race and value for african american males

Running Head: RACE AND VALUE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES 1

Race and Value for African American Males

Within the American Education System

ReChard Peel

Purdue University

RACE AND VALUE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES 2

Race and Value for African American Males

Within the American Education System

“When I was in 3rd grade my English teacher told me that I would never amount to

anything in life, and that I would be a failure. Look at where I am today” This is a typical story, I

have heard many times. Variations of tales like these are told often in motivational speeches, and

generally used to inspire, followed by something such as “you must never listen to those who

doubt you or ridicule you. You must believe in yourself” This is a great message, one that is

meaningful without a doubt. However, when we hear stories such as these, we only look at them

as modes of inspiration and we rarely look at them through a critical lens. We rarely ask why a

teacher or anyone would down play and devalue a child’s abilities, and chances for future

success. We rarely ask why a specific child was told this and not all children. We ignore the

burning truth, that the teacher in the scenario is making prejudgments based on something. It can

be argued that racism, or classism can play a factor in this. If that story were told by a black

male, one could argue that racist stereotypes about his blackness have pervaded society, so much

so, that his teachers do not value him or his ability to achieve. If the teacher does not value him,

how can that teacher then, find ways to educate him properly? Racism plays an integral role in

how African American children and in particular black males are seen and valued in classrooms

and education period. The role that racism plays is that of creating stereotypes through which

prejudged value is asserted. The stereotypes created include stereotypes about present

achievement, behavior, and future success or achievement.

This first type of stereotype that racism creates is the idea that black students, particularly

males cannot achieve in the classroom. This is in the present context, meaning this is a


perception that teachers or other academic administrators see from the onset of interacting with

that student. Of course this will also lead to stereotypes about what that child can be in the future

but that is a separate stereotype in its own. The way that students are viewed upon immediate

interaction sets a distinct tone of inequality early on. In Pedro Noguera’s book “the trouble with

black boys” Noguera states: “as schools sort children by perceived measures of their ability and

as they single out certain children for discipline, implicit and explicit messages about racial and

gender identities are conveyed” (Noguera, 2009) This statement, can be seen as very important

when discussing racism and its role in valuing students. Noguera is arguing that messages are

conveyed through the perception of students and the ways in which school structures act on those

perceptions. One could argue that the messages are loud and clear: students have more or less

value because of their race. This is indeed, racism in practice. However it is not just the

perception and stereotype that is problematic. Noguera points out that schools sort children based

on perceived ability. This, one could argue means that students are prejudged and their value to

the school is predetermined because of their race. Noguera discusses in the same chapter ideas

about how black males are overrepresented in school tracks that include remedial or special

education classes. (Noguera, 2009) Pedro Noguera is not the only author to point this out.

According to an article in the Journal of Negro education by Beth Harry and Mary G. Anderson

there have been several court cases since 1960 that question whether special education classes

are a way of covering up segregation after the brown vs board of education ruling. The article

also points out that African American males are in remedial classes at 4 times the expected

statistical rate based on being 8.2 percent of the total student population in the United States.

(Harry & Anderson, 1994) All of this, is clear indication of how black male students are valued.


Using this information one can assert that black males are seen as less able to achieve

academically because of their race. The idea that they are less likely to achieve means they have

less value in an education system that is based around competition. Racism creates those barriers

for black students that leave them undervalued and lead them to be even further underprepared to

participate in the competitive nature of the American educational system.

Beyond the stereotype of current achievement, Black males are also confronted with the

stereotype of being a behavioral problem in classrooms. Once again racism has created this

perception as well. The perception that black males will be a behavioral problem creates less

value being place on black males by enhancing a belief that black males do not want to learn.

Teachers, administrators, or other educational facilitators devalue black males as students who

will be disruptive, deviant, and mischievous in the classroom and disrupt the schooling process

for students who actually do “want to learn”. The idea is why place value in someone who is

going to consistently interrupt the goals that are attempting to be accomplished. This notion as

with the notion that black males cannot achieve academically is problematic. Not only is it

problematic because it essentializes all black males, who of course are not a monolithic group,

but also because it leads to structural practices that further devalue black males. According to a

Rolandmartinreports.com interview discussing black males in education, all over the country

black males are being suspended and receiving punishment at higher rates that their white

counter parts. In the interview Judith Brown Dianis argues that this is because of the perception

of black males and she argues for ways of combating this. She also argues that keeping students

out of school longer does not solve a behavioral problem if one is present and that there needs to

be people to talk to these students and try to understand them. (Martin, 2009) It can be argue that


what she is suggesting is that more value needs to be placed on these students, more value placed

in their opinions, their feeling and their experiences. Where there is a need for more, by

definition there must be a lack of to begin. This is also reinforced in Noguera’s book as well. He

articulates that learning from students is very valuable and presents statistical dated on how

students feel about their value in the classroom. Only 8% of black males students who

participated in a survey conducted at an academic magnet high school in California said that they

agreed that their teachers support them and care about their success. (Noguera, 2009) A lack of

value placed on black males is a result of racism and racist societal views directed at black

males, and stereotypes that accompany that.

