In discussion of pre-teacher training the second critical issue has been the absence of professional development geared towards teaching African American male students. On the other hand, researchers Closson, Bowna and Merriweather contend there is no Black pedagogy to teach African American students. The investigation of pedagogy is explored by all three authors, presenting the fact there is not a Black pedagogy to teach Black students. Closson, Bowman, and Merrimweather collaborate in their study attesting Black faculty struggle to develop pedagogy for teaching. All three authors articulate very strongly teaching children about race, exposes risk revealing their genuine self, as well as position. This literature points out, “Black professors are often not given respect,” they must present themselves accordingly “to expectations often unrealistic,” artificial “of the student” (Closson, Bowman, and Merrimweather 85). This study claims the plight of the mixture of literature combined in a class setting is a touchy subject, the instructors “face consequences, such as racial battle fatigue,” centered upon the experiences of race, yet it is highly based on “White students report experiencing cognitive dissonance where students interpret the course material as threatening, experiencing feelings of shame and may consequently engage in resistance” (Closson, Bowman, and Merrimweather 83). Closson, Bowman, and Merrimweather validate the claim of not having pedagogy for Black
Authors Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton in Chapter Five of Courageous Conversations About Race broach the topic of race, by asking the reader to evaluate his or her own consciousness of race. According to the authors, in order to address the achievement gaps between African American students and White students, educators should shift their energy towards focusing on the factors that they have direct control of inside the classroom rather than on the factors that influence this achievement disparity between races outside the classroom.
“The Black Studies Program: Strategy and Structure” was published Fall of 1972 in The Jounal of Negro Education. It’s contents are a relection on the years before when colleges and universitys were allowing African Americans to attend , but did not provide curriculum about or for African Americans.
‘A Talk to Teachers’ by James Baldwin published on December 21, 1963 is a very brave and direct message to teachers on how they are contributing to the prejudice in society during that time period. Baldwin’s tone in this essay shifts frequently however, the constant tone that enhances his purpose of this essay is urgency. Baldwin’s urgency to make teachers change the prejudice view on “negros” and the false history that is being taught about African Americans. For he refers to it as “any negro who is born in this country and undergoes the American educational system runs the risk of being schizophrenic.”
Schools systematically subjugate minority and black students when a school’s enrollment contains a huge racial majority. If students have no exposure to persons of different ethnicities, cultures, races, and religions, then these students will experience culture shock when they confront “other” people. Even in our class, we talk about black and minority students as another group, one that differs from “us.” We think about the inequalities in school systems as problems we need to fix, not as problems that have influenced our thinking and affect us as prospective teachers. For example, a white graduate student with
African American students account for the larger majority of minorities in public schools in the United States. Most areas in the northern part of the United states and coastal areas are ethnically diverse. However, down south this is not the case. Students of color will experience a harder time in the education system. African American students meet the obstacle of educators who will not want them to succeed based on a preconceived thought. In fact, Caucasian teachers make up for 85% of all
In the article Black Males and Adult Education: A Call to Action written by Brendaly Drayton, Dionne Rosser-Mims, Joni Schwartz, and Talmadge C. Guy want to expose the challenges that black males face in education. They make it clear their purpose is to incite a great change in the way black males are treated in the education system, give black men a voice, and endorse an analytical evaluation of institutional procedures and practices. More importantly the article states that the authors’ point is not to encourage the stereotypes and behaviors attributed to black men that society has put upon them, rather their point is to show the world that their destructive view on black males is stopping them from reaching their full potential.
African Americans are not the only ethnicity group to be singled out with behavior. Racial and ethnic minority students report experiencing low teacher expectations, having less access to educational resources, being placed on lower educational tracks, and being steered toward low-paying employment (Kozol, 1991; Olsen, 2008).This low expectation is causing
Incorporating topics of the violence and racial tension we see everyday can be difficult when it comes to certain class subjects. If a teacher is having trouble, Pitts takes the time to recommend various units teachers can use to inform students of what actually happened during times of trouble. This includes teaching about a revolutionary book in literature, what propelled the civil rights movement in history, and the black scientists who have contributed greatly to advance medical fields. Although the “black bodies have too often been used” and manipulated, she does not forget to acknowledge the fact that not all white people are bad and not all African Americans are saints. She asks educators to “be on guard against false narratives” and to teach about the white people who had
One of Beverly Tatum’s most popular works, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, outlines racial identity development and shows us what it means to be Black in today’s society. Tatum uses reasonable examples of her experience both as a parent and as a college professor. She is able to get readers to think in ways that might not be comfortable but are necessary and compelling. Recognizing understanding and embracing
Gloria Ladson-Billings is an author, teacher educator and former public school teacher. Currently, she is the Chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and Faculty Affiliate of the Departments of Educational Policy Studies and Afro American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ladson-Billings wrote numerous journal articles and books on pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students and the Critical Race Theory in regards to education.
Accordingly, the obtained data from this study helped to enhance the literature that already exists in order to gain insight as to why it is becoming increasingly harder to retain African American Female Secondary Educators in the teaching profession. Utilizing a qualitative research methodology, the search to answer the research questions, “What challenges do African American female secondary school educators experience in their interactions with their students in relationship to cultural and social issues?,” “What challenges do African American female secondary school educators experience when addressing their students’ parents in regard to communication and building trust?,” “What challenges do African American female secondary school educators experience with their colleagues in terms of racist
Today, African American students are under-represented in college and universities, and the reason is the ongoing disenfranchisement of African American students. Our education system needs be more responsive and needs to pay more attention to the college preparation for these students. People of color historically have been misrepresented, exploited, silenced, and taken for granted in education research (Dillard, 2000; Stanfield, 1995), (H. Richard Milner IV, 2008).
Teaching in racially diverse classrooms often leaves educators feeling uncertain about how to proceed and how to respond to historically marginalized students. There is pressure to acknowledge and accept students of color with different perspectives, to diversify the syllabi, be more aware of classroom dynamics, and pay attention to how students of color experience the learning process.
Rob Nelson brought this article with an extrinsic ethos in it based on the character of the author. Rob Nelson is a well known African-American editor in Chief of Chapel Hill’s Daily Tar Heel newspaper. Its estimated print readership of 38,000 makes it the largest community newspaper in Orange County (DTH Media, 2011). This is a well-known magazine for the audience; therefore, all the information and article from Daily Tar Heel must be reliable to the audience. Since he was born and raised in an African- American community, Nelson usually reflects on issues about race and practicing racism in his writing. Later on, the article was re-published in the academic journal, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, a journal that has a high academically reliable and strong authority. The readers knew about Nelson and his authority before they read his article.
I believe education is one of the most important tools a person can have in life. Every child deserves to receive the best education possible. It has always been my passion to help each child discover their individual God given gifts and talents and to reach their full potential.