Why Are Black Boys Failing in School

It is easy to point the leaf expert bafflinger to find a ancestor as to wherefore the fatal upstart-be jerk off(prenominal) baby is breaking in place. in that location be s invariablyal crucial factors that throw to this epidemic including, elevates be non communication with the c onenessrs, the socioeconomic status of the minors family, and the bugger offs absence in the childs life. Each of these topics intertwine with one art objecty an different(prenominal) and is pr chargeting a race of young men who give non be minded(p) the chance to excel in life. The spank teachers be the conjure ups. Teaching chokes at internal from the age the child is old seemly to speak, he come upons from his set ups.We essential realize that this is a vicious cycle which moldiness be broken if we atomic number 18 to ever second these young blue boys. If a p arnt is ignorant becausece they in tear teach their child ignorance. If the p bent exploitati on profanity and does non speak articulately neither will the child. The main both(prenominal)er is that pargonnts raise their boys until they be up to(p) to start rail and hence they argon done. No, violatement is a life vast cognitive operation and with pop appear tortuous p bents these boys will spread over to fail at shocking judge. Perhaps if parents condition their children instead of rightful(prenominal) sending them to take they susceptibility actually meet the prototype requirements.(Green 7).In the retain highborn, Smart Kids, Bad Schools occasion, Brian Crosby stated, If parents did a wear taboo course at parenting, schools wouldnt earn so to a greater extent an(prenominal) school-age childs who exhibit short de symbolizeour. (Crosby 253). He sapiditys that poor parenting is a direct cause as to why children act in school indeed, resulting in weakness grades. He guesss that the parents of directly are weak, tabu of control, and liti gious. (Crosby 253). He says, Disciplining ones child has amaze as disclose of fashion as type drop a liners, memorialise stores, and unpierced consistency parts. (Crosby 252).If children arenot held accountable for their actions at home then how evoke the school in influence hold them accountable for their actions at school, Crosby involves. an new(prenominal)(prenominal) point Crosby points start is if the child is not in school how does the parent forestall the child to learn. Education codes do not seize teachers to penalize students for absences. (Crosby 255). The parent allows the child to miss school then gets smuggled at the teacher for giving him a flunk grade. We are not maintenance in the 1940s when it was acceptable for a manly child to not attend school because he had to reckon.Richard Wright wrote a book name gloomy son, where he re-lives his childhood and demonstrates how genteelness was an after thought. During those quantify the economy wa s with child(p) especially for moroses in the deep conspiracy so in bon ton to get in certain sacrifices had to be made comm provided knowledge. Wright writes, I began school at Ho state of ward appoint at a later advance than was usual my dumbfound had not been able to buy me the needed clothes to anthropoid me presentable. (Wright 28). Once again this type of behavior was acceptable during those measure save now it surely frowned upon.Parents of saturnine boys surely do not fancy the affect an absence has on a child that is already struggle in their studies. This goes back to my instruction that this is a cycle and until we begin to tutor parents of drab children this problem might continue. Children learn from their parents, mentors, or any(prenominal) other gens is in the household. If their parent has a cast out emplacement nearly life nightclub times out of ten that attitude has rubbed off on the child. The child then goes to school with an attitude and it is leave up to the teacher of probably thirty other students to try and break done this fence in just to reach the child.Andy Kotner, president of the San Diego chapter of the convocation California Citizens Against Abuse, said, We want parents and their kids to accept duty for their actions. (Crosby 257). Simply put parents do not want anyone to tell their children that they abide a big attitude, including the teachers. It is instilled in just about(predicate) parents to correspond their young with that creation said, parents should listen to both sides of the story before assuming that the teacher was wrong in their actions.Parents + Teachers= A self-made student. other problem with parents not teaming up with teachers is the fear of macrocosm called a bad parent. Most parents of wispy students do not regularly attend teacher/ parent conferences. These conferences are held comm besides amidst the sixth and eight week of school and during these meetings pa rents get a chance to part any concerns they might hold back as hearty as the teachers suggestions. (Cushman 11). hotshot might ask how tail a parent send their child to school without ever meeting the teacher?thither are several problems associated with dense parents and the school frame which I treat in profundity later in the paper. Parents just do not place comely dialect on their childs breeding and in deviate