Earlier this week, Kelly brought up the topic of African American literature and prompted discussions about how often we have been exposed to it during our academic journeys. The majority of us agreed that the exposure was pretty minimal, and on some of the occasions it was taught, it was often snugly sandwiched in a quaint “multicultural unit” that featured snippets of stories and accomplishments of non-Caucasian figures. Since our group consists of four future English teachers, I wanted to explore African American literature in schools a little further.
Langston Hughes predominately wrote about everyday African American life, including (everyday) struggles in society. While thinking about these themes and checking the internet news this week, I came across a really interesting article that released statistics and reports about the academic status of male African American students in this country. The Council of Great City Schools’ startling report includes several statistics—a couple of examples:
- The average ACT scores of AA male students were lower
than those for white male students in English, mathematics,
and reading. In 2009, the gap between [the two groups]
was six points in English, five points in
mathematics, and six points in reading.
- Black males are twice as likely to drop out of high
school as white males.
The authors of the research warn: “The nation's young black males are in a state of crisis. This report is likely to make people angry, and it should. We hope that this is a louder and more jolting wake-up call to the nation than this country is used to hearing." Though these statistics are impacted by a variety of factors, please keep in mind that not every African American male is at risk; additionally, the report does briefly mention the other side of these statistics.
President Obama’s “Stay in School” speech last fall was primarily directed at students, encouraging them to remember that “there is no excuse for not trying.” I can’t help but wonder though, how many teachers are at fault here? Given the fact that we all agreed that little African American culture and literature was taught in high schools, I wonder what would happen if we actually celebrated more African American literature OUTSIDE of Black History Month and the “multicultural units?” Do you all think that giving students more exposure to Langston Hughes and other diverse authors would not only culturally benefit ALL of the students, but maybe even inspire some at risk students? Why do we focus so much on the “dead white guys” when our classrooms are so colorfully full of diversity?
I think that more exposure to diverse authors would benefit all students and even inspire some that are at risk. Unfortunately, many of the texts that are always part of the curriculum are not that diverse. The “dead white guys” you mention are the fathers of the classics. Because they have “proved” themselves in a way, they will always be the front runner, so I think as future English teachers, it will be our job to find a way to diversify what our students read. Many of us in other classes have read great books by diverse authors, and we have also stated that we intend to assign independent reading assignments and/or requirements. I think assignments like this one is our chance to steer our students away from the dead white guys and towards the plethora of diverse authors and literature. In my head, I am already tweaking my own independent reading assignment to make it focus more on diversity. Great post, Jess.
ReplyDeleteWritten By: Elizabeth Willbanks
This is a great post. I think that students are at a disadvantage (as Elizabeth said) because minority artists haven't been working as long as white ones due to social constraints so a majority of history in all areas is white. Also, in order to try and create a real positive environment, we need to focus on real Black and minority achievements. A prior and misguided attempt at involving Black students in education was a revisionist attempt to wrongly attribute past achievements as Black when they weren't. Beyond the fact that that teaches things that aren't true, it is also very patronizing. It is as if the system is saying "You guys haven't really done anything, so we will make something up." So much of Black culture is thought to be off-limits due to the very attitude of 'political correctness' (and a healthy dose of White shame) that claims to want to help in this area. It is a hold over of the same attitude that Hughes wrote about in his essay. Society sees ANYTHING that involves, or in anyway can be linked to, slavery or tribal Africa as derogatory and won't allow mention of it. The final nail in the coffin is also due to oppression in a round-about way. Whites have had the luxury of being the wealthiest people most of the time and as such we have had opportunity to relax and write about fun and happy things that children can be exposed to (everything from the modified Grimm's fairy tales to most pre 20th century poetry. A lot of acclaimed Black writing is over harsh subject matter and can use strong language so it is much harder to get approved in public primary and even secondary education schools.
ReplyDelete- Japheth