My Opinion: Why Many Brown and Black Children are Underperforming.

Let’s talk about why many black and brown children perform below the national level.

There are conversations being held across the country every day trying to determine why it appears that schools are failing students in certain communities. School boards and educators across the nation are asking for more money to be appropriated for failing schools, others are trying to withhold money until they can see an improvement in performance levels.

Superintendents, principals, school administrators and teachers are at their wits end over low student performance. In some school districts, the superintendents are fired, principals are reassigned, teachers and other administrators are burnt out and many find different careers. These professionals are putting forth a herculean effort into educating all children. They are teaching the curriculum as prescribed by their state.

So, what is missing? Can these children not learn? Are schools deliberately not teaching these children? Just what is the problem? Can we as a nation solve the problem? We can send men to the moon, build skyscrapers, and even develop a vaccine in record time to combat the Covid-19 virus. So, it appears that we can do anything we set our mind to do.

Educators, politicians, and social scientists, and many others know how to resolve this great educational divide. We don’t need any more studies, debates, or excuses. We need someone with enough courage to stand up for these children and break the chain of silence and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done.

It is painful and even shameful for many people to acknowledge the real culprit, and so they deflect the true reasons that black and brown children are not learning at a level they should. Politicians don’t want to be branded with that ugly word ‘racist’ and most educators are dedicated and want to keep their positions, so they cannot say but so much either…

We have reasonably good educators and staff in most schools. There is adequate funding for the most part, an excellent curriculum, and appropriate testing to gauge success.

So, what is the problem you ask?

The lack of parental engagement across this nation is the problem.

Unless this national shame is rectified, we will continue to get more of the same: Teenagers that can’t read on a fourth-grade level. Military rejecting high school graduates because they can’t pass the ASVAB test. People driving that can’t read road signs. Young adults can’t find work because they can’t read well enough to apply for employment. Young adults becoming angrier at immigrants and more jealous of their success. There will be a continual increase in crime and requests for public assistance. Even if and when some of these poor performing students age into a life of crime, taxpayers will pay for their incarceration. The homeless population will explode as well.

What is lack of parental engagement and what does it looks like?

This is quite broad, but for starters, let’s say it is the absence of doing what is best for children:

Parents-Telling children to fight instead of teaching them how to de-escalate a situation or to report such incidences to the school authorities. No big surprise here as to why black children are suspended at greater numbers than other children. This will cause many of them to get behind in class work and never catch up.

Parents-Allowing children to constantly play electronic games late into the night instead of reading and studying. Many families have none or few books in the house. Parents not reading to their children or listening to their children read to them.

Parents- Spending most of their free time on social media instead of with their children helping them to learn something as simple as multiplication tables.

Parents-Should at a minimum help their child to read and do math through third/fourth grade. There is YouTube to help parents if they don’t feel confident enough to help. YouTube teachers teach math, English, reading comprehension etc. YouTube can reinforce what the teacher taught earlier in the day, or week. Afterall, practice makes perfect!

Parents-Children have not been taught discipline or respect for authority. As early as first grade, some children start disrespecting adults as well as breaking school and safety rules. The children always refer to “my momma, or daddy said to hit back, or fight, etc.” Parents have the greatest influence on a child. Change and improvement start with the parents.

Parents-Physically beating a child is abuse and a crime but, talking and explaining the why you should not do this or that is discipline. Sometimes a parent may have to use more serious methods such as no playing of electronics for a few days, or postponing those fancy tennis shoes for a few weeks, or no bestie over until grades are improved. My point is, there are many methods to teach disciple without beating or hitting a child.

Parents-Allowing children to come to school unprepared. Unclean, hungry, no pencils, no paper and even high on drugs. Nope. Nada. No-way. This is not all about poverty. This is about a lack of parenting, lack of respect, and not accepting responsibility for ones’ children. Many of these parents are not poor. Many single parents have studious and well-behaved children. It all depends on parenting. Many parents work full time and a part-time job as well, yet they have children that are doing well in school.

Parents-Having a negative attitude towards school because they did not have a good school experience or did not do well in school themselves, so they have exceptionally low expectations for their own children.

