Identity and Education: Part 1

Identity and Education: Part 1

Identity is a major contributing factor in one’s life, it shapes who we are and what we aspire to be.   Identity and education affect each other on many different levels.  Often young black men struggle with education in its modern institutionalized form. This leads to an understanding that education in its modern form does not fully lend itself to the recognition that most young North American black men are looking for.  Moreover, it questions its validity creating an educational divide between institutionalized education and the education that is provided just around the corner through everyday life experiences. Often young black males seem to value street recognition as opposed to recognition through our existing educational system.

Young Black men are frequently caught in a struggle between societal recognition of success; as these ideals can be in contrast with what is recognized as successful amongst their peers. The route and means of achieving this success is at odds. The commonality of the two at first glance is to be wealthy and powerful; however, as Bracher believes, “Even wealth and material possessions are not an end in themselves but a way for us to be assured of the recognition identity, motivation, and recognition of others” (22-23). As a result we come to an educational divide, respectively leading in two opposing directions.

Following the socially excepted norms leads to a more modern form of education in which academics and scholasticism are of ultimate value. However academic success, as it seems can oppose ideological definitions of what it means to be black. A young black male achieving academic excellence can be perceived as a traitor placing him in a position where he must defend and even vindicate his blackness. In which case, as explained by Tom Fox in Bracher’s, “Radical Pedagogy: Identity, Generativity and Social Transformation”, “Success in school means joining the opposition, threatening their identity as black Americans” (34).

An alternative form of education is to go against social norms and become informed by means of everyday life. Although academic success is seen as a positive thing to the societal majority, it can also be seen as obsolete to the young black male because the success most common to him is not always found through school or academics; it is achieved by way of monetary endowment accumulated through alternative means.  The young black male gains knowledge through observation and understands that for him, the more practical way towards money, power and respect does not subside in academics but through an alternate education only acquired through an unconventionally attained knowledge. A form of awareness not found in the classroom but found on the corner, on the block and throughout the buildings that compose their neighborhood. 

Politicians, lawyers and police officers are visible; however, pimps, drug dealers and hustlers seem more tangible and are undeniably more benevolent.  Although viewed by mainstream society as degenerate, the latter provide a formula that delivers recognition and a form of success that young black males may possibly model their lives after. As Bracher postulates, “While such forms of recognition can be an impediment to education, they can also provide motivation to learn in cases where the system itself does not, or motivation to acquire knowledge that the system ignore or excludes” (26).

The educational divide that many young black males face is like a fork in the road, each with benefits and setbacks.  To choose academic success may ostracize an individual from their culture and community and to choose the alternate route goes against societal values.  “Each form of recognition can either support or interfere with learning.  When students seek recognition as being “a good student” or “intelligent” and such recognition is not received, they may feel depressed, anxious, or angry and as a result be less effective in their learning, or pursue noneducational means of achieving recognition” (24).   As an educator the dilemma still remains; how does one enforce positive recognition of identity through the modern institutionalized educational system?

An Alternative Pathway to Education

Looking back on my early years of school, I begin to contemplate our societal ideas of academic success. I recall being almost illiterate, which led to struggles in all areas of academia. I was very week when trying to work my way through math equations in the traditional way. I found it hard to string a sentence together when writing and I could not seem to get a grasp on phonic awareness.

As I grew older, I found a way to be successful; successful in life, but not in the academic sense. I did all of the things that people expected of me as a Black male. I became talented at sports like basketball and football. I sang and preformed. These were the things that proved my worth to many of the people who surrounded me.

As I continued to be successful in all areas of life excluding academics, I also began to gain confidence in myself, confidence in all of my abilities, including academics. This academic confidence did not come with practice in the areas of reading, writing and arithmetic, although I did work hard in these areas. It came through a self confidence that I found only through social acceptance.

Years later I began to consider where people like me fit into this so called inclusive education. Using Wenger’s words, I viewed my institutionalized education as irrelevant, feeling that learning was boring and arduous, and that I was not really cut out for it (Wegner, 3). I asked myself, “What it is that I am good at? How can I succeed?” 

It was then that I came up with my own personal theory of learning. A theory that fits my experience, my understanding, a theory that is familiar to me! Come to find out, the theory that I conceptualized was not a new theory at all and in fact goes hand in hand with Social Learning Theory. My thoughts lead me to believe that people, especially young males, particularly young Black males were not designed to learn in the traditional manner as it is interpreted today. Young Black males were not intended to spend hours a day sitting in a desk, listening to facilitators lecture at us, taking notes and internalizing all of the ideas spoken at us, expected to regurgitate every word in sequence. Historically, Black males have learned through modeling and participating. As the social learning theory suggests, “learning must therefore integrate the components necessary to characterize social participation as a process of learning and knowing" (Wenger,4-5).  Realizing that, “knowledge is a matter of competence with respect to valued enterprises" (Wegner, 4).   I conceptualized what learning would be like many years ago for a learner such as me.

