Black History Month

There has recently been a shift away from the "heroes and holidays" mentality of celebrating minority contributions, and instead a belief that minority contributions should be included in all history books and classrooms. However, we are still celebrating Black History Month. Every Circle this month is dedicated to the celebration. It's nice to see my kids discussing role models that they can relate to, and seeing them witness the struggles that have led to their opportunities.

I would like to say that it breaks my heart to hear the kids talking about Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. This was the court ruling in 1954 that eliminated the "separate but equal" paradigm, and led to integration of public schools in the south. We are not in the south, though. We are in Newark. It is incredibly segregated. I went to a school that was almost entirely white and upper middle class. I had every privilege afforded to me. I could choose any path, and it would've been pretty hard for me to fail. These kids come from a community that is almost entirely minority (I don't think there are any white students in my school). Newark Public Schools has a 2% college graduation rate. My kids are lucky. We recently learned of a study that determined that being a student at Uncommon Schools negates all educational shortcomings due to growing up in poverty. That means they're lucky. That doesn't mean that the segregation of the 1950s has been fixed.

We learned about an interesting historical figure: Claudette Colvin. She refused to give up her seat on the bus before it was popular. In 1955, she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. It was nine months before Rosa Parks did the same. However, Colvin did not become the face of the civil rights movement because she was a teenager who became pregnant out of wedlock.

It hurts me a little bit that I didn't achieve my goals on the most recent interim assessment. My kids averaged a 75%, which was quite a bit below my goal. I need to push them harder, and give them more opportunities to think analytically about the content in new and interesting ways. It's difficult to come up with new ways to question them, but that's what I need to do.

It's frustrating that my kids have to work so hard to earn the opportunities that were just handed to me, but the data show that it will happen. Research shows that my kids will be successful, and that my long hours of hard work will contribute to their success. Sometimes I need to remind myself of that.