The third and final way in which racism creates a devaluation of black males is through

the stereotype of black males not being able to achieve future success. This has relation to black

males not being able to succeed in the classroom however is different because it is a stereotype

that portraits a future result. Because of this, arguably this stereotype might be the one that leads

to the highest level of devaluation of young black boys. It has implications from the other

stereotype that black males cannot achieve in the classroom and that black males have behavioral

problems. It creates the mindset that there is no clear reason to value anything about a young

black male when it comes to education because, according to this idea, that young black male

will never become a productive citizen of society. Education in the United States is arguably

purposed not to ensure learning but to ensure productivity in society. Teachers and other

educational facilitators who adhere to the ideology of the stereotype are using that ideology as

means to validate their devaluing of black males. Without reason to value black males structures

can be put in place to give more opportunity to those students who are valued. There are many


examples of these structures that result from these racist stereotypes. The major example of this

type of structure is what some scholars have referred to as the school to prison pipeline. An

article in New Directions for Youth Development Journal discusses the school to prison pipeline

“The racial disparities among those most severely sanctioned by new laws and policies are startlingly similar to those found in student discipline data. In fact, the racial disparities within the two systems are similar—and so glaring—that it becomes impossible not to connect them.” (Wald & Losen, 2003)

The argument here, is that schools discipline students on a basis that seems similar to the basis

though which the penile system incarcerates people. Both of these systems have extremely

dramatic racial disparities. If the two systems are linked, the way that the article suggests, then

one could make the argument that schools devalue black students with the purpose of funneling

them into the prison pipeline, simply because the racist stereotypes push forth the idea that the

only way for black males to be productive is to be separate from the rest of society. The

stereotype argues that black males from a very young age are already predestined to join this

prison cycle and schools are just a holding place for these students, until that point. It is easy to

see how this problematic notion causes a cyclical devaluing of black males that is perpetual. This

stereotype not only creates that school to prison pipeline structure but also creates structures that

devalue students in the school itself. One example of this is in the policies of excess security

measures, and treatment of students as if they are prisoners already. This can be seen in the tv

show “the wire”. The wire is a tv show that takes place in the city of Baltimore and it’s forth

season focused on the educational system. In one of the episodes we see a barrage of visual

reinforcement of the stereotype and view that African American students are behavioral

problems and that they are likely to not have future success but rather to end up in prison. The

excess security, metal detectors, the principal praying as students arrive, the requesting of single


file lines, are all clear indicators of what the school and its facilitators thought of their

predominantly African American student population. (Wirefans, 2013)

Essentially racism directly influences the way African American students, particularly

males are valued in the classroom. Other factors also contribute to value, such as social

economic status. However it is racism that creates some of the strongest stereotypes that pervade

the minds of society and our educational systems. These overbearing stereotype in turn create

structures that continually put black males at a disadvantage academically, socially, and

psychologically, and perpetuate the very stereotypes they were created by. Black males are not a

monolithic group and none of the stereotypes created by racist ideologies apply to all, nor are

any of them the result of being born a particular race. This is the very problematic nature of

racism. In order to get passed some of these problematic issues, there would need to be a

dramatic shift in societal views of race. Schools would need to enforce changes in the way

students are viewed, disciplined, tracked, and educated. This would bring a new level of value

for African American males that quite course possibly would change the trajectories of African

American male students and better the entire educational system in America.


ReferencesHarry, B., & Anderson, M. (1994). The Disproportionate Placement of African American Males in Special

Education Programs: A. Journal of Negro Education, 602-619.

Martin, R. (2009, january 9). Study; African american boys recieve harsher punishment and lower grades in school. Retrived february 7 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the%20wire%20first%20day%20of%20school&sm=1

Noguera, P. (2009). The trouble with black boys. San Fransisco California: Josey-Bass.

Wald, J., & Losen, D. (2003). Defining and redirecting a school to prison pipeline. New directions youth development, 9-15.

Wirefans. (2013, january 8). The wire: first day of school. retrived february 3 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9vbGckm_bg

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