Five Men, Five Different Views on Educating Black Males
Black males are discovering that they don’t need to ‘hit the books’ in order to make a living, and this is the reason behind recent statistics that report that as many as half of them drop out of high school and don’t pursue a college education.
October 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
The Public School system is an abject failure, complete with dream killers disguised as teachers..the system follows the country in that racisim is alive and well and this devistation and inward rotting has taken its toll, and now it is showing the road has never taken a significant turn even though the fight against such has been arduous.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
“While growing up, Williams said his parents encouraged him to read newspapers and books. “The best example is not the pastor, it’s not the teacher, it’s the mother and the father who will have the most impact on that child, whether you like it or not,” he said.”
Exactly. It starts in the home. When parents marry and raise children to value education, productivity and citizenship black males will make the progress we envision for them.
October 21st, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Mothers are the first educators of all the children. When all churches or spiritual organizations demand “justice for all” is when the system will begin to serve all humanity as GOD’s will. Political organizations are limited because they are inherently devisive and thus serve the needs of constituencies whose goals are often not to provide equality but to gain advantage over others. Economically, those with the money or who control the dispersion of same almost always maintain advantages, exploit others and boast of same and blame the victim(s). Only when we all can accept the spiritual principal of one human family, albeit very diverse racially, economically, and demand equal opportunity will it mean that more money or resources will be available to heal and educate the less fortunate. It is then that these issues will begin to resolve, somewhat.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Some fifty plus years have passed since the landmark case, Brown V. Board of Education in Topkea Kansas. While the nation paused to celebrate the Brown decision millions of poor children of color languished in schools that are still separate and unequal. It was hoped that the 1954 Supreme Court Decision would level the playing field and improve
educational opportunities for Black students. In urban schools across the United States Black and Brown students still confront issues of equity in the classroom. Students in many urban communities lack the educational materials, qualified teachers/administrators as well as college preparatory and career alternative classes. These issues which plague urban schools have created a culture of mediocrity amongst schools, administrators,
community leaders and parents.
Evidence of this culture is the lack solution focused initiatives targeted toward increasing educational outcomes among African American male middle and high school students.
These issue require an immediate response from the African Amercian community. Community organizations, churches and other groups must begin to develop alternative learning communities to address the academic and social challenges of African American males.
We can no longer wait for a governmental response!
October 28th, 2007 at 3:25 am
This article clearly raises the already glaring inadequacies in the school system, the lost pride in educational accomplishments and the challenges of underachievement to the forefront. Unfortunately, there is more than enough BLAME to be shared than is imaginable. We are all duplicitous in the dire results coming from the African American Male. From the colleges that recruit for sports skills, to the teachers who are committed, to curricula that lacks the excitement, and to the parents/parent who is so busy trying to be a friend to the already environmentally challenged child that they lose the best opportunity to have the greatest impact.
Where does it end…When active, committed, and engaging dialogue begins that include all the key stakeholders as well as representation from the young black male community.
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
I think this dialogue is timely. I thought it quite interesting how one commentator(Mr A. Williams) neglected to mention that he had outside help(mentors in person or in print) to help him achieve his current status. We in the African American community sometimes forget when success comes to us that we where the beneficaries of others beyound our immediate environment. Working with today’s black youth, the challenge I face is that a majority of Black male youth have no positive adult male influence in there lives. This leaves the door wide open for negative adult male influences(drug dealers/ violent/ anti family rappers) to fill the void.
November 18th, 2007 at 3:42 am
I absolutely agree, in the black community I find it difficult to speak about the problems that exist with our black males. Drugs, sports and rap music seems to be a major highlight verses education and christ. Respect verses dignity; Parents also have to do a better job as role models and example setters. Some parents believe that they can live there lives deceiving not only others, but there kids as well. Just because your paying for your kids to attend private school. That doesn\’t mean it\’s okay that you are one of the biggest drug dealers in the city. Live by example, it\’s not the job of the teacher to teach your child morals. That comes from home. Parents read so you may increase your knowledge and in turn your children may be inspired to read. Fathers love you wives and respect them, so your sons will love and repect there wives. Mothers stop hanging out in the street looking for someone elses husband, so your daughters don\’t have babies young because they\’re looking for love that is\’nt being received at home.\
November 30th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
My name is Oronde Ash, former Asst. Men’s Soccer Coach at NC State University. I am a college graduate, educator, now concerned parent. I can no longer stand idly and watch my young brother fall. I will not. Young boys need to hear. I am their past, I am their future, I am all that goes unspoken and unheard within them.
