On Schooling African-American children

Effective Schooling for African-American Children?
by
Audra Ralls

    Which race has the highest rate of expulsions and suspensions?  Which race receives the fewest promotions?  Which race has the highest risk of criminal convictions?  Reportedly, African-Americans, more specifically African-American males.  Why is there a greater tendency for African-American males to fall short of "success" by society's standards?  Or is there?  Many people are proposing that due to a lack of successful male African-American role models, productive African-American boys are becoming an endangered species.  The solution these people seek is implementing specialized classrooms for African-American males, especially those of single mother families, that would be taught solely by an African-American man.  Such classes would be exclusively for African-American boys.  Segregation didn't seem to be the answer fifty years ago, but now some African-American groups are advocating for it.  Should this change be implemented?  Is there evidence that it would be effective?

    Jawanza Kunjufu, president of African American Images, states that a disproportionate number of African-American boys are in special education classes by the time they are in the third grade.  President Kunjufu feels the answer is providing classrooms taught only by black males to only black male students.  He goes on to state that the only thing Americans are willing to do for these black males is to build rooms exclusively for black males, and these rooms are called prisons.  What President Kunjufu is failing to mention is that special education classes do not discriminate.  They are formed to help all students, black or white.  These classes are not a form a punishment, but provide a more individualized structured environment by a highly qualified teacher.  This is the perfect setting for promoting cooperative learning and goal-oriented behavior which are the exact characteristics President Kunjufu wishes to implement in his African-American classrooms.

    Ms. Kathy Garrison, an elementary special education teacher for twenty years, reports that from her experience the greatest obstacle in helping African-American children, male or female, is instilling and fostering the belief in them that they have the same capabilities and opportunities as all the other children.  In her professional opinion instituting a segregated classroom would only further enhance these feeling of seclusion and inequality.

    In Baltimore such a program has been established.  The main goal was to give the boys, all African-American, a positive male role model.  The two-year program is reported to be a success.  Discipline problems are down; attendance and academic achievement is rising.  Furthermore, it has been such a success that the male teacher moved from second to third to fourth grade with the same group of students.  When asked whether it could simply be having a male teacher that produced these changes, Jerry Atwood, superintendent who is supportive of such programs, responded that a Caucasian male would not have been able to relate and motivate the children the way a male of their own ethnicity could.  He admits, however, that it has not been tried to his knowledge.

    In the Baltimore school, the changes reported are quite controversial.  They are based on self-report from the faculty that instituted the program, and wanted it to succeed.  It is also quite possible the boys are succeeding because of the self-fulfilling prophecy.  Perhaps for the first time they are expected to succeed, and that is what is creating the change, not the ethnicity of their instructor.

    Tonya Henly, African-American mother of two boys, states she would not want her boys to attend an all-black male school.  She fears their level of independence would decline, and their ability to interact in social situations would be hindered.  She does acknowledge the need for more positive male role models for African-American boys, but does not believe forcing one on them and taking away other role models is the way to provide them.

    Lovely Billups, director of field services for the AFT education issues department, feels that a Milwaukee experiment is an understandable act of desperation that's generated by scary findings about how well black males fare in traditional schools.  The Milwaukee school board this fall voted to convert two public schools into institutions serving the social and educational needs of African-American males.  The format is uncertain as of yet.  They will attempt to emphasize role modeling for black males in their curriculum.  Prospects being studied are regular school hours set aside for student talks with successful African-American males to foster a sense of unity and pride.    The cost of such a program was not documented.  But it is obvious that more faculty and class space would be needed. 

    With successful African-American males such a delicacy, as they are claiming, where would we find such men to teach school?  Teaching is not a high paying profession.  With so many companies recruiting African-American males, how can the education system compete financially?  Furthermore, why are we targeting only black males?  What are the statistics of achievement of Hispanic children from single parent homes?  No such information is given in these articles.  So in fact, we don't know that African-Americans have a higher failure rate than other ethnic groups with similar socioeconomic backgrounds?  Why do female African-Americans appear to achieve more easily than males of their race?  Supporters of the programs claim that it is because their mother provides a role model.  The question still remains whether or not the role model provided is a positive one or not. 

