Colorism in schools impacts the pipeline to the workforce, particularly for careers and jobs that require formal education and training.
Today, I’m sharing insights on how colorism impacts educational outcomes even before children ever begin formal education.
And sometimes we forget that schools are also workplaces! So a lot of what I’m discussing today can be applied to the workplace more broadly, not just educational institutions.
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Research on the School-to-Workforce Pipeline
Asian Americans and Latinos with lighter skin tones were significantly more likely to complete high school and transition to college, and those with darker skin tones were 21-26% less likely to attend college and earn a degree. These color-based disparities in educational attainment held true even for siblings, accounting for potential differences in home environment or socioeconomic class. (2016: Learn more about this article.)
Dark-skinned black girls were three times more likely to be suspended from school than light skinned black girls for the same infractions. For boys and girls alike, darker skin correlated with higher suspension rates for the same behavior despite comparable grades, home environments and school records. (2013: Learn more about this article.)
Here we should note the relationship between the school-to-workforce pipeline and the school-to-prison pipeline. School suspensions decrease the odds of completing school or thriving in school, and they simultaneously increase the odds of incarceration. Both of those effects create barriers to entering the workforce and restrict career opportunities.
Lighter skinned Latinx students reach higher levels of schooling on average than their Brown and Black Latinx counterparts due to class privilege, discriminatory practices against dark-skinned Latinx students, and favorable treatment toward students with light skin. Educators perceive dark-skinned Latinx students as less intelligent and have lower expectations for Brown and Black Latinx students. (2021: Learn more about this article.)
Deeper Insight: How These Color-Based Disparities Occur
Parental Privilege
If a student’s parents are also light-skinned, non-Black, or white, they directly benefit from having parents who are more privileged. This might look like greater socioeconomic opportunity, increased cooperation from school staff, and the benefit of simply having parents (or a parent) who does not have to manage the stress of racism or anti-blackness.
Conditioned Biases About Intelligence
This bias often starts with parents themselves who label their children as either smart or not. This can subtly and not so subtly influence the child’s educational self-esteem: bolstering the self-esteem for lighter children and wounding the self-esteem of darker children, often creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Some parents go further to actually invest greater resources, time, and energy into the education and enrichment of their lighter skinned children.
This bias continues once children attend school. Teachers, staff, and classmates continue to label students based on these widespread, conditioned beliefs. This impact snowballs.
I often tell the true story of fraternal twins who attended the school where I taught years ago. The darker-skinned twin had been labeled as less smart and tracked in remedial classes for years and had a littered disciplinary record. The lighter-skinned twin was an honor roll student with popularity among peers, teachers, and staff.
Conditioned Biases About Behavior
All of the above also applies to perceptions and stereotypes about “good kids” versus “bad kids” or “problem kids.” Parents start this even when children are merely toddlers. Teachers and administrators perpetuate this as well, being more tolerant of light-skinned students and magnifying any behaviors they perceive as troublesome from dark-skinned students.
The “Halo Error”
This is more commonly known as the “halo effect,” but I prefer the preciseness of “halo error” because it is indeed an error. Any parent, teacher, administrator, staff, or student who perceives lighter-skinned students as cuter, prettier, more handsome, etc. is also likely to attribute all sorts of other positive traits to that student, such as good behavior and higher intelligence. By the same token, if they perceive a student as “ugly” or “unattractive” they are more likely to attribute a host of other negative traits to that student.
I don’t have time to go into how colorism is also impacting the experiences and careers of teachers and other school staff, but I will be able to speak to this in the weeks to come as I focus more on the employee experience in general.
Recap: Colorism in schools impacts the pipeline to the workforce, particularly for careers and jobs that require formal education and training. And what I’ve discussed today can be applied to the workplace more broadly, because schools are also workplaces. I’ve shared how parental privilege, biases about intelligence and behavior, and the halo error contribute to color-based disparities between lighter students and darker students, even those from the same home or family.
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Homework 1: Look for opportunities to sponsor or mentor a dark-skinned student. This could include scholarships, internships, additional tutoring, career counseling, or even just emotional support.
Homework 2: Get some rest! Find more time to really relax.
Affirmation: Today, I prioritize my rest and wellbeing.