Black Education / Schools : A Case for Same-Sex Education

[MsInterpret]

A Case for Same-Sex Education
Chicago's Urban Prep is a shining example of how same-sex education can and does work for young black males, and it might be the key to closing the dismal achievement gap.

By: Deron Snyder

Here are the latest depressing reports on the plight of African Americans: Only 12 percent of our fourth-grade boys are proficient readers, compared with 38 percent of white fourth-grade boys. By eighth grade, reading proficiency falls to just 9 percent for black males, 33 percent for whites.

Clearly, this is a crisis situation, with black males almost twice as likely as white males to drop out of high school, and a dropout rate of about 50 percent in some big cities. Black males make up about 5 percent of college enrollment nationally but about 30 percent of the prison population. Based on this depressing achievement gap, the demand for prison beds could remain strong for the foreseeable future.

Or we could open our minds to a different, controversial approach, such as the route taken by Urban Prep Academy, an all-boys charter school in Chicago. While there are pros and cons of same-sex education, we should consider the success of Urban Prep and try to replicate it on a wide scale. Any school that places 107 out of 107 seniors into college is worthy of emulation. Considering the fact that those seniors hail from some of Chicago's most disadvantaged, impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhoods, Urban Preps should be popping up across the nation as we speak.

Of course, there isn't one single solution for the problems facing black boys. Better parenting and better teaching would help, whether or not schools are coed. And Urban Prep's focus on college preparation doesn't change the fact that the skilled trades are an attractive -- and necessary -- alternative for some students, who can go on to lead healthy and productive blue-collar lives. We need plumbers, electricians and HVAC specialists as much as we need doctors, lawyers and engineers. Nevertheless, schools such as Urban Prep offer an attractive alternative to coed public schools.

READ MORE: http://www.theroot.com/views/case-same-sex-education?page=0,1

 

[skuderjaymes]

A Case for Same-Sex Education
Chicago's Urban Prep is a shining example of how same-sex education can and does work for young black males, and it might be the key to closing the dismal achievement gap.

By: Deron Snyder

Here are the latest depressing reports on the plight of African Americans: Only 12 percent of our fourth-grade boys are proficient readers, compared with 38 percent of white fourth-grade boys. By eighth grade, reading proficiency falls to just 9 percent for black males, 33 percent for whites.

Clearly, this is a crisis situation, with black males almost twice as likely as white males to drop out of high school, and a dropout rate of about 50 percent in some big cities. Black males make up about 5 percent of college enrollment nationally but about 30 percent of the prison population. Based on this depressing achievement gap, the demand for prison beds could remain strong for the foreseeable future.

Or we could open our minds to a different, controversial approach, such as the route taken by Urban Prep Academy, an all-boys charter school in Chicago. While there are pros and cons of same-sex education, we should consider the success of Urban Prep and try to replicate it on a wide scale. Any school that places 107 out of 107 seniors into college is worthy of emulation. Considering the fact that those seniors hail from some of Chicago's most disadvantaged, impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhoods, Urban Preps should be popping up across the nation as we speak.

Of course, there isn't one single solution for the problems facing black boys. Better parenting and better teaching would help, whether or not schools are coed. And Urban Prep's focus on college preparation doesn't change the fact that the skilled trades are an attractive -- and necessary -- alternative for some students, who can go on to lead healthy and productive blue-collar lives. We need plumbers, electricians and HVAC specialists as much as we need doctors, lawyers and engineers. Nevertheless, schools such as Urban Prep offer an attractive alternative to coed public schools.

READ MORE: http://www.theroot.com/views/case-same-sex-education?page=0,1

I dont believe those stats. And I really hate that these kinds of programs
use these kinds of stats to sell their success. If it works, just say it works.
And to take my criticism a step further, I would say that its
really sad to see them make their case for black achievement in terms
relative to white achievement.. like if the numbers were the same across
the board, that would be some kind of progress. The truth is, even the
white numbers are terrible. And we should be shooting for something
way beyond what they are doing.. in fact, they should not be anywhere
in the conversation about black achievement. Black achievement should
be defined in terms of the things that we need to do to take control of
our collective fate. But these kinds of programs
get their funding by selling these kinds of stories.. and what they dont
realize is they also perpetuate the myth of black inferiority.

I agree that black children need a special educational experience.. but I disagree
that they need it just to catch up with white kids. Black kids need an
education that is radically different from the white kids that will soon
take the reins perpetuate and protect white privilege worldwide.

Black kids need a far far advanced education than what is taught in
american schools.. Im talking multiple languages, a real understanding
of history.. of science and mathematics, of electronics and computer
technologies, of law and political science, etc.. the current dumbed down
system of education will never result in anything other than what it has.

and I know I didnt speak to the same-sex part at all.. thats because I
think the race thing trumps the gender thing.


Peace.. once again.
​

 

[$$RICH$$]

I too don't truely believe it, but i can say we are behind
this why parents should buy books / read more to there children
and not hope the public school system do it , Take out time a day
for reading give them the news paper to read articals we are the
reading power to there future.

 

[abstract219]

I say let's try it.

We've tried every other type of schooling.

Sometimes a better education could be just as simple as parents cutting off the TV and the computer.

 

[skuderjaymes]

I say let's try it.

We've tried every other type of schooling.

Sometimes a better education could be just as simple as parents cutting off the TV and the computer.

better.. maybe in relative terms.. but the TV and the Computer are both
very valueable learning tools. The truth is, the problem with education has
to do with American society's will toward our people.. Until we understand
that the education system has nothing to do with education and everything
to do with money, then our children will forever be marginalized. Education
has to be geared toward some particular end.. graduates should graduate
into the thing that they have learned.. the learning should not be theoretical
but practical.. But, it's our responsibility, as a group, to create the jobs for
our people.. we cannot rely on anyone but ourselves..