Educators want to know why so many black students underachieve in school. It could be partly due to their mothers’ exposure to urban air pollutants.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can adversely affect a child
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Despite the fact that we’ve elected a black president, race is still a problem in the US. We know that humans originated in Africa, so why did some people’s skin turn white, anyway?
Scientists used to tell us that people’s skins turned lighter when they migrated north and needed more sun exposure in order to get enough vitamin D. Melanin, the pigment that turns skin dark, blocks out this vitamin. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets and even to a deformed pelvis in women, which would interfere with childbirth. But the truth is that much of this is still a mystery.
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It’s a controversial question. Due to the economy, more middle-class families are passing on private schools in favor of the local public school. This is good for the schools, since studies show urban schools benefit educationally from an influx of middle class students and parents because of the resources (most notably time and money) that accompany them. And this brings up the old question of race in the classroom.
Whether the middle class impact on urban schools is beneficial or sustainable depends on the attitude of the parents themselves and on whether they focus on making the school as a whole better instead of just making the school better for their child only.
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We all think we know what race we?and the people we meet?belong to, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes we define someone’s race by the JOB they do. Now that we have a black president, will that finally change?
Is race defined by appearance, researchers have discovered that a person also be colored by their socioeconomic status. A new study finds that Americans who are unemployed, incarcerated or impoverished today are more likely to be classified and identified as black, by themselves as well as by others, regardless of how they were seen?or self identified?in the past. These findings suggest that race may not be as simple as something you are born with.
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