ERIC Number: ED276531
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1986-Oct
Reference Count: 0
Black Families: Confronting the Challenge of Education.
Preudhomme, G. Rosaline
Ethnocentric racism is especially evident in American schools. In educational institutions, Black children learn that schools do not like them, do not respond to them, do not appreciate their culture, and do not think they can learn. Research indicates that such attitudes are realistic. For several reasons, schools are ideal places to support and perpetuate social "superiority" and "inferiority." Nevertheless, research increasingly indicates improvement in Black students' standardized test performance and ability to achieve. Obvious factors explain why students, including Blacks and Hispanics, are higher achievers in Catholic schools than in public schools. Social issues, such as adolescent pregnancy, contribute to Black children's failure to achieve in school, and in some cases, their ability to remain in school. To address these educational and social conditions, Black families must get excited about education and demand that schools develop and implement programs that will enable their children to achieve academically. A few such programs presently exist. The special education initiative of the New York State Division for Youth and the Begin Excelling Starting Today program of the 61st Precinct Youth Council are two innovative educational programs which improve the schools for Black children. (RH)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: New York State Div. for Youth, New York
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Black Child Development Institute (16th, Miami, FL, October 8-10, 1986).