Parents not understanding their role. Many parents think that all they are supposed to do is get the child to school and their responsibility ends there. It is disgraceful for a parent to not know that their child cannot read or write. If the child cannot read, the child will fail in all subjects.

Parents-Expecting teachers to teach their child just about everything including tying shoes, hygiene, using utensils, etc.

What does good parenting look like?

Nurturing your children. What does that look like? It is more than food, clothing, and providing a residence. It is buying age-appropriate books, then reading to the children and having the children read to you to help build their vocabulary. Young children should have workbooks in reading, writing, math. Parents should work with the children while they are young to give them a good start and aid in building a strong foundation in reading, writing and math. It is spending time with ones’ child to encourage, develop, boost, contribute and strengthen the child’s aptitude and self-esteem. It is setting high expectation of good behavior in school and elsewhere. And of course, it includes having a healthy diet and taking care of medical concerns. The list is much longer, but I think you get the idea.

How can we change the behavior of parents and students? I have a few suggestions:

1. In all failing and under-performing schools, each state should require parents or caregivers to attend quarterly parenting classes at their child’s school. Bring in qualified professionals to teach the class. How can we require this? If the parents receive any type of federal or state benefits, requirements can be implemented. Before certain people start screaming racism and the accusation of punishing people for being poor take hold, let’s talk about it.

2. Bring in lecturers or best practices from other parents that had a successful outcome with their children’s education, not the rich and famous, but ordinary people. Parents need to know how to do better, to aid the teachers. The how, what, why, and when. When did other parents start teaching their young children counting, learning the alphabet, colors, reading, etc.? How did they do it? What websites, what books, what resources did they use? Why did they start early? Was it because they didn’t want their children to start out being behind in school? Most other children can already read and do simple single addition and subtraction in first grade while many of these black and brown kids can barely count to 100, and this was going on before the pandemic.

3. Parents that attend these quarterly parent training classes are paid $$ to attend. Maybe a hundred dollars or so, enough to make them come and listen and apply what they were taught. Trainers can role play with parents on how to start a nightly study session with their children. (Yes, I do mean pay parents to come to the training classes, because a hot-dog dinner won’t get them off social media or the couch.) Sign parents up for these training sessions when they apply for assistance.

4. In low performing schools, give all high school students jobs after school based on their test scores. Their job should be re-taking reading, writing and math taught by teachers other than those at their present school. These external teachers should go back to basics to help students understand what they did not get in middle school. Teach the students where they are, not where they should be based on age and grade level. They should be tested every 2-3 days to make sure they are serious and trying to do well. Encourage them with the possibility of a free in-state college education up to age 21.

5. Parents of students that continue to fight or cause disruptions in school are required to sit in the student’s classroom one-two days per month and/or students are required to have all zoom classes. Hire special teachers for these classes. Classroom teachers cannot adequately teach zoom and in person classes simultaneously.

6. Install cameras in certain classroom where children are so disruptive the teachers are unable to teach.

7. Reduce classroom size to no more than 18 students.

8. Get big wealthy corporations and people to help. They can donate the money that is given to parents that attend the quarterly training sessions and to pay the students for their (job) after normal school hours. Billboards should show parents reading with their children. Hip-Hop artists should help by using their music to encourage our youth to do better in school. They can help to make it “cool” to do well in school. Our society, our country will benefit.

Money can change a culture in one-two years. Nothing changes if keep doing the same things, or expect parents to voluntarily improve their parenting style. Do we really want these children to do better, so society will be better? Or do we want to keep dodging the real issue here? Nobody is being fooled, everybody knows it’s lack of parenting. Really want to help solve the problem? Then, we must think outside the box if we want to change these parent’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. We need love, enforceable regulations, training, and money. We can redirect money designed for the construction of prisons!

I know these parents love their children and want the best for them. Many just don’t know how to accomplish that. We are Americans. We care, and we can accomplish almost anything. It may be painful and costly for a few years and there may be a few false starts, but we must be wiling to address what’s uncomfortable if we are to remain one of the greatest nations in the world.

For brown and black children to do better in school, parents must accept the fact that they are responsible for their children education.

We must find ways to change how some parents think and behave that impede the success of many students and schools.

Parents really need to aid their children’s learning until at least fourth grade.