Black Students Victimized An Obsolete Education Process!
Mel Hawkins @melhawk46
@melhawk46
Conventional wisdom suggests that so many black boys and girls fail in school because of poverty, discrimination, and segregation. That same conventional thinking blames poverty, discrimination, and segregation for the schoolhouse to jailhouse track that makes young blacks almost six times more likely to end up in jail or prison than their white classmates. [i] It is the same for the fact that blacks are more than six times more likely to be victims of murder[ii] and almost three times more likely to be killed by police.[iii] We also lay blame, at that same altar, for the fact that income levels of black families in the U.S. are more than a full third below the incomes of white families.[iv]
What if there is a different reason for these travesties? What if the reason why so many Americans of color live in poverty and are powerless in the face of discrimination and segregation is because they failed at school; not the other way around? What if poverty and segregation exist, in the wake of discrimination, because so few children of color leave school with the knowledge and skills necessary to help them overcome discrimination and make a life for themselves?
I suggest that the failure of multiple generations of black children has left us with communities full of men and women entrapped in the cycles of poverty and hopelessness. As a result, they do not get the justice they deserve, nor do they enjoy a fair share of the American dream. This reality also allows millions of other Americans to justify, in their minds, the bitterness, resentment, and bigotry that divides us as a nation. We may not be able to legislate a change in their hearts, but we can force those Americans to find someone else to blame for the resentment and rancor that poisons their hearts, minds, and souls.
It is a chicken versus egg conundrum, but what we choose to believe about the unpleasant realities in our lives has an enormous impact on our ability to overcome them. When we blame our bad fortune on other people or on some external power and consider our problems to be beyond our control, we feel powerless and hopeless to do anything to change our fate.
Consider a simple question after examining this data: According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, which is a project mandated by Congress and Administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), less than twenty percent of black 4th grade and 8th-grade students achieve at a level of academic performance that the NAEP has defined as “Proficient or above” in both Math and Reading. [v] This is significant because the NAEP defines “Proficient,” among other things, as having: “demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter . . . [and] application of such knowledge to real-world situations. . . .”[vi] In other words, a student is not “proficient” in a subject matter unless they can use it in the real world.
If that weren’t disturbing enough, the data go on to show that, of black 12th graders, less than 20 percent are proficient in Reading, and less than 10 percent are proficient in Math.[vii] No wonder so many young black men and women are unable to overcome the challenges of poverty, discrimination, and segregation. No wonder many of these young people return to their communities bereft of choices.
The simple question I ask readers to consider is: “Do black children perform so poorly in school because so many of them are incapable of learning?” I reject such a notion categorically. I imagine you do, too! Consider an alternate possibility. “What if the reason so many black children perform so badly is because the education process is poorly designed to help them overcome the disadvantages imposed on them because they are poor and black?” I would choose the latter possibility. How about you? If we elect to buy in to the first suggestion that black children are incapable of learning, then we truly are both hopeless and powerless to alter the reality of poverty, discrimination, and segregation in America. If, however, we choose the second question, the appropriate follow-up question is monumental: “If the education process is poorly designed to meet the needs of black and other disadvantaged children, why are we content to sit by, year after year, and allow whole generations of children to be chewed up and spit out by an education process that is incapable of meeting their needs despite the valiant effort of public school teachers?”
I suggest that the existing education process is obsolete and beyond repair and that public school teachers are as entrapped as their students. All the incremental improvements in the world will not enable a Model T Ford to win the Daytona 500. If we want better outcomes, we must reinvent an education process that not only gives these children the education they deserve and so desperately need but also gives American society a generation of young people to whom the future of our nation can be entrusted. Reinventing the education process is a simple human-engineering problem that I have endeavored to solve. I have created an education model focused on success and crafted around the work of our teachers and students. I invite you to examine my model at http://www.melhawkinsandassociates.com/education-model-white-paper/. I also ask for your support in bringing this vision to life.
All the protests, complaints, and demonstrations we can organize will not fix what is wrong with our country. If we truly want to bring about transformative change, we must rally around a positive idea and take it to the American people, starting with those who are most affected by the challenges we face and who are desperate for a place at the table. If men and women of color, and the organizations that advocate for them, would join forces with well-meaning public-school educators behind a powerful new idea, we can change the world. We can, finally, bring to life the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the other heroes of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Given what is happening in the White House, we dare not delay action! Please join me in this mission.
