Turning Point USA

A Chicago high school is offering classes exclusively for black and hispanic students in the hopes that segregating students will increase school performance.

Evanston Township High School in Illinois is generating controversy after offering so-called “affinity classes” that prohibit white students from attending and are taught by non-white teachers. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the school justifies these classes based on the belief that non-white students may perform better academically when separated from white students. While the classes are optional, a significant number of non-white students have reportedly chosen to enroll in them.

“Researchers have found some small improvements in grades and retention from such programs. Other studies have shown some improved educational outcomes, such as graduation rates, for Black and Latino students taught by teachers of the same race,” says the Wall Street Journal.

In 2019, the Oakland Unified School District offered a similar program and found that students who took these “affinity classes” were slightly less likely to drop out of school.

While federal law prohibits public schools from separating students by race, schools like Evanston Township High School have gotten around such restrictions by making these classes optional.

Administrators from the Evanston High School district have declined to answer questions from reporters about these classes for months. The Wall Street Journal claims that when one of its reporters attended a public meeting for parents of black students, the district threatened to cancel the meeting entirely if the reporter did not leave.

Despite the alleged benefits, “affinity classes” have sparked a broader debate about the implications of such practices in a school setting. It seems that many radical leftists have abandoned the beliefs of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s that fought for equality and integration and instead chose to self-segregate from the rest of the public.