Why are Black schools failing?

  1. All Black schools are not failing. Some Black schools are on target and the kids are learning.
  2. Some Black children go to white schools and are being educated correctly.
  3. Some Black children go to private school where they are learning advanced subjects and doing very well.

Having made those three points I will get back to my question.

Why are Black Schools failing?

There is no easy answer to this question. We must look back into America’s history to find a chain of links that correspond to today.

In the Northern United States in the 1800’s black children were educated along side of whites in the school houses. In the Southern United States black children were slaves and were denied an education.

After slavery many black people migrated North and West. They received an education in the new towns after being denied in the South. Black people who  did not migrate from the South made individual choices to be educated or not. Many chose not for the fear of their white counterparts punishing them for wanting to learn.

In the early 1900’s black people in the North and West were educated while black people  in the South still were not educated due to fear. The term, “Acting White” came into effect.

If a southern black person tried to educate himself or attend a school and ‘read good’ then he or she was acting white. The mentality was that only white people were to be educated. Black people were not. This mentality was a continuation of the early 1800’s when slaves were not allowed to learn. The former slaves who still existed in the early 1900’s discouraged their young black people from learning based on old fears and outdated truths.

Mid 1900’s. Northern and Western black people were educated. Southern black people were starting to get an education and learn believing a future awaited them if they ‘knew stuff’. The seed that was planted by the ex-slaves was still going strong. Many southern blacks felt education was for white people and discouraged others from wanting to learn or shaming them by saying they were “acting white”.

After the Civil Rights Era. Northern and Western black people were educated. Southern black people were becoming more educated and enrolling in colleges and learning skills and trades. Those who were successful and opening their own businesses were ridiculed or shamed by other black people for “acting white” or “talking white”. There were still uneducated black people by choice in the south.

Bring this up to 2017 and some black schools that are failing.

Add in the following:

Southern blacks still telling people they are acting white by making straight A’s or getting scholarships to college.

Great Grandchildren of the slaves whose family history still consists of the belief that if you are educated you are acting white.

Parents not educated themselves because they believe that being educated is acting white, therefore, they can’t help their kids.

Priorities of the parents shifting from the kids education to keeping up with the Jones’s with big houses, shiny cars, 9 inch nails, 38,000 bags of weave, and now many TV’s can I have mounted in one spot on the bathroom wall.

Not showing up to parent teacher conference because they have to watch Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder.

Expecting the teacher and the school to do all the educating while the parents sit and watch TV. Not getting involved.

Parental Involvement in Black Schools is Very Very Low

These are the real issues on why some black schools are failing. Parents need to get involved in their child’s education or seek a free tutoring service if they are unable to help. However, lack of parental involvement  is not what’s doing the most damage to the children.

Black people need to stop telling black children to stop “Acting White” This notion is failing the children

I hate the term “acting white” almost as much as I hate the term “African American”

I can’t stress this enough! I hear it every single day from one black people!

The stupid antiquated notion that their child is acting white if he/she is succeeding in school is not only unhealthy for the child but also robs him/her from reaching any full potential. That phrase “acting white” serves as a put down to the child who wants to succeed. It sends mixed messages. The child is being told to make good grades because your future depends on it and those around him/her are telling them if you make good grades you will be shunned or punished for “acting white”. That is so stupid! Yet this is what the children are hearing.

Therefore, they don’t live up to their potential.

The term “Acting White” is a big big problem in the black southern community. Its too common place and taken as part of not being black if you’re acting white. Its angering to anybody who has a brain.

That term needs to be addressed, stamped out, done away with, and a penalty added to the parent or parent of other children who enforce this backwards mess. It has no place in society and never did. It only serves as another means of black people holding back other black people with one simple stupid phrase.



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February 10, 2017 · 2:19 pm

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