Facing the African American community is the seemingly intractable plight of the Black male.
More than any other group, Black males suffer from poverty and unemployment, disease, violence, addiction, and incarceration. Apart from a few high profile examples of success – election of the first African-American president and wealthy sports and entertainment celebrities – the average Invisible Black Male is victimized by racism, few opportunities, and his own low self-esteem.
Education, the risk
Paradoxically, education is both a risk factor and a bright ray of hope for African-American males. The American classroom was not designed for male students, especially Black boys. Their teachers are mostly white and female. Cultural diversity, specifically Africentricism, is considered irrelevant to learning. Curricula are Eurocentric and designed for left brain learners, not right brain learners.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the academic achievement gap between Black and white students continues to weigh on the system.
Furthermore...
• African-American males have a 52 percent chance of dropping out of high school. In some cities, the rate is as high as 70 percent.
• While African Americans make up 17 percent of the total school population, they account for 33 percent of the suspensions and 30 percent of all expulsions.
• African-American male teens are placed in remedial or special education classes at triple the rate of their white counterparts, and they are underrepresented in gifted and honors classes.
Systemic racism in public education casts a blind eye to the needs of Black male students. A wealth of research documents the fact that most curricula and pedagogy do not address the learning styles of males in general, Black males in particular.
Teachers, administrators, and policy makers must begin to make substantive changes in curricula, teacher quality, classroom management, and pedagogy if Black males are to achieve and thrive in school and in life.
Well trained, culturally sensitive master teachers hold the key to turning around the plight of Black male students. However, since the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case in 1954 [which declared establishing separate public schools for white and Black students and denying Black students equal education opportunity unconstitutional], there has been a 66 percent decline in African-American teachers. Seventeen percent of students are African American, yet only seven percent of teachers are African American. African-American males are only one percent of that teaching force, the majority of whom are employed in middle schools and high schools. Unfortunately, our boys can go from kindergarten to 12th grade without ever having been taught by a Black male teacher.
Education, the hope
A high school dropout might earn $19,000 per year, a high school graduate $34,000 per year, and a college graduate $48,000 or more per year.
"Education is still the African-American male's best option for elevating himself out of poverty and turning his life around," says Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, national education consultant. "That's why it is so important that parents and educators understand how to help Black boys succeed in school. It is the central issue in education today," Kunjufu, who conducts more than 30 workshops per year on issues facing African-American males, will host a national conference entitled, "Educating the African-American and Hispanic Male Child." The conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Oak Lawn, Illinois, on May 4-5, 2010, and it is open to the public; educators, school leaders, single mothers, and parents who are struggling to keep their boys out of special education are encouraged to attend.
An important focus of the conference this year will be helping educators and parents become more effective at improving boys' ability to read. Eighty percent of males placed in special education or who have been incarcerated are functionally illiterate. In other words, illiteracy is the precursor to special education placement and even incarceration. Teaching boys how to read is critical to their success in school and to their ability to be productive in society.
Educators will learn how to teach to the unique learning styles of Black males. They will learn how to incorporate boy's short attention, spans, high energy levels, and slow maturation in their pedagogy, classroom management, and lesson planning.
Equally important to the learning equation, home life must be transformed so that reading and learning are going on all the time.
Parents will learn how to create a home learning environment where reading becomes an enjoyable past time, not just a task required for homework and school. They will also learn the importance of monitoring peer pressure, rap lyrics, television, and the Internet.
Kunjufu has been an advocate for Black male students for 30 years. Several school districts have implemented his innovative strategies, and Black male students have succeeded as a result.
"We have seen success in some of the poorest communities and even in schools that were on academic probation," says Kunjufu.
The Chicago Tribune recently reported that 100 percent of the first senior class at the all male, all African American Urban Prep Academy graduated.
Urban Prep is based in Englewood, one of Chicago's poorest, most violent communities. As freshmen, only four percent of the students read at grade level. Today every graduating senior has been accepted to a four-year university. The Harlem Village Academies, which have been recognized by President Obama, ranked first in math out of all the non-selective public schools in the state.
Model schools are successfully educating African-American male students in nearly every urban city. The goal of the conference is to provide parents and educators with practical strategies they can use to duplicate the successes of Urban Prep. Harlem and other bright stars around the country. Despite dwindling school budgets and challenges facing the community, we can, we must, and we will educate our African-American male students.
