Category: Black Boys in Crisis

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. If removal and zero-tolerance policies don’t help black male students in the long term, what is the best way to discipline students when they do misbehave? In this article, we will discuss two of the most effective ways. Early Intervention The best answer is found long before the moment when discipline is necessary. Prevention and intervention tactics need a place in all teaching pedagogy, and those tactics …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Alternatives to the School to Prison Pipeline”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. If you’re reading this series, you are likely in the socioeconomic elite. You’ve probably completed at least high school, and probably have a degree or two under your belt. Why you might ask, should the school-to-prison pipeline matter to you? Surely taking less-desirable elements out of the community has advantages . . . Outside of caring about the quality of life for other individuals, which is something …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Why Care About the School-to-Prison Pipeline?”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. Looking beyond the disciplinary ramifications of the school-to-prison pipeline, minority students have other disadvantages when it comes to reaching the high school graduation stage (remember, high school dropouts are more likely to end up incarcerated, even if they never encounter behavioral problems in K-12 settings). Consider this: Black students tend to have fewer teachers who are certified in their degree areas. A US Department of Education report …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Inequality in Educational Access”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. Increasingly, educators are learning how to recognize the signs of textbook learning disabilities like ADHD or dyslexia. But what about the indirect impact that factors like poverty, abuse, neglect, or simply living in the wrong neighborhood have on a student’s ability to learn? Why aren’t we finding ways to identify the known risk factors for academic impairment and intervening earlier? Black boys with disabilities are the most …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Students with Disabilities”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. As a response to rising drug problems in high schools, “zero tolerance” policies began trending in the 1990s. They were intended as a way to enforce anti-drug policies but quickly became an all-encompassing way of life for school discipline. Though zero tolerance has been deprecated in some areas, many schools still implement the policy and use it as an excuse to remove students for the most minor …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: The Problem with Zero Tolerance”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. Sixty-five percent of US public schools reported at least one violent incident in 2013–2014, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in their schools each year, but that number rises to 82 percent for schools where black students make up a majority (Rates of School Crime 2015). The violence is often associated with gang activity. Though Hispanic boys are the most likely to be involved …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Crime and Punishment”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. Black boys are a student demographic that has been and continues to be, misunderstood in public school classrooms. Black boys’ learning styles and social skills are often misconstrued as problems by educators. Those who have disadvantaged home lives are often accustomed to activity rather than sitting still, and to shouting and argument as a means of communication. These do not translate well to the classroom. The result …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Eliminating the School-to-Prison Pipeline”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and black males comprise the highest percentage relative to overall population. Consider these statistics reported by the Civil Rights Data Collection Organization: 70 percent of in-school arrests or students referred to law enforcement officers are black or Latino 68 percent of males in federal and states prisons do not have a high school diploma 61 percent …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Lock Them Up and Throw Away the Key”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. Kalief Browder was a middle-of-the-road student. At sixteen, he was making mostly C’s, but his teachers called him “very smart, ” and he was well liked by his fellow classmates. He came from a broken home—his father had moved out when he was ten—but by all accounts, his mother was an astonishing caregiver. She raised seven children of her own and mothered over two dozen foster kids. …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Kalief Browder and the Horrors of Incarceration”

In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis. We need to teach young black men to identify themselves in opposition to negative media presentations. One way is to utilize education to naturalize the narrative of compassion into masculinity that is currently lacking in the lives of many African-American boys. Ignorance is the enemy. The result is that black kids get locked up. In this article, we will discuss three ways that we can counteract the …

Continue reading “Black Boys in Crisis: Counteracting Racial Stereotypes”