Teach for URBAN America

By Dr. Calvin Mackie

As we enter the twenty first century,   the challenge for the United States is to educate  and to train the populations which have often been overlooked and forgotten when it comes to quality education: urban students in public schools.

America’s competitiveness around the world is being challenged and as a nation, we cannot afford to leave anyone behind, especially those students in urban centers across the country. The Education Secretary, Ernie Duncan, has started a new movement to recruit more black males to teach at all levels.

When considering the public education system, regardless of how the numbers are disaggregated, black males are at the bottom.  At less than fifty percent, the national graduation rate for African-American boys is abysmal, and half of the states have graduation rates for these students that fall below the national average. Black male students disengage and drop out early, and are expelled at a much higher rate than white students. Black boys only make up nine percent of public school enrollments, but twenty percent of those enrolled are identified as mentally challenged. Statistics indicate that over half of all black children live in single-parent households, and in most of the households, the parent figure is a woman. Research indicates that children surrounded by these conditions are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit a crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. This is especially true when it comes to black males.

Secretary Duncan believes that putting more black men in the classroom will help solve some of the problems in the black community, including gang violence, high school dropout rates, and fatherless homes. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, black men comprise merely two percent of the nation’s 4.8 million teachers. For example, The Washington Informer noted that in Texas, there are more than 333,090 public school teachers, and less than one percent of these teachers are black men. In the past school year, two out of three Texas teachers were white despite the state’s projection that minority students will make up around sixty-two percent of the student body in the 2011-2012 school year, an increase of over 10 percent from a decade ago. The majority of black boys will never be educated by someone who looks like them, and sadly, a few of these boys will never experience a black male role model in their public school classrooms at all. Most black males in public school systems are coaches, vo-tech teachers, bus drivers, janitors, or workers in the physical plant. Putting more black males into the classroom will increase the number of role models and mentors for students in the hope that these students will remain in school, eventually pursuing a college education.

It is clear that the addition of more black male teachers will not only benefit the black male students but will also benefit the other students, teachers, and the entire system. There are a number of reasons for the lack of black male teachers, including low salaries, the decline of overall black graduation rates, and changing perceptions about education. In order to change the demographics of the public school system’s teachers, a lot of work and time is necessary. This problem cannot be solved overnight. However, it is apparent that one of the greatest challenges to luring black males into education will be changing society’s perception of education. The current generation of young men and women in American society believe that the sole purpose of an education is to get a degree that will help get them a job that will make them lots of money. A more noble and higher calling in association with education’s purpose must be reintroduced. American society needs to begin associating education with the ability to cultivate other people, being able to touch lives of generations yet unborn, and the chance to change the world. To recapture the heart, soul and minds of the future generations, the educational paradigm must be redefined. In everyday life, children are extolled to aspire in becoming the next American Idol, to be on a reality T.V. show, an NBA player, or a hip-hop mogul. They are convinced that they are entitled to big mansions and multiple luxury cars with a minimal amount of work. A constant stream of greed, materialism, and unmitigated consumerism shown through television, music videos, and songs perpetuate this theme of entitlement. The current educational paradigm, stating that education’s sole purpose is for making more money, supports the destructive and irresponsible behavior demonstrated by American students. Students are learning to want things without being held accountable for the discipline, work ethic, and dedication necessary to achieve the high level of success that will provide such treasures. Before the myriad of problems that affect the graduation and success rate of American students is addressed, the community must come to an agreement on an overarching educational standard that will serve as a guideline. As Plato said, “it’s the purpose given to education that will define mostly everything that follows.” As long as our society defines the purpose of education as a way to satisfy greed and consumerism, all other efforts and interventions in America’s school systems will fail. Since there are a million ways to make money in America without going to school, education must become about transformation and a higher purpose. Lee Iacocca stated it best when he said, “In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have.” Education must be about transformation, about leaving people and this world in a different and better state than it was originally in. Giving black males purpose and the ability to transform the future, especially the future generations of other black males, will serve as the ultimate attraction in luring them to the teaching profession.

Black male teachers are needed because effective teachers must be able to actively engage their students. Black male teachers have the ability to engage and motivate their young black male students at a level other teachers may not be able to readily connect with or understand. Research has shown that there is a significant correlation between high levels of engagement and improved attendance and achievement within students. In order to engage students, a teacher must do three things:

• Get their Attention
• Get their Hearts
• Get their Minds

Black male teachers in the K-12 classrooms will be able to captivate the student’s attention, connect the relevance between what is being taught and what is being learned, and cultivate their skills and knowledge. If the teachers do not connect and engage their students in a meaningful way — a way that is heart-felt and caring — the students will not learn. Black male teachers will immediately bring credibility and capability, connecting to young black males in a way that will create an environment for improvement. The connections will create an incubator for transformation in which the lives of the students, the teachers and the rest of society will be changed forever.

Research indicates that people’s greatest fear is public speaking, and their second greatest fear is death. If this research is true, then it implies that when a person attends a funeral, they would rather be the one in the casket than the one giving the eulogy. Despite attending numerous funerals, I have never witnessed anyone trying to climb into the casket. From this I have concluded that neither public speaking nor death are people’s greatest fears; a greater fear is dying without their lives having meant anything. Black males need to realize and understand that by becoming a teacher, they will never have to worry about that possibility. Every day in their lives will give meaning to not only their own lives but to the lives of generations yet to come. If they can be convinced of this, and I know they can, some of the education problems in our country can be solved. I know on a personal level that this is possible, because there was a day that someone convinced me of this and I have been teaching ever since. There is not a single day that I regret this choice, as I see a number of my students who are black males, impacting lives and changing society. Whenever I answer the phone, and I hear a young man on the other end say, “Doc,” I can’t help smiling as I’m overcome with the satisfaction of a life filled with purpose. Service, purpose, and transformation are the keys to convincing more black males to join the teaching profession.