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| News for the hood. June, 2007 |
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| Why can't little Johnny Black read? |
Who's to blame for our schools failing our children?
My rudimentary survey of the American Educational landscape has revealed that our school systems need to be declared as “disaster areas”. From coast to coast schools are failing to educate a significant number of our children. And for black kids the situation is much worst, they consistently lag behind their white counterparts.
President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” initiative was a good plan – on paper. It demanded accountability from school districts and encouraged the establishment of national standards. But, the implementation of the Federal act has had mixed results. The American Educational System (K through 12), in my opinion, gets an F.
Who’s to blame? At first glance it is easy to say that some kids are un-educable. Black kids, in particular, seem to be just plain stupid and white kids seem to be inherently superior. (That is, if you believe the statistical data.) [See how black 4th graders compared to their white counterparts here.]
Further analysis points an accusing finger at school administrators and teachers. It is easy to blame the problem on indifferent, inadequate teachers that seem bent on producing another generation of “more welfare recipients”. Large metropolitan school districts have decades-long history of churning out illiterate, underachievers that are prone to illegal drug use, teenaged pregnancies, criminal behavior and violence. The problem must be the teachers, right?
No, not exactly. If you dig further into the data compiled year after year, you will find that the problem could be the parents. Some parents just don’t give a damn about their kids. They only provide minimal support to avoid being arrested for neglect. Some parents don’t have a clue about their child’s daily activities. Some never attend parent-teacher meetings. Clearly, it is the parents who have caused this problem. Right?
Well, there is another group that we need to look at, the children. Some kids just don’t want to learn. They are disruptive in class. They act out. They defy authority figures and disobey rules. Many blacks kids think that being studious and well behaved is “acting white”. Some black kids become turned-off to the whole school experience and opt for the oppositional culture of the streets.
The Educational System in the United States is in critical condition and needs emergency life support. Some political observers argue that much needed monies to fund school programs is being siphoned off to fight the war in Iraq (at the tune of nearly 2 billion dollars a week). So the feds also have a part to play in this mess.
The situation looks hopeless. The defeatist attitude is so well entrenched that everyone has ignored the looming issues of an America that is slipping in its position as a world leader of academic excellence. The future is bleak.
So here’s the deal, all public school systems are rated. Children are tested (in reading and math) and categorized into four groups; advanced, proficient, basic and below basic. If the educational system worked properly most kids would score in the advanced and proficient levels. But sadly, the opposite is true. Far too many kids are rated in the basic and below basic levels. (Black children start slightly behind white children when they enter the school system and fall further behind each year.)
But there are a few bright spots on the horizon, like the incredible Mrs. Marva Collins and her school, Westside Prep. She has received numerous awards and was featured on the TV show 60 minutes (twice!). Morley Safer and his team revisited Westside prep 16 years after the first televised airing. They found the unwanted children of the Chicago Public School System that Marva Collins taught in her own school had grown up to become college graduates. Subsequently a TV movie was made starring Cicely Tyson as Marva Collins. Here’s what one website says about Mrs. Collins:
“Mrs. Collins has been called a “miracle worker” and “superteacher”, but what she professes to be is an old fashioned teacher who doesn’t go in for gimmicks in the classroom. Her educational philosophy is simply hard work, patience and concern for each child.
Marva Collins grew up in Atmore, Alabama at a time when segregation was the rule. Black children were not permitted to use the public library, and her schools had few books. After graduating from Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, she taught school in Alabama for two years. She moved to Chicago and, subsequently, taught in Chicago's public school system for fourteen years.
Her experiences in that system, coupled with her dissatisfaction with the quality of education that her two youngest children were receiving in prestigious private schools, led to her decision to open her own school on the second floor of her home. She took the $5,000 balance from her pension fund and began her educational program with an enrollment of her own two children and four other neighborhood youngsters.
Thus, Westside Preparatory School was founded in 1975 in Garfield Park, a Chicago inner-city area. During the first year Marva took in learning disabled, problem children and even one child labeled borderline retarded. At the end of the first year every child scored at least five grades higher proving that the previous labels placed on these children were misguided.”
Mrs. Collins is a myth buster. She destroys the stereotype that black kids are academically inferior. She has proven that her methodology works. Her so-called “disadvantaged” kids go on to graduate from colleges and universities.
Mrs. Collins’ phenomenal success has created a whole host of extracurricular organizations that think outside the box. Another group from Chicago is the Black Star project. Its founder, Philip Jackson said in a recent article,
“While the achievement gap is a difficult problem to solve, it is solvable. The key to fixing the problem is ensuring that Black parents are active, invested and involved in the educational lives of their children. Next, Black children must be re-inspired and motivated to do well in school. Many Black students have simply turned away from education. Additionally, the funding, school resources, class size, teacher quality and other factors needed to educate Black children must be equal to that of other children. The parent-teacher connection that is directly related to improved student performance and high achievement must be strengthened. In addition, the Black community must develop and maintain high academic standards for all Black children--starting at birth.”
Of course, there is Williamsport’s own Community Alliance for Progressive Positive Action (CAPPA) that has arisen to meet the challenge. Loni Gamble, Bruce White, Eileen Harley and a team of volunteers, coaches and tutors have been chipping away at the problem locally. The children have responded positively to their innovative programs.
I expect to get a lot of flack on this article. I confess that there is much I don’t know about our school system. I am sure that I have oversimplified the problem. But I am willing to promote meaningful dialogue on the subject. So write me, e-mail me or talk to me about the problem - and how to solve it.
The failure of black children to keep up in the global race of education, jobs and economic prosperity will result in a permanent caste system of the underprivileged based on race. A lack of education will mean a new form of slavery in the 21st Century.
The responsibility to improve the American educational system belongs to all of us.
(Marva Collins teaches her students how to think critically. She uses the ancient Socratic method. She tells her students to tell themselves, "“I am bright, there is nothing that I cannot do. Excellence is my birthright, and I will let nothing get in the way of my pursuit of excellence.”
Until we teach children to believe that “I am, I think, and I will,” the plight of the black family will continue, she says.
Right on, Mrs Collins!) [Click here for Mrs. Collins website.]
| Related links:
Check a nifty visual representation of reading levels for 4th graders go to:
4th grade reading chart for white and black children, 2005
Check out GreatSchools.net to see WASD's report card. Go to:
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/pa/district_profile/551/#standards
Heres's how the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania defines the reading levels. Go to:
Below Basic, Basic, Proficient and Advanced definitions
Where did I get the info? Check out the National Center for Education Statistics:
See TUDA charts here.
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