Friday, March 29, 2024

We are Failing the Youth.

May 27, 2017 by  
Filed under Education, News, Opinion, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) “Only a fool would let his enemy teach his children.” – Malcolm X

In 2017 it very easy to pass blame regarding the state of our education system. It’s only a passing of blame because the system did not just begin its decent. We have been watching this collision course for decades, and have sat in large on the sidelines making petty fuss. Grant it the choice this current president has made in Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education was nothing short of irresponsible, and plain stupid. In her appointment, we will see an all-out assault on public education. The disenfranchisement of the masses of children is blatantly in our face. She is not only a hindrance to K-12 education, she is dangerous for collegiate education as well. She doesn’t seem that her priority lies with the education of our children. She stands in direct opposition to the growth and innovation of this country because that lies, in large, with the education of our children.

With all of that being acknowledged we must ask ourselves what made us comfortable to simply put the minds of our children into the hands of the school systems and walk away. In this regard, we are failing our kids. It is not enough for a handful of parents to engage in the education process of their children. It is not enough to see only a handful of parents work with teachers and school administration to guarantee their child is having their academic needs met. We, as a community, must take some responsibility in the education, or lack thereof, of our kids.

The truth is we do see things happen in our schools, that we won’t dare see happen in white schools. Well, white parents in affluent school districts raise hell behind the schools, and they are always watching. They pay taxes and they will make sure the school administration never forgets it. Our children didn’t ask to be here, and they cannot parent themselves. They should not have to try to get an education while taking on the administration because of an absence of parental involvement…they will fail.

It is very understandable that parents are having to work like crazy just to make ends meet. However, we can try to make sure the children eat, have clean clothes, know you are watching and expect their best. If you are running into problems communicate with the teachers. When the school calls to tell you your child is not turning in assignment, or has disruptive behavior blowing them off is failing the child. Just because you can’t come to every PTO meeting doesn’t mean you can’t communicate with your child’s teacher to find out what’s going on. This is a community effort. IF we have time for social media we have time to deal with our child’s educations. So many teachers, and administrators, can be reached via email (which most of us have on our phone), and will make time to conference with you. There is a prison pipeline set up for our kids to fail, and end up in prison where some will work for next to nothing producing products that will make millions for others. Sound familiar?

If we sit back and wait for the Department of Education, or the school board, to care about the education of our youth we have failed. If we can march and protest their death we can protest for them to have books, adequate teachers, and schools that give them a fair shot at a future. We can protest for teachers to be paid properly as the education of our kids is a priority. We need to engage the school as much as possible while setting expectations of excellence for our children at home.

No matter your level of education you must instill the academic discipline in your child to achieve higher than you. No school nor teacher should have to light that fire in your kid…that fire should start with you the parent. If we will fight for them to be themselves aesthetically we must fight we must fight for our kids to be educated on par with their peers of all races. At this time, we are failing the youth…this must change if we are to have a fighting chance as a people.

Staff Writer; Christian Starr

May connect with this sister over at Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitterhttp://twitter.com/MrzZeta.


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