(ThyBlackMan.com)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education.”
The recent events in Gwinnett County Georgia proves America still needs Black History Month and the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Not only the recognition of African American contributions to this country, but the continuation of educating non Blacks, that respect and dignity should be shown at all times. In the educational realms of our schools Professional Development is still needed for cultural, racial and colorism understanding of teachers.
We have not arrived to the degree of sensitivity and respect that is awarded to other cultures in America. It seems that Black women can be called ugly in news reports claiming the use of data and scientific research:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/120548/Black_Women_Are_Ugly_Scientific
Black men are told they are more destined to be criminals and involved in criminal behaviours:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/12/26/18515/ron-paul-95-percent-of-black-men-are-criminal/
Black children in our educational systems are exposed to the ugly realities of possible racism, potential unethical behaviours and poor decision making. The recent events in Gwinnett County show that even educators can be insensitive to their students and make very stupid decisions. Maybe with the 
coming of Black History month these educators wanted to precede the month with information that makes their students reconsider their worth and value.
The birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. should be a testament that Blacks deserve respect, as citizens of the United States of America. Maybe those teachers need to hear the speeches of Dr. King and even of those of Malcolm X.
To truly understand the struggles and sacrifices of Blacks in America. There is a disconnect that these teachers and unfortunately others have about the experiences of death, beatings, defecation and denial of civil and human rights that Blacks have and still due experience. A homework assignment should not be used to display cultural disrespect.
The recent events in Gwinnett County are a testament that Blacks have not arrived in the sense of equal respect or sensitivity to the emotional and psychological support that as a people Blacks justly deserve. If this was an equal and just situation, the mention of Jews would have been mentioned, they were slaves in Egypt in the time of Pharaoh which is also historically documented. Reading information from “How long were Jews slaves in Egypt?”
http://judaism.about.com/od/passove1/f/slaveegypt.htm this information is available online. Why was this not also presented, it is historical fact as well. The insensitive nature of the homework questions posed to students on the homework displays a lack of common sense that these educators should have had. Regardless of any cross-curricular assignment common sense and dignity should be shown at all times.
The sensitivity to the students and their parent’s cultural background should always be thought of when developing content and assessments that could cause any type of educational distraction. Information from the International Test Commission, ”Culture can be understood as “a shared way of life of a group of people” (Berry, Poortinga, Segall & Dasen, 2002).
In this case the teachers did not understand the students nor took into consideration the parents views and the way they would perceive the testing questions. Thus many non Blacks, not just white teachers do not understand or do not care to understand their students or other cultural backgrounds. There is a shared group mentality that each group is given respect and their cultural differences are respected and considered.
Education is a diverse occupation, but teachers have to learn to embrace diversity and understand that the wording and development of assessments (testing) can affect a student’s success or failure. Culture does have a link in assessment development. Taken from Culture and Assessment: Discovering What Students Really Know, 2010, “but what if the way we ask the questions unintentionally causes some students to fail? What if our assessments miss uncovering the depth and complexity of knowledge because they contain assumptions about language, culture, values, and experiences that these students don’t share?”
Not just Black students but even students of other cultures do not understand the complexity of slavery, but teachers still must be sensitive when using this type of material when teaching and testing knowledge about slavery or a cross integration of curriculums. If done in the wrong way the teacher creates confusion, accusations of unethical behaviour and the perception or being careless and unprofessional concerning race.
Suggestions for teachers when designing questions is that for parents to have input in (of understanding) the design and potential implementation. Stated in Culture and Assessment, “Getting to that point involves communication with community and others in the community based on mutual respect.” Respect is a key component for educational success of students. Parental support is valuable and far reaching for teachers. If teachers do not have parental support or respect there will be serious challenges because teachers will not have the confidence of parents to be effective in the classroom and in the community.
Sharon Nelson-Barber, former Director of West Ed’s Center for the Study of Culture and Language in Education states when developing assessments there should be, “advocates for cross-cultural awareness and competence in assessment and teaching because such understanding sets a more solid foundation for improving student success.” One of the items for discussion for students is their ability to understand what is actually asked of them to perform.
Slavery is a sensitive subject for many people not just Blacks, so even the discussion can cause anxiety, stress, and other emotional responses. Even though the students talked about slavery in class, have questions on a test may as Nelson-Barber states, “elicits very little of the student’s understanding.”
Teachers must consider at all times the ramifications of their questions and the potential student impact. Because education is an experience Nelson-Barber asks, “What is it about a test question that continually appears not to map onto some students’ experiences?”
This incident is a lesson for other educators when developing assessment or testing questions. Be careful of the content and context of the questions, a cultural awareness would guide test creation, test dissemination, and test evaluation. A broader look might bring about eliminating cultural bias in testing and the need for accommodations for some students and at least an understanding of what not to ask.
At the school level, teachers and administrators can build alliances with parents and leaders of different cultural groups represented in the school populace. Partnerships can be especially vital to school communities where demographics have changed the student populations of many classrooms and new teachers that are unskilled and unaware of the cultural diversity in schools they work in.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
A word of caution and wisdom to educators and administrators: Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode (understand) messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpreted… Culture…is the foundation of communication. (Samovar, Porter, & Jain, 1981)
Children encode and decode information differently then adults, so educators need to be knowledgeable and sensitive to their students and what maybe potential parental reactions. Living in southern states there are still sensitive feelings about slavery, the civil war, World War II, the Korean War andVietnam. So educators themselves must “educate” themselves about how others will feel, Black, White, Asian, Jewish, Hispanics, Muslim, etc. Would those teachers have conducted a similar test on Asians, because of World War II, how about those of German backgrounds of both World Wars?
Staff Writer; William D. Jackson
Find out more about this talented writer over at; OCS For Education.
Also check out; http://www.About.Me/WilliamDJackson