The "Cos" Is Right:
Some Thoughts On Black Academic Underachievement
By P.R. Parker
In 2002, Scott Phelps, a Pasadena high school teacher, observed that most of his problem students – those who misbehave and get poor grades more frequently – tend to be black. In a letter meant for his colleagues' eyes only, Phelps bluntly expressed his concerns on African American students seemingly lack of self-control and motivation. He stated that black students chatter non-stop, make hallways deafening, and generally sap the strength of those in the trenches: the classroom teachers. In 2004, fifty years following Brown v Board of Education, Bill Cosby reiterated what Phelps stated three years earlier, laying the blame on non-parenting parents, not at the feet of white bigotry and racism.
Phelps and Cosby, both educators and deeply committed to the academic betterment and welfare of young people, described the symptoms although Cosby pinpointed the more likely cause.
There is something deeply wrong with the African American community to allow rampant crime, immorality, and repeated academic failure to take center stage amid fifty years of "progress."
What these men said should not be met with disdain and the usual, "How could he say such hateful things about us? How could he air our dirty laundry in public?"
Dear readers, I believe such "dirty laundry" needs to be exposed, preferably by those whose success and glory directly stems from hard work and academic excellence. May I also remind those critics it was not long ago when we sat in racially segregated classrooms, when our black teachers drove home those messages daily: Apply yourself; Don't act a fool; Clean up your mouth and speak properly. Of course this was, on occasion, reinforced with a few sound swats to the rear end.
While this method worked four or five decades ago, one can hardly employ such tactics now. Corporeal punishment has virtually disappeared from our public schools. A teacher bluntly and publicly airing his or her students' shortcomings, lack of ambition and motivation may risk either severe reprimands or instant dismissal. Teachers can no longer verbally slam and browbeat. To do so may irreparably wound a child, the psychological and emotional trauma damaging said child's fragile self-esteem.
During my elementary school days, the tough-talking, paddle wielding teacher reigned supreme. From kindergarten through sixth grade the daily barrage of lectures on "doing right by your people" became my life's mantra:
"I am here to learn, not to fool around. Already the odds are stacked against me, and I am just in second grade. White people expect me to fail. They believe colored children are stupid, and therefore cannot learn. I will not embarrass my parents, my teachers, my people through thoughtless, selfish behavior or laziness."
The days of "Mrs. X knocked Johnny out of his chair because he got the same math problem wrong six times," will never come again. Naturally, at the time, we laughed at poor Johnny and those like him, a kid who lived with his grandmother, who always wore a key around his neck, who came to school wearing dingy clothes and often had no school supplies. He was the object of our contempt and deserved to be knocked around. How dare he come to school without paper or pencil. He seems to have money for the bag of candy the teacher takes from him everyday, so why can't he fork over ten cents for a couple of pencils? Here was a boy who was not pulling his weight, not doing his part to advance the race. In fact, this kid was pulling us down further, holding us back by his laziness and unwillingness to learn.
Kids like him eventually became drop-outs, spent the rest of their lives working low-paying service jobs, or turning to crime. Kids like him usually turned to alcohol and drugs, become violent. Perhaps, in a drunken rage, shoot his wife and children to death, thus grabbing unwanted media attention. By "unwanted" I mean the kind of notoriety that showed Blacks in the worst possible light. The kind that confirmed whites' already negative opinion of our race: that the American Negro, by nature, was too easily prone to violence and sexual immorality, and generally lacked the intelligence to make the simplest of positive life choices. The headline screaming, "Couple's Argument Ends in Murder," is read by whites shaking their heads, asking, "Why do they want 'civil rights' when they can't control their baser passions?"
To this end, that same black child, who mostly likely would end up as a crime statistic, heard the daily barrage from both teacher and parent. He heard it from the pulpit: "Get yourself right or suffer the consequences, thus shaming your people forever." After all, this was the late 1950's and early 1960's, a tense, crucial time for African Americans.
Fast forward fifty years, and African American children, despite two generations of integration and three decades of overhauling curriculum to reflect the changes in public school demographics, still lag far behind their white and Asian American classmates. Latino children, while also trailing behind in test scores, have a valid excuse: the language and cultural barrier. However, Latinos have outstripped African Americans by sheer numbers. Their growing economic and political clout is self-evident in any major urban area. For example, travel down West and East Washington Streets or Lafayette Road in Indianapolis and one can find numerous, striving businesses owned and operated by Latinos. It is simple: They see a need and provide the necessary goods and services for their people.
On the other hand, travel down any street in a blighted African American street and one will find row after row of boarded-up storefronts, single-family homes either in need of dire repair, able-bodied young men loitering about when they could be working, or going to school. Is it laziness? Giving up on dreams they once had in childhood? A racist school system that simply does or will not adapt to the unique needs of African American students? Or have parents, as Cosby asserts, abdicated their jobs and are not rearing their children to become responsible, contributing adults?
The plausible reasons are so numerous, it would take several pages to attempt an explanation. In future entries, I will address what I feel are the possible culprits behind Black children's ongoing academic failure.
Copyright © 2005 by P.R. Parker. All Rights Reserved.
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