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Unearthing Myths about Urban Education, Unveiling The Power of the Family
-- By AbiolaFasehun - 13 June 2012
Introduction | |
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< | There is a myth surrounding education that allows the social injustice of inequality to perpetuate, fester, and inhibit social progress. The myth being that through self-reliance and determination all children can grow up to be successful in this nation. There is no shortage of opinions as to how to remedy urban education. These supposed solutions distract from the myth that looms over this nation, and are often inapplicable a community's unique structure. I believe that to improve education, we must start at the home- a concept that can be applied to all communities regardless of race, wealth, or status. | >
> | There is a myth surrounding urban education- that through self-reliance and determination all children can grow up to be successful in this nation. The myth allows the social injustice of inequality to perpetuate and inhibit social progress. There is no shortage of opinions as to how to remedy urban education. These supposed solutions distract from the problems that loom over education, and are often inapplicable to a community's unique structure. To improve education, we must improve the home- a concept that can be applied to all communities regardless of race, wealth, or status, but is most needed in urban America. | | | The Myth of American Success | |
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< | The power of a myth is that it lays dormant within individuals, groups, and societies. A myth addresses societies unconscious fears, while helping individuals to ignore what is going on in the world around them. When Forbes Online ran an article about how to educate poor black children, the authors notions illustrated a pervasive problem in American education- the fallacy that if people put forth enough effort they too can grow up to be Horatio Algers. The article provided an interesting perspective in which to view technology as a source of empowerment, but fell prey to the idea that receiving a quality education is simple and accessible to all Americans. If a person of privilege can succeed, then why can't a person who is unprivileged or marginalized? | >
> | The power of a myth is that it lays dormant within individuals, groups, and societies. A myth addresses societies unconscious fears, while helping individuals to ignore what is going on in the world around them. When Forbes Online ran an article about how to educate poor black children, the author's notions illustrated a pervasive problem in American education- the fallacy that if anyone put forth enough effort they too can grow up to be Horatio Alger. The article provided an interesting perspective in which to view technology as a source of empowerment, but fell prey to the idea that receiving a quality education is simple and accessible to all Americans. If a person of privilege can succeed, then why can't a person who is unprivileged or marginalized? | | | The failure of the urban education myth is that it masks a social failure, a form of hereditary determinism that lays dormant in the minds of the educated and elite- urban education has failed because minorities have failed. Through this myth we can choose to remain ignorant of the world we live in by not acknowledging that issues of social injustice, politics, and policy have furthered, if not endorsed the failure of urban communities, the failure of being black. | | | Thank you for this personal and insightful piece. I am curious as to your thoughts regarding the role of community in not only child development, but in parenting itself. As i discuss with colleagues and friends about children and ideas for improving the social bonds that form the basis of communities, I regularly come across a mentality that parenting is a "natural right," and that the best thing that society can do is provide basic support and step back to allow parents to "fulfill their role" as the guides of their children's lives. For me, this idea that every person (or couple) is naturally born with the all skills required to parent is as equally flawed as the idea that children can be lifted out of their conditions by education alone. But how can we expect parents to reach out an ask for help when they need it if society is simultaneously telling them that good parents should be able to do it without any help? When state child services only become involved in cases of abuse and neglect, what incentive does any parent have to reach out for help to any public system? The fear of being labelled "negligent" or losing one's child after reporting an problem at home is hardly unjustified when ACS and/or DHS devote their services almost exclusively to responding to allegations of poor parenting, rather than developing an ongoing dialogue with parents of all demographics and competencies. | |
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> | You raised interesting questions regarding the complexity of the issue. Talking about what happens in the home or how one culture raises their children verses another remains taboo. But I wonder how much of the idea, that it is a parent's natural right to raise a child, has been hijacked by American idealism? There are some things that a decent human being (let alone a parent) should never allow another to go through (for example, the reference I made above to a student that was forced to sleep outside). As your comment alludes to, there is no excuse for this type of parenting. I believe that a cultural change needs to happen in homes and can occur without taking the right to parent away, but could work to enhance parenting. For example, if a parent is not able to be at home when a child arrives from school, what kind of mechanisms can be put in place to ensure that the child is completing his or her homework? When a teacher attempts to create a plan to get a student back on track, how can a parent support a teacher as opposed to challenging why any help is needed? Such ideas may sound so simple (I dare say even silly to some), but so many of the kids that I worked with were unsupervised at home and would come to school everyday having completed none of their assignments. If this ritual occurs for a majority of the school year, for most children, no academic growth can be achieved. For a cultural change to happen members of the community can and should get involved in helping others where they may fall short, while encouraging parents to take ownership.
A few years ago Bill Cosby publicly addressed what he viewed to be the ills of education in black America. His words were greeted with a backlash. Many African-Americans believed he was a traitor and unqualified to speak of a type of life he knew nothing about, others believed his comments were an example of a double standard. Bill Cosby's ultimate message was that African-Americans needed to "take the neighborhood back", an interesting concept that extends to your point. Bill Cosby's call for action was a call to a collective, not to individuals. I believe we begin a dangerous game when a community remains silent and allows parents to feign ignorance. Although so much of parenting and a communities culture is learned behavior (i.e. fear in the system), at what point does the cycle end? | | | You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable.
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