Black Boys in Crisis: Why Aren’t They Reading?
In this series, appropriately titled “Black Boys in Crisis,” I highlight the problems facing black boys in education today, as well as provide clear steps that will lead us out of the crisis.
Though people outside the “Black boy” demographic like to think that American K-12 schools, workplaces and courthouses are pillars of fairness, those within the grouping know better. Study after study, research report after research report, and statistic after statistic all point to a crisis among the young, Black boys of the nation – beginning in homes, stretching to K-12 educational experiences, and leading straight to the cycle of incarceration in increasingly high numbers.
So what can be done to save this group of children that consistently seem to fall through the cracks of a society that does little to rescue them? In this series, I will look at four specific areas of especially troubling data, in hopes of sparking some conversation on how as a society we can rethink them to produce a stronger generation of Black young men in our midst.
Dismal Reading Numbers
This spring, the Black Star Project published findings that just 10 percent of eighth-grade Black boys in the U.S. are considered “proficient” in reading. In urban areas like Chicago and Detroit, that number was even lower. By contrast, the 2013 National Assessment of Education Progress found that 46 percent of white students are adequate readers by eighth grade, and 17 percent of Black students as a whole are too. The achievement gap between the two races is startling, but the difference between the NAEP report on Black students as a whole and the Black Star findings of just Black boys is troubling too. It is not simply Black children in general who appear to be failing in the basics – like literacy; it is the boys.
Reading is only one piece of the school puzzle, of course, but it is a foundational one. If the eighth graders in our schools cannot read, how will they ever learn other subjects and make it to a college education (or, in reality, to a high school diploma)? Reading scores tell us so much more than the confines of their statistics and I believe these numbers are key to understanding the plight of young Black men in our society as a whole.
A Group Behind
While it is true that Black boys often arrive in Kindergarten classrooms with inherent disadvantages, they continue to experience a “behind the 8-ball” mentality as their school careers progress. Black boys are more likely than any other group to be placed in special education classes, with 80 percent of all special education students being Black or Hispanic males. Learning disabilities aside, black students (and particularly boys) experience disconnection when it comes to the authority figures in their classrooms. The K-12 teaching profession is dominated by white women, many who are very qualified and very interested in helping all their students succeed but lack the first-hand experience needed to connect with their Black male students.
Schools with majority Black students also tend to have lower amounts of teachers who are certified in their degree areas. A U.S. Department of Education report found that in schools with at least 50 percent Black students, only 48 percent were certified in the subject, compared with 65 percent in majority white schools. In English, the numbers were 59 and 68 percent, respectively and in science, they were 57 percent and 73 percent.
The disadvantages that Black boys bring to their schools aren’t corrected in K-12 classrooms, they are furthered. As they get older, they are continually marginalized in their schools and societies – given less-than-adequate access to the resources that their already advantaged peers receive. While the connection between items like reading scores and civic responsibility may not seem well defined on the surface, they are related and that relationship is integral to turning the tide for Black boys in America.
Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.
Yes, why aren’t they reading indeed? Or more specifically, what can we do in our K-12 schools to improve their attitudes and aptitudes in this regard? Early literacy is really important to overall success in school and if these young men cannot accomplish that, it will be difficult to succeed in other areas later on.
We know that black boys learn differently than their white peers, and even their female counterparts. What’s needed now are concrete ways to address these differences and come up with a solution to better learning experiences.
I do feel for these kids — but I have to wonder how much of this is a reflection of our schools, and how much are things we can’t control like home environment?
