.3 African- American Students

Allow me to begin this section with yet another disclaimer. There is no one Black identity. I assure you, Blacks do not call an annual national meeting to determine what the official Black opinion will be. We recognize a myriad of subcultures in the white population, there are as many subcultures with in the Black community, as well. There are different concerns among rural and urban communities, regardless of race. In our class conscious society, middle class communities have different concerns than the working poor. All of these factors, as well as, region,education, and the indomitable human trait of individuality influence the Black community. For far too long Blacks have been stereotyped and deindividualized in the public image and media. Unfortunately, the only way to ever totally correct that would be to acquaint yourself with every African-American in the country. It is a daunting, though I'm sure fascinating, venture and I wish you a lot of luck. Failing that I once again hark back to my introduction -get involved with the community, get to know your students.

Having said all that, there is one thing that we all, as Americans, have in common. The cloud of past slavery. There are many who would rather I had not just mentioned that. Some people feel angry. Some feel ashamed. Some feel too many excuses have been created by "dredging up the past." All of these are legitimate feelings. However, I do bring it up because, by trying to revise the history to make us feel better, we exacerbate institutional prejudice. We cannot forget the evils that people have perpetrated on each other, lest we repeat them. We can no more negate slavery than the Trail of Tears or Japanese Internment Camps. We need not wring our hands and bask in our collective guilt. That serves no purpose. However, it is an injustice to all our ancestors to deny that it happened. This may seem obvious to history majors, but teachers of every other discipline should keep in mind the significance of history in developing lessons.

In recognizing the past, there are some variations in social norms that the inexperienced teacher could unwittingly misinterpret. The first that comes to mind is an example of a colleague of mine who was just beginning his education career. He returned from observing the cafeteria absolutely fascinated by a behavior he noted in one of our students. The student was systemically tearing apart his lunchmate by insulting eachand every item of clothing the young man had. Now in a society where 'respect' is of utmost concern, the novice teacher was worried this would turn into an a tercation. Instead the students merely sat there laughing. What my friend was observing is called recently "snaps." The practice goes way back in the African-American community. The first evidence in writing of this tradition was Richard Wright's "Dozens." When ourstudents' great-grandfather was snapping on someone, it was referred to as "Doing the Dozens." It is a verbal game similar to trying to outpun your opponent. The object is to be more imaginative and outlandish than your opponent. Some may be familiar with Black comedians who do "Your mama" jokes; this is a variation on "doing the dozens" or "snaps." Among friends, it is completely harmless. Fortunately, for my young colleague, he was open minded enough to watch carefully, but not over react. To prove my point about listening to your students, he not only learned a little about his students, but also maintained their respect by not over reacting. This is not to say you should ignore threats or insults, but the more you get to know your students, the more you'll be able to read their moods.

Many of the transracial conflicts I have seen have come more from differences in style than in substance. I've often observed that Anglo female teachers become intimidated by young Black students rather quickly. In reflection the teacher will characterize the student as "yelling" at her. Though this is totally unacceptable in polite company, I have been amazed at the number of the times the offending student was unaware of the message he/ she was sending. Of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse. However, used properly, the opportunity can be used to teach the child how the world perceives the behavior. Clearly this can't be done in the moment of passion; however, you can deescalate the situation by not rising to the conflict. If you can deal with the situation rather dispassionately, you can avoid making a bad thing worse. This is always a good idea regardless of what race child you are disciplining. This is not to suggest that raising your voice to a teacher is acceptable. A child, any child, has to understand what the "corporate world" is going to expect. Not instructing a child on this arena is nearly malpractice. The same is true of teaching the difference between informal conversation with friends versus the more formal structure of the business world. A child who is not equipped socially is economically handicapped as well.

Social expectations effect all our children. Some very negatively. A prime example would be the epidemic proportion of girls and women damaging their psyches and bodies to conform to Madison Avenue expectations of Kate Moss "perfection." I'm glad to say that does not seem to be a phenomenon among our Black daughters. Some psychologists have suggested that since Black girls do not see themselves in the high paid fashion models, they look to their mothers as models of womanhood. We will see what the success of Naomi Campbell and her colleagues does to this theory. However, though many Black girls do not obsess over the size of their hips, that does not mean they escape all self-image problems. As with all pre-adolescent and adolescent women, you must be mindful that what seems normal to us, may seem very important to them. I have actually seen healthy athletic Black girls upset because they thought they were too skinny. It's hard when one is still working off post-pregnancy weight to be sympathetic. It's hard. but I urge you to try. As with all body image cases, how they feel is stronger then what we know.

There are many stereotypes and rumors about the Black community that are strange and unbelievable. Once such stereotype is firmly rooted inhistorical truth. Black men worship their mothers. Historically the Black community has been strongly matriarchal for a variety of sociological reasons far too complex to explore here. If you come from a family where Father knew best, be sure to include the mother in the conversationsabout your student. For a variety of reasons, today many children, of every race, are being raised by their grandparents. If you only had an occasional relationship where Granny provided cookies but not discipline, you might be surprised at the role some of our grandmothers are playing now. If the grandparents are raising the child accord them all the same respect you would the biological parents. Remember, you never know the circumstances under which they have taken on this role. Most often it is because they are trying very hard to do the best they can forthe child. Isn't that what we are all trying to do?

	No Parrot Question
	Mr. Allen teaches elementary school in a suburban city that is pretty racially diverse. He observes a group of students (made up of a few African-American students and a couple of white students) talking in the hallway and listens to their joking on each other intently, always on guard and afraid that a fight will erupt at any given moment. Knowing that even today racial tensions can cause fights in schools, how should Mr. Allen react to the words that are flying among the group of students in the hall?	Answer Here