Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy In Early Childhood Teacher Education A Conversation
Final Paper
1. D’Shai L. Hendricks
Race and Education Lecture Series
Arnetha Ball & Cheryl Brown
March 16, 2012
The African American Child in Education: The Future Plessy v. Ferguson
With news regarding the success of Urban Prep Academy in Chicago, IL, over the
last few years, the topic of educating African American male students has been a hot
topic in the media and education in general. Urban Prep Academy, an all-male charter
school founded in 2006 in Chicago, succeeded in having every member of its graduating
senior class accepted into a four-year college/university for the past two years. This
phenomenon of African American male success in high school graduation and college
acceptance is not a common one, though, which leads one to question why that is. What
is the solution to solving this problem of African-American underachievement, especially
in black boys? What is preventing the vast majority of these individuals from achieving
the accomplishment that the boys at Urban Prep Academy continue to reach? The
knowledge gained from this class led me to try to understand whether African American
teachers contribute to the academic achievement of African American urban male
students, both pedagogically and socially. In “Doing Race,” the authors state, “The
question, then, is not whether we should deal with difference, but rather how we address
the differences we encounter,” and ensuring that the persons teaching our children are the
best for the job is a key way to address these differences.
Many guests touched upon this aspect of education in their lectures and wrestled
with the idea of black students’ underachievement and why it exists. Moreover, they all
2. looked into teachers and teaching as an avenue that has significant impact on the
performance of young black men and women. In his book, “An African Centered
Response to Ruby Payne’s Poverty Theory,” Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu explicitly states,
“…Two consecutive years of an ineffective teacher could destroy a child for life.”
Kunjufu goes on to discuss how low-income black and Hispanic neighborhoods receive
poor teachers, causing their students to fall behind tremendously in the coming years. If
the teacher is ineffective, there is no hope or projection for our black students: “Good
teachers cost more, but ineffective teachers cost the most.” He even references the fact
that white women are controlling the future of our race in that they represent 83% of
elementary school teachers while black men represent a mere 1%: “The future of the
black race lies in the hands of white female teachers.” This must change in order for the
achievement of our children to change. Dr. Na’ilah Nasir, in her research, looks more
deeply into the stereotypes, identities, and psychological struggles within African
American students, but she also acknowledges the lack of qualified and effective teachers
for our children. She states, “Teachers in such schools are less likely to be credentialed,
are newer to the profession, and are more likely to teach by ‘drill-and-kill’ methods.”
Paula Moya and Hazel Markus support this idea in saying, “Study after study show that
underperforming students are taught by teachers who have not received the highest
quality training and who do not have access to the best curricular materials.” Even
Professor M.K. Asante argues that current teaching/schooling is not enough for our
African American students, in his story about “Two Sets of Notes.” He clearly states that
there is a problem with how African American students are being taught right now, but
the key to fixing it lies in understanding that “When you make an observation, you have
3. an obligation.” Professor Asante and Dr. Patrick Camagian hint that African American
teachers are very effective, if not the most effective, when it comes to teaching African
American students, and I believe that this is a key solution to the underachievement of
our youth.
From previous research on the subject, we have a lot of relevant information in
regards to African American teachers’ influence on African American male student
achievement. First off, we see from Michele Foster’s research in 1995 that African
American teachers have an effect on African American students’ achievement. Foster
sought out to answer the question of who are the best African American teachers of
African American children, why they do what they do, and how they are so successful in
doing it by interviewing several successful African American teachers. In her
phenomenological experiment, she found that older teachers, 45-85 years old, who held
an African American ethos that informed their teaching pedagogies in some ways, felt
compelled to encompass other aspects of the black students’ lives, and were proficient in
the community norms of their students were the best teachers of black students. And of
course, the teachers with these qualities were all African American. We see evidence of
cultural understanding within African American teachers impacting their pedagogical
performance and student achievement in Dr. Arnetha Ball’s qualitative research as well.
Ball concludes, through an ethnography of three black women at community-based
organizations and programs, that cultural and linguistic capital are essential for teachers
to effectively teach African American students. Ball’s research gave us a closer look at
what African American teachers possessed and utilized pedagogically that influenced
their success with black students.
4. After accepting the fact that African American teachers have a positive impact on
African American students, we were then forced to look at why that is. In 2001, Tyrone
Howard provided us with some grounded theory research in this area. Through
interviews, field notes, classroom observations, etc., he was able to conclude that the
successful African American female teachers that he followed all utilized culturally
relevant pedagogies and the ideology that teaching requires more than just focusing on
the academic achievement of students in order to educate them. Like Arnetha Ball,
Howard also allowed us to see that even though they all have similar ideologies and goals
from being African American teachers, the different strategies and implementations come
from their own personal experiences and strengths as individuals. In other words, the
pedagogical approaches vary from black teacher to black teacher, but the mindsets, goals,
and expectations remain the same among them. We see a similar conclusion with
Anthony Brown’s research in observing African American male teachers with African
American male students.
This topic brings up some very interesting ethical dilemmas for American society,
government, and education reform activists to deal with. With the conclusion that African
American male students will succeed more and better in schools with African American
teachers, the next step should and would be to try to ensure that these two groups are
together. With this, though, it seems like there might have to be some sort of “separate
but equal” clause being made in order to push this into action. In regards to the black
community, however, these words cause very skeptical, unconvinced and harshly glaring
eyes at the picture. Do we have to make schools just for black students and teachers? Will
the government provide the funding for it? Will they actually be equal? How will they
5. recruit more African American teachers? Will it be an easier process? All of these
questions arise when trying to think further than the question at hand, but this shouldn’t
stop us from handling the issue. The fact that this conclusion may cause conflict does not
mean that we should stray away from it. Furthermore, in order to equal opportunity and
equal education to be truly present, this will have to be pursued in some way, shape, or
form. With a true understanding and conclusion of the significance of African American
teachers teaching African American male students, who are failing in the education
system far more than other groups, we can then take necessary action to improve the
system. The impact this will have on our nation is not even comprehensible, and the
impact this will have on my community is even greater.
6. Bibliography
Asante, M.K. It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop: The Rise of the Post Hip Hop Generation. New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008. Print.
Ball, Arnetha F. (2000). Empowering Pedagogies that Enhance the Learning of
Multicultural Students. Teachers College Record, 102(6), pp. 1006-10034.
Brown, Anthony L. (2009). "Brothers Gonna Work It Out:" Understanding the Pedagogic
Performance of African American Male Teachers Working with African American Male
Students. Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, 41(5), pp.416-435.
Foster, Michele. (1993). Educating for Competence in Community and Culture:
Exploring the Views of Exemplary African-American Teachers. Urban Education, 27(4),
pp. 370-394.
Hess, Frederick M. & Leal, David L. (1997). Minority Teachers, Minority Students, and
College Matriculation: A New Look at the Role-Modeling Hypothesis. Policy Studies
Journal, 25(2), pp. 235-248.
Howard, Tyrone C. (2001). Powerful Pedagogy for African American Students: A Case
of Four Teachers. Urban Education, 36(2), pp. 179-202.
Kunjufu, Jawanza. An African Centered Response to Ruby Payne’s Poverty Theory.
Chicago, IL: African American Images, 2006. Print.
Moya, Paula M.L., and Hazel Rose Markus. Doing Race: 21 Essays For the 21st Century.
New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010. Print.
Nasir, Na’ilah. Racialized Identities: Race and Achievement Among African American
Youth. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011. Print.