From: slzm9@cc.usu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Education, 0-12 yrs old
Date: 29 Dec 92 17:37:06 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1ho9ogINN3kc@bach.crhc.uiuc.edu>, guillory@crhc.uiuc.edu (Stanford Guillory) writes:
> galan@netlink.cts.com (Greg Gross) writes:
> 
>>In keeping with my own wish to advance the discussion, will pose a 
>>question:
> 
>>How do we improve our educational system so that all children get an 
>>equally good grounding right off the bat?
> 
> I think the first thing we could do is not try to give all children
> "equally good grounding right off the bat". Since children are not
> going to come into contact with the "educational system" until the
> age of five, it is painfully clear that the abilities of kindergarteners
> will run a broad spectrum. Thus the goal should not be an equal
> grounding, but rather an equal peak. By this I mean that education
> should not be age-based, but knowledge based. There is no sound
> reason for everyone in the 7th grade to be 13 years old. There is
> every reason in the world for all 7th graders to be competent in
> arithmetic and prepared for pre-algebra. 
> 
> If we allowed grade advancements only on competency, I think we will
> have gone a long way towards a competent system. So what if some
> high school graduates will be 25 years old. If those 25 year olds
> are well prepared for a college curriculum, the next 25 years of 
> their lives will be so much better than if they were ignorant 18
> year olds, or worse yet, dropouts.
>

   In general I agree with you that competency should replace age as a
means for determining graduation. But how will we overcome the social stigma
of "failing a grade." Without a coordinated plan to deal with this problem
the competency system can't work.
 
> 
>>And within that, a sub-question:
> 
>>While we're trying to improve education across the board, how do we 
>>ensure that black children and other minority children don't end up being 
>>psychologically sabotaged in the classroom by the very people they look 
>>to to teach them?
> 
> I think our children run a much greater risk of being psychologically
> sabotage in their own homes than in the classroom. If a teacher
> tells a confident, self-assured 9 year old that he/she is stupid,
> that 9 year old will think the teacher is the stupid one. 
> 

   It seems to me there are four princple sources that form children's
opinions of themselves before they even go to school (in order of the most 
important to least important for me): parents, teachers, peers, TV. But
I was raised 20-30 years ago when TV had not become a dominant "education 
tool" used by some parents.
   I believe then that education of a child must begin even before it
is born! The parents of the child should learn how to encourage a child
while inflicting as little societal bias into the child's nature as
possible. Teachers and schools should be selected if possible. That
does not necessarily mean a private school. Go to the public elementary
schools in your area determine which you feel has the best environment
for your child and under which teachers are they most likely to excel.
Then get your child transfered to that school or move there if you can.
   Carefully regulate your child's playmates. This may seem like sheltering
and it is. But your child might best be served by coming into contact
with racist notions, or subtle cultural biases after your child has
had enough mental development to recognize and/or deal with such problems.
You can be constantly on the lookout for such problems and help the
child deal with them when the child inevitably comes in contact with them.
   KILL YOUR TELEVISION! Period. Your television will subvert most of the
positive things your child learns. The small amount your child will
learn from educational programming will be constantly outweighed by:
the violence your child will be exposed to in cartoons, afternoon sitcoms,
and prime time programming; subtle racial cues - how many female
black doctors are portrayed on your television? how many male native
american high school teachers are on your television? by not being
there your child forms a mental image of what s/he will see when
they go to school or to the doctor's office; expectations your child
will gain of his/her possible economic status. Oh I know you don't
believe the TV has all these terrible consequences. I recommend
you review the WEALTH of child psychological literature that suggests
otherwise. At the least if you can just keep your child from watching
nothing but Sesame Street for the first five years you will be doing
your child a huge service. 

> 
>>In the event that school districts fail or refuse to meet these 
>>responsibilities, how do we go about obtaining on our own a good 
>>education for our children?
>>G.
> 
> I guess the obvious answer is to start our own schools, a noble
> effort that I would be happy to take part in. However, there are
> around 20 million minority children to educate, so I think we had
> better make sure those school districts don't fail.
>


   Go to the school your child attends and get ugly every day until the
teacher stops teaching racial bias. Be a "problem parent" when your
child is in the class of a "problem teacher." This won't solve the 
problem but it is a good first step.
   Also keep a list of biased teachings your child relays or you
overhear at PTA meetings and in conference with a teacher. Be prepared
to "nail that teacher to the cross" when you have enough evidence.


Peace, but not without justice,

Zip