    African-American segregated classroom supporters point out that most elementary school teachers are female, leading African-American boys to view academic success as "feminine.” Why then are Caucasian boys of single parent homes also not considered of needing supplemental help?  Advocates for the program state that the only males that the African-American boys interact with are the gang members who are all too often involved in drugs and crime.  However, gang members do not discriminate.  They are black, Hispanic, Caucasian, and Asian.  Why again are only African-Americans affected?

    Since it is impossible to isolate entirely what is causing African-American males to have a higher risk of failure, should we quit looking for ways to improve their chances for success?  No.  But at the same time we should not hinder the education of others, invest large sums of funds that could be used to benefit all, or rewrite laws of equality that took decades to enforce and agree upon.  Many of the proposed programs have good suggestions but take them to the extreme, and therefore eliminate some groups from receiving equal attention and education.

    Two years ago a group called Concerned Black Men launched a program that involved bringing in some three dozen African-American male lawyers, architects, and other professionals into second grade classrooms each week as teachers and mentors.  This is a great step in community involvement, but why not expand the idea and invite in Asian, Caucasian, women, etc. to provide role models and a realistic view of the various cultures and capabilities of all people? 

    For the last four years the schools in Hearne, Texas have been working to provide male role models for elementary students by employing male high school students as teachers' aides.  Initially, race and ethnic backgrounds were not factors in the selections of aides, but mainly because of one African-American male athlete's positive influence on the students, more African-American males have been chosen for the program.  The school states that many of the aides have been athletes and were especially valuable as role models because athletics are valued highly in Hearne.  The statement raises the obvious question:  which factor is having the effect, the athleticism or the ethnicity?  Furthermore, the article reports their findings are based on the reports of teachers and principals, who once again expect and want to see positive results.  Not only does the program have positive effects on the students, but it also provides day time jobs for the aides allowing them the experience working with college educated adults and an incentive to further their careers in a child related settings.  It is biased to selectively choose mainly African-American males and exclude other teenagers of such benefits if they equally qualify for the job.

    Another solution proposed is to offer scholarships to African-American males who wish to pursue a field in early childhood development.  To reiterate, without evidence showing that specific ethnic groups have a greater, more positive influence on children than do other people this is clearly discrimination.  Offer scholarships, provide more specialized classes, increase the level of instructions, but do it for every child.

    "We define educational equity of as the absence of discriminatory pupil placement and improved performance for all children who have been the objects of discrimination."  (Ron Edmonds)  To overcompensate African-American males without clear justifiable evidence is undoubtedly discriminatory toward all other children and in the end may not even be helping.  A nineteenth century state court decision, though conditions were different in that era, is extremely relevant.  The court ordered the admission of a black child into a white school because there was no state statute authorizing school segregation.  The court stated, "Is it not better for the grand aggregate of human society, as well as for the individuals, that all children should mingle together and learn to know each other?"  A desegregated school is a miniature world.  Not only is reading, writing, and arithmetic taught, but human nature in all phases is learned.  They experience the good, the bad, hopes, disappointments, dreams, prejudices, particular lines of conduct.  Isolated schools can make persons strangers in their own world, thus being of very little benefit to society.

    In 1954, the Supreme Court acknowledges "that segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprives the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities."  Wouldn't it likewise deprive the majority?  There is a line between equality and preferential education.  Secondly, we must take a good hard look at whether this preferential education is even truly a benefit and realistic.  Success cannot just be measured in opinions and hearsay.  It is time our education system, community leaders, and parents become more concerned with education of all, and not ideology of black versus white.  We are brought into this world with equal capabilities.  We must demand equal fostering of these capabilities regardless of race.

Wc 1701