Black Males Enter Educational Environments Questioning

Adolescence can be the most crucial part of a person’s development. It is the time of transition into adulthood. The experiences gathered this time of a person’s life have lasting effects that linger long into adulthood. Proper guidance and support during this time is a person’s life is essential to ensuring that the person is able to become a successful adult in society. However, many African-American youth are lacking this type of support and guidance during this critical stage in life. Disproportionately some African American male adolescents aren’t provided proper mechanisms for their transition to manhood. Some sociologists believe that the lack of a rites of

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.

The research topic I plan to focus on involves studying the experiences of African American males who have formed mentoring relationships as undergraduates, particularly when the mentor is a Black male and the relationship takes place at Clemson or other PWIs in the south. In my opinion, these relationships can have a profound impact on a student’s ability to persist towards graduating from college. Though my research, I want to hear the experiences of Black males who have benefited from successful mentoring relationships with other Black men. As a mentor, I believe that establishing a strong mentoring relationship with Black males at a young age can greatly improve their chance of academic success. Furthermore, I believe that mentoring is a strong early intervention mechanism to prevent Black males from dropping out of high school and deterring them from pursuing degrees in higher education. At the same time, I would like my research interest to focus on African American males in the south, but I would like my scope to focus on mentoring relationships between black men; both structured and unstructured.

Building upon not only the intellectual achievement, but also the self-esteem of black students can also help strengthen their achievement. Many studies have revealed that high self-esteem is strongly correlated with subsequent achievement orientation and upward mobility (Hill, 1999). The attitude of significant others (parents, peers, and teachers) toward a child is an important source of self-esteem among black children (Taylor 1976; Gibbs 195; Hill 1999). In school, teachers can encourage interaction between themselves and the students, as well as the students among each other.

Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).

There are several Black male initiatives on college campuses around the United States that focus on supporting the high school to college matriculation and retention of African American males. Furthermore, these initiatives are designed to support Black males as they navigate through their perspectives institutions (Palmer & Gasman, 2008). Support can come in many ways. For the purpose of this section, I will highlight some of the programs that focus on the success of African American males; Penn GSE Grad Prep Academy, Sam Houston State University, The Ohio State, and UCLA.

Topics such as pregnancy, rape, race, and parenting are rarely discussed within the school system, contributing to black girls mental, emotional, and physical insecurity (Crenshaw, 2015). In many cases, African-American female students that are affected by any of the issues often become "segregated from their peers and stigmatized in a manner that may undermine their attachment to school" (Crenshaw, 2015, p. 39). By providing educational programs that create awareness and consciousness of common issues, and give helpful information on how to solve dangerous circumstances, black girls become more engaged in the curriculum and learn how to cope with the trauma that is encountered outside of the academic setting. These individuals can utilize these educational programs as mean to express their personal experiences, removing any form of internalized trauma that can be detrimental for their academic attainment. By addressing what these individuals encountered within their everyday lives, blacks girls become more focused and involved in their

Upon the premise of further exploration, Mari Ann Roberts found a definition of what is meant to care for underachieving African American male students. Roberts surveyed eight African American teachers to attain their point of view of what it meant to care for their students which included informing them about how to survive in the racism of the United States of America that they will and are exposed to (Roberts 456). The discussion of political clarity was addressed by several teachers to help students understand “the importance of education and emphasized that they believed, for Black people, academic achievement would eventually equal equality” (Roberts 458).

I fully agree with the topic that educators should not judge students on their “political status” or “home environment”, but they must understand their own personal values and expectations as teachers and as well as the education systems, to provide black students with a more natural feeling class environment. As far as I can tell this is more crucial today because of how easy it is to become so judgmental based on what the media says, or what a friend from last week posted on Facebook. All school staff must understand that all students must be taught equal, and that not every teaching style works for every student. Although this article does raise a few questions to me. You two often speak about creating this healthy class environment for black

When African American males who are vastly capable do not reach their academic potential there are not any quick or easy fixes to this social problem. Other than temporary or situational issues there are other factors that have communally taken a toll on the performance and education experience of African American adolescent males (Ford & Moore, 2013). On the mezzo level, he has a negative interaction with his school. His mother receives a lot of negative reports from the school. Not once did his teacher and any counselors make any referrals for professional services in any of his grades. A lot of teachers do not how to engage with him. Often teachers immediately assume because he is 6’9 he is already going to be trouble because

Before we can effectively address the under-representation of African American males in urban middle and high school classrooms; we must first situate the problem in the right global-political context; otherwise further attempts to solve it will continue to be misguided. And secondly, we must recognize the negative psychological impact it has on African American students’ ability to learn, as a compound problem, in which disproportionality is supported by this under-representation. From the beginning, the basic function of education for African descended people is to prepare them for servitude to Whites, and consequently, it is this European constant which survives in the United States (Wilson, 1993). Changes in the physical manifestations

The opportunities to make a difference and shape a different future for students of color is possible. Breaking the cycle of a negative start on education, gives children a substantial head-start early in development years. Providing students with specialized subject matter teachers and linking home and school are ways to start to close the gap on education. One amazing fact that I learned is currently in my daughter’s high school 14 percent of African-American student have D’s and

Although hatred, racism, and discrimination date as far as slavery one might say that it still suppresses African American Men until this day. Many forms of oppression still exist in this newly-made century. It has gotten so bad that the same oppression that has torn society has made its way into the school system. Could this be the major problem in the school system? “ That was said aloud by, Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of education, The new guidance package is replete with data, highlighting, for example, that while African American students make up only 15% of public school systems, they represent 35% of students suspended once, 44% of students suspended twice, and 36% of students expelled”, as reported by Sarah Belton, Cartwright-Baron Attorney. It is rather disturbing if you ask me due to the fact that young black males may never get the education they need. What really seems to be the problem with the African American Men’s advance in the school system?

Education in the 21st century is evolving, children need to know more and learn faster, and for “Americans of all backgrounds” opportunities given by society are becoming more “dependent on knowledge and education” (Darling-Hammond). The reliance on education worries many, because with unequal access to education for many minority families based on where they live or how much money they have, opportunities seem only to be given out to those with the best education and many with the best education are white (Badger). Opportunity isn’t given based on race, but more so based on knowledge, and with a lower level of education, most African American teenagers and young adults are held to lower jobs and lower standards than white counterparts. This does not mean that opportunity doesn’t exist. With equal schooling, support from parents, and access to the training and skills they need, African American children and teens can achieve just what white children and teens can (Cannon).

The educational system was not made to create a successful Black race. African American students are not doing well in school become discouraged and therefore, think they do not have a chance at success. A variable that affects most minority students is a term Dr. James referred to as tracking. Black students are given lower level courses because people believe they will not perform well (2015). The major problem with this concept is that it is creating an increasing gap in the education of a minority student versus a White student. The issue of this unsolved gap