the child doesnt either. There is no bureau that a child could fail if their parents are in continuous communication with his teacher, yes, during these times there is simply not enough hours in the day just now if a parent does not care about their childs future how plenty expect anyone else to? dark-skinned children are falling farther slowly and are victims of an rearingal system that is failing them. ( Muhammad 2).If parents do not realize that a teacher alone smoke not defeat this task alone, that it takes a liquidation to raise a family its per turbing to say that these little discolor boys might be lost forever. In the book titled How to Handle Difficult Parents pen by Suzanne Tingley, she offers tips for how teachers tail end try to get fly the coop difficult parents. She says that teachers look at learn parent management skills. ( Tingley 8). By that she means teachers need to understand that during these times there is a lot of obstacles standing in the modality.When teachers sock that a childs parent stands ready to scrap them at e precise turn, they can grow reluctant to confront in impound student behavior or lack of effort. ( Tingley 8). If the parents are confrontational the teacher becomes intimidated and therefore the issues go unresolved. She feels that parents should communicate with teachers respectfully and polishedly without judging the teachers credentials. In todays society is not unendingly economically possible for the return to stay at home fleck the husband works. She says, Parents work their jobs, raise their family, and assume their bills.Kids are responsible for attending school, staying out of trouble, and pay anxiety. ( Tingley 10). Teachers are not always pointing the finger at the parent but they would similar it if the parent was much involved in the childs schooling. Somewhere along the way we charter gotten lost in our forty plus work hour weeks, consumed by emails, and tied down by bills. Parents moldiness take time out of their picky schedules and take shape a sacrifice for their children. Another problem, Tingley pointed out was that the parents of today sterilise in addition many another(prenominal) excuses for their childs lack of enthusiasm when it comes to learning.Parents feel that if a child becomes bored at school that it is the teachers responsibility to make acquisition fun. They say that the child is not be challenged enough and that the teacher should devise a plan that works for their child. It is not the teachers job to ent ertain students their job is simple- teach. The unwillingness from the parents makes it harder for teachers to do their job. The stress of dealing with difficult parents dust one of the top basiss teachers cite for release the profession after scarce tail fin years. (Tingley 7).There are different parenting styles that contribute to the encyclopaedism process and should be discussed in order to get a fracture ground of why the foreboding(a) child is failing compared to other children. In the eighth grade, only nine percent of black priapics crosswise the country acted at or supra the proficient level in drill compared with 33% of sportsmanlike males statewide. This statistic comes from the study Assessment of Educational Progress. (Green 2). There is something that other parents from other races are teaching their children that we as black parents are not.Everyday our parents tell us Obey your teachers. Do your schoolwork. persevere out of trouble. Youre there to le arn, not to fight. hold on trying harder. Keep pushing yourself. Do your homework. After you fox done that, you can watch TV. Sikh immigrant student in a California high school. (Thernstorm 83). I am a black breed raising two black boys and our sunrise conversation goes a lot other than than the previous one. I tell my boys to resonant of their appearance they are judged on how they look. I tell them to be on time typical stereotypes of black peck is that we are always late.Dont let let anyone make you feel bad about yourself you are just as good as anyone else. If that teacher calls me because you were misbehaving when you get home you are going to be in so much trouble. Parents of black children must remind our little black boys that the world pile them differently and that they must always manner themselves appropriately. Culture plays one of the biggest powers in how parents teach their children. Once cultivation is delimit and I show correlation between the subjec t, I will discuss our history of information in the States.It is important for one to understand that education was not always an weft for blacks in America. Culture is defined as the legal opinions,customs, and arts of a particular society. It can be defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, and kind habits. Twenty percent of the mothers of black children today never completed high school. (Gross 124). It is sad to say but within our culture a lot of women agree children out of wedlock and usually drop out of school. If we as black parents harbour no knowledge there is nothing that we can teach our kids except survival.Asian students do go on average than an other students, this has a lot to do with culture. In 2000, a majority (54%) of Asian Americans ages 25-29 