ESSENCE SERIES: TEACHING OUR CHILDREN

These are excerpts from the Essence April 2010 Article....this is definitely DEFINITELY a must read.....

The nations schools are failing our children. Black students already lag behind White students on the 1st day of kindergarten - a disparity that is as evident among suburban middle-class children as their inner-city peers. But Black parents, are finally paying attention. No longer waiting for schools to get it right, we are taking action - from the way we talk to our children to the experiences we offer them - to create higher achievers. For part two in our education series, ESSENCE spent a year exploring how Black parents can take responsibility for our children's success.

A 2009 report from the National Center for Education Statistics found that Black students scored an average of 27 points lower than their White peers on fourth-grade reading, and 26 points lower on eighth-grade reading. On math tests, Black students trailed their White counterparts by 26 points in the fourth-grade, a gap that rose to 31 points by the eighth grade. The results, based on tests administered in 2007, revealed an achievement gap in almost every state in the union.

With the education disparity breaking stubbornly along such racial and ethnic lines for the past three decades, it is almost impossible to overstate the economic and social consequences.

The study found that Black and Latino children are two to three years behind White children of the same age when it comes to academic performance, with White students significantly outperforming Black and Latino students regardless of the income level of their parents.

As early as the 4th grade, the study claims, academic performance is a powerful predictor of a students projected future earnings.

Others are encouraging their children to become mentors to under performing Black students, reversing a pervasive culture where making good grades is seen as not cool.

Black parents are radically rethinking the roles they can play in their children's school lives.....they are enrolling their children in foreign language in elementary school, and forgoing trips to theme parks for travel to historic sites and nature reserves.

Research by Ronald F. Ferguson shows only 47% of college-educated Black parents read to their kindergarten-age children daily, compared with 60% of similiary educated White parents.

Even if your child is doing fine in school you should be looking for extracurricular activities to accelerate your child, because that's what the rest of the parents your child is competing with are doing.



Medical experts agree that the years from birth to 3 years are critical for child development and future learning.



We have to think about their brains as a computer system that is not wired yet and it is waiting for us to wire it.



Even upper-and middle-income parents sometimes will work really hard to move into the best school system in the area, and then watch and wait for the the school system to turn their kid into a great student, not understand that a lot of the work is still theirs.



"Too often we teach our children to be passive and obedient, and they are getting destroyed. In the year 1908, if you were Black and you were not passive and obedient, you could get killed. Now, if you are passive and obedient about education, you will die." Ronald F Ferguson.



For those in the Chicago area check out the Black Star Project. http://blackstarproject.org/action/


Parents you are your child's first teacher. It is up to you to instill at an early age of love of learning, exploration, and critical thinking with your children. It




Be a blessing and be blessed,

Epiphany Essentials