Good report, something that is well known especially with teachers like myself who has 31 years of experience mostly at the high school level. I will argue though that the problem deals more with gender and not culture. I dispute the way you present your percentages, I need to see a percent of black males and white males with similar socioeconomic values. You cannot compare inner city low socio black males with affluent white suburb males. Let’s compare apples to apples no matter the color, they must be apples. THE PROBLEM IS THE DISENGAGEMENT OF MALES IN PUBLIC EDUCATION ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE POOR. Our public schools would rather drug young boys who can’t sit in their seat for 8 hours, rather than examine poor teaching methods and teachers who just want you to “sit down and be quiet!” When that teacher closes her door, she becomes the dictator, a nice positive one who understands testerone and boys need to learn tactically, and those who only understand the way THEY learned, quietly and well mannered. Well, we don’t teach robots, but with drugs they can act as robots. I went to a predominantly black school and have taught/ coached at upper middle class white schools and poor inner city schools. Males learn better in an active, competitive, incentive driven environment where group learning is advantageous, and distractions ( girls) need to be seen in the hallways and not the classroom. I had 3 classes of all males in Biology at an inner city school. The majority of them were classified as low achievers and troublemakers by previous biology teachers. I got administrative approval on keeping them all male, divided each class into 4 directional groups, used food and sports as incentives, gained their trust, and my classes passing rate on Texas state tests was the highest of all teachers in our 5 high school district. It is politically incorrect to say boys are being disadvantaged by teaching methods in schools. But it is the truth.
Coach Bear
EXCELLENT RESPONSE! I would love to hear more about the methods you used.
What about a possible reading list. I’d like to know the books that are young black boys would like to read.
[…] are some areas that, if properly addressed, could motivate society to find lasting solutions instead of blame […]
We need to understand just how our differential treatment of boys to make them tough is creating the Male Crisis and also very poor reading and motivation to read. Those very few boys who are more supported will do fine in reading and excel in school – and use the academics as their coditional ticket to love and honor from society to keep striving in school. However, the majority of boys will not be given this more correct treatment.
To understand this, “we must redefine our average stress as many layers of mental work we carry with us that take away real mental energy leaving less mental energy to think, learn, concentrate, and enjoy the learning process”. This differential treatment creates very real differences in learning by individual and by group.
The problem involves two entirely different treatments of Males and Females as early as one year of age and increases in differential treatment. This is creating the growing Male Crisis. The belief Males should be strong allows more aggressive treatment of Males as early as one year, designed to create more layers of agitation, fear, and tension, so they will be prepared to fight, defend, and be tough. This is coupled with much “less” kind, stable, (very little verbal interaction) and less mental/emotional/social support, knowledge, and skills for fear of coddling. It is this more aggressive, less supportive treatment that creates the toughness or maintained, higher average layers of – anger, fear, anxiety, preparation for defense, etc. This remains in the mind as higher average stress that take away real mental energy needed for academics. This increases over time and continued by society from parents, yes teachers, and others in society. This creates more social/emotional distance/distrust of others -parents and other authority figures who have knowledge; lags in communication, lower social vocabulary, poor sentence structure; also higher average stress: more layers of mental agitated conflicts and fears taking away real mental energy that hurt learning and motivation to learn. This also creates more activity due to need for stress relief from their higher average stress. It creates more defensiveness and wariness of others further hindering emotional and social growth. The higher average stress creates higher muscle tension (creating more pressure on the pencil and tighter grip) that hurt writing and motivation to write (hurting form and creating early fatigue). It creates much lag in development due to lack of care creating a learned sense of helplessness in school. This differential treatment continues through adulthood, almost fixing many Males onto roads of failure and escape into more short-term areas of enjoyment. Also society gives Males love and honor (essential needs for self-worth) only on condition of some achievement or status. This was designed to keep Male esteem and feelings of self-worth low to keep them striving and even give their lives in time of war for small measures of love and honor. Males not achieving in school or other are given more ridicule and discipline to make them try harder. Support is not an option for fear of coddling. Many Males thus falling behind in academics then turn their attention toward video games, and sports to receive small measures of love and honor not received in the classroom. The belief boys should be strong and the false belief in genetics creates a mental denial of any connection with differential treatment and the lower academics, lower esteem, and other problems, removing all good sense when it comes to raising boys today. I feel there is an almost emotional cannibalism allowed upon Males by society, even young Males who appear weak, all to make them tough.
Note, it is not just about feelings and more openness that is needed as it is more support and care in general from infancy. Remember it is the aggressive treatment that is increased for any sign of weakness and much wariness they feel for others, especially adults (parents and teachers) who feel it necessary – and more freely allowed to use more aggressive treatment for any sign of weakness or vulnerability.
As for reading, we need high social vocabulary, social experience with sentence structure, and “lower average stress to perform the abstract skill of reading: decoding, visualizing, organizing, reaching back into our social vocabulary to learn new words in print, and enjoying the process. Boys are deprived in these areas due to much less care, interaction, and more aggressive treatment in general. This hurts reading and motivation to read.
What about the failing/non-reading black boys with predominantly black teacher?
There can be many answers as to why black boys aren’t reading. I believe we need to look at motivation first, and the answers will follow. I don’t recommend this as a process for teachers to take to task, but as a function of social work to address ‘issues’ outside of education which are typically the roadblocks to motivation. I’d even argue that reading should not be considered a teachable subject as are language and grammar, which are needed in order to read. People don’t need to be able to read in order to communicate with others at even the most infantile level. Language is the predecessor. Many black boys’ especially of poverty believe they get by just fine with common street utterances. They get their point across when they need to. And that may be good enough–for some. For others who are motivated yet have difficulties learning, alternative teaching methods can be applied individually and not of the one-size-fits-all variety. Beyond this, there has to come the realization by government, administration, teachers and parents that success is measured differently–high and low–and not every student will see reading proficiency as the only road to success.
Added info from Spartaga
As girls we are treated much better and enjoy more hope and care from society. Since we as girls are given by differential treatment, much more continual, positive – mental, social/emotional support, verbal interaction and care from an early age onward, this creates quite the opposite outcome for girls when compared with boys. We enjoy much more care and support from society from infancy through adulthood and receive love and honor simply for being girls. This creates all of the good things. We enjoy lower average stress for more ease of learning. We enjoy much more freedom of expression from much protection that makes us look more unstable at times. Of course we can also use that same freedom of expression to give verbal, silent abuse, and hollow kindness/patronization to our Male peers with impunity knowing we are protected. We enjoy much lower muscle tension for more ease and ability in handwriting and motivation to write. We enjoy much more positive, trust/communication from parents, teachers, peers, and more support for perceived weaknesses. We are reaping a bonanza in the information age. The lower the socioeconomic bracket the much more amplified the differential treatment from infancy and more differentiated over time through adulthood. In lower socioeconomic environments, there is also a kind of more set in place, attention, support and care for Female children as a kind of love and affection catharsis for girls. Such kindness would “almost never be given to boys”. Now with girls and women taking over many areas of society, we are enjoying even more lavishing of love and honor from society, while the boys and men are now failing more so and are now given even more ridicule and abuse by society. Mind you, this is also now coming from many girls and women using our still protected freedoms of expression and more so with false feelings of superiority. learning theory mayfieldga@gmail.com
I’m a black female who went to a private elementary school, but then attended a public, black high school. Roughly 90% of the boys in my elementary school excelled academically and most of the teachers were white nuns. However, when I got to the public high school, probably 1/3 of the boys fell into the category you’ve described. There were only two public elementary schools that fed into that high school, and those teachers were all black. If all of these boys went to one of two schools and had the same teachers, I’m not sure that it’s a problem with the teachers or the schools. Perhaps, it’s the home environment. The boys who did well in school (both middle-and lower income levels) had parents who stressed the importance of education. I didn’t know a lot of the boys who performed poorly, but among the few that I knew, they didn’t appear to have any parental guidance.
[…] (2017, May 22). Black Boys in Crisis: Why Aren’t They Reading? Retrieved July 22, 2018, from https://www.theedadvocate.org/black-boys-in-crisis-why-arent-they-reading/ Darling-Hammond, L. (2016, July 28). Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education. Retrieved July 22, […]