A new report says the graduation rate for Black males is less than 50 percent
Black Men Have Something of Value to Offer in America’s Classrooms
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
“Yes We Can: the 2010 Schott Foundation 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education” recently highlighted that the overall graduation rate for Black males in the United States is less than 50 percent.
According to the report—the fourth such report sponsored by the Schott Foundation—the “American educational system is systematically failing Black males,” with school districts in New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Dade County, Florida singled out for graduation rates below 30 percent. The report should not be a surprise for any one even vaguely familiar with the educational struggles of black men and boys—struggles that contribute to drop out rates, incarceration rates and even tensions between educated and professional Black women and Black men.
Many of the narratives about the failure of Black boys in school are focused on the perceived deficiencies of the boys, their families and by extension, certain forms of Black culture. Thus regardless of their social class, educational background and cerebral capabilities, many Black boys enter public school as “at risk” students. As Ann Arnett Ferguson observes in her book, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, the description of “at risk,” is “invested with enormous power to identify, explain, and”—and this is critical—“predict futures.”
Though there are of course Black male students who have legitimate learning disabilities and are struggling in family situations that are not conducive to their success in the classroom, Ferguson argues that it is the schools themselves that very early shape the expectations and possibilities of Black boys in the classroom. Ironically, the scripts that public schools construct about Black boys have little to do with their capacity to learn, but every thing to do with perceptions of their behavior as so-called at-risk students. According to Ferguson, it is the schools themselves that are responsible for the creation of “bad boys.”
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
“Yes We Can: the 2010 Schott Foundation 50 State Report on Black Males in Public Education” recently highlighted that the overall graduation rate for Black males in the United States is less than 50 percent.
According to the report—the fourth such report sponsored by the Schott Foundation—the “American educational system is systematically failing Black males,” with school districts in New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Dade County, Florida singled out for graduation rates below 30 percent. The report should not be a surprise for any one even vaguely familiar with the educational struggles of black men and boys—struggles that contribute to drop out rates, incarceration rates and even tensions between educated and professional Black women and Black men.
Many of the narratives about the failure of Black boys in school are focused on the perceived deficiencies of the boys, their families and by extension, certain forms of Black culture. Thus regardless of their social class, educational background and cerebral capabilities, many Black boys enter public school as “at risk” students. As Ann Arnett Ferguson observes in her book, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, the description of “at risk,” is “invested with enormous power to identify, explain, and”—and this is critical—“predict futures.”
Though there are of course Black male students who have legitimate learning disabilities and are struggling in family situations that are not conducive to their success in the classroom, Ferguson argues that it is the schools themselves that very early shape the expectations and possibilities of Black boys in the classroom. Ironically, the scripts that public schools construct about Black boys have little to do with their capacity to learn, but every thing to do with perceptions of their behavior as so-called at-risk students. According to Ferguson, it is the schools themselves that are responsible for the creation of “bad boys.”
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com
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