In which I maintain a blog.

populationpensive:

gritinthegap:

Why we need more black male teachers now

This is so timely. There are two hours at the end of my day that leave me wondering why on earth I am these kids’ teacher. It’s a bunch of 7th-grade African American boys with no father figures and major, major behavior problems—which, give me a school year and LOTS of back-up from a black male SOMEWHERE (which I had a lot of at my last school), and I can have them opening doors for me, asking for more homework, and accidentally calling me mom. But I’ve only had these children for 7 weeks, there is not a single person with cred enough to say, “Hey, Ms. Basye is cool. Listen to her.” Or “Hey, Ms. Basye is the boss. Or else.” And it feels a little hopeless because we only have two-ish months left. I don’t really know how far I can get with them, and it feels like I am babysitting or my classroom is a holding cell. I often end the days wishing for someone else to come do the job—not even like I want to escape, just like I know I am not the best person for this job.

I agree with you. I feel like my black students can’t relate to me due to my SES and race. It’s like they need examples of REAL success from their own people to help the message get across better.