THE PERILS OF BLACK STUDENTS IN URBAN EDUCATIONAL VENUES

Greg Thrasher

By Greg Thrasher, VOD Washington Bureau contributing editor

 January 5, 2011  

One of the things about living in the DC region that reminds me of living in Detroit is quite often the similar themes of inequity are always present. It is a constant of life in America regardless of one’s domicile. The specter of inequality is always present in every aspect of life for people of color. Recently the discussion about failed educational outcomes of DC students was always depicted as the sole failure of unprepared Black students who lacked the basic intellectual skill set to achieve. This ugly theme is whispered often and it is water cooler and chatter class discourse whenever Black folks are not present .

Media accounts documenting the disproportionate rates of suspensions between Black and white students in the DC Region school districts of course are not a newsflash to many people, including Black parents. The contempt for Black students is similar to what their parents encounter. The soft bigotry of low expectations shares the lesson plan with disparate rates of expulsion and suspensions for Black students. The landscape of academic success in our nation for Black students is full of obstacles; navigation is
perilous in all levels of education from kindergarten to the university venue for Black students.

Students in DC classroom

The more important issue now is how can Black families and their students navigate around these inequities and obstacles. Black parents must develop their own lesson guide to disarm educational officials, teachers and even students who discount the educational goals of Black students. We must embrace our own self worth, recognizing that we are worthy of respect and our offspring deserve superior educational efforts and outcomes. Black parents must develop strategies that equip them to combat , reject and influence educational systems that have contempt for our offspring.

Instead of lamenting the horrors of a destructive pathological educational system that has contempt for Black students, now is the time to develop our own lesson plans that produce motivated students who can themselves defeat the waves of contempt for them that exist in our classrooms across the DC region and our nation.