Stop Blaming Black Parents
12 Things Students Should Never Do On Social Media
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Fewer Black Teachers

Stop blaming black parents for underachieving kids

Improving black students' learning 

doesn't "start at home."

Students take take a test at New Orleans school. Showing their commitment to education, black families stood in line for hours to enroll their children in choice schools this month. (Photo by Edmund D. Fountain for The Washington Post)

By Andre M. Perry

July 30, 2014 
 

Mayors, teachers unions, and news commentators have boiled down the academic achievement gap between white and black students to one root cause: parents. Even black leaders and barbershop chatter target "lazy parents" for academic failure in their communities, dismissing the complex web of obstacles that assault urban students daily. In 2011, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg exemplified this thinking by saying, "Unfortunately, there are some parents who...never had a formal education and they don't understand the value of an education." 

 

Earlier this year, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman diagnosed that city's public schools' chief problem: the lack of "active, radical involvement of every parent." And even President Obama rued last week that in some black communities, gaining education is viewed as "acting white."

 

Clearly, there is widespread belief that black parents don't value education. The default opinion has become "it's the parents" - not the governance, the curriculum, the instruction, the policy, nor the lack of resources - that create problems in urban schools. That's wrong. 

 

Everyday actions continuously contradict the idea that low-income black families don't care about their children's schooling, with parents battling against limited resources to access better educations than their circumstances would otherwise afford their children.

 

In New Orleans this month, hundreds of families waited in the heat for hours in hopes of getting their children into their favorite schools. Parents unhappy with their child's assignment must request a different school in person at an enrollment center, with requests granted on a first-come, first-served basis. This year, changes were made to the timing and location for parents to request changes. A long line began forming at the center at 6 a.m. By 9:45 a.m., it stretched around the block. By 12:45 p.m., officials stopped giving out numbers because they didn't have enough staff to meet with every parent.

 

When judging black families' commitment to education, many are confusing will with way. These parents have the will to provide quality schooling for their children, but often, they lack the way: the social capital, the money and the access to elite institutions. There is a difference between valuing an education and having the resources to tap that value.

 

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12 Things Students Should Never Do on Social Media

By Stephanie Buck 

September 4, 2012

 

The last thing young people want is another set of rules. But these days, social media comes with great responsibility, whether you're just starting high school or finishing up college.

 

The fact is, irresponsible social media conduct could potentially ruin your education and negatively impact your career, not to mention hurt others in the process. (And we're not just talking kids, either.) But most of those consequences are preventable, often with just a little foresight.

 

We've pinpointed 12 social media mistakes that students should avoid at all costs, because after all, it's never as simple as "be responsible." And it's never as finite as "don't friend your teacher on Facebook." Social media circumstances are nuanced and vary by situation, school and user.

 

Please add your own contributions and advice for young adults on social media.  Young people should never post or do:

 

1. Post Illegal ActivitiesGranted, high school and college students experiment with many activities and substances. But the second you post a video of last weekend's bong hit or trash-can tipping adventure, you become vulnerable not only for school expulsion but also for criminal prosecution.

2. BullyingBullying is one of the most serious problems in schools today. Vicious treatment and hateful words between students often lead to violence, suicide, depression and discrimination among the student body.

 

3. Trash Your TeachersBullying doesn't just apply to student-to-student interactions. Students who speak poorly of their teachers (or post embarrassing photos of them) run a huge risk, too. After all, your instructors have a right to privacy and respect.

 

4. Post Objectionable Content From School Computers or Networks - Many schools prohibit all computer activity on campus not directly related to coursework. That almost always includes social media use, especially that which is objectionable (e.g. profanity, harassment, etc.). 

 

5. Post Confidential InformationThis piece of advice goes for every social media user, not just students. But young people are especially vulnerable to online predators and identity thieves.

 

6. Overly Specific Location Check-InsSimilar to protecting your identity, try not to get too specific with your social check-ins. Although your parents may appreciate the heads-up, posts like these make it easy for predators to locate you. 
 

Click Here to Read Last Six "Never to Post or Do's" and the Full Article
Call The Black Star Project 
If You Are A Man or Woman 
in the Chicago Area
Who Wants To Become An
Electrician

You must be interviewed, have a valid driver's license, be drugfree, have proof of citizenship, have a social security card, be at least 17 years old, pass a basic skills and academic test, be in good physical shape, clear a background check,  and a have a letter of recommendation.  Limited slots available for an August 3, 2015 interview. 