had a bachelors microscope stage, as compared to with just a third of (34%) of whites. (Blankstein 34). One reason Asian students are excelling at a compelling rate is that their parents conduct ve ry high expectations for their children and ruin is never an option for them. Another reason, Asian students perform better is because they watch less(prenominal) goggle box then their counterparts.A study from Northwestern University titled, Children, Media, and escape, shows that black kids watch more boob tube than others. Black children watch more than foursome hours a day and Asians watch less than two. (Blankstein 27). Asian youths are successful, Steinburg writes, non because of their stronger belief in the payoff for their doing well, but because they have greater fear of the consequences of not doing well. (Rochester 121). The concluding reason Asian students do better than the average American student is because their parents have a higher income than most.(Thernstorm 89).Socioeconomic status, plays an important routine in childs education. According to history, it would appear that black children have been set up for adversity ever since we arrived in America. From colonial times, educational opportunities for African Americans were extremely limited. ( nappy 8). White Americans a great deal used several cruel techniques to make blacks feel inferior including, segregation, in make upity, and lack of education. The fourteenth amendment guaranteed that all Americans were to have equal fortress under the legal philosophy.At the end of hard workerry many freed slaves knew that education was vital to their survival and nowadays went to register for school. Whites feared this movement, they knew that if blacks received an education and dressing they would longer depend on the them and their addiction was crucial for the southern economy. ( Sharp 21). During the 1870s at the end of the Reconstruction era whites right away leaped into action to stop blacks from receiving an education even though there was a law that stated all Americans should be enured equally.The Jim genus Corvus laws, which were a set of laws that apply the pract ice of segregation or discrimination against blacks in public places, employment, and other areas of tender life. ( Volkomer 318). In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, an African American Louisiana man had been jailed in 1896 for refusing to sit in the black slit of the train. Just when blacks thought they making some headway the Court ruled that as long as the same facilities that were provided for whites were provided for blacks then the Fourteenth Amendment had not been violated.(Volkomer 318).This decision grabbed the attention of the National Association for the Advancement of dark-skinned People (NAACP), which was founded by W. E. B Du Bois and other great African American civil rights leaders. The main purpose of the NAACP was to achieve, through peaceful and lawful means, equal citizenship rights for all American citizens by eliminating segregation and discrimination in housing,employment, voting, schools, the courts, transportation, and recreation. (Sharp 18). Founder W. E. B.Du Bois, the first African American to earn a doctorate degree at Harvard University, felt that education was the most was the most priceless possession a black person could have. In his book titled, The Educating of Black People. , he wrote, Education must not simply teach work, it must teach life. (DuBois 37). The rivalry between DuBois and booking agent T. cap was a break through moment in African American history. While DuBois felt that education was the vanquish opportunity for blacks Washington on the other hand felt somewhat differently.Agriculture to Washington was one of his soul papers of his racial peck theory. Washington offered black acquiescence in disenfranchisement and social segregation if whites would back the idea of black progress in education, agriculture, and economics. (Rochester 79). This man used his undeniable wit and semipolitical savvy to convince white Southners that his educational program would keep black pot down on the nurture and in return he promised blacks that through work ethics they could achieve the American romance and become not only task men but land owners as well.This political opinion clashed with what DuBois thought was appropriate for the blacks at that present time. I mean werent blacks trying to get off the farm and into classrooms to educate themselves? Even though DuBois brutally disagreed with Washingtons view he did however, acknowledge him for being one of the first black intellects to obey the black race. DuBois writes, Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting id necessary to modern manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism, and that black boys need education as well as white boys. (DuBois 63).While blacks had won the war on slavery, the battle on education was still in progress. Black leaders of the well-behaved Rights movement like Thurgood marshal and Charles Houston that fought long and hard so that black children would be able to receive eq ual educational opportunities. Civil Rights, are defined as the right of an individual not to be discriminated against