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We all know that the time between the 7:30 morning bell and the 3 p.m. dismissal bell is pretty short. We try to make our classes, our rooms, our schools welcoming, safe, student-focused, and full of learning.
But when the final bell rings, the students exit the double doors and return to the world where they spend two-thirds of their time. If the students are urban Black males, chances are that they won’t graduate from high school (Livingston & Nahimana, 2006). There’s also a good chance that many of them have had a disciplinary referral this year (1 in 4), take remedial reading lessons, are enrolled in special education, have been expelled, score low on standardized tests, and have never seen the inside of a Gifted and Talented classroom (Whiting, 2006).
Although 72 percent of Black males graduate from high school, just 45 percent of Black males in urban schools do. Instead of learning the curriculum, these urban Black males learn the lessons educators didn’t intend to teach: they can’t achieve and school is not for them (Whiting, 2006).
However, the authors of “Problem Child or Problem Context: An Ecological Approach to Young Black Males” have identified two important factors to help Black males achieve. Livingston and Nahimana wrote that educators must understand the structural, social, and psychological challenges that Black males face and they must also identify the expectations that teachers in their school have for young Black males.
Livingston and Nahimana advocate for a multi-pronged approach, or an ecological approach to improving Black males’ academic success. Instead of just focusing on how the school personnel can support these students, they look to all of the influences on the students’ lives and how the family, community, church, or clubs can encourage their success.
For the most part, urban Black male students live in poverty. Their houses are run down, their families are unstable, and their neighborhoods are unsafe. One in three Black men between the ages of 20 and 29 are in prison, so they’re unable to support their families. Black men are twice as likely as White men to be unemployed. In some urban cities, Black male unemployment is between 35 and 55 percent. (Livingston and Nahimana, 2006)
These Black males are discouraged. They feel unsuccessful because they can’t find work and can’t support their families. The men leave their families because they can’t provide for them. The poverty, unemployment, lack of education, unstable families, and unsafe streets feed the cycle of hopelessness that swirls around our urban Black male students.
The situation’s bad, but we have options, the authors write. Most of their suggestions involve introducing positive Black male role models into the students’ lives. These are probably folks they don’t see in their neighborhoods, so it’s good for them to understand that they have options and that an educated Black man can look like them.
Some of the authors’ tips are:
- Encourage Black male professionals to serve as mentors for the students
- Recruit more Black male teachers to serve as role models in the school
- Offer teachers professional development so they understand their students’ backgrounds and barriers to education
- Collaborate with community organizations to create opportunities for students (like job shadowing)
They write that schools need to take a holistic approach to helping urban Black males achieve academic success. We can’t just look within our schools for the answers; we must invite the community to participate as well.
“[…] educators must account for and be mindful of the cultural, social structural, and psychological realities that impact Black male development,” they write. “Our understanding and perceptions of them shape what we teach them and what they believe they can become.”
References:
Livingston, J. and Nahimana, C. (2006.) Problem Child or Problem Context: An Ecological Approach to Young Black Males. Reclaiming Children and Youth. 14:4, 209-214.
Whiting, G. (2006.) From At Risk to At Promise: Developing Scholar Identities Among Black Males. The Journal of Secondary Education. 17:4, 222-229.
