I recently decided to homeschool my two African American teen sons for many of the same reasons that the parent featured in the Village Voice article discussed. Though many Americans don’t want to acknowledge what Black parents know intimately well, the fact remains that America’s public schools do not serve all children well. Black students, particularly Black boys, get the shortest end of the stick it seems regardless of the class or income of their parents or their innate abilities.

My husband and I are both seasoned educators who have served in leadership positions within schools, non-profits, and other education-based organizations in Washington, DC and Wisconsin—yet we continue to struggle in our efforts to find schools that work for our children and where are sons are perceived and therefore treated as capable learners worthy of high expectations, respect, and an equal investment of energy offered to other students.

In the county where I live in Maryland, increasingly more African American middle class parents are pulling our chidren from the public school system out of utter frustration with an endless pattern of low expectations for our boys, differential treatment and disciplinary practices, and a general lack of accountability among teachers, schools, and districts to do anything about it…and not to mention the impact of a troubling youth culture that glorifies the worse elements of modern pop and hip hop culture. These elements combined create a troubling scenario wherein learning is an accidental by-product.

This is a national phenomenon that reaches far beyond New York and Maryland. Black parents across America are growing increasingly weary of public schools that fail to deliver on the promise of an equal education for every child.

Furthermore, like many homeschooling parents regardless of race, we are disgusted with the mediocre instruction our sons receive, the poor preparation of many teachers (though we appreciate the exceptional, committed few who our sons have been blessed to have from time to time), the lack of authentic learning and instruction that occurs in the classroom for the sake of teaching to the state tests; and the lack of intellectual rigor that seems to characterize most schools today.

The stakes are high for young Black men (and Black girls for that matter) and more and more Black parents like my husband and I recognize that we can no longer wait on public schools to get it right, despite the fact that our tax dollars continue to support these schools while we educate our children at home.

Black parents are also among the nation’s strongest advocates and supporters of school choice to include charter schools and school vouchers, as we recognize that many avenues are needed to ensure that our children receive a fighting chance at securing a quality education, particularly in big cities. My husband and I have been active in this work. In this sense, Allen is totally correct in raising the obvious conflict that is brewing among Generation X Black parents and the Democratic party’s blind allegience to the NEA. As registered Democrats and supporters of school choice, we are at odds with our party’s stance on choice and disgusted by the lack of will to challenge the NEA on real issues critical to the educational outcomes of all children, and particularly of African American children. A small but potentially growing number of African American parents have and may continue to switch to Republican or Independent status as a result of this lack of accountability.

In a closing note, I was a high achieving student who grew up in public schools in Virginia. I have my own thoeries of why some high achieving Black students are falling behind their white counterparts at a faster pace than others. I understand very well the racial, cultural, and socioeconomic dynamics that impact a student’s learning and school experience at the classroom level, within peer groups, between students and teachers, and within the larger school context. It is complicated and involves perceptions of who is able and worthy and who is not; who is an achiever and who is not and how these perceptions impact expectations, interactions, and investment in students; it involves good old fashioned bias; differential access to resources, information and opportunities to experience and participate in extracurricular and enrichment activities that boost and bolster achievement; and it also involves peer pressure and cultural attitudes that place different levels of value on individual acheivement versus commununity advancement.

This is a topic that will require a great deal of honesty, courage, and candidness from all parties involved to uncover and resolve. I look forward to the dialogue.

Lisa C
Maryland, USA

Next time it happens, I’ll command some of my wives to start a letter campaign against them.

The Democratic party depends on a virtual lock on the black vote to have a chance at electing a president and also needs it to maintain control of Congress. Yet the NEA is a political force the Democrats would be loath to have to do without. Yet here are two important political forces coming into conflict. What happens when it comes to a choice between the black vote and the NEA?

It hasn’t come to that explicitly just yet but interest in educational alternatives among black voters is significantly higher then among white voters and crystal ball isn’t necessary to see a collision in the offing.

I posted a comment at the bottom of the story at the Village Voice web site to express this opinion. The comment appeared and was there was a few minutes, but it’s now been removed. I can only assume that the Village Voice is a liberal voice that doesn’t appreciate diversity of opinion when it doesn’t agree with its own. It seems that the Village Voice is more interested in being leftist than truly liberal.

If the comment had never appeared, I could assume it was waiting for moderation. But since it appeared and THEN disappeared a bit later, it seems clear that it was deliberate. The most charitable explanation is that it was temporarily hidden for further review. I doubt that’s the case, though.