Unfair Suspensions?

I read an article in the USA Today this morning that seriously got my attention.

The headline read: Black students nearly 4x as likely to be suspended.

The article (or the author thereof) went on to discuss the inequality that resulted due to students missing out on education, by being absent from school at a disproportionately higher percentage of days than white students.

Really?!?

I can not be the only person who read that and wondered why? Don't get me wrong, I'm not surprised at the number, I just don't know why no one seemed concerned as to the cause of the suspensions.  Could it possibly be that the black students were committing 4x as many school offenses as white students?  That the black students were missing 4x as many days at their own doing?

Maybe instead of insinuating white privilege (as usual), someone should be looking at why 4x the number of black students just can't seem to follow the rules.

Should we ignore violation of school policies just so we can get that ratio down?  Give me a break.