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Cai, Xiaojie (Jenna)

ESL 33B

Dr. Carlisi

12 June 2018

Thesis Statement

Since some parents and teachers overlook the negative impact of discrimination on African

American children, it is crucial for them to help manage these children's emotions, a role which

plays a key guiding function in the healthy growth of children.

Detailed Outline

I. Introduction

A. Racism impacts African American children in America.

1. “It is no secret that life is more challenging for African American children

than for other American children” (Bowman 4).

2. Parents and teachers are the main caregivers for children because they teach

children the knowledge, emotional experience and interactions that lay the

foundation for the child’s future personal achievements and provide support

for other areas of development (Darling-Churchill and Lippman 2).

3. On the contrary, children with better self-control (self-regulation) are more

probably to have better physical health (e.g. stronger self-confidence, less

criminal beliefs) (Darling-Churchill and Lippman 2).

B. Thesis: Since some parents and teachers overlook the negative impact of

discrimination on African American children, it is crucial for them to help manage

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these children's emotions, a role which plays a key guiding function in the healthy

growth of children.

II. African American children’s lack of emotional management leads to diverse issues.

A. Many parents do not value the negative impact of discrimination in African American

children.

1. Black parents teaching their children with the "tough love" method may cause

more harm (Meadows-Fernandez 2).

2. Lack of communication about race between parents and children may

undermine the emotional health of African American children (Neblett et al.

507).

3. African American children who suffer from racial discrimination tend to have

a negative impact on their own ethnic groups, become more self-conscious

and low self-esteem symptoms (Rollins 214).

B. Many teachers may not have noticed the negative views of African American children

being discriminated against.

1. Failure to establish a safe and trustful relationship with the teacher may lead

to communication and emotional management problems that may arise when a

positive relationship with peers are set up in the later period (Darling-

Churchill and Lippman 2).

2. Inadequate early teacher intervention can lead to children's late dropout or

suspension of schooling (Herbert Williams 133).

3. Without teachers’ help, it will continue to extend the problems to the inherent

risks of children's age, such as anxiety and depression, which will also have a
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negative impact on children’s later academic achievement (Darling-Churchill

and Lippman 2-5).

III. Parents and teachers should help African American children regulate their emotions

in the face of discrimination.

A. The first way that parents can help African American children to regulate their

emotions in the face of discrimination is to use positive attitude to ethnicity.

1. Parents can teach children more about their ethnicity because enhancing

ethnic knowledge can help children deepen their understanding of ethnic

prejudices (Spears Brown and Bigler 549).

2. Parents holding more active group attitudes and cognitions also promote

children’s awareness and improvement of discrimination (Spears Brown and

Bigler 549).

B. The second way that parents and teachers can help African American children to

regulate their emotions in the face of discrimination is to use emotional socialization.

1. Parents are the earliest source of children's perception of racial attitudes.

a. Emotional socialization can be one of the strategies used by African

American parents to protect their children from prejudice because it

allows children to prepare for overcoming racism (Dunbar et al. 17).

b. If parents provide supportive responses to children's negative

emotions, such as expressing encouragement and comforting

comfortable speaking styles, this allows children to accept and manage

their negative emotions to promote emotional health (Dunbar et al.17).

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2. Teachers are key explorers of student emotions, social and behavioral

development.

a. Teachers' emotional socialization support is related to student

development because teachers can promote the positive connection

between children's social and emotional abilities and their academic

performance (Humphries et al. 313).

b. Teachers' emotions and teaching support ease the risk of children's

academic failure because they can create a classroom atmosphere to

infect and support children's emotional and social development

(Humphries et al. 313).

C. The third way that teachers can help African American children to regulate their

emotions in the face of discrimination is early teaching intervention.

1. Through multicultural teacher education and cultural teaching, the relationship

between teachers and African American children can also be facilitated (Spilt

and Hughes 312).

2. The positive emotional relationship between African American children and

teachers is considered to promote emotional security and participation in

learning activities, which is essential to adapt to the school environment and

academic success (Spilt and Hughes 306-307).

IV. Conclusion

African American children’s emotions should not be ignored as racial prejudice

actually exists. As long as parents and teachers can educate children about their sense

of identity, it is an important step for children to bravely face discrimination. Parents

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and teachers can reduce the negative impact of children’s racism on in-depth

understanding of the emotional problems of African-American children. This enables

children to identify with themselves and play a significant role in their healthy

growth. Even if the impact of discrimination cannot be eliminated, they can be a

person with ethnic pride, belonging and confidence.

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Introduction

As long as there are different skin colors, there will be racial discrimination. This

experience of discrimination has deeply affected the emotional and healthy development of many

children of color in the U.S. and around the world. “It is no secret that life is more challenging

for African American children than for other American children,” Said Barbara T. Bowman, an

early childhood education expert and advocate in the United States (4). With respect to the

difference in skin color, the negative emotions left by discrimination cast a shadow on the lives

of African American children. In general, as children grow up, their confidence and ability to

build relationships, solve problems, and respond to emotions are inseparable from the teachings

of parents and teachers. According to Darling-Churchill and Lippman, “Parents and teachers are

the main caregivers for children because they teach children the knowledge, emotional

experience and interactions that lay the foundation for the child’s future personal achievements

and provide support for other areas of development” (2). On the contrary, children with better

self-control (self-regulation) are more probably to have better physical health (e.g. stronger self-

confidence, less criminal beliefs) (2). African American children need to develop a healthy self-

perception, which allows them to think that their own race is not a defect, African American

children need to develop a healthy self-perception, which allows them to think that their own

race is not a defect, but rather a source of ethnic pride. Although parents and teachers can not

eliminate the existence of discrimination and are unable to protect African American children

from discrimination in the world around them, they can provide the necessary counterm Since

some parents and teachers overlook the negative impact of discrimination on African American

children, it is crucial for them to help manage these children's emotions, a role which plays a key

guiding function in the healthy growth of children.