It begins 300 years ago, on the North West coast of Africa. Boys like me were the pride of the village: the best wrestlers, the fastest runners and the most efficient hunters; next in line to be the leaders of our people. All of our peers admired us, all of the girls had their eyes on us and all of the elders had faith in our ability. But everything changed when the ghost appeared!

The ghost put shackles on our legs and arms to prohibit our athletic ability. It put voices in our heads telling us that all of our realities were false. The ghost hindered our ability to think rationally in the way we were taught by our forefathers. The ghost drained us of our pride, our spirituality and our confidence. Mentally, physically and spirituality: our souls in duress. Leaving only a lifeless body and at the foot of modern education we lay.

Historically Africa has had advanced knowledge of architecture, sciences, mathematics etc.  This knowledge today still mesmerizes us and leaves us in wonder.  I cannot help but think that these types of knowledge were not taught in our modern education style, but were taught through apprenticeships, modeling and learning through doing.  The knowledge that we value is a reflection of what our society deems as important.  Our current educational system places learners into a small box that does not necessarily fit all learners.  Social Learning Theory practices the idea that people can learn by modeling; using more interactive teaching strategies would be beneficial to many students who may not find success in education in its traditional form.

Social Learning Theory and the Black Male as a Role Model

When looking at Social Learning Theory, the main premise is that people learn through modeling others behavior.  Reflecting on this theory in relation to the black learner, it is apparent how important it is for students to have Black teachers as facilitators and positive role models within the classroom and throughout their day to day lives.  As the Blac Report states, “There is an urgent need to increase the number of Black administrators, teachers, social workers and guidance counselors at all levels of administration and support.” (Blac:17)  Taking this concept further, I would suggest that it is of vital importance for Black students to have Black male role models within their learning environment. I will use Project 2000, a social learning theory study, as well as, some of my own observations to show how the influence of Black males in the classroom can enhance the Black students learning experience.

In brief Project 2000 was created with the fundamental belief that Black male children could be taught to believe in themselves as learners and enhance their values and moral behavior by modeling successful men who they could identify with and respect.  The founder of the project noted that often times in Black communities, as well as, in elementary schools, women are the main authority figures.  By integrating black male role models within the school system as mentors, Black students, especially males, would have a prototype to model their learning, interactions, respect, values and behavior after.  The men that were recruited to be mentors were mostly Black, from the children’s community and were successful in their careers.  55 children were involved in the project and their results were later compared to children in the same school that were not involved with the project.  These mentors were volunteers whose role was mostly in the classroom as teacher’s aids.  “First, the men assisted children who experienced difficulty with concepts the teacher introduced. Second, the men assisted the teacher by managing discipline problems. Third, the men taught and reinforced positive values ( Wells-Wilbon and Holland ).” 

Children were later interviewed about their experience in Project 2000 and over 80% of the children felt that these mentors not only helped them academically but also helped them learn important life lessons and values.  One of the children stated that the men made them want to learn. ( Wells-Wilbon and Holland ) This is a very powerful statement, because the children who once were having difficulty with school now identified themselves as learners and that they understood that there was not anything that the teacher taught that could not learn.  Not only were interviews conducted with the children, but, data was also gathered from grade point averages and standardized test scores of the participants in second, third and fourth grade.  These results showed that the children involved in the project were more likely to earn average or above average grades than the comparison group.  It was also noted that no children from the comparison group scored higher grade point averages than the children involved in Project 2000.  When compared to the national norm, children in PROJECT 2000 were at or above the national norm for spelling and mathematics for all three grade levels (Wells-Wilbon and Holland).  After this project was shown to be very successful many other schools also adopted this program.

As Project 2000 proves, “inventive ways of engaging students in meaningful practices, of providing access to resources that enhance their participation, of opening their horizons so they can put themselves on learning trajectories they can identify with and of involving them in actions, discussions, and reflections that make a difference to the communities that they value.” (Wenger, 10) Having Black male role models volunteering within the classroom was an innovative way of enriching the classroom experience. Modeling behavior in this way proved to be successful and follows Social Learning Theories claim that imitation is, “one of the most powerful socialization forces.” (Wells-Wilbon and Holland)

Through my teaching experience I have noted that African Nova Scotian students, especially males, benefit from having a positive Black, male, role model involved in their everyday learning experiences.  Bringing Africentric prospective into the classroom allows for African Nova Scotian students to feel as though they are a part of the curriculum.  I have observed in my last couple of years teaching that many of the Black children in my classes behave much better for me than what other teachers describe.  In addition, these students seem to be achieving more academic success in my class than compared to their other classes.  I attribute this success to the fact that I am a caring young Black male who they look up to and respect.   

