Activism

COMMENTARY: Let’s Talk Black Education

What’s needed for Black children is a comprehensive and systematic approach like the state’s roadmap for English learners, which states that “English learners are the shared responsibility of all educators and that all levels of the educational system have a role to play in ensuring the access and achievement of the over 1.3 million English learners who attend California schools.”

Published

3 years ago

December 31, 2021

Oakland Post

Margaret Fortune is president and CEO of Fortune School of Education.

Would Black Students Thrive with The Same Focus California Gives English Learners?

By Dr. Margaret Fortune

In a state known for its progressivism, you may find it shocking that Black Californians live under a mandate that nothing can be done for Black children in our public schools as a matter of law.

This is true even though according to the California Department of Education, 67% of Black students don’t read or write at grade level. In math, nearly 80% of Black children do not perform at grade level, and 86% are below grade level in science.

That means that Black Californians are not being prepared to participate in the STEM economy for which our state has been the epicenter of innovation for the world.

Californians have become notorious for our misplaced values. If you go to a restaurant in California, you can’t have a plastic straw because a fish in the ocean might choke on it.

But if you are a Black child in California, where Democrats hold a super majority in the Legislature and the Governor’s office, the state will not protect you from receiving an inferior education, even though the evidence points to the fact that most Black children are being failed by the Golden State’s public schools.

In 2020, as Californians packed the streets chanting “Black Lives Matter,” most California voters went to the polls to defeat a ballot initiative that would have cleared the way for the state to provide targeted support for Black public-school children by repealing the state’s 25-year-old ban on considering an individual’s race in public education.

However, there are some insiders in Democratic politics who remain determined to bring about positive change. The California Democratic Party Black Caucus has proposed a set of amendments to the education plank of the party’s platform and is holding hearings calling on Democrats to advocate for closing achievement gaps and addressing funding inequities for Black students like the party does for other groups of students.

Black students make up 5% of the 6 million children in California’s public schools. And while the state rightly provides extra funding, instructional support and school accountability for certain high need students, there are 80,000 Black youth who do not qualify for supplemental funding because they are not low income, English Learners or foster youth.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond recently appointed me to his Black Student Achievement Taskforce. In these conversations, thought leaders on Black education are openly asking the question, should all our Black students qualify for extra support? Is it right that 69% of Black students graduate from high school ineligible to even apply to a state college, like the University of California or the California State University?

One of the goals of the Superintendent’s Black Student Achievement Taskforce is to design a legislative package that addresses Black student achievement in California public schools.

It’s time to take back up the equity bill Secretary of State Shirley Weber introduced in 2018 when she was a member of the California Legislature. Although AB 2635 (Weber) did not specifically identify Black students, they would have qualified for extra funding based on standardized test scores in math and English language arts.

At the time, Weber said, “Now is the time to fix education inequities and target resources to students in need.”

In addition, California’s English Learner Roadmap, adopted by the State Board of Education in 2017, is a model for setting a policy vision for Black students.

I agree, and the same applies to over 300,000 Black children too.

California should apply the same comprehensive and robust set of laws, regulations and funding that it has for English learners to its Black students. If it did, results would be better for the state’s Black children.

Margaret Fortune is president and CEO of Fortune School of Education.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 14 – 20, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 14 – 20, 2025

Published

2 days ago

May 16, 2025

Oakland Post

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The Best Advice for Raising Children: Discipline That Makes Sense

In his book Developing Positive Self Images and Discipline in Black Children, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu suggests that primary aims for socializing Black children should be: establishing goals related to God and the church; familiarizing children with religious texts like the Bible or Quran; educating them of Black culture like Khemetic (Egyptian) Civilization; enlightening them about Black leaders like Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth; and teaching them to strive to be employers, not employees.

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2025

Oakland Post

Headshot of Dr. William A. Thomas. Photo courtesy of Dr. William A. Thomas.

By William A. Thomas, Ph.D.

In many African societies, the primary aim of socialization is to raise children to be socially responsible and eventually provide economic support to their parents and extended families. Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye taught that children are raised to be respectful of the wishes of their parents and extended adult family members.

In his book Developing Positive Self Images and Discipline in Black Children, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu suggests that primary aims for socializing Black children should be: establishing goals related to God and the church; familiarizing children with religious texts like the Bible or Quran; educating them of Black culture like Khemetic (Egyptian) Civilization; enlightening them about Black leaders like Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth; and teaching them to strive to be employers, not employees.

Effective disciplinary strategies appropriate to a child’s age and development teach them to regulate their behavior; keep them from harm; enhance their cognitive, social, and emotional executive functioning skills; and reinforce the behavioral patterns taught by their parents and caregivers.

Below are some specific guidelines for disciplining children.

Listen to what children are talking about with interest and show them you understand their feelings. Remember, children mirror and learn about their emotional selves by hearing their feelings reflected back to them. Staying on target also means avoiding labels. When children fail to do what is expected, discussing it is helpful rather than saying how stubborn, lazy, dumb, or bad they are. By the same token, more positive labels can be helpful.

Dependability is another essential component of the discipline process. When parents are dependable, their children learn what to expect and are helped to feel secure. When parents are consistent, children learn to trust, that is, predict their parents’ behaviors with certainty. A child thinks, “When I spill something, I will always be asked to wipe it up.” A child thinks, “If I use foul language, I will always be corrected.” A child thinks, “If I take something that doesn’t belong to me, I will always have to give it back.” The ability to predict with certainty leads children to rely on their parents and the village/community in which they live. Children feel safe when they know what to expect.

Conclusions

It takes a village/community to raise the divine gift that is the Black child. Parents look to therapists for guidance concerning a variety of parenting issues, including discipline. Keep in mind that evidence suggests that corporal punishment is both ineffective in the long term and associated with cognitive and mental health disorders. When parents want guidance about the use of spanking, a child therapist can explore parental feelings, help them better define the goals of discipline, and offer specific behavior management strategies. In addition to providing appropriate education to families, the Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists (Bay ABPsi) can refer them to community resources, like parenting groups and classes.

About the Author

Dr. Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice in the SF/Oakland Bay Area and Beaumont. He is a member of Bay ABPsi, a healing resource committed to providing the Post Newspaper readership with monthly discussions about critical issues in Black Mental Health. Readers are welcome to join us at our monthly chapter meetings every 3^rd Saturday via Zoom and contact us at bayareaabpsi@gmail.com.