A focus on black boys
Some of you may be wondering: why a focus on black boys? Because so many are slipping through the cracks.
This article is about a program in New York designed to motivate black boys to excel in school. There are a lot of black American boys with Muslim parents that need mentoring programs too as many sadly don’t have a one in the home and will slip through the cracks. Even in the cases where there is a hard working Father in the home, there is a need to have others around the children to reinforce a message of unrelenting hard work and excellence.
the black boys at Brookside, are set apart, in a way, by a special mentoring program that pairs them with black teachers for one-on-one guidance outside class, extra homework help, and cultural activities during the school day. “All the black boys used to end up in the office, so we had to do something,” said Lorraine Richardson, a second-grade teacher and mentor. “We wanted to teach them to help each other” instead of fight each other.
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Ossining school officials said they were not singling out black boys, but after a district analysis of high school students’ grade-point averages revealed that black boys were performing far worse than any other group, they decided to act. In contrast, these officials said, the performance of black girls compared favorably with other students and did not warrant the same concern
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The special efforts for Ossining’s black male students began in 2005 with a college-preparatory program for high schoolers and, starting last month, now stretch all the way to kindergarten, with 5-year-olds going on field trips to the American Museum of Natural History and Knicks and Mets games to practice counting.
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In Teaneck, N.J., school officials formed an after-school club for black boys in 2005, with local black businessmen serving as role models. In the Cleveland suburbs, the South Euclid-Lyndhurst district has spent more than $20,000 a year on clubs that reward black male students for good grades with sleepovers and guest speakers
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The school officials here noted that it is too soon to measure the impact of their programs with test scores, but that the percentage of black students enrolled in college-level courses in 11th and 12th grades has more than doubled to 55 percent this year from 26 percent in 2004.
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Since Lenox Robinson, a 12-year-old sixth grader, joined the district’s mentoring program in October, he has begun saving pennies and quarters in a glass jar under his bed — he has $10 so far — to pay for college.
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Under the programs, the extra attention begins in elementary school; every black boy in fourth and fifth grades, for example, is assigned a team of teachers to track his academic progress.
The boys also meet black role models, while their parents attend workshops on planning for college. Motivation is emphasized throughout. As part of a recent dress for success contest, high school boys wore suits to school for a month. The two winners received hand-tailored suits. [MORE...]
Filed under: Black American Muslims, Changing World, Children's Issues, Convert Issues
This is much needed and yes in the Muslim community too. Maybe even more.
I have tried to keep my nephew in the best environments but unfortunately, we are not close to any African American men. I have seen the impact, the bruthas have had on my nephew when he is aroung them. Just last week he had to go to Riyadh alone to get a Visa for his upcoming African Safari. He stayed with an African American family. When he came home he excitedly reported to me how the brother said, “come sit in my barber chair and let me cut your hair.” Something that simple was extremely profound to him. I also appreciated it.
My brother is an example of the contrast the article mentions between black girls and black boys. He was raised in the same house, same parents, went to a better highschool than I did (my brother and I had a reputation for tag teaming people and so the highschool would only allow for one of us to attend and my mother chose him since it was in a better neighborhood. I had to travel an hour away to the westside of Chicago where the boys on my bus were daily beatup by the two thug schools we had to pass by to get to ours) and he has not done much with his life. The only role models he had were the gangs, drug dealers, and athletes. He is short with something to prove, so you know which route he took.
[...] A focus on black boys « Tariq Nelson An article on a successful program designed to provide young male black students with role models and skills for success. (tags: africanamericans education) [...]