At the beginning of the semester, I went to the Morgridge Center for Public Service to find an opportunity to become involved in community work. Volunteer opportunities in Madison are plentiful, especially in reference to tutoring. A special program for tutoring, Schools of Hope, is one of the largest volunteer programs. The program sounded fine, as I quickly turned into the application, and waited.
A few days later, my phone rang and an interview was set up. The interview was intended so I could be become more accustom to the mission of the program. Schools of Hope is a volunteer opportunity for students to be tutors at schools with a large minority population in the student body. The goal of the program was to improve the racial gap in academia. I learned that Wisconsin had one of the worst academic racial gaps in the entire nation.
I was shocked. Wisconsin. Really?
Reading the articles confirmed this incomprehensible fact. Wisconsin has a lot of work to do to improve its academic institutions. Improvement of urban schools should be the first problem addressed. The majority of Wisconsin's African American residents live in the Milwaukee or Madison areas. Improving these two school districts would improve the gap numerically.
But that is just a number. A conscientious effort should be made to improving racial discrimination within the classroom. Although subtle, something is prohibiting some of Wisconsin's citizens from achieving an average education. The problem should be investigated further, and poses many questions. Questions that need to be answered.
Something interesting was the degree of shock that was implied when the largest gap did not come from the South. I feel that those problems are in the past, and now racial discrimination should be viewed as a national problem.