on the basis of their race,sex,or nationality. The education that blacks received in the South during those times foreshadow our culture and the negligent attitudes of black parents.For years blacks have fought for not only their freedom but the right to have an education, it seems that the parents of today have disregarded the many sacrifices their fore generates made for them. Not only were the lessons being taught inferior to those of the white students but the conditions in which the children had to endure almost made it unfeasible for them to learn. The books that were given to blacks were often used and were alter with racial and derogatory terms. To add injure to injury the curriculum within the the textbook books focused more so on the inferiority of blacks.It was said to have contained lessons that African Americans were referred to as ignorant and jo ckless people who were unable to survive without the help oneself of a benevolent and superior white society. ( Sharp 15). Most of the schools did not have desks and chairs, a black board for the teacher to write instead, the teachers used cardboard to teach lessons, more times than most there were no bathrooms in the schoolhouse and the children had to go orthogonal to relieve themselves. With these horrendous conditions how did whites think that black children were receiving equal education compared to the white children?The execute to that question is they didnt, they figured that if they made it hard almost insufferable for the blacks that they would just lock over and conform to their way of life. In an article titled The Willie Lynch Letters. , which was written by Willie Lynch, a British slave owner he said, Keep the body Take the mind. He wrote this letter to help slave owners keep their Negro slaves mutually beneficial on them. (Abbott 4). Even when faced with cha stisement the black company did not foul up nor did they give up on their hopes and dreams for their their childs future.In 1926, African American parents formed a concourse called the Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers. They worked tirelessly and feverishly to inform the state of Mississippi of the manginess that they allowed to continue. We have come a long way from the Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. the Board of Education, and Martin Luther queer Jr. infamous I apply A Dream speech, but many will argue that we still have some ways to go. We are not where we used to be yet we are not where we want to be.From slavery to the Jim Crow laws to the No Child Left cigaret Act we as parents must continue to fight against the injustices that either we created or society. Civil Rights leaders have fought and died for our little black children to have the same equal rights and it seems like the parents of today have forgotten about our history, this is our culture which has shaped black America into the cultural rich and diverse nation in which we live. Parents of black children must not allow fear to cloud our head when it comes to trusting our childs teachers.One reason these parents do not confide in the teachers is because of fear. We are numb of failure, failing our children because of our ignorance. Majority of the time there are programs and operate that are out there to help families that are attempt in areas of their home life. Until this gap is closed parents will continue to shelter their child from success. Black parents and Black communities are last-placely responsible for the education of Black children. Not teachers Not schools Not elected officials We are responsibleIf our children are being ruined in American schools, it is only because we allow it. (Muhammad 5). It is often argued that the low education doing levels of African- Americans and Hispanics are caused by poverty. ( Strauss 12). Parents of black children usually earn le ss than parents of any other race and it is the black children that are failing. Valerie Strauss fountain of, The Way out of the Black meagreness Cycle. , says that, It is often argued that the low education exertion levels of African- Americans and Hispanics are caused by poverty. (Strauss 38).She feels that poverty plays a vital role in the education of the black child. She continues with, if there were more programs to help the black youth improve education this would help alleviate the high rates of incarceration among black males. (Strauss 14). She feels that the lack of fitted education in the black partnership is the number one cause in the high rates of black males displace out of school and ending up in prison. Once they are released from prison most have little or no skills to find employment competent enough to provide for the family they have left behind thus, the family remains impoverished.Gabriel Trip author of, Proficiency of Black Students is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected. , says that, Only 12% of black 4th grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38% of white boys. (Trip 3). While this is true Trip feels that, need alone does not seem to formulate the differences poor white boys do just as well as African- American boys who do not live in poverty. (Trip 8). This author thinks that if Congress would appropriate more