I’d like to find out more about what your organization is doing and how to get involved.
Visit the website http://youtube.com/user/bygINCpresents. The words and voice in the videos are my own.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AYfcbKJ_nHI Letter to My Young Brotha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8yTFSACP_o The New Immigrant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RX03sFzt5M Dining in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxOpyQdpbXM A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmxfzHXpYpg Me and James: Down on the Cross
I know you are busy, but please look at one of the videos. If you think the message is something of value for an organization you know or you can refer me to others, let me know. I’d love to find avenues to help the young folks.
Thank you.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
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January 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
“Five Men, Five Different Views on Educating Black Males,” is a title which says it all. Perceptual Linguists assert that for native speakers of English to say, He is 28 years old, and for native speakers of French and other languages to say, He has 28 years, is not a question of right vs. wrong but rather a difference in how native speakers of different languages perceive and embody in language the nature of age, or indeed how they view the world, in German, their Weltanshaung.
As Cassie M. Chew suggest, how these five men differ in their views on Educating Black Males is informed by their backgrounds and experiences, their knowledge of African American history and culture and how they themselves have come to perceive the contemporary educational plight of the African America male. Interestingly, Robert M. Franklin, President of Morehouse subscribes to the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. Note the language he uses: “the elders in my village.” In some African cultures there is no such concept as an illegitimate child, as a child is not the sole responsibility of his birth parents, but a responsibility of the entire community at large and its elders. This is manifest in language.
Armstrong Williams, syndicated radio host of the Right Side, has embraced a more American individualistic cultural view where the onus of responsibility for educating the Black male lies with parental responsibility and encouragement and gaining inspiration to become a voracious reader. Notwithstanding, X number of cases can be cited of successful educated Black males who were not motivated by their parents for a whole host of reasons: illegitimacy, death, or possibly being sold to another slave owner. They were not fortunate enough to have parental role models. Ironically, there are middle-class Black males who’ve had such ideal role models but who ended up on drugs or in prisons due to peer pressure and it not being “cool” to be university intelligent, or university educated.
Journalist, V. Dion Hayes, a Washington Post Education writer, essentially blames the breakdown of families and the breakdown of the school system. With respect, this would appear to be a simplistic and a one-sided analysis given our forefathers were often sold away from their families, the Black woman, all but traditionally, served as both mother and father, and from the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 we were left in a state of not always inferior but certainly segregated, under subsidised education for well over a 100 years.
What V. Dion describes, I presume, as a post integration school situation is somehow a mirror image of the one-room log-built school house in the deep segregated south where my mother taught black males, but with a significant difference: my mother wanted to be there.
The Reverend Jessie Jackson accounts for educational drop out rates by looking at issues relating to educational access that weren’t addressed in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education Civil Rights case. Though Brown v. Board of Education dismantled the legal basis for racial segregation in schools and laid the foundation for shaping future national and international policies regarding human rights; with genuine respect, it had no legal mandate to put Black males on an academic rather than an athletic track. It’s a logical fallacy to assume black students will do well in the absence of a structural disorder. It should be tolerated that people buy and sell what they have to offer in that massive market place called America.
Poet, writer, and filmmaker, Malik Salaam seems to assert, misguidedly, that because Black males have bought into America’s consumer Armageddon, education no longer has the value it had a generation or two ago when Black males became preachers, teachers, entertainers, or prisoners. In my view, this is a serious misfortune as education is a key to change. What Malik Salaam doesn’t seem to take into account are the successful Black males who never went to a university, black or white, but who educated themselves, e.g., Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin. It was Plutarch who said, the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. Burn, Baby, Burn …
Joseph F. Towns, III
A Morehouse Man
Cambridge, England
January 2008.