What Images Are Your Children Seeing In School?
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Posted By: William Jackson on September 26, 2016 What Images Are Your Children Seeing In School? William Jackson, M.Ed. @wmjackson #MyQuestToTeach How often in our elementary, middle and high schools are children of color and culture provided icons, symbols, visual acknowledgement and even photos of successful women and men of color and culture? How often are these images culturally relevant and inspiring? African Americans, Latinos Mexicans, Haitians, Caribbean’s, Cubans, and other people of proud color and culture should have images of successful people their children can identify with. The question should be where are the photos, the icons, the pictures and the inspiration that can motivate youth to move to graduate? If you show a child successful images they can identify with and model after, their behaviors will change. If you show children that people that look like them, have and do live like them, struggle with some of the same issues they struggle with, but climb out they can relate. Too many schools have "old" images of outdated thinking that needs to be removed and discarded. Remember that the images your child sees every day does make a difference. How many parents have Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, Venus Williams, those of Olympic athletes, wrestlers and other athletes on walls, ceilings and in closets to inspire and ignite passions for sports? How many parents have posters, or images of intellectuals, the “smart creatives,” “budding innovators,” “gifted students,” “Blerds,” and just plain smart and talented people of color? Why are there no images for them to model after? Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Umar Johnson, Dr. Neil Degrasse, Dr. Kaba Kamene, or Dr. Joy DeGruy. If parents and even teachers do not know who these people are, time to do your homework and change the walls of your children’s schools and even the walls on homes. To make a difference people of color and culture get your butts up and attend PTA meetings, School Advisory Meetings, School Board Meetings and other events in your child's school and your community, you can make a difference now. If you think that you don’t have the time, the energy or the motivation look at Charlotte, Ferguson, Chicago, New York and other places. Why wait for death to happen before you decide to try and make a difference "after" someone is killed or another child of color drops out of school, gets arrested or bullied and takes their life. Black Lives Matter only works when Blacks get off their collective butts and are proactive and not reactive in the improvement of their own homes and their communities. Black Lives Matter only when Black parents work with their children’s teachers to cut out the foolishness of class disruption, disrespect of teachers and work to improve the reading and comprehension of Black students. All students have a right to equal access to education. Protesting, and profanity are not the correct ways to build community leaders, and changers. Parts taken from: The Rise of the Black Intellectual in the 21st Century http://melanoidnation.org/the-rise-of-the-... People of color and culture, their spirits, self-pride and recognition of their historical success have been taken away by the ravages of slavery, the disconnect with cultural references to history that shows people of color were intellectuals before Europeans had established civilizations. People of color are smart creatives, evolving intellectuals, thought leaders, and developers. They must stop themselves from being distracted by the trinkets that give them false pride and self-actualization. Being creators is more important and long lasting than being consumers. People of color have intellectuals, but they need to be recognized and shown to youth, teens and young adults just as do the athlete’s and intellectuals. Unfortunately, "like many other signs of progress made in the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s, Black Society’s path seemed to take a left turn." The thirst for knowledge, understanding, growth, progress has diminished and faded. There are still those that thirst for knowledge, but more needs to be done to encourage their presence and influence in schools across this nation. It can be seen across the nation that kids that are smart are not cool, but should be. They are ridiculed and bullied, this has to stop. Our brilliant lights of children of color need to shine brightly to be a guiding light for others that are not into athletes and entertainers. The Harlem Renaissance showed the influence of the Arts and Entertainment, but it showed the respect for the Intellectuals. The authors, poets, spoke word artists, educators and even those that created make believe worlds that encouraged thinking in the early science fiction. Children of color should be taught that entertainment is not the only way to be a success, sports are not the only way to earn respect and status in this nation. There need to be venues of intellectual sharing, encouragement and growth." A segment of Black Society has been formed in which the Brothers and Sisters refer to themselves as “Blerds“, or “Black nerds”. This should be a badge of honor, respect, progressiveness and unity. There needs to be a continued resurgence of intellectual development in the elementary, middle and high schools of color. Bullying of African American Intellectuals must stop and it needs to begin in the homes of African Americans. The advancement of African American intellectuals will be the ones to propel African Americans into the future. It will take parents, educators and communities to take pride in their thinkers in the African American society. In order for African American communities, society’s, schools, churches, and reinvestments to grow it must come from African Americans. The only way others will invest or reinvest in African American communities is when people have planned to take African American homes and communities from African Americans. "The seeds of the future" for African Americans, "must be planted with ingenuity, inspiration, and empowerment into the minds of our builders. The days of celebrating ignorance and buffoonery must go the way of the dinosaur. Being smart must be cool, crunck, funky and fresh." There needs to be a growth in Blerds if our communities will live in the future. Resources: The Rise of the Black Intellectual in the 21st Century http://melanoidnation.org/the-rise-of-the-... via @melanoidnation Generation Wealth https://www.eventbrite.com/e/generation-we... Beyond High School Seminar https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-high-s... Career Expo and Community Outreach https://www.eventbrite.com/e/career-expo-c... Blacks Are Tired of Being Shot – Why are Black lives not important? https://www.facebook.com/shalara.wells/vid... EdCamp for the National Association of Black School Educators https://spark.adobe.com/page/TcID6BRLHlupl... NASBE Twitter: https://twitter.com/EdcampNABSE Find an EdCamp Near You https://twitter.com/EdcampUSA If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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William Jackson
Educational Technology and Social Media Instructor, Edward Waters College South Carolina State University class of 1985 Member Since September 2008 |
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