Look, Hyperkill, I feel your frustration and your passion...really.
You're preaching to the choir when it comes to some of our educational systems. --I'm a former educator...degreed and certified.
And Louisiana has a long history of poor schools.
In N.O. Blacks who can afford it send their children to private schools (like St. Aug and some others).
And there are some good public schools still in N.O. but they are few.
However, "speaking to" some students and determining that they don't need to be in Special Ed classes is not an accurate assessment.
I repeat:
NOTHING beats a child being mis-labeled or having their education stilted/denied more than a PARENT who is INVOLVED and INVESTED in their child's education.
low-black-male-graduation-rates-indicate-a-failure-in-faith-not-circumstances.
Who was the first person in your life to introduce you to the concept of failure? Now, who was the first person in your life to teach you that failure was not only possible, but probable?
If you consider yourself successful by any measure of the Western standard, then you were probably never introduced to the Negro narrative of obfuscation, which teaches the inevitability that outward circumstances will methodically undermine any constructive steps you take in the direction of upward mobility.
All varieties of Negro head honchos, from shepherds of churchgoing hallelujah flock, to old timey civil rights activists, preach the defeatist mantra of how “the man” is out to get them and the variety of ways that our system keeps a “brotha” down.
Unfortunately, it now appears that this chorus of pessimism has entrenched itself in the minds of African American young men, teachers, and even parents.
According to a recent study by the Schott Foundation for Public Education, less than 50% of black males graduated from high school during the 2007-2008 school year. Even worse, according to the report, “(M)ore than twice as many black students are classified as ‘mentally retarded’ in spite of research demonstrating that the percentages of students from all groups are approximately the same at each intelligence level.”
It is clear from the data that young black men are throwing in the towel at record numbers. These numbers should be anything but surprising considering how the black community has systematically lowered expectations for black men on every conceivable level.
In education, we feed young black men bleak statistics which forewarn that he will be killed or imprisoned before age 25, making the pursuit of education futile. In love, black women welcome the most pitiful representations of manhood into their hearts (and bedrooms) with open arms. And in our families, it is now widely accepted for black single moms to raise their kids alone and leave the court system to do battle on their behalf for child support – but what of male parental support?
Even the language we use to refer to our beloved black boys bespeaks his littleness and certain demise. The term ‘young black male’ is cold and devoid of any true emotion.
If we choose to push for a transformation of thought which undoes the damage of the over-empathizers, apologists, and recklessness in our community, then we must teach young black boys that life has meaning under all conditions. To suffer is a small thing, but to suffer without meaning is despair, and that should be avoided at all costs.
We must also implant in them the truest of all human truths; that they alone are responsible for their choices, and that although hustling has been painted as the clear choice for all warrior hearts, it is not. It is, in truth, a coward’s exit. His flee from the battlefield.
http://atlantapost.com/2010/08/19/l...ndicate-a-failure-in-faith-not-circumstances/