classrooms, failing grades, security guards, scarce resources and high suspension rates. She goes on to say that This is not the description of a school in some Third World, war torn country. It is the unfortunate yet glaring reality facing thousands of Black, Latino, and poor children in the United States educational system. This sets the tone right off giving the reader vision into the public school setting, pulling you into the situation first hand. Ms. Muhammad presents statistics to show the gap between black and white students. She says according to the Schott 50 state report on Public Education 47% of black males graduate from high school verses 78% of white males. Data collected in 2009-2010 by the U.S. Department of Educations office of Civil Rights, Says that black student were three and half times more likely to be suspended or expelled than White students and 70% of students involved in school related arrests or referred to law enforcement were Black and Latino. One in five Black boys and one in 10 Black girls received an out of school suspension according to Department data. Blacks students are less likely to have access to college preparatory classes but are quick to be ushered into special education classes. Black and Latino schools are grossly underfunded compared to majority white schools. She goes on to say that Reports and studies are released year after year, with the same results; Black children are falling further and further behind as collateral damage, victims of an educational system that is failing them. Thus giving the reader a thorough overview of the overall outcome of the American public school curriculum. The writer interviews Chike Akua the Executive Director of the Teacher Transformation Institute and author of Education for Transformation: The keys to Releasing the Genius of African American Students; He is a former teacher of the year and currently develops African centered curriculum for schools and travels the country teaching and training teachers and administrators. Mr. Akua says Educational research has demonstrated that the real purpose of public education is to reproduce current power relations. So if Blacks and Latinos are disempowered, the current system is set up to perpetuate this disempowerment. By presenting this case she lays the basis for the need for a solution to this problem. She mentions that the Nation of Islam seen the deficiencies in the 1930-40s and pulled their children out of the public schools and established their own schools (Muhammads University of Islam) a God centered Practical curriculum to train students to be productive and develop future leaders. She goes on to say that today more and more of black parents are pulling their children out of public schools to Home school them providing a culturally rounded education. The Writer says that the students left behind in cities like Chicago, where a teachers strike is looming or in Lauderdale county, Miss. where the Department of Justice accused officials of running a school to prison pipeline, serious problem remain.