Zhana and yourself referred to it as the “education industrial complex.” WOW!!

I see you met Zhana..who I been trying to get you to connect with and ofcourse I did not folow through..Somethings are meant to happen organically. that’s hottt!!

Again, thanks for the dialogue!! I think now we must consider action on this issue.
-Biany

I think you’re dead on about people spending way too much time critiquing the system instead of really come up with ways to implement change from the outside and within. I’m definitely at somewhat of career crossroads and am deciding if I want to stay with my current organization or take on some new challenges. I’ve been working in youth development for over 6 years now and I know no matter what my decision is going to be I will in some capacity continue working with urban youth. I see too much of myself in these black and brown kids so I will never give up on them. They way they latch on to me makes me realize how much brothers like you and I are really needed as I’m sure you’re already experiencing. We can change the world bruh even if it just starts with us.

this covers so much ground and is essential in building a relationship through which one can teach and others can be educated. and whether its warranted or not a lot of students feel talked down to by their teachers. just imagine if young black minds had the opportunity to experience what you bring consistently on a yearly basis at the elementary, middle and high school level. the system would be forced to change from a number of factors. i just think we spend so much time critiqing the system and not enough time getting in there and being agents of change. agents of sacrifice.

what gets me is that as a profession teaching is a guaranted job almost anywhere you go in the states. and if you are a black male with skills and interest you are in high demand. when i graduated back in 2000 there were school systems practically rolling out the red carpet for me and i wasn’t even an education major! i was a young black man with a college degree, decent gpa and an interest to work with kids.

“But I have had some teachers and administrators ask me questions like ‘what’s your secret’ or ‘what are you doing that’s so different”

brother you simply have an understanding…..another essential ingredient

bruh i could go on about this for days, but i’ll stop for now.

Man you sound like me because I experience that all the time. I’ve some teachers completely resent me because I’m able to make connections with kids very quickly that they have been struggling with for months and sometimes years. But I have had some teachers and administrators ask me questions like ‘what’s your secret’ or ‘what are you doing that’s so different’ and in the end my answer is always the same: I am always myself, I don’t try to sugarcoat life or reality for these kids and I don’t talk down to them. I will admit though that sometimes the attention the kids give me can be a little uncomfortable because I see how it annoys other teachers that have a hard time making that connection.

I’m actually about to start my first year of teachng in the public school system. So far all my experience comes via the non traditional educational system and I do have a feeling that I will miss it. But it is also important that young black kids see positive black models within the public school setting. In that regard I encourage you to get that certification. Teachers can influence curriculum ina number of ways. My thought is that I can always return to non traditional if it just doesn’t work out. I also know that everytime I’ve worked within the public school setting the kids gravitate towards me, no matter the age group. Black men will see teaching as a viable career option when they see more black men teaching (as young students). What programs have you seen to encourage more men into teaching? I have some similar thoughts and have begun thinking of ways to do something about it. Maybe we can shoot some ideas back and forth.

A couple of years ago the teens in my summer program did a research project on teen dropouts and one of the most interesting results came from their survey which was administered to about 140 teens in the Greater Hartford (CT) area. They found that at a ratio of 4:1, girls considered teachers role models as opposed to boys. The question is why, why do young boys view education so differently than girls? I’ve seen a lot of programs and effort placed into trying to get more male teachers and some are more effective than others. I just can’t seem to figure out where the gaps are and why black men and men in general don’t see being a teacher as a viable option for a career. Personally I have been going back and forth over whether or not I should get my teaching certification so I can do more but I’m torn. The educational system is jacked up so do I go into a failed system and create change from within or work in non-traditional education environments like I’m doing now so that I can help supplement what these kids are missing and still position myself as a positive black male role model to the kids that need it the most? It’s a catch-22.

thatjonesboy, i agree with you. more blacl male teachers sre definetly needed in schools. however, that will only do so much if, as zhana and DC have pointed out, the whole curriculum is not overhauled. I agree with you both that we have to be careful about any kind of shit towards more education.

thanks for reading and commenting y’all. i really appreciate it.

Actually, the percentage of black inmates in state and federal prisons remained basically the same from 1980 to 2000 (46 percent to 47 percent).

The increase in overall minority imprisonment went up only because the number of Latino convicts increased from 7 percent of the overall prison population to 16 percent, which makes sense given the dramatic increase in immigration and higher birth rates of Hispanics.

Meanwhile, Asian-Americans somehow remain impervious to our so-called prison industrial complex, accounting for just 1 percent of the overall inmate population.

The bottom line is this: our prison “problem” wasn’t driven by economics. It was driven by fear — of crime, of drugs, of repeat offenders, of not being re-elected because something horrific happened on your watch.

The war on drugs has been a dismal failure but I think most Americans have a very hardened attitude towards crime and criminals.