With Black History Month in full swing, I think it's important to discuss the reality of education for our Black students. It's a sad one. Black boys are suspended at a higher rate than their counterparts and Black girls are suspended at a higher rate than black boys. The question is why? If kids are kids, students are students, and misbehavior is misbehavior, then why is this the case? Why are the test scores for Black students so much lower than their peers? I don't have the answer, but one idea is a resistance to the forms of expression used by some of our black students and the tension between the previous generation of blacks and the current one. This will be part one of three posts on the subject today. Read more after the jump.
There are three areas where young Black children are suffering. Achievement, punishment, and socially. All of these areas can be improved with the right support from our system and the motivation from our communities, but the systematic discrimination that has shaped our present reality needs to be addressed and acknowledged for lasting change to truly become possible.
In the classroom - Black students lag behind their peers in every category. Many DISD Students can't read. Yesterday, I had a student ask me how to draw an 8 and another tell me they thought "eight" was spelled "ateght." I teach high school. All of these students were Black. Part of the problem is trying to force our students into a mold of traditional education without acknowledging potential differences in learning styles or methods of asking for help. Our Black students have a passion and and energy that sometimes is misinterpreted as defiance or inability. I was educated very differently from our students and I can see how older teachers, particularly older black teachers, could become frustrated, saddened, and apathetic when they look at what our people have become in the past 50 years. Acknowledging that "change" and "difference" don't mean "bad" or "wrong" could be an important first step to bringing up the scores of our Black children. Students, regardless of race, will work when interested, will try when supported, and will perform when they believe in the vision and direction of their teacher. They are also quick to smell bullshit and are less willing to tolerate it. It's just as much on teachers as it is our students.
In the classroom - Black students lag behind their peers in every category. Many DISD Students can't read. Yesterday, I had a student ask me how to draw an 8 and another tell me they thought "eight" was spelled "ateght." I teach high school. All of these students were Black. Part of the problem is trying to force our students into a mold of traditional education without acknowledging potential differences in learning styles or methods of asking for help. Our Black students have a passion and and energy that sometimes is misinterpreted as defiance or inability. I was educated very differently from our students and I can see how older teachers, particularly older black teachers, could become frustrated, saddened, and apathetic when they look at what our people have become in the past 50 years. Acknowledging that "change" and "difference" don't mean "bad" or "wrong" could be an important first step to bringing up the scores of our Black children. Students, regardless of race, will work when interested, will try when supported, and will perform when they believe in the vision and direction of their teacher. They are also quick to smell bullshit and are less willing to tolerate it. It's just as much on teachers as it is our students.
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