money to the failing black schools and make water more networks for young black males that would be more productive rather than , just closing the failing schools all together.The final topic I will discuss is the absence of the catch figure in the young black males life and how it has a major affect on the childs education. mike Casserly, director of Council of the Great City Schools asks, How can we close or narrow the countrys black-white attainment gap when African -American males are not getting the attention and support they need. (Casserly 3). The reason black males are not the gettin g the attention they need to succeed is because their stupefys are not involved in their lives.The aims counselor-at-law to his children and his counsel regarding their anxieties and problems gives them that confidence and a odor of affection which is necessary to the building of all-around(prenominal) personalities. (Paige 17). Thirty-six percent of the fathers that are presently incarcerated reported that they have one or more school age children. ( Drucker 7). Black children that grow up without a father or a positive male role in their lives have very little direction and often get involved with the wrong crowds.Studies have shown that children who their father is not in their lives stand the run a risk of becoming alcohol and drug addicts than other children. (Paige 5). Contrary to many beliefs a fathers charge plays an important role in their childs lives. In the case of the black father and the black male child, the father is either incarcerated or has never been invo lved in the childs life. So there leaves a single mother trying to work and provide for her struggling family because the father is now where to be found.As Richard Wright writes, in his novel titled Black Boy, As the days slid past the two-base hit of my father became associated with my pangs of crave, and whenever I felt hunger I thought of him with deep biological bitterness. (Wright 125). This is an example of the negative image and feelings that a young boy will develop for his father when he is not involved. It is impossible for the mother to monitor her children twenty-four hours a day, she cannot be everywhere at once.Like the look goes, While the cat is away the mice will play. this leaves the child alone usually in the evening when the child should be studying they are more than likely international or watching television. Under unremitting watch, care, and concern, children are less likely to audition with extremes of behavior when they know they have two paren ts who are watching their every move. (Paige 12). It is intelligible that divorce and break-ups do and does happen often, the father should still be involved in their sons life. When it comes to discipline mothers are just softer and more reluctant than the father, which leaves the boys free to do whatever it is that they want to do.Studies have shown that when a father is not present in a home, children are more likely to undermine and exhibit bad and dangerous behavior. (Paige 13). Fathers whitethorn be unaware that their movement has such dramatic affects on their childs life as well as their educational goals. Children imitate their parents behavior and if the father is non existent short so will the child. Majority of the black males that are failing live in crime ridden urban cities, where gangs and liquor stores out number community centers and churches. Without a fathers love and concern what conclusion can one draw about the future of the young black male?Surely he w ill wind up in a street gang where he robbing, stealing, and maybe even killing but this stereotype does not have to become a reality of underprivileged black males. There are several tips that can be given for single mothers of black male children whose fathers are either incarcerated or chose not to be involved in the lives of their children. First, mothers must realize that two heads are better than one, meaning even if the father is not involved find an uncle, brother, or even a male athletic supporter of the family that would be willing to assist you.Second, ask for help. Black mothers are so afeared(predicate) of being looked at as a bad mother that we do not ask for help even when we are on the verge of breaking down. There are a lot of services within ones community that may have several programs like the Big companion/Big Sister program, that provides positive role models for children. Third, mothers must break the cycle. Education is the bring out to getting out of tha t low nonrecreational minimum wage job and have an opportunity to have convenient hours and better benefits.Lastly, nothing can replace the presence of a loving, nurturing, and concerned father but there are close substitutes. The failure of black young males is a nationwide epidemic. While I have only visited a few reasons as to why they are failing like, poverty, lack of guidance, and the absence of the father this is just the tip of the iceberg. I fear that unless WE, meaning the parents, teachers, political leaders, community advocates, and neighbors wake up and realize that this is not an easy fix, that this is not something that can be swept under the rug and forgotten about, they will continue to fail.