--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In early 2014, the Department of Justice…" description: "\"“In early 2014, the Department of Justice and Education issued guidelines pressuring public school districts to adopt racial quotas when disciplining c..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1aa/david-e-bernstein-49432_black-white_in-early-2014-the-department-of-justice_2643888.jpg" --- # In early 2014, the Department of Justice and Education… ![“In early 2014, the Department of Justice and Education issued guidelines pressuring public school districts to adopt racial quotas when disciplining children. The basis for this guidance was studies showing that black children were over three times more likely to face serious…” quote by David E. Bernstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1aa/david-e-bernstein-49432_black-white_in-early-2014-the-department-of-justice_2643888.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1aa/david-e-bernstein-49432_black-white_in-early-2014-the-department-of-justice_2643888.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1aa/david-e-bernstein-49432_black-white_in-early-2014-the-department-of-justice_2643888.jpg) > ““In early 2014, the Department of Justice and Education issued guidelines pressuring public school districts to adopt racial quotas when disciplining children. The basis for this guidance was studies showing that black children were over three times more likely to face serious punishment--suspension or expulsion--for misbehaving at school. The government concluded that school districts were engaging in massive illegal discrimination against black students. In fact, however, the government had no basis for its conclusion. The Supreme Court has explicitly stated that racial disparities in punishment do not by themselves prove discrimination, as they may just be consistent with the underlying rates of misbehavior by each group. There are no valid statistics (and the government hasn't cited any) from which one can infer that black students and white students would be expected to engage in serious misbehavior in school at the same rate. Unless there is some reason to expect kids to behave completely differently at school than outside of it, the school discipline figures are in line with what one would expect. African-American minors are arrested outside of school for violent crime at a rate approximately 3.5 times their share of the population. Moreover, as former Department of Education attorney Hans Bader notes, the government's own statistics show that white boys were over two times as likely to be suspended as their peers of Asian descent. By the government's logic, this means, absurdly, that school districts must be discriminating against white students and in favor of Asians. As of this writing, Minneapolis education authorities have announced their intention to end the black/white gap in suspensions and expulsions, a plan that struck many observers as announcing the imposition of quotas on school discipline.”” [David E. Bernstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-e-bernstein/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage argues that racial disparity statistics in school discipline do not automatically indicate discrimination, emphasizing the need for contextual data before imposing quotas. **In simple terms:** Racial stats alone don’t prove bias; context matters. Key Takeaway Avoid policy based solely on raw disparity numbers. Themes education policy racial equity statistics discipline law Mood analytical critical concerned Type policy analysis legal commentary social critique When to use this quote - school board meetings - legislative hearings - parent‑teacher conferences - media analysis Key Concepts discrimination statistical inference policy design Questions to Reflect On - How can policymakers distinguish between disparity and discrimination? - What additional data should inform discipline reforms? A Different Perspective Relying on disparity data can lead to misguided quotas without deeper causal insight. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) ## Related quotes > [In our era of zero tolerance, I would surely have spent most of elementary and middle school shuttling between suspensions and expulsions, with an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-sykes/in-our-era-of-zero-tolerance-i-would-surely-have-spent-most-of/) [Charlie Sykes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-sykes/) > [“We should also remember that punishment and inequality are intimately linked—that the causality runs in both directions. 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The government concluded that school districts were engaging in massive illegal discrimination against black students. In fact, however, the government had no basis for its conclusion. The Supreme Court has explicitly stated that racial disparities in punishment do not by themselves prove discrimination, as they may just be consistent with the underlying rates of misbehavior by each group. There are no valid statistics (and the government hasn't cited any) from which one can infer that black students and white students would be expected to engage in serious misbehavior in school at the same rate. Unless there is some reason to expect kids to behave completely differently at school than outside of it, the school discipline figures are in line with what one would expect. African-American minors are arrested outside of school for violent crime at a rate approximately 3.5 times their share of the population. Moreover, as former Department of Education attorney Hans Bader notes, the government's own statistics show that white boys were over two times as likely to be suspended as their peers of Asian descent. By the government's logic, this means, absurdly, that school districts must be discriminating against white students and in favor of Asians. As of this writing, Minneapolis education authorities have announced their intention to end the black/white gap in suspensions and expulsions, a plan that struck many observers as announcing the imposition of quotas on school discipline.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David E. 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