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Body Paragraphs: Outline Section II. B. 2

When African American children are discriminated against at school and show signs of

emotional turmoil, if they do not receive the support and assistance of the teacher, then

inadequate early teacher intervention can lead to children's late dropout or suspension of

schooling (Herbert Williams 133). A survey from the Civil Rights Data Collection shows that

African-American students are one-third more likely than their white counterparts to be
CIVIL RIGHTS DATA COLLECTION MARCH 2012
suspended or expelled. Figure 1 indicates that African American students account for 18% of the

Discipline
data in the survey, yet 35% of students are suspended once; 46% of students are suspended more
The transformed CRDC makes public long-hidden data about which students are suspended,
than once, and 39% of students areexpelled,
expelledand
(seearrested
Fig.1).in school.

Disparate Discipline Rates

100%
90%
29% 33%
80% 39% 36%
51%
70%
60% 22% White
24%
50% 23% 25%
Hispanic
40% Black
24%
30% Asian/Pacific Islander
46%
35% 39%
20% 35% American Indian
18%
10%
6% 1% 2% 1% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% 1%
0%
Overall Enrollment In-School Suspensions Out-of-School Out-of-School Expulsions
(sample) Suspensions (single) Suspensions (multiple)

African-American students represent 18% of students in the CRDC sample, but 35% of students
suspended once, 46% of those suspended more than once, and 39% of students expelled.

Arrests and 100%

Fig. 1. Disparate Discipline Rates; Civil Rights Data Collection, www2.ed.gov, March 2012,
Referrals to 90% 25% 21%
80%
Lawhttps://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-2012-data-summary.pdf
Enforcement 70%
White
60% 29% 37%
Over 70% of students involved
50% Hispanic
in school-related arrests or
40%
referred toSection
Outline law enforcement
III. B.are1. 2 Black
Hispanic or African-American. 30%
42% 35% Asian/Pacific Islander
20%
10% American Indian
3% 1% 5% 1%
0%
Referrals to Law Enforcement School-Related Arrests
(Data for districts with more than 50,000 students)

CRDC also reveals:

Across all districts, African-American students are over 3½ times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white
peers.
In districts that reported expulsions under zero-tolerance policies, Hispanic and African-American students represent 45% of
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When parents provide supportive responses to children's negative emotions, such as

expressing encouragement and comforting comfortable speaking styles, this allows children to

accept and manage their negative emotions to promote emotional health (Dunbar et al.17).

According to a study from National Center for Children in Poverty, as children grow, differences

in perceptions of racial differences are different. It emphasizes the home environment, including

parenting practices, parents’ self-efficacy, mental health and emotional support, all of which can

reduce the negative impact of children’s discrimination (see Fig.2).

Fig. 2. Racial Gaps in Early Childhood, National Center for Children in Poverty,

files.eric.ed.gov, May 2011, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED522681.pdf

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Works Cited

Bowman, Barbara T. “The Black Child.” NBCDI.org, 2013, www.nbcdi.org/sites/default

/files/resource-files/Being%20Black%20Is%20Not%20a%20Risk%20Factor_0.pdf.

Accessed 20 May. 2018.

Darling-Churchill, Kristen E., and Laura Lippman. “Early childhood social and emotional

development: Advancing the field of measurement.” Journal of Applied Developmental

Psychology, vol. 45, July-August 2016, pp. 1-7. doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2016.02.002

Dunbar, Angel S., et al. "An Integrative Conceptual Model of Parental Racial/Ethnic and

Emotion Socialization and Links to Children's Social-Emotional Development among

African American Families." Child Development Perspectives, vol. 11, no. 1, Mar. 2017,

pp. 16-22. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/cdep.12218.

Herbert Williams, James. “Potential Impact of Teachers in Securing Mental Health Services for

African American Children in Urban Schools.” Social Work Research, vol. 39, no. 3,

Sept. 2015, pp. 131-134. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/swr/svv020.

Humphries, Marisha L., et al. "Teacher and Observer Ratings of Young African American

Children's Social and Emotional Competence." Psychology in the Schools, vol. 49, no. 4,

Apr. 2012, pp. 311-327. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/pits.21604.

Meadows-Fernandez, A. Rochaun. “We need to start spoiling our black children.” Washington

Post, 15 Aug. 2017. Global Issues In Context,

http://link.galegroup.com.ezp.pasadena.edu/apps/doc/A500643885/OVIC?u=pasa19871

&sid=OVIC&xid=cf14467f. Accessed 6 May. 2018.

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Neblett, Enrique W., et al. "Patterns of Racial Socialization and Psychological Adjustment: Can

Parental Communications about Race Reduce the Impact of Racial Discrimination?."

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=a9h&AN=125833570&site=ehost-live.

Spears Brown, Christia and Rebecca S Bigler. "Children's Perceptions of Discrimination: A

Developmental Model." Child Development, vol. 76, no. 3, May 2005, pp. 533-553.

EBSCOhost,

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=cmedm&AN=15892777&site=ehost-live.

Spilt, Jantine and Jan N Hughes. "African American Children At-Risk of Increasingly Conflicted

Teacher-Student Relationships in Elementary School." School Psychology Review, vol.

44, no. 3, 2015, pp. 246-261. EBSCOhost, doi.org/10.17105/spr-14-0033.1