Please call 773.285.9600 today for this limited opportunity

Questions: What if Black people could choose their own teachers and their own heroes?  What if Black people could focus on finance and institution-building rather than sports and entertainment?  What if Black people taught their children about their history and culture rather than the distractions and diversions of our society? Then you would have: 

 

The Sunday University
On July 19, 2015, Professor Mark Allen spoke about  Historical Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Recreation of Black Wall Street in every Black community in the U.S.
Professor Mark Allen -  (seated center), spoke eloquently and radically about Black economic power. 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Learn about the Best Arguments in Support of Reparations: Internal Reparations and External Reparations with Professor  Kamm Howard of N'COBRA on Sunday, July 26, 2015 
Kamm Howard - Professor of African-Centered Thinking, Logic and Action
----------------------------------------------------------------
Learn about Banking, Personal Finance and Young People, date to be determined 
Otis Monroe - Professor of Banking Theory 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Learn that Health Is Wealth and 
How to Keep It for a Life Time, Sunday, August 9, 2015
Dr. Paul L. Hannah - Professor of Healing Energy

All classes of 
The Sunday University 
will take place on 
Sundays
2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
after church, mosque or temple
at
The Black Star Project
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Chicago, Illinois

Please call 773.285.9600 to RSVP, for more information or to create a Sunday University in your city. 
The Family and Community that  Educates Together,
Elevates Together
Parents, Educators and Community Members Should Attend the 
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  • Preparing for the Next School Year
  • Summer Tutoring and Mentoring Programs for Children
  • The Million Father March 2015

 

Saturday, July 25, 2015, 

9:30 am to 11:00 am

at The Black Star Project

3509 South King Drive

Chicago, Illinois  

Please call 773.285.9600 for more information.

Join The Black Star Project in Support of Father Michael Pfleger for a Peace Walk on Friday, July 24, 2015, 7:00 pm, Meeting at St. Sabina Church, 1210 West 78th Place, 
Chicago, Illinois

Join Us and Wear Orange for Peace In Chicago and PEACE In The Hood
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Why are there fewer 
Black teachers in 
Chicago Public 
Schools?
Just 15 years go, 40 percent teachers in CPS schools were black. Today, it's 23 percent. 

 

By Natalie Moore

July 14, 2015

 

Taree Porter

A few weeks before the school year ends, Taree Porter leads word drills with her second graders and reads a Judy Blume classic amid the din of giggles.

Porter, a teacher for 14 years, is black and comes from a family of Chicago Public Schools educators.

 

Just 15 years go, 40 percent teachers in CPS schools were black. Today, it's 23 percent. Many black students are segregated into majority black schools-like National Teachers Academy in the South Loop, where Porter teaches.

 

The fact that she's among a dwindling demographic isn't lost on Porter. And all this change didn't occur in a vacuum. Modern education reform in Chicago started in 1995 and ramped up in the following years.

 

The face of Chicago Public Schools teachers is changing: the teaching workforce is whiter and less experienced. Meanwhile, most of the students in Chicago's public schools are Hispanic and African American. Black enrollment has gone down, but black students still make up 39 percent of the district.

 

Chicago Teachers Union researcher Pavlyn Jankov says more and more schools are like Porter's -- mostly black students, mostly white teachers. And he said it didn't happen by chance.

 

"It lines up with the huge proliferation of charter schools and those schools along with the AUSL turnaround schools are mainly responsible for the staff who are predominately teachers with perhaps one to five years experience and predominantly white teachers," Jankov said.

 

Northwestern University sociologist Mary Pattillo says the decline of black teachers has consequences inside and outside the classroom.

"When you have big teacher layoffs or you have a decline in the number of black teachers, that could destabilize some of the neighborhoods that are most well-known as Chicago's black middle-class neighborhoods -- places like Chatham and Pill Hill and parts of South Shore and parts of Auburn-Gresham, and those kind of neighborhoods could be negatively affected by declines in the teaching profession," she said.

 

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Ask Your Schools, Your Faith Institutions, Your Governments to Join the 2015 Million Father March 



Click Here to Register for the 2015  Million Father March 
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Click Here to Learn More about the Million Father March or call 773.285.9600.
Justice or Else!!!
October 10, 2015
Washington, DC