[1] https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/raceinc.html
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/251877/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-race-ethnicity-and-gender/
[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
[4] http://blackdemographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/African-American-Income-1967-to-2016.png
[5] https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/guides/
[6] NCES Glossary
[7] NCES
What if there is a different reason for these travesties? What if the reason why so many Americans of color live in poverty and are powerless in the face of discrimination and segregation is because they failed at school; not the other way around? What if poverty and segregation exist, in the wake of discrimination, because so few children of color leave school with the knowledge and skills necessary to help them overcome discrimination and make a life for themselves?
I suggest that the failure of multiple generations of black children has left us with communities full of men and women entrapped in the cycles of poverty and hopelessness. As a result, they do not get the justice they deserve, nor do they enjoy a fair share of the American dream. This reality also allows millions of other Americans to justify, in their minds, the bitterness, resentment, and bigotry that divides us as a nation. We may not be able to legislate a change in their hearts, but we can force those Americans to find someone else to blame for the resentment and rancor that poisons their hearts, minds, and souls.
It is a chicken versus egg conundrum, but what we choose to believe about the unpleasant realities in our lives has an enormous impact on our ability to overcome them. When we blame our bad fortune on other people or on some external power and consider our problems to be beyond our control, we feel powerless and hopeless to do anything to change our fate.
Consider a simple question after examining this data: According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, which is a project mandated by Congress and Administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), less than twenty percent of black 4th grade and 8th-grade students achieve at a level of academic performance that the NAEP has defined as “Proficient or above” in both Math and Reading. [v] This is significant because the NAEP defines “Proficient,” among other things, as having: “demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter . . . [and] application of such knowledge to real-world situations. . . .”[vi] In other words, a student is not “proficient” in a subject matter unless they can use it in the real world.
If that weren’t disturbing enough, the data go on to show that, of black 12th graders, less than 20 percent are proficient in Reading, and less than 10 percent are proficient in Math.[vii] No wonder so many young black men and women are unable to overcome the challenges of poverty, discrimination, and segregation. No wonder many of these young people return to their communities bereft of choices.
The simple question I ask readers to consider is: “Do black children perform so poorly in school because so many of them are incapable of learning?” I reject such a notion categorically. I imagine you do, too! Consider an alternate possibility. “What if the reason so many black children perform so badly is because the education process is poorly designed to help them overcome the disadvantages imposed on them because they are poor and black?” I would choose the latter possibility. How about you? If we elect to buy in to the first suggestion that black children are incapable of learning, then we truly are both hopeless and powerless to alter the reality of poverty, discrimination, and segregation in America. If, however, we choose the second question, the appropriate follow-up question is monumental: “If the education process is poorly designed to meet the needs of black and other disadvantaged children, why are we content to sit by, year after year, and allow whole generations of children to be chewed up and spit out by an education process that is incapable of meeting their needs despite the valiant effort of public school teachers?”
I suggest that the existing education process is obsolete and beyond repair and that public school teachers are as entrapped as their students. All the incremental improvements in the world will not enable a Model T Ford to win the Daytona 500. If we want better outcomes, we must reinvent an education process that not only gives these children the education they deserve and so desperately need but also gives American society a generation of young people to whom the future of our nation can be entrusted. Reinventing the education process is a simple human-engineering problem that I have endeavored to solve. I have created an education model focused on success and crafted around the work of our teachers and students. I invite you to examine my model at http://www.melhawkinsandassociates.com/education-model-white-paper/. I also ask for your support in bringing this vision to life.
All the protests, complaints, and demonstrations we can organize will not fix what is wrong with our country. If we truly want to bring about transformative change, we must rally around a positive idea and take it to the American people, starting with those who are most affected by the challenges we face and who are desperate for a place at the table. If men and women of color, and the organizations that advocate for them, would join forces with well-meaning public-school educators behind a powerful new idea, we can change the world. We can, finally, bring to life the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the other heroes of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.
Given what is happening in the White House, we dare not delay action! Please join me in this mission.
[1] https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/raceinc.html
[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/251877/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-race-ethnicity-and-gender/
[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
[4] http://blackdemographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/African-American-Income-1967-to-2016.png
[5] https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/guides/
[6] NCES Glossary
[7] NCES