Gwinnett County, Ga. Needs Black History Month

[williamjackson]

Gwinnett County, Ga.  Needs Black History Month

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively
and to think critically. Intelligence plus character that is the
goal of true education."

The recent events in Gwinnett County Georgia proves America
still needs Black History Month and the teachings of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.

Not only the recognition of African American contributions to this country,
but the  continuation of educating non Blacks, that respect and dignity
should be shown at all times. In the educational realms of our schools
Professional Development is still needed for cultural, racial and colorism
understanding of teachers.

We have not arrived to the degree of sensitivity and respect that is
awarded to other cultures in America. It seems that Black women can
be called ugly in news reports claiming the use of data and scientific
research:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/120548/Black_Women_Are_
Ugly_Scientific
Black men are told they are more destined to be criminals and involved
in criminal behaviours:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/12/26/18515/ron-paul-95-percent-
of-black-men-are-criminal/

Black children in our educational systems are exposed to the ugly
realities of possible racism, potential unethical behaviours and poor
decision making . The recent events in Gwinnett County show that
even educators can be insensitive to their students and make very
stupid decisions. Maybe with the coming of Black History month these
educators wanted to precede the month with information that makes their
students reconsider their worth and value. The birthday of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. should be a testiment that Blacks deserve respect, as
citizens of the United States of America. Maybe those teachers need
to hear the speaches of Dr. King and even of those of Malcolm X.
To truly understand the struggles and sacrifices of Blacks in America.
There is a disconnect that these teachers and unfortunately others
have about the experiences of death, beatings, defication and denial
of civil and human rights that Blacks have and still due experience.

A homework assignment should not be used to display cultural disrespect.
http://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/2012/01/06/video-third-grade-
homework-asks-how-many-oranges-can-each-slave-pick

The recent events in Gwinnett County are a testament that Blacks
have not arrived in the sense of equal respect or sensitivity to the
emotional and psychological support that as a people Blacks justly
deserve. If this was an equal and just situation, the mention of Jews
would have been mentioned, they were slaves in Egypt in the time of
Pharaoh which is also historically documented. Reading information from
“How long were Jews  slaves in Egypt?”
http://judaism.about.com/od/passove1/f/slaveegypt.htm  this information
is available online.  Why was this not a lso presented, it is historical fact
as well. The insensitive nature of the homework questions posed to
students on the homework displays a lack of common sense that these
educators should have had. Regardless of any cross-curricular assignment
common sense and dignity should be shown at all times.

The sensitivity to the students and their parents cultural background should
always be thought of when developing content and assessments that
could cause any type of educational distraction.  Information from the
International Test Commission, ”Culture can be understood as “a shared
way of life of a group of people” (Berry, Poortinga, Segall & Dasen, 2002).

In this case the teachers did not understand the students nor took into
consideration the parents views and the way they would perceive the
testing questions. Thus many non Blacks, not just white teachers do not
understand or do not care to understand their students or other cultural
backgrounds. There is a shared group mentality that each group is given
respect and their cultural differences are respected and considered. 

Education is a diverse occupation, but teachers have to learn to embrace
diversity and understand that the wording and development of assessments
(testing) can affect a student’s success or failure. Culture does have a link
in assessment development. Taken from Culture and Assessment:
Discovering What Students Really Know, 2010, “but what if the way we
ask the questions unintentionally causes some students to fail? What if
our assessments miss uncovering the depth and complexity of knowledge
because they contain assumptions about language, culture, values, and
experiences that these students don't share?”

Not just Black students but even students of other cultuers do not
understand the complexity of slavery, but teachers still must be sensitive
when using this type of material when teaching and testing knowledge
about slavery or a cross integration of curriculums. If done in the wrong
way the teacher creates confusion, accusations of unethical behavior and
the perception or being careless and unprofessional concerning race.
Suggestions for teachers when designing questions is that for parents
to have input in (of understanding) the design and potential
implementation. Stated in Culture and Assessment, “Getting to that point
involves communication with community and  others in the community
based on mutual respect.” Respect is a key component for educational
success of students. Parental support is valuable and far reaching for
teachers. If teachers do not have parental support or respect there will
be serious challenges because teachers will not have the confidence of
parents to be effective in the classroom and in the community.

Sharon Nelson-Barber, former Director of WestEd's Center for the
Study of Culture and Language in Education states when
developing assessments there should be, “advocates for cross-cultural
awareness and competence in assessment and teaching because such
understanding sets a more solid foundation for improving student
success.” One of the items for discussion for students is their ability
to understand what is actually asked of them to perform. Slavery is
a sensitive subject for many people not just Blacks, so even the
discussion can cause anxiety, stress, and other emotional responses.
Even though the students talked about slavery in class, have questions
on a test may as Nelson-Barber states, “elicits very little of the student's
understanding.”

Teachers must consider at all times the ramifications of their questions
and the potential student impact. Because education is an experience
Nelson-Barber asks, "What is it about a test question that continually
appears not to map onto some students' experiences?"

This incident is a lesson for other educators when developing
assessment or testing questions. Be careful of the content and context
of the questions, a cultural awareness would guide test creation, test
dissemination, and test evaluation. A broader look might bring
about eliminating cultural bias in testing and the need for accommodations
for some students and at least an understanding of what not to ask.

At the school level, teachers and administrators can build alliances
with parents and leaders of different cultural groups represented in
the school populace. Partnerships can be especially vital to school
communities where demographics have changed the student
populations of many classrooms and new teachers that are unskilled
and unaware of the cultural diversity in schools they work in.

A word of caution and wisdom to educators and administrators:
Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only
dictates who talks to whom, about what, and how the communication
proceeds, it also helps to determine how people encode (understand)
messages, the meanings they have for messages, and the
conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may
not be sent, noticed, or interpreted...
Culture...is the foundation of communication. (Samovar, Porter, & Jain, 1981)

Children encode and decode information differently then adults, so
educators need to be knowledgeable and sensitive to their students
and what maybe potential parental reactions. Living in southern states
there are still sensitive feelings about slavery, the civil war, World War II,
the Korean War and Vietnam. So educators themselves must "educate"
themselves about how others will feel, Black, White, Asian, Jewish, Hispanics,
Muslem, etc. Would those teachers have conducted a similar test on Asians,
because of World War II, how about those of German backgrounds of both
World Wars?