Public Engagement

In my July 12, 2006 blog on "The Importance of Numeracy", I wrote that two fundamental issues in getting kids to take more math are convincing the parents that more math is important, and motivating students that math can make a difference in their lives. What I didn't fully comprehend, and what our discussion in the Colloquium didn't address, is how much deeper the problems can be.

Consider the Commentary in Wednesday's StarTribune by Syl Jones, an African-American playwright, journalist, and corporate communications consultant from Minnetonka. Jones writes:

Good news: Despite a welter of reports trashing the scholastic achievements of African-American kids in the Minneapolis public schools, black children are doing some things right. They get an A in Disruptive Classroom Behavior, a B in Special Education Reassignment, and an A+ in Being Kicked Out of Class. They also shine in Exposing Deficiencies of Institutionalized Educational Approaches.

That's a shocking way to talk about the plight of African-American students in Minneapolis, but it's not nearly as shocking as the facts. Only 44 percent graduate from high school statewide, one of the lowest figures in the nation. The numbers for African-American boys are even lower. Those are the facts.

You can look at the facts in several ways, though, including this one: "You've got to hand it to some African-American students in Minneapolis. Instead of cooperating with a system that degrades them because of what they don't know, they're using their meager talents to force that system to its knees. It takes genuine street skills to get kicked out of class so you don't embarrass yourself with what you don't know in front of your peers. It's an art to disrupt the formal lesson plan and force the teacher to make you the center of attention."...

Black students desperate for help often unconsciously employ these African-American trickster skills to save face in a topdog/underdog world. They are literally at war with their environment and will use their wiles to hang onto the last vestiges of their self-respect.

When higher education, business, and government convene conferences to talk about how to "improve the pipeline" of students of color from preK-12 into college and beyond, we pretty much ignore this stark reality. Reaching kids who are so alienated from the system is perhaps the greatest challenge facing our schools of education and child development. (Let alone our elementary and high schools.)

We can't do it without the parents. That's why it's heartening to see programs such "Parenting Across Cultures, a five-day workshop to help  strengthen multi-ethnic families and communities" to be offered October 9-13 by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation of St. Paul, in conjunction with the Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Children's Home Society. To quote from the workshop announcement,

"The model has been identified as a promising practice by the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is based on the belief that parents will take responsibility for making good choices when given information on the consequences of different parenting strategies and techniques.

The workshop has five component areas:
-cultural focus
-rites of passage
-parent/chid relationship
-positive discipline
-community involvement"

An announcement of the program is here.