Combining both project 2000, as well as my own personal experiences within the classroom I believe that having Black male role models within the classroom not only helps create comfort and security within the learning community, it also brings many new learning strategies to the table. These strategies can take learning from a predominately Eurocentric point of view and incorporate an Afrocentric perspective into the mix. A pedagogy that brings African centered education to the forefront, but also draws upon many other education systems (ALI). In doing this, it is not only Black students who benefit. What results is an inclusive classroom environment open to many different learning styles and many new learning opportunities. In alignment with Wells-Wilbon and Holland, I believe that, “responsible adults know that for children to grow into productive members of our society, children need to be able to read, write and acquire basic knowledge and skills, which are taught in school. This cannot happen if children don't feel good about themselves and lack basic values, which govern how they act and treat other people. Further, this cannot happen if children do not have appropriate models that teach and demonstrate acceptable behavior” (Wells-Wilbon and Holland).

Kwanzaa: A Tool to Enrich the Practice of Learning

This being my first ever blog, I am not exactly sure how I should begin, or for that matter, how I should go about writing it. However, a topic considered and discussed in class that I found thought provoking was Kwanzaa.  For this blog I will explore how the principles of Kwanzaa can be incorporated as a learning process within my family unit.

To start I must admit the fact that I knew very little about Kwanzaa or its seven principles until I attended a demonstration that the two youngest girls in my household were involved in over this past Christmas break. Here I learned many of the customs and traditions that Kwanzaa includes. While taking in all of this new information, I was also thinking about the ways in which my family could incorporate the principles of Kwanzaa into our family’s holiday customs, while also keeping my Christian concepts of Christmas at the forefront.

As the busyness of the holiday season overcame any other prior thoughts, Kwanzaa was something that just slipped my mind. Coincidentally, the topic of Kwanzaa would soon be reintroduced into my life through the film, “The Black Candle” and through my peers within this course (GSLL 6201-80). As I sat watching the film, “The Black Candle” and listening to class conversation about what Kwanzaa meant to the families of my classmates, I contemplated what it could mean to me. These are some thoughts that came to mind.

First, Kwanzaa does not have to be a replacement for Christmas and nor should it be. Although Kwanzaa takes place in close proximity to Christmas in terms of time, it does not have to be an alternative. Christianity has long been a withstanding tradition in the black communities of Nova Scotia and in North America as a whole. Kwanzaa should not replace Christmas, but should enhance it.  Uniting the Christian Christmas tradition with Kwanzaa combines Africentric idealisms and Christian idealisms to form new meaning.

Second, the principles of Kwanzaa should not only be reflected upon from the 26th of December through to the 1st of January. It should be a yearlong awareness and a lifelong learning process. Nguzo Saba’s principles can be used throughout our day to day lives and should not be forgotten about after the holiday season but should continue on throughout the entire year.

For example, Kwanzaa can be used in the process of learning on a number of different levels. Ujima, Kwanzaas principle of collective work and responsibility supports the idea of cooperative learning in a way that the traditional Eurocentric notion of learning tends to exclude. Often the traditional method of learning is individualistic. Ujima would suggest that we learn as a collective, working together to achieve educational goals. It may prove to be beneficial to take this idea of cooperative learning and apply it to our everyday learning experiences.

After reading the prologue of Wenger’s “Communities of Practice”, I have been able to make strong connections with the concept of Communities of Practice and my thoughts of uniting Christmas and Kwanzaa.  Identifying that my family unit is one of my communities of practice now enhances the concept of using the virtues and ideals of Kwanzaa to create a new learning process for my family.  The fundamental ideas set forth by Wenger around the connectedness of the social learning theory and communities of practice; we can learn to shape these virtues within our family unit by creating a tradition which includes our identity of self and our identity within the world.  Also, by learning to practice how we use these virtues in our everyday lives and larger community.  This new tradition will also create a new meaning for us of our values and how we as individuals can make change within our other communities of practice. 

For my family and I Christ will continue to be the main focus during the Christmas holidays; however, I feel that the principles of Kwanzaa will be something that we will begin to include. Although this year my family did not incorporate the seven principles of Kwanzaa within our holiday festivities, I believe that incorporating the principles of Kwanzaa into our family’s practices will not only enrich our holiday season but will also enrich our day to day lives.