Greeson: Numbers can take us in the wrong direction

Jay Greeson
Jay Greeson
photo Jay Greeson

Numbers are pure.

They offer a chance for analysis and comparison. They give a measure of place and stature.

They generate interest and provide balance and create data that can be studied and examined.

Numbers, though, also are static and two-dimensional; read too much into them and they can be rounded and twisted and crunched into myriad messages.

Some are easily connected, like that Tony Gwynn's lifetime batting average of .338 proves he was a great hitter.

Some are easily misdirected, like saying that since Tony Gwynn hit .338 and was black, all black hitters are better than white hitters.

The focus and direction of the data are not the numbers, but rather how those numbers are used.

Take, for example, the recent study from the Columbia Law School Center that showed black kids are more likely to get suspended from school than white kids. Hamilton County numbers show that black girls are suspended five times as often as white girls and black boys three times as often as white boys. The authors of the study and some area civic leaders believe the gap in those numbers - while lower than the divide nationally, mind you - is more than coincidence and claim racial issues are to blame.

To draw those numbers to racism, though, simply skips too many steps.

Splice the suspension figures by school, for example. Maybe find out how often kids were suspended by an administrator of a different race before labeling school systems as racist.

Overall trend numbers can be split multiple ways, and the more detailed those numbers become, the more accurate they almost always will be.

There are so many factors - geographical or social among them - that could play into and potentially skew these numbers that the quick-trigger responses about race simply do not compute.

This is not to say racism doesn't exist. Sadly, it does - and in multiple directions - and it's powerful and it's something that we all need to fight daily.

But turning these school discipline numbers into a charge of racism is wrong and it harms the claims and validity when real racism is present.

It's more than that, too. To insinuate, never mind openly state, that there is institutional racism in the school system is at best wrong and more likely a disservice to the young black people directly counted in the study.

These are kids - regardless of color or creed - who are teetering on the life-changing line between getting educated and potentially finding themselves on the slippery slope of trouble.

They need to understand the repercussions of actions that lead to suspensions now and perhaps much worse down the road. They committed the violations, and they have to live with the outcome.

The umbrella charge of racism is much too easy to open and much more difficult to close. And to wave it for these kids and give them any potential excuse that eschews personal responsibility is wrong. And short-sighted.

We are long on excuses and short on personal responsibility these days. It's a byproduct of a culture that celebrates every success and deflects all blame and shortcomings.

These numbers state a clear case that locally the racial breakdown of suspended kids is similar to what the national trends show.

These numbers do not state racism, however. And to even allege such means that the entirety of all the school systems in this country are racist and the kids who are breaking the rules are the victims.

Jay Greeson's column will appear on Page A2 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. His sports columns are scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays. You can read his online column the "5-at-10" Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m. Contact him